My Daily Photo Walk: Day 28

On this last day of September, I went to Lily Pons, a water gardening grower/retailer near Frederick in Adamstown. Lily Pons is a beautiful property consisting of 250 acres, one side of which borders the Monocacy River. It is full of ponds choked with water lilies, lotus, and other aquatic plants. There are open ponds with little islands, and right in the property is a pink house-turned-shop that sells pond supplies and pond fish. There is also a large koi pond on the grounds, with some fish up to two feet long.

When you walk at Lilypons, you can choose gravel roads, mowed lawns, weed-filled rutted lanes, or wooded areas for your walking pleasure. If you worry about twisting an ankle or a knee, stick to the mowed lawns and gravel roads, because the holes and ruts are sometimes overgrown with weeds, hiding what lurks below.

During my visit today, there was a group with "dock dogs" training them to fetch objects thrown into the water off a runway/platform. Barking dogs were lined up with their owners, enjoying the beautiful day and the excitement of being next to plunge into the water.

I tried to do some video with my camera, and I clearly need to practice that. I had my sunglasses on, making it hard to see the icons on the LCD screen, so I did not even know when it was recording. I ended up with a couple of videos of grass, but the sound quality was good on the short clips I did manage to get. I will make that something to practice so that I can include a video clip one of these days.

A few water lilies were still in bloom in the ponds, but the lotus were finished and their huge dinner-plate leaves were drying along side the seed pods. Insects and animals were evident everywhere. I saw muskrat, frogs, birds, turtles, gnats, and butterflies today. On previous visits I have seen great blue herons, white egrets, turkey vultures, snapping turtles, and even a fox.