Summer in Spring Grove

Alternate title, the time I twisted/sprained my ankle walking around the pond.  But that's what I get when I'm not looking where I'm walking because I'm so focused on the enormous fish in the pond!  Seriously, have you ever seen them?!  They are like the size of baby sharks!  Somehow, in all the times I've been to Spring Grove I've never seen them before.  I guess I was always just too focused on the turtles to notice the fish.  Anyway, luckily when I stepped in the hole and my ankle went "crunch!" no one was around to see it and I just sat on the ground for a while until I could put some weight on it.  I have really weak ankles and have twisted and sprained my ankles more times than I can count (but only one fracture, so far, though)!  This felt worse than a twisted ankle but not as bad as any of my other sprains (which have all been pretty bad and involved falling down stairs onto concrete)...so I chalked it up to a very mild sprain and didn't bother going to the doctor.  Don't do what I do kids, it's dumb!  And you better believe that next time I go to Spring Grove I'll be wearing my very supportive hiking boots, even if it's just for a leisure walk to take some pictures.

Anyway, here's what I shot before I fell (and on the way to my car).  Still experimenting shooting in manual which is fun, but I definitely still have a lot of learning to do!

It might have just been me, but there seemed to be a ton of dragonflies out and about the weekend of the July 4th.

The reason I originally went to Spring Grove that day was to take pictures of the Southern magnolias.  However, most of the flowers were either fried or not open yet, so I didn't get as many photos as I was hoping for and then I didn't care for most of the ones I took.

This guy was following me around as I walked along the pond, it was quite adorable.  (This was pre-falling!)

Sorry I've been AWOL for a week or so!  I was distracted and kind of forgot to post.  I'm now caught up with my July 4th weekend photos (I know, I'm so behind!).  Anyway, happy Wednesday!  I can't believe it's Wednesday already.  The week seems to be flying by, which is rather nice.