late afternoon
Father's Day Picnic at Rusch Park
We've been spending the afternoon picnicing - barbequeing and visiting and playing, running back and forth to the creek, all in the ever-moving shade of a big silver maple tree.
Kids have been fishing - netting tiny fish to bring home to the pond.
Down at the creek it's shady and cool. Scott and Phillip try to catch a blue gill or carp but mostly feed fish too little to get on the hook. The shells of freshwater clams litter the creekbed where it bends, slows and deepens.
Part of the day's excitement comes from tiny praying mantis's that suddenly appear on a picnic plate or walking back to the parking lot. One is saved, given a safe haven in a jar on the kitchen table, complete with aphids on a bud from my climbing roses out front.
