October afternoon in the park

Yesterday afternoon it looked like it was going to be the warmest day for a while, with a high of 16C, so I dropped off  Elaine for a bike ride and then drove to the park to meet her there.   I dropped off Elaine at Kiwanis Park and she rode her bike to our usual meeting place at Pine Island in Wascana Park.  After she met me there I went onto the island and took some pictures while she rode her bike around the lake.
   

 It was a nice fall day with some sun and cloud but fairly windy at 30 km/hr and gusty.    You can see in the picture above the choppy waves with some rowers practicing.    That side of the island was facing the wind off the lake so I couldn't walk around a lot since the wind is hard on my breathing.   But I walked some and then stopped to take some pictures or sit on a bench for a while. 

 I put 5 of the pictures together in a panorama (using a program that came with our Canon SX130IS camera) of the view across the lake toward the legislature and downtown and the marina at the far right.   I posted previously a panorama of this view at sunset.  

Afterward we went around the lake opposite Willow Island where it was more sheltered from the wind.   While we were there sitting on a bench looking across the lake our friend Dale (Elaine's 2nd cousin) came along walking home from work.  He said,  "What are you doing here?    I answered,  "Just being retired sitting on a park bench."   We felt like we had not gone to the park enough often in the summer and the warmer fall days may soon be gone.  So we take advantage of the nice days when we can, and being retired makes our schedule a little more flexible.