Afternoon walks

In my French family, there is a tradition to have a walk in the afternoon after lunch. There are plenty of parks and woods with walking trails around, and most often we are not alone. We are joined usually by families with young kids, old couples holding hands, or a man or a woman walking their dog. We do not have this tradition in our own small family but since we have nice weather at the end of winter, we decided to go out for an afternoon walk. We loved it so we continued with more walks in the wood.

On a sunny day, trees are clearly reflected on the lake surface.

The leaveless trees are welcoming spring who would revitalizing their life.

Walking in the wood. It is such a huge difference to a tropical forest.

The little girl is happy to go out. These days she waves her arms and legs in excitement realizing that we are heading out.

Dozing off on daddy's chest, so comfortable.

The big girl has plenty to do : picking up flowers, collecting stones, touching everything with her stick...

Most of the time she walks behind us since she has too many things to occupy herself. But from time to time she rushes to catch up with us.

Passing through a bridge. It is actually a canal bridge.

Walking through a tunnal, the big girl liked the echoing effect.

While enjoying the peaceful scenery, it made me think of a Chinese poem I once learnt at school.

Withered vine, old tree, crows at dusk (枯藤老树昏鸦) 

Here I'm replacing crows with ducks since they sound the same in Mandarin. :-)

Tiny bridge, flowing brook, cottages (小桥流水人家) 

Acient road, west wine, lean nag 古道西风瘦马

The poem ends with:

The sun sinking west, a heart-torn traveler at the end of the world (夕阳西下, 断肠人在天涯)

It resonates in a sad atmosphere but it was certainly not how I felt at that moment. It actually warmed my heart with the peaceful, tranquility ambiance, especially the lovely time I got to spend with my beloved family.