Small town Canadia once again! This post is for Wednesday Walk challenge championed by our friend @tattoodjay and the Make me Smile Collaboration challenge lead by @elizacheng. The basic idea is going for a walk, taking pictures, sharing stories and making people smile.

This Weds, I am getting my feet back on the ground after some bonus summer adventure.

Whenever I walk past Revival House, I am compelled to stop and take a picture. Owned by a friend and gardened graciously by another friend, it is a pollinators paradise and a mighty fine restaurant to visit.

It was a business meeting to discuss promotion during the shoulder season and enjoy some time on the patio. Great place to be and hard to consider work but we enjoyed a productive session.

We are in the middle of the season where a sweater is a great idea in the morning and not so great in the warm afternoon. Plenty of intermittent rain has made for the city-planted flowerbeds are doing well. The skies are blue and we are still pretending it just didn't tick over into autumn.

Looking north past the Town Crier Marketing office, traffic seems to be waning a little in on hump day as the theatre season slows a little in September. There are still plenty of performances at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival https://www.stratfordfestival.ca/ and no shortage of tourists still but not the craziness of July and August.

Soon, the parking will be more reasonable and free on evenings and weekends which will be nice. All summer, I park in the free lot that is next to this historic old eye sore. It is called The Cooper Site where locomotives used to come to get serviced 100 years ago or more. Since that industry slowed and this facility folded, it has been in mothballs while they calculate the toxic mess of decades of oil seeping into the soil. Always the subject of city debate and a place I would explore like I was @slobberchops if it wasn't so prohibited and enforced.

The dog park was my next outdoor stop on humpday and the skies were a neat shade of purple, magenta or fuscia, depending upon your persuasion. Mosquitos are voracious still as they have been for most of the summer. The sun is setting a little earlier as well so I occasionally have the park to myself.

I am still taking more shots from this spot in the back trail area. I intend to combine a hundred or so pictures from this place from all seasons into an animated gif or a short for @3speak Soon, the leaves will change colour and thin out as the colder months set in. Til then, it is mosquitoville and that little dood absolutely loves to run the trail and scour the forest.

Birdhouse tree is the tallest in the park and is starting to show the slightest change of hue in the leaves. I am hoping they turn a nice orange or red and stay on the tree long enough while vibrant before falling.

The far end is still flooded with green pushing in on the path from all directions. A touch of yellow in some plants and you will soon be able to see the power lines on the far side when the leaves fall.

A curious scene in the middle of the park has some people wondering. They have peeled a back corner of the fence off and laid down skis on a rather large portion of the area. There is a planned closure of the park the next couple days as they roll in some heavy equipment to service they hydro lines. Dogs will have to find a new place to play a couple days and I will be Wedswalking in the nature preserve or trails behind the museum next week.

We are the last ones in the park this night and it was time for one last high speed lap for Sir Runsalot. He will sleep well tonight. Seeing him so active and happy makes me smile.

On the way out of the park, the soccer/football pitches are playing host to a couple games. Seems these are being used much more than the baseball diamonds here. Seems a little depressing seeing an empty field that should be full of teams or even neighbourhood kids playing and having fun. Good to see soccer gaining in popularity though as it is fun and fantastic exercise.

One last shot out the front of the car on the way home for the evening. Fuzzyface is in the back seat pulling all the burrs out of his fur with his teeth. Looks like a nice cool night which will be perfect for sleeping.

Great to be back in the routine with nice relaxing weekends, plenty of walking time, and soon there will be hockey to watch! THanks for joining me for another #WednesdayWalk in my small town.

Cheers!

Are you looking forward to the changing of the season?