An Interview Credit for Newlywed

My last interview, which was the second one since I started career hunting again in late June, was very short and over the phone again. Newlywed had asked me to apply because he said that most of the fellas had left since the project is near ending. A project that is about to finish is basically is like an old ship in the 15th century one they were sinking! They say even the mice would leave when they sensed the ship's doom(!) but for me it would be a good job to finish a project at the site. I would be working probably for at least 1 year and the income would not be too bad but he said that he would interview other applicants and I would be notified through their HR, possibly by the next. 

Newlywed has been working there for nearly 3 years now, I believe, and even has purchased an apartment in Toronto where he flies to and from when he is at work. The other asshole never called me back. He was supposed to set an interview for me in Edmonton. I forgot to send him a thank you e-mail. That could be it. I sent him an e-mail and asked him whether I would be going for that interview or not. He never replied.  

(Photo: Victoria, the only ship of Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese explorer who eventually was killed by Filipinos in one of the island of The Philippines. Just used this photo because ships were referred to in the post. He did his explorations in the 16th century)

Flashback (33): Kefir

Sometimes I miss The Lady a lot. My life took a very steep nose dive after she left and I haven't been able to get back on my knees. It's been more than 3 years now! I guess that's what usually happens to idiots! I drove her out and I hope now she has the life that she always wanted. I really hope.

One thing I have to add is that I should not have gotten marries in the first place and that was her insisting and now I ended up here and she suffered a lot. 

Now thinking of her I wanted to bring the story of what she like in the last 6 months or so that we lived together. She somehow got familiar with Kefir and bought some from a guy and started making it at home every night and enjoyed. I don't remember why she was interested but that was OK to me and at times I has some and enjoyed as well. 

She then asked me to advertise for the extra she made and sell it! I did! I would put an advertisement and then would deliver to people. On bike, driving, you name. The story was going on until she left. It was not for money. It was just a hobby for someone who just had lost his job and had not much to do but job searching, studying and some minor home chores. The table here shows how much Kefir I sold! Reminds me of the life that I will never have again, just part of it. 

(Photo: The Kefir table. Another reminder of the lovely wife I had once and will never have again. I hope she's happy wherever she is)

The " Entertaining " Chef

The Chef has been given as long as, I think a month, to fix his heart problem. He has been trying to get a hold of the surgeon to make appointment but has not been successful. What we did was we called the clinic several times and we got no answer back. We then decided to have a coffee in a McDonald's and The Chef got a tea because coffee is not good for him! He has this bad habit of looking to almost everyone's eyes when he or she walks by and this has gotten him to trouble a few times but I know why he is doing that. He, most of the time is lonely and tries to get attention of others and since not everyone likes him(!) people at time might react in a way he does not like it.

So we were just hanging out in a McDonald's and I while I was sipping to my coffee realized that The Chef is exchanging eye contacts with someone behind me. I paid not much attention and I was hopeful that the fella leaves since an exit door was there. It took a few seconds until The Chef ask he was gazing at him and cursed loudly in his native language! I turned and look at the guy. He was an old brown skin, like The Chef's guy standing next to the exit. He turned to me and said that he like that he was speaking Persian! 

It appeared that the guy had heard us and was just eavesdropping while waiting for his wife to come out of the bathroom! He had heard us and was trying to see what we were saying! In the meantime he had exchanged eye contact with the chef with the hope that he says hello or something(!) and as The Chef does not like to be gazed at back(!) he cursed at him loudly! It was an awkward the situation!  

I saw these nice postal cars in the McDonald's location and decided to take a photo of them. Apparently they are from the children who received help from Ronald McDonald House

The Chef was ashamed of his behaviour and the guy was shocked and scared as why The Chef had acted that way! He approached our table and I apologized from him on behalf of The Chef and explained to him why he was mad! He shock hands with the both of us and repeated that he was happy to hear people talking in his native language! The Chef offered him to sit but he said he had to leave! The Chef was sad and ashamed for another hour after that. 

Quite similar the next day that we were at the exact same location after we had an unsuccessful attempt to talk to the physician/surgeon. We had finished our snack/beverage and just got out of the door. I realized The Chef was looking at the other direction while listening to me and all of a sudden he erupted and started cursing in English, this time! I looked and there was this young Caucasian fella, in his mid. 30th, in an old one and as soon as The Chef approached his vehicle, he stepped out with a sort of stick in his hands but didn't strike! I went after The Chef who was now only 3 ft. away from the guy to pull him back and prevent him from a fight but the guy thought I was going to help him and told me to get the fuck back! I gently pulled The Chef and asked him to go and sit in the car and then went toward the guy who know was at the wheel and with the window up! I asked him, with sign language to roll the window down and he surprisingly did! I apologized to him and said: He has issues! He accepted my apology and back up to leave the parking lot! The Chef asked me what he had told me. I said: He said that he had to go to his family or he would kick your ass! The Chef said that he was going to stab him but I don't know he serious he was or he even had a knife(!) but I do know that the frustration in the past two days had accumulated and drove him to that behaviour. Luckily I was with him or who know what would have happened! These were two beautiful shows that The Chef put them on. They were both very entertaining. It most of the time is entertaining to be with The Chef! 

(Photo, top: I have selected this photo which shows a brawl between Polish and Russian fans during 2012 Euro Soccer Cup. I hate soccer but I like to see these idiots beating on each other. The fight between The Chef and his two opponents[!] never got that bad but could have) 

Mt. Tyrwhitt Hike/Scramble

I was so tired when I came home yesterday that I couldn't even barely sat at the desk! I didn't even showered for 4 freaking hours! I felt like that a punch of people have been kicking me all around for an hour or so! Even know I have aches at parts of my body!
It's because I did a fairly hard hike after almost 6 months: Mt. Tyrwhitt in Kananaskis. I downloaded it's GPX track, from a website, first to my computer and then to my phone. GPX Viewer then was installed both in the computer and telephone and boom! I realized I have a GPS Tracker! I always wanted to buy one and never saw anything for less than $400 but here I have one which costs me $0. I tried that on streets and it was working! I woke up, with difficulty, at 04:50 and headed to Kananaskis Country. Mt. Tyrwhitt's trail-head is located at Highwood Pass which is considered as the highest paved road in Canada with the elevation of 2206 m (7239 ft.) above sea level. 

The arch is located just nearly 100 m. (vertical distance) from the summit

I started the hike at exactly 07:11. There was only one vehicle parked there and a couple pulled in there at the same time but just for a short rest. It was here after only awhile that the tracker helped me. Without that I would have had serious difficulties. After a few minutes I saw a couple from distance and when I increased my speed I realized that there were resting. We then continued together until where for some reason(!) they chose a different path and that made them fell behind. Eventually we met again at the arch. It is a natural arch which is a good spot for photography. We probably spent half an hour there! Then we headed up the summit. The girl first didn't want to come but eventually followed and she was good. The distance between the arch and summit is not much but it's the most challenging part. It is all loose rocks. The view from the top is probably one of the best that you can see in Kanaskis. We headed down after a few photos and descending was not easy! In the old country we used to call it Sand-Skiing(!) I don't know if this term is used here or not but that is one of the major factors for erosion!

We all fell on our butts a few times but it was not serious. I had to stop at one spot and empty my boot from rocks! The good thing was that there were not anyone else on the trail until we climbed down all the way from the hard part. We reached the parking lot at around 13:50 which is not a bad timing. I'm glad that I have been able to reach a summit after a long time. 

(Photo, top: The view to west from the summit shows Elk Lakes)

Medical Business

I went to one of the major medical centers in Calgary last week when I took The Chef for his heart procedure and immediately after arriving at the neighbourhood, what I saw reminded me of the an episode of Seinfeld called The Heart Attack. It was not because we were there as a result of The Chef's recent heart attack. It was because of the point made in the episode and I certainly believe it.

They are building a multi-story, concrete huge building there and have already called it Calgary Cancer Center!

But how is this building a reminder of that episode? In the episode, George, Jerry and Kramer are meeting a Kramer's friend who claims to be a holistic healer. The healer is portrayed by Stephen Tobolowsky who by the way is one of the most fantastic characters in the sitcom. Just to add he also had a scene in Basic Instinct and although he has a completely different role there, he was as fantastic in there. During the conversation he goes: To the medical system, you are not a patient. You are a customer. It is in benefit of the system that you remain sick!

It absolutely correct. If people stopped eating this much crap that they consume on daily basis the majority of health clinics, hospitals, pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies and similar businesses would close within a few months! It for sure is not for the benefits of thousands who works in the

Huge multiple-story concrete building is being built in Calgary. Millions of dollars are invested on this project meaning that the cancer is growing. That for a developed country is a disaster because it means who ignorant its people are who don't know who to protect themselves! 

Business and of course the government who has a good revenue! One thing that surprised me during my visit was the way some so-called medical professionals acted during our visit. While there's no doubt that there were all very helpful, nice, polite and supportive, at lunch a nurse, who was actually a Registered Nurse and I know it's not easy to become one asked what The Chef wanted for his lunch. The options were limited but OK. We knew we were not in a 5 star restaurant. The food was actually good but not for a person who recently had heart attack and high blood sugar! They knew that and she brought him a Turkey Sandwich, a Muffin and a big Banana! I don't think any of those were good for someone who had two major arteries of his heart blocked(!) and his blood sugar, in the morning, was 15(!) but I could be wrong. After all she was a Registered Nurse!  

One of the huge pieces of machinery near the construction site. I have no idea what this exactly do but have no doubt that is very expensive and it's operator makes good money! 

The Chef still is on sick leave and has to make his mind about the type of cure he is interested in. He called me the other day and said that he had decided to go with Open Heart Surgery, despite the fears he has. I guess the Cardiac Surgeon & Intensivist (as his business card suggests) and his team would be very happy when they here that! As well of all the other individuals who are in this profitable business! 

(Photo, top: Scene from Seinfeld. George under the pyramid(!) is offered a special tea for his tonsil problem! Kramer and Jerry are both relaxing!)

Back to the Certificate

Now that I'm back to dryland (dry in terms of income!), I thought I should do something positive with my time, rather than just looking for jobs. I contacted the organization that I had once registered for a course to do a certificate and ask them if I could continue it. I had left it unfinished in late 2017!
Surprisingly they agreed! No doubt that I have paid more than $2300 and will have to pay a bit more to be certified but they simply could say no.
It's not bad but it's not easy though. I have started from the beginning instead of following the 51% that I have accomplished. I have noticed changed both to the course and the material but changes are mostly good. At the same time I have errors which I have notified them of a number of observed one so far.
I have been given 90 days to finish it. Sounds enough but for someone like me who usually takes lots of notes and is not as fast as other (it was proven recently!), it might not sound long enough.
(Photo: A blank certificate paper)

Two out of the Three Main

This is an interesting story, to me at least, so I'm going to bring it here. The Chef was contacted by a hospital to get ready for an procedure to see his heart condition, after he had a heart attack. He asked me to assist him and I accepted. We went to the hospital early morning and after admission I left him and came back in 2 hours. I saw him resting in the bed in hospital gown. He didn't seem so happy. A sort of photograph has been taken from his heart to help the specialists to decide what procedure would be the best to improve his health. A very nice and beautiful, I must say, nurse was there and she patiently and clearly explained what has happened to him. I'm getting off the subject now but I wanted to ask her out. She was really cute but then I though there would be no chance because I had not slept well the night before and didn't look good! In fact I had only slept for 30 min. or so on that night due to neck pain. Besides what are the chances that a tiny, petite, pretty Registered Nurse in a major Alberta city does not have a boyfriend? Next to zero!

The beautiful supper table at The Brave's. The items on the left side, kind of rectangle, are a sort of Whole Grain bread and the lady of The Brave (perhaps I should find her a nickname soon!) made it for me as every time I was there I insisted that that I would not eat White Flour bread! The salad, on the top right and the chicken were both amazing but the issue at The Brave's is that you have to limit your eating. I could eat all these just by myself, except the rice in the black part on the left and most of the breads. However for someone who already is suffering from heart problem and diabetes, this is not considered a healthy meal because most of the people cannot control themselves. So did neither The Brave, nor The Chef, unfortunately.

Anyway what she said was that out of the three major vessels in the heart, two of them are 100% block and the other one is only functioning by its 40% capacity. The same was later explained in more detail by a heart surgeon and options were provided. The Chef was destroyed once he heard that. According to the surgeon in has been caused by his life style in the past 30 years: excessive drinking, using different drugs occasionally, smoking, eating too much meat, fat, sugar starch and similar crap! The options at this time for him, to save his ass, are two: Open heart surgery or Stent. I don't know what they do for the first one but according to the doctor that would make his life easier and longer. The option would be Stents which basically what they do is they widen the blocked arteries. However the doctor said that his chance with the second one is slimmer. The Chef was really scared and confused. I would be. I don't think there are many people who like to have open heart surgery but too bad. I have told him countless time to stop eating like a freaking pig! Too much butter, too much fake processed oil, too much egg, too much meat and now he's here.

We had to wait until almost 15:30 for the main physician to come and release him. He added that if The Chef is willing to have the surgery, he needs to do C. T. Scan and then let him know through the doctor who had introduced him. We then left and went to the King Faisal Al-Saud restaurant for a meal. We ordered a plate of Chicken Skewers (contains 2), a plate of Chana (Chickpeas in a sort of special spicy sauce) and a plate of Saag (Spinach and Mustard leaves cocked with herbs and spices). We didn't order any bread or rice and the poor, ignorant Pakistani waiter was looking at us with wide eyes and mouth and couldn't believe it!

The Chef decided to call The Brave to see what his opinion was on the situation. When he did, The Brave invited us over. The Chef was anxious all the way to our destination. The Brave was in the opinion that The Chef should go under surgery. He added that all his brothers have gone through that, including the one who recently passed away! He meant that the surgery had helped him live until then! Then he asked to stay for supper and we accepted. Who would deny a good wholesome dinner made by The Brave's wife, a nice and kind Chinese lady who knows what she does in the kitchen but here was the problem. The supper contained a very nice, beautiful and spicy Thai Green Papaya Salad which I had never had and must consider making, Chicken in Cashew Sauce, White Rice and a sort of Potato Salad. Now imagine that both The Chef and The Brave have heart issue and should stay away from starch. The Chef, the fucking idiot attacked the food, like an African who just ran away from drought and famine and started eating like a freaking pig that he is! It was just less than 1 hour that we had our supper at the King Faisal(!) but it proved that he could not live without damn rice, nasty white flour bread and other starch!

On the way back to his place he was continuously nagging. So he was when we were at The Brave's. He indicated that he would go by Stents and he would go under the knife when he retires. The Brave said back to him that he might be retired forever if he doesn't go under the surgery! The Chef has one week to make his mind.
(Photo: This figure shows how the arteries get blocked gradually)

Perhaps There's Hope for You after all!

I had a short telephone interview today for a seemingly good position in the province. Telephone interviews are generally short because that's the first stage and the interviewer simply wants to see if the person even fits the position or how he/she presents him/herself. Besides that most of the telephone interviews are done by HR people who have no technical knowledge and it's easy, at least for me, to feed them everything! There was this only one position that I was interviewed for almost 3 years ago and it sounded like it was an arrogant, repulsive East European (as they mostly are. Yes! I am stereotyping) who interviewed me and questioned one of the things that I had claimed in my resume.
I didn't get that position, obviously, which was by the way a very good one but it was 3 freaking years ago and I'm not even thinking of that anymore.
It sounded that it was not a bad result at the end and the person said that he would arrange for a personal interview for possibly next week in the city that I would be working, if I was hired. I also told him that at my previous job I worked with the company and he had no reaction to that. The person perhaps have moved on because if they have someone, why would they hire another one. He not a bad person but kind of stubborn and I remember I had long discussions with him in regards to his work. He would resist as much and as long as he could and eventually would leave the conversation.
I'll see what happens. In the meantime I will continue applying, of course.
(Photo: In this still image from an episode of The Big Bang Theory, Penny, sitting on the chair, explaining to Bernadette, standing at the left side of the picture why Sheldon, standing in the center of the photo in red, sits where he usually sits! Sheldon's reaction to Penny's smart explanation is the subject of this post)

The Strategic Reserves

I and my ex-friend(!) Cyrus went to Rudbar, a small nice town nearly 65 Km away from Rasht, the capital of Gilan province in Iran, by bicycle, some 25 years ago. Considering I lived in Tehran my whole life before immigration, that was one of my best trips I have ever taken so far in my life. Almost 365 Km (227 miles) by bicycle, of course not in one day(!) and one way only.

How we did that is we first paddled to Qazvin a major city on our way and stayed a night over there and then the next day headed to Rudbar. I eliminate the detail here to make my point. but on the way back we decided to rent a car, and drive up the valley because we simply didn't think we could bike up! Rudbar is located on the bottom of a valley which Sefid-Rud (White River) is passing through. Going back to Tehran required us to peddle up the valley and we didn't see it in ourselves in those days to be able to do that! We hired a guy, after talking to the locals to just get us up the road. Cyrus asked me how would pay the guy and I referred to the strategic reserves! I had enough cash to not only pay the fella but also get us to home.

You can get the best olive in the world in Rudbar. This is a typical olive store in that town. I hope I can go there one day soon again

Now more than 25 years after those years which the country was still stable and habitable I am using my strategic reserves here! The difference is these reserves are being used while I don't know when they could be replaced unlike those years that I was employed! These strategic reserves of mine are divided to low reserves and high reserves and I have been using them both in the past two weeks since I came back from my unsuccessful training.

My strategic reserves while are good and help me to stay floated are quite similar to the US Strategic Petroleum Reserves! Considering the amount of consumption per day, those reserves only, as far as I know last for 35 days only, no surprise though, considering how much is consumed on daily bases!

But the story of how these reserves of the US is quite interesting which I may say later alongside the story of my trip to Rudbar.

(Photo, top: John Pinkerton the Scottish cartographer made this map of northern part of Persia [Iran's name at the time] in 1818. The town of Rudbar can easily be seen in this map of 201 years ago! In the map Rudbar is spelled Roudbar which is fine!)

The First Rejection

It's been almost two weeks since I came back to Calgary after being kicked out of the training center. I started job searching immediately. The market doesn't seem to be very good. Though I have applied for a number of positions. I received the first response today, which was actually sent to me, to my e-mail last night: Not considered anymore!

I guess one mistake I have made in my resume is mentioning a recent work in the old country. That was the only way I could explain my 4 months absent from work. I don't know if that has a negative impact. It might. The Brave called me yesterday and blamed my failure on my background! Such a bullshit! There were two Iranians, one Iraqi and a number of Arabs in the training center and they all graduated and have already started their career! My failure has nothing to do with my previous nationality or what The Brave thinks it is, the religion! I failed because I simply could not handle that much of stress, lack of sleep, hours and hours of studying and crappy food! All those people handled the mentioned and are successful now. All I can do at this stage is keep applying and studying. I was able to convince a reputable organization to grant me access to the course that I had started in late 2017 and never was able to finish it. They gave me 90 days! So I'd better use it and get the damn certificate. It's something in the resume and I learn a few things. 

Bull and Goat

Persian culture is full of poems. There are quite of number of poets that all have fantastic and unique poems, not seen in any other culture.. To name a few: Ferdowsi, Saadi, Khayyam, Hafez, Molavi, Roodaki. Khayyam was just praised by Google last month when it was his 971st birthday. He was born in Neyshabur, a city in current Iran. 

But why am I mentioning this here where people don't even know what a poem is or never have heard one in their entire life!? They all are busy with their iPhone and all inclusive vacation to Mexi-shit-co and all other drug source countries! I'm naming these a poem which works well here in my situation that A. F. seems to be upset about. The poet is unknown for this one and now it has been used as a proverb. It goes:

کار هر بز نیست خرمن کوفتن

گاو نر می‌خواهد و مرد کهن

It literally means that if you want to harvest your crop, you need big strong bulls. A small tiny goat is not going to get the job done. Obviously this story refers goes back to the time that agricultural machinery did not exist although still in many parts of the world animals are used for this type of work.

Saadi's tomb in Shiraz, Iran. Painting by French architect Pascal Coste. He also traveled to Isfahan.

This proverb applies to me and my recent job application where I was booted out of the training center after 4 months! Not to mentioned the more-than-a-year waiting just to get to the training!

The training was mostly mentally demanding. Some physical too. I however was so close but a mistake at the last minute made me fall!

There's no point to talk about it any more and I'm old enough to go back in 2 years or try any similar job. Just something in addition to that is the concept of If I can do it, you can do it, said to me before I go there, by A. F., does not always work!

(Photo: The picture that Google have recently used to celebrate Khayyam's birthday)

Doodh Patti

The Chef has become careful since he had a heart attack but because he's such a ignorant fool, he doesn't know what he should eat or not! I have told him several times, especially before the heart attack, that the amount of Red Meat, Sugar and Processed Oil that he consumes is too much but he only listens after he got into trouble and not even completely!

We got together for a cooking day and we made Kash-o-Bademjoon which is a traditional Iranian food made with Eggplant (Aubergine, as they call it in the UK and Europe), Onion, Garlic and Kashk (a Milk product with high fat content) and he was going to eat that until I told him Kashk is a source of animal fat which is very bad for him. 

The tea eventually looks like this. You can see the layer of fat and a piece of cardamom floating on the top 

Then we decided to have some tea at a break between cocking different foods. He introduced Doodh Patti to me which is a traditional tea common in Indian sub-continent. This tea basically could kill someone like The Chef easily! Doodh Patti which is the name known in Pakistan is a type of hot beverage that Tea is boiled in a mixture of Milk, Sugar and Cardamon. It's very tasty but as you see the ingredients, it's not healthy particularly in Pakistan where I'm sure they use lots of Sugar and high fat content Milk. For us The Chef used 3.25% Organic Dairyland Milk which is awesome if you don't have any health issue and added Brown Sugar as low as possible but still was not good for him or even me! When you have a cup, you can't stop! You want to have more and more. So I guess we ended up having 4 cups that day but I asked The Chef to add half water instead of Milk. I believe we still need to be alive for a few more years! 

Being from the South of Iran, the port city of Bandar-e-Abbas and living in Pakistan and India, The Chef has many food habits of that part of the word: Lots of Sugar, lots of Animal Fat, Rice, Flat Bread and lots of Spices. It's now painfully difficult for him to give up on those food after almost 50 years! 

(Photo, top: This is how the traditional Pakistani tea is made. One I first saw that I wondered why a kettle is not used and then The Chef told me that everyone makes it like this in Pakistan! We used Lipton tea for this and I have already written about the type of Milk that we used)

The Ruski

One of the classmates in the training center was a Russian girl. I was sitting next to her the very first day that we started our orientation. I shock hands with her and of course I immediately realized her background when I saw her name. She was a kind of girl who never backs up. A bartender with 8 years of experience who a little more than a year before had decided to give the training a try and I'm sure that she would finish soon and graduate. I had a few exchange or words with her because she was making too much noise and was talking too much crap but then we became friends despite our age differences. I was joking with her and I told her that she was my favorite lady! 

Last week I received a message from her saying that she was missing me! By the way she was not bad looking but she was not beautiful either. She was very sexy though! A girl could be very sexy but not pretty or beautiful. She had a very smooth skin and beautiful dark hair that she always wore it ponytail and great body. She has one of the finest asses that I have ever seen. She once said that the bar she used to work for would not close until she would perform the last dance and I can understand why! 

Anyways she send me a message a few nights ago saying she was missing me! I don't understand why a sexy young girl who is about to get a good job soon and is married, according to her, would miss someone like me who is much older than her, had been recently booted out of the training center, has no job and is at least 4000 Km away from her! 

I suspect that was probably one of the guys using her telephone. My response as usual was very polite and friendly. I would love to have a girlfriend like that but I know it's impossible for someone in my position. Someone who is not experienced with women and is very careful. I can't imagine myself being under the control of her but at the same time I know that would be a good life because she's not a kind of girl whom things should be taught to her. 

Russia has always been on the top of the list of the countries that I wanted to visit but it has not happened. I and The Pika were joking about that years ago! I still hope I can go there one day. 

(Photo: The USSR was divided to 15 countries with Russia the largest indicated by number 11)

The Beautiful Dale Hodges Park

I'm back to Calgary and I haven't done much so far. All I've done is I was able reactivate the course I was doing and I will have three month for that. I will finish it and I will get the certificate. Then I found out that the supervisor from the last job had quit and even he didn't know what was going on over there. I will have to give them a call to see perhaps they take me back. It's better than being unemployed and spending the savings. And then I applied for a job and contacted K1 through e-mail to see if he could help. He has been working for the same company for the past 8 years.

Then just two days ago when I was checking on The Brave's property while he was on a trip I decided to have a walk around Dale Hodges Park. I truly was amazing by the beauty and the variety of the wildlife and vegetation in the area. 

Fortunately it was a cloudy day and weekday. So the park was not busy and I spent 01:30 walking around and taking photos. I could have taken more and better photos, had I not been lazy and tired and the sky was clear but it still was not bad. I saw at least 5 different types of bird that I'm only able to name one of them. The park used to be a gravel pit and now is, of course, a beautiful park. Thanks Mr. Hodges. For a number of photos from the park refer to: https://www.flickr.com/photos/49680327@N05/

(Photo: This duck, if I'm not wrong, was surfing on the water so smoothly that it reminded me of alligators of Louisiana. Not that I've been there! But I would like to go)