In Search of a Novel Setting - A Photo Essay - Part 2

Something of a background of why I was fixated on this spot in a park near my home is covered in Part One of this photo essay. If you're nosy or want to see even more photos, take a gander at that post. If not, just accept I needed to see this area since it is the main setting for an urban fantasy I'm writing.

But a little more geographical and historic background info on this park. As mentioned previously, the locals call it The Lakes. If you want to find it on Google Maps, here's the link - "FDR Park, Philadelphia, PA," and truthfully, they aren't really lakes, just several wide sections to a stream flowing through.

And, for all you history buffs, the stream that flows through saved many of the soldiers at Valley Forge after that terrible winter. Before they built up this area, it was a marsh with that river gliding through. That river brought up shad for their springtime migration a month or two after Washington's men ran out of game in the area to eat. (They didn't have enough provisions, because the British Army torched the little town that had stocked up for the Continental Army's arrival. And then snowstorms stopped most attempts to bring in supplies, so they were stuck there all winter with just the clothes on their backs and whatever bullets they brought.) The run of shad in April was enough to feed a starving army and give them the strength to fight again. That and a very nice gingerbread maker, Christopher Ludwig from what we now call "Old Town" Philadelphia, baked as much bread as he could afford and took the wagon down himself. He became their quartermaster. (There is no more shad coming up the Delaware.)

This time I memorized exactly where to go to find the White Thing (hey, if you want that explained, you'll have to read Part One), on the Google Map of the area. All I had to do was walk straight into the woods for about a football field length. I knew exactly where to park. (No, I didn't really, but it was close enough.)

 

 

The novel has to do with homeless stuffed animals living in this park, so shelter is a concern. That's what interested me with this photo. Why are there two well taped boxes hiding under these trees with a whole bunch of fishing line wrapped around the branches right above the boxes? (Don't expect answers. I don't know, but it was worth a picture.)

 

 

But I kept walking due west until I passed the trees into a clearing. These vines interested me. Did someone eat pumpkin seeds and throw some away? Or maybe someone ate watermelon, and bears aren't the only ones to ____ in the woods. Anyone know what these vines are? It did teach me that the animals can grow vining vegetables, like I've been writing they have, and the weeds won't overtake them.

 

 

This butterfly wanted its picture taken, so I obliged. (Yes, it's a butterfly. A close up shows regular antenna, not the feathery antenna of moths.) Anyone know what kind of butterfly it is? I've never seen this type in our garden.

 

 

This is where any hint of a way to go ended. (Again, fear of marshy waters hiding underneath, poison ivy, and a poorly placed snake under my feet.) If I was going to find the White Thing, I should have found it around here.

 

 

 

 

 

Same field to the north.

 

 

 

 

 

West. (Aren't those tall thin plants among the weeds marsh reeds? I'm still not sure if the field is marshy, but, after two tries, if anyone reading the book wants to complain that it is marshy, more power too them for knowing.)

 

 

 

 

 

South.

 

 

 

And east, where I came out of the woods. Did you see anything that would turn into a light large roundish thing (aka the White Thing) on a Google Map? Hubby thought it was bushes. I thought it was a pile of chopped wood. John Beck thought it was a flowering tree. I couldn't find it and I know I should have been close enough to see it, so I'm guessing hubby or John was right and I simply missed the flowers. Or another part to what I thought was a field. (Much bigger than I thought.)

 

 

But, part of the story I had already written included plenty of trees around the field to make tree houses in. This proves not all trees are good for tree houses. (Still, look back over the field and you'll see some are.)

 

 

Back through the woods and I notice a place that I thought was nothing but woods is mowed lawn with lots of trees and a blacktop path. What was the black stuff I was stepping through?

 

 

 

I thought I took a picture that showed it here. The black things were on and under the tree on the upper left corner. It's full of them and white stuff, too. It just didn't show up in my photo. (If you find this, Diane, I hope it proves my contention that I'm lousy at taking photos.)

 

 

What I lack in photographic skills, I make up for by taking enough photos to pull one out that shows exactly what I wanted all of them to show--mulberries! I love mulberries. I would have taken a bunch home, had I known I would find some and had something to put them in. Or, maybe not. After all, The Lakes are home to a large group of robins, and, again, robins like worms and fruit, so I wouldn't want to horn in on their diet just to fill my overly fed stomach. BUT, the stuffed animals in my novel are in need of food and it's springtime, so it's good to see they can eat something found outside of their nighttime raids on city dumpsters and trash. After all, all bears, even teddy bears, love berries. (Personally, I think this is a good shot of a mulberry branch. Kinda artistic, but, like I keep saying, I'm not photographer.)

 

This would make a good tree house tree. I did find many old trees down there. This one couldn't be one of their tree house trees though, because it's in an area people roam too often. The whole concept is that people can't have stuffed animals anymore, so they had to throw all they've owned into the trash. If the stuffed animals don't hide from people, they end up in a landfill. (It makes more sense in the story, although, readers have to suspend all beliefs that stuffed animals aren't alive, but I think Winnie the Pooh proved that's possible long ago. On the other hand, that's the definition of urban fantasy--fantasy set in a modern city.)

 

This trip to the park was two to three weeks after the first one. Now I know--wild strawberry season lasts that long. (Look carefully, and you'll see little red dots and even one small yellow strawberry flower in the lower left corner.)

 

 

Before I visited the area, I had the secret entrance to the stuffed animal community's hideout right off the second bridge. That structure in the right corner is the end of that bridge, but there is no foliage and brush to hide their path like I thought. I need to rewrite that part. But, for perspective, that's the bears sitting on that tree stump. A huge open space if you're only eight to eighteen inches tall. (Pretty big, still, if you're six feet tall, too.)

 

Here I tried to get a picture of them with the first bridge in the background. Too much foliage to capture the other bridge, but it does show a bit of one of the ponds in the park. If you haven't read the first part, that's Teddy, Phil, and Spaulding, the same bears in the epic I'm writing for Gather and the main characters in the novel I'm working on offline--the reason for these visits to this park.)

 

There's the first bridge in the background. Along with berry picking and dumpster diving for food, the bears will learn to fish from a creek on the other side of that field I showed early. No way was I going to trek across the field to find the stream. I get lost too easily, ("Hey, Mister. You playing golf? Any chance you can tell me how to get back to the park?" Not going to happen at my age.) and, I admit, exploring isn't my comfort zone. So, this also gives me some idea what they would look like fishing. (Sure, they're smart enough to use poles and get closer to the water, but I'm smart enough not to get my shoes muddy and to know this pond is too shallow for good size fish. If you've read my epic, just want you to know, there really are frankenfish (aka Walking Snakefish from China - an invasive species finding its way to lakes across the country) in these waters. The other ecological problems talked about in that story are real life problems for The Lakes, too. (I really do love this park. As mentioned, I'm from the burbs, so this park gives me the best sense of suburbs when too much city life gets to me. I just prefer the open spaces that include paved walking paths.)

 

By now, I was merely checking out the area the stuffed animals would cross to get to where they're hiding. Now that I know "the field" is full of four-foot high weeds, (Is it still considered a field, if you can't see the ground?) they need some place to play, and get in a little trouble. This works for me. But, this is just a single daisy I found and liked, so I took the picture.

 

 

I can't help it. I like big old trees and I'm checking for tree house trees.

 

 

 

 

I used a photo illusion from my photo software for this. It was the best way to see the spider's web. I know, you still can't see it very well, but it looks just like the spider web you drew as a kid.

 

 

 

 

Great climbing tree/tree house tree. The bears needed to test it out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like how this tree was dead, but still had a way of hiding.

 

 

 

Honest. There were a couple of robins when I snapped the picture. There is a second pause between clicking the camera and the camera taking the shot, and they ran into the brush in that pause. But, that's a great climbing tree even for little kids.

 

 

That's it. Not bad for a park in a city with over one million people. I could get lost there. Oh, wait. I did get lost - often. Now, I sit in comfort--a/c on, electricity lighting my room, and not a single swarming insect to be seen or felt. Civilization has its advantages, but I think I did as much as I'm able to scope out a place for accuracy to be included in a children's chapter book. I hope you enjoyed the "exotic" sites of Philly.