Picnic in Stewart Park, Ithaca on August 4th, 2016, and Night Views in Cornell

by admin

I’m not sure, but somehow it seemed that the organizers of the month-long workshop at Cornell thought there should be some unique activities each week. So for the last week, the organized a picnic at Stewart Park, a local recreational park on Lake Cayuga.

There was food (sadly I guessed this unproportionally summarized the picnic for quite a number of us), ball games offered by the wonderful professors at Cornell, and breathtaking views of Lake Cayuga under a setting sun. There wasn’t much to talk about for the picnic, so this post would largely be a photo display of sunset at Stewart Park, together with the birds that dwelt in it.

As with Chinese convention, the two of us from Tsinghua joined the procession of SJTU students, and laughed our way for 2.8 kilometers to Stewart Park.

Lake Street

The images in this post are hosted on Imgur. Email me should there be any display problems.

Toad Decorations outside Homes
Since the majority of the program participants came from SJTU, there was quite some excitement as this being a metaphor for the Toad.

Tabernacle Baptist Church against Sun

Ithaca Streets

Fall Creek through Ithaca

Ithaca High School Gym

Ithaca High School Parking Lot

Walking Along New York State Route 13

Baseball Field outside Ithaca High

Railways Threshold to Stewart Park

Here I shall skip the food part of the picnic. I shall summarize the ball game part of the picnic by saying I played Badminton with my friend, with a soft bat designed for kids (which was super fun); and I made the first baseball swing of my life, also with a plastic bat designed for kids. So, it was basically the professors offering toys for their once kindergarten sons and daughters to a bunch of university students.

Moving on to the scenery part, the park looked splendid by the water under a setting sun.

Tree against Sun

Shorelines of Lake Cayuga

Lake Cayuga

Sunset over Lake Cayuga

Lake Cayuga

Sunset over Lake Cayuga

Then I bumped into a bunch of ducks and gulls, traces of nature.

Bird in Stewart Park Meadow

Birds in Stewart Park Meadow

Birds Flying over Stewart Park

Swamp in Stewart Park

Setting Sun over Stewart Park Swamps

Setting Sun over Stewart Park Dock

Ducks in Stewart Park

Ducks Crossing Street in Stewart Park

Birds Flying over Stewart Park

Birds Flying in Stewart Park

Duck in Stewart Park

Man Feeding Birds in Stewart Park

Oh, the ducks and gulls were fed. No wonder there’re so many of them flying around.

Sunset over Lake Cayuga

Sunset over Lake Cayuga behind Clouds

Lake Cayuga under Sunset Glow

Railways Threshold to Stewart Park

Ion Bridge over Fall Creek

Pavements on East Lincoln Street

Sunset Glow over Lake Cayuga

Alice Cook House at Night

At this time I thought it’s too early to call it a day, so I went up the slopes for more night shots.

Cornell West Campus Apartments and West Ithaca

Libe Slope and Lake Cayuga in the Distance

Downtown Ithaca in the Distance

Cornell West Campus Apartments and West Ithaca

Trees on Libe Slope

McFaddin Hall and Lyon Hall and War Memorial

Branches before Stars

Cornell University Bell Tower at Night

Stars Floating in the Sky

It felt to me that stars were a thing of the past in China under its severe air pollutions. Seeing the in the states was like, meeting a good old friend that I’ve long missed. Although stars were among the least of things I longed for.

Also, the five minutes of taking these shots were a good time for contemplation, for a pause that otherwise would not be possible in the daily rushes.