On Saturday, we had high heat and wall-of-water thick humidity. I woke to a bit of thunder on Sunday morning, followed mostly by drizzle. By Sunday afternoon, sunny conditions were back, but not so much heat. Or humidity. Chamber of commerce weather, as an old colleague of mine used to call it.

Today was a little hot for ideal c-of-c weather, but I like it. Cicadas have returned in the late afternoons, followed by just a hint of crickets after dark. We still have fireflies.

One late afternoon last week we went to Gray Farm Park & Conservation Area, which is 47 acres tucked away off any main street here in the northwest suburbs. Even though it has a large water feature, I expect it’s mostly unknown except to nearby residents.
I know about it because I troll maps. The only kind of trolling I do. We entered the park from Cloverdale Lane, and then walked as far as the elementary school.
Much of the park is an open field, though some is a long pond edged by metal bracing.
The conservation area — which is mostly large open-water cattail marsh — is behind tall grass this time of year.
Though if you look carefully enough, you can find a path through the tall grass just behind the nearby elementary school. The path leads to a boardwalk.
The boardwalk dead ends before long, but it does offer a view of the much larger pond — the cattail marsh. A grassy view, but a view all the same.
I’ve read that Gray Farm is a good place for bird watching. But my impulse to watch birds doesn’t go much beyond, hey, that’s an interesting-looking bird. What’s it called? I don’t know either. Never mind.

Yesterday after dinner we headed over to Joseph L. Fabbrini Park for a walk around its large ponds. As part of the Hoffman Estates Park District, it isn’t that far from where we live, but even so we go there only about once a year.

When the girls were smaller, we took them to this park more often, for its extensive playground equipment. It was known as Highpoint Park back then. When was the name changed? Who was Fabbrini? A plaque on a boulder near the park entrance, facing away from the setting sun when I saw it, told me: 2015 to answer the first question; a founder of the park district for the second.

Besides the playgrounds and a walking/running path around the water features, the park also features a soccer field and a softball field, a place for volleyball, and tennis courts and pickleball courts. Lilly pointed out the pickleball courts. It isn’t anything I’ve ever played, or was more than vaguely aware of, but she played it in school.

Naturally, I had to look it up later. I didn’t get much further than this site. It tells us — breathlessly — that “as the fastest growing sport in the United States and gaining momentum around the world, you’ve either become hooked on Pickleball or are about to be!”

Nah. Beyond the sports facilities are nice views of the ponds.

As the path takes you around. We walked a total of about 1.8 miles around both ponds.

Enormous trees tower over the ponds in some places. Willows, especially.

The dog was more interested in flora closer to the ground.

A light snack for her.