There's a park near my place called Duck Creek Park. It's a dog park. I found that out when I first moved here and went there one afternoon for a walk about 4:00 pm. Big mistake! It was like a coffee break in a unionized factory - for dogs. Every owner and his/her dog had convened for their daily, annual ritual a.k.a the walk and the poo (the latter done only by the dogs, not the owners.)
This photo was taken on one of the beautiful sunny November afternoons we had this year. Because it is a dog park, I am often quite on guard when I'm walking in it because although I've long known that I have a fear of big unknown dogs, I didn't realize it bordered on a phobia until I ventured into this park.
There's a beautiful secluded stream that runs through the park and it's a very dark wooded area and often when I'm down there with my camera, I hear very big barks coming my way and I almost break out into a sweat. I stop breathing, my heart starts beating faster and louder all just because one day I saw a man with a rottweiler walking his dog, off leash, and all the other dog owners were asking nervously, "Is he friendly?" as their voices rose an octave.
It made me laugh because inevitably the owner (who is completely nonchalant and has known the dog from puppyhood tends to be a wee bit biased) but, without fail, will always answer in the affirmative even while the dog is looking positively unfriendly, circling in an excited state making you feel a bit like a guppie in the shark pool.
I keep forgetting where I am and the dog of choice on Salt Spring seems to be either Labs or Golden Retrievers. Not exactly ferocious beasts. They're more likely to "goose" you to death, than bite. So, I'm not sure why that realization hasn't really translated into me just chillin' out whenever I venture into this park.
But, this isn't about dogs. It's about my lovely photo above. I took this photo because I really liked the way the background evergreens contrast with the orange leaves on the ground.