I want all my chosen pics up on my photobucket site before making the Yosemite post, but it’s taking a very long time because of so many reasons:

Every time the microwave is switched on, the wifi stops working.

Every time Eli cries, I stop working on the photograph uploading.

Every time the weather is cool and cloudy, I also go off for a walk.

And so the reasons go…but yesterday, when returning from the

temple

I am sorry to say that it’s not overwhelming devotion that take us there but the fact that the canteen there serves fantastic idli/pongal on Saturdays and dosa/upma/puLiyOtharai (that’s what it is, NOT the Kannada puLiyOgarE) on Sundays! In fact, we ate first and then went upstairs for the darshan…

On the way back, I asked to be dropped off at Forest Park, and asked A to join me, which she did…the men took Eli home in the car, and we walked back, enjoying the park and its sights…

The scenery was lovely, with these mammals boating in Des Peres Creek:

We saw the RED-TAILED HAWK overhead (remember I only had MLC2 and the hawk was FAR above, don’t complain about the foozly shot, I can hear you!):

Here it is, with a CHIMNEY SWIFT in the frame, too:

This TURTLE (I don’t know its exact id) in Des Peres creek swam away as we watched:

In the temple area, while I was waiting for the others to come out, I saw several deer briefly in the undergrowth, and got, in the drizzling rain, this AFS (Also Foozly Shot) of what Dave Pierce says is the RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER: (yes, I know it's a really bad shot, but it WAS raining and these stupid birds are always far away.) We saw a ROBIN's nest that the rain had dislodged, and which had fallen to the ground (what Dave Pierce, of the St Louis Audubon Society, had to say was," This nest is a Robin's. The key ingredient is the mud used in its construction. The wind or rain probably dislodged it from a tree limb.") This MALLARD mother was leading her ducklings into the water: The pattern on the huge tree-trunk was just amazing: and at the base of the tree were these hollows, I don't know how they were formed: This tree seemed to be the American cousin of our SILK-COTTON trees; here's some of the cotton, lying on the ground: We spotted a JAGUAR that was NOT moving fast, for a change: Instead of a KING COBRA, we saw a King Honda: The BUDDHA MAMMAL was in a post-prandial comatose state:

I decided that even the weeds in this place are beautiful. See this close-up of a tiny weed for yourself!

Having people over for dinner; don’t know when I will get to posting those photos, but I will inflict them on you you will certainly get to see them, never fear!