It was so sunny and warm a few weeks ago that I went out with my family to Richmond Park's Isabella Plantation. It's a beautiful garden, especially in the spring and summer when the flowers are blooming, and along with the famous deer (
here are some photos I took of them last December), this is definitely one of the best things to see in the park. As you can imagine, the photographer in me became a little trigger-happy and decided to take photos of every single flower, bush and leaf I went past...
There's a pond in the garden which I usually just walk past without making much of a deal, but this time there were these amazing colourful ducks - which I later found out were male mandarin ducks - and I couldn't help but give them a little photo shoot! I don't know how I've never come across this type of duck before but I was obsessed. I'm not kidding when I say that I almost fell into the pond trying to get the right angle, and at one point I was almost lying on the wooden deck...
At least I wasn't the only one making a fuss at the pond; there were two mallard ducks attacking each other non-stop. You'd think that being ducks and all, the loudest sound they could possibly make would come from their beak, but no, they are seriously loud flappers. I think the incessant slapping sound they were making is what first caused me to look at the pond for the second time, otherwise I would have just walked on. It was a funny sight, though, as there were loads of people watching them, rooting for one or the other like they'd bet their entire life savings on this fight. (And I'm not going to lie - I secretly cheered one on too.) Sadly, I didn't stay long enough to see which duck had won, or if the fight had actually finished or not. Who knows, they might still be going at it to this day...
On the way back out of the garden, I came across the funniest sight which had me bent over and wheezing to catch my breath after laughing so hard. There was a fluffy white house cat (those super fluffy, super white ones that spend all day sleeping in the sunny spot on the windowsill), being walked. With a pink lead. It looked so fed up with its owner and the poor thing wasn't trying to hide it. It would walk forward for about one meter at a time, before lying down and rolling around for a few minutes. Its expression was one of pure annoyance and anger, any grumpier and its mouth and nose would merge together into one big line of grumpy. I understand that for health reasons some cats need to be walked, but of all the cats in the world, you could not find one more displeased with it!
I know I write about these sorts of days a lot, where I find myself in the middle of a field or in a forest, but I really do think taking time away from electronics and spending a few hours appreciating nature with family is such a lovely thing to do. It's relaxing, fun, and sometimes the greatest stories can come out of days like these.
♥
I love you
xxx
