Shimmering, Shining Green Lake

  I have another set of summer photos to share. These ones are from Green Lake. I went there one late afternoon in August with David and Jessie. We had a Thai food picnic, then we walked around the lake. I remember that we saw an all white dog with big ears that stuck up and were pale pink on the inside. He looked like a bunny rabbit dog! We saw another dog that had his leash in his mouth. He was giving himself a walk! How sophisticated and self sufficient!

   There are many animals that live in Green Lake. Ducks float upon it, fish swim underneath it's watery surface, and turtles can often be spotted lounging on logs poking up from between the lily pads. But, maybe innocuous animals are not the only creatures that call Green Lake home. I heard a rumor a long time ago that someone released their pet alligator in Green Lake. It is sad for this alligator, first to be kept in captivity at all, then to be released in a murky city lake. He probably felt lonely being the only alligator in the little lake. No one wanted him there either. I'm sure anytime a swimmer brushed their foot against a rough lake rock, their heart thumped, thinking perhaps they were feeling the scaly back of the alleged alligator.
  There is an island in the middle of Green Lake. Originally, it was called Swan Island because some ambitious park planner wanted swans to live around Green Lake. But the plan failed and the ducks came instead of the swans. Now the island is called Duck Island. Maybe the alligator went to live on duck island. I imagine him lounging in the brush, enjoying the few bits of sun rays that burst through the clouds here and there. Maybe he has befriended the ducks or the salamanders, or maybe he is content in his solitude, or maybe he doesn't exist at all and there never was an alligator in Green Lake.