sometimes it's the people at the zoo, not the animals, that really make you smile

don't get me wrong

this 8 year old "baby" orangutan

made me and all the other primate watchers totally crack up with her little shenanigans

but

it was the people at the park behind the zoo

whose personalities touched my heart the most

~~

november

and

70 degrees

don't go hand in hand

when you live in wisconsin

so yesterday when that combination happened

I grabbed my camera and ran

~~

just like me

everyone was outside soaking up the sun

like it might possibly be our last breath of air

before winter comes and sucks the life right out of us

~

and

I mean everyone

little girls feeding the geese

students drawing

dogs with their humans

napping

women reading

whoa wait

look at this familiar face that found me at the zoo

oh how I adore this little one so much

especially since I feel like she actually remembered me

a sunglass wearing baby

who completely melted my heart

and

like my little love above

has hair that made me smile and laugh out loud

young adults with a great camera

being completely goofy taking photos of each other

who

who were totally into jumping for me and my camera

and

then stood and talked to me for a long time

not caring at all that I was old enough to be their mother

a guy who asked us what we were taking photos of

and

who was totally happy doing a ninja style jump for all of us

a preteen girl kicking her heels up while wading in the lake

a little boy visiting his aunt

who had the cutest little sandy bottom

a four legged sweetie

kicking her heels up

too

~looking like this might be her last swim of the season~

and

last but not least

this sweet little girl

with sandy hands and a sandy face

that kept me running in circles

~wow was she ever fast~

~~

thank you

each and everyone of you

who said "yes"

when I asked if I could take your photo for my blog

~

you have no idea what it means to me to have your trust

and

to show others that strangers can be the nicest people ever

when you say

"do you mind if I take your photo"

~

~note to self~

business cards don't do any good when you leave then at home

~

thanks to all of you who gave me yours and my apologies for the little scraps of paper that I gave you

in return

*

~note to my blog loves~

more photos from my day at the "park behind the zoo"

are over here at ruby luna

~~

~note to photographers~

other than the jumping photos

all of these photos were taken with my "zoo" lens which is my 70-300 zoom

that I really never use for portraits

and

surprisingly they turned out better than I had expected

*