Justin Parke

#WednesdayWalk 🚶‍♂️ #MakeMeSmile 😄 #Monomad Edition 📷 Paramaribo, Suriname

I went for a walk to take some #Monomad 📷 photos but also realized it would be a great #WednesdayWalk 🚶‍♂️ #MakeMeSmile 😄 too.

A Black & White Wednesday Walk To Make Us Smile

**#wednesdaywalk by @tattoodjay****#makemesmile by @elizacheng****#monomad by @monochromes**

Out & About

@Sreypov and I have been cooped up in this small apartment for too many days, so we decided to go for a walk, stretch our legs, and get some natural Vitamin D.

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](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/wuaM3WDY-dog.JPG)^{*always have to wake up the guard dog for permission to open the gate*}

Without a destination, we took some cash and a shopping bag just in case we stumbled upon some reasonably priced fruits and vegetables.

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](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/JeF5VBFE-gate.JPG)^{*permission to leave granted by Tyson the dog, named after Mike Tyson*}

Taking inspiration from @Sreypov's posts, I decided to head to the nearby canal to see if there was any urban wildlife to be found.

You Snooze You Lose

We have a neighbor that has been trying to kill their noni tree for months, but it keeps coming back between the fence and an ornamental shrub.

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](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/lCPff64t-noni.JPG)^{*@sreypov reaching inside to find some young and tender leaves free of road-dust*}

The noni tree literally reaches out to us from the roadside begging to be put to valuable use, and if the owner is not home, we feel obligated to pick.

Today we weren't after fruit, but young leaves in order to make Amok, a traditional Khmer curry. Our landlord uses chemicals in her garden, so we try as much as possible to forage from nearby abandoned land and neglected areas.

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](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/o9B4M54T-signs.JPG)^{*nearby intersection - Bechaniestraat & Debie Bhikharieweg...the longer the name, the better here*}

Noni leaf successfully snatched, we rounded the corner and I snapped a picture of a typical Suriname street sign. The length of street names is boggling, but luckily we live on Bechaniestraat, a short name by Dutch language standards.

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](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/RDIUy4Fj-street.JPG)^{*rounding the corner heading towards the canal, noni tree on the right*}

Solutions

A really smart and simple solution Suriname has for managing roadside trash collection are these "elevated temporary trashbag receptacles," not sure what to call them.

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](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/prwQEdN3-trash.JPG)^{*smart solution to a common problem - dogs spreading trash*}

In Cambodia, our former home, most people just bag their trash and throw it on the streetside, sometimes days ahead of trash collection. Usually dogs rip open the the bags and the trash gets scattered everywhere, but here the trash is safe from dogs.

Grease the pole a bit and I guess these things would be rat-proof too.

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](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/lv7zPof6-neem.JPG)^{*@sreypov picking a few neem fruits to ponder a use for them*}

Neem trees are a common site in Suriname, and it seems every house has at least one. We use them in our food, although Surinamers mostly use them for medicine and religious purposes.

The flowers of the neem tree are edible as well as the leaves, but we've never heard of any medicinal or other use for the neem fruit. Perhaps you Hivers have a traditional use in your country you can tell us.

Working

Seems everything was working today in some form, whether driving, selling or flying, human and non-human alike.

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](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/mPShUltB-fork.JPG)^{*forklift on the road*} [

](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/pDRyQ3Ry-bee.JPG)^{*bees are always hard at work*} [

](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/v0rIY5oz-beee1.JPG)^{*another bee at work on a nearby flower*} [

](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/C7MJfa04-dutch.JPG)^{*used Dutch bicycles for sale*}

Life At The Canal

Before COVID-19, I used to walk this path to take the @KidSisters to and from school. I always remember there being bird life in the canal, so decided this spot would be a great place to take some more photos.

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](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/SIVxgqgX-canal.JPG)^{*on the left is the canal, between two streets*}

We managed to find a few clearings where could get access to the waterside and a chance at some birds living their lives.

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](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/QF9T7EWt-bird1.JPG)^{*hunting for a live snack*}

I learned to how steady the camera using framing assist recently, and this was a perfect opportunity to test these skills, as many of the birds were quite far away.

^scan	^relocate	^eat

There was an incredible variety of birds in this little canal between the streets. I even managed to catch a few action shots, much to my surprise.

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](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/lKiG2xMw-buddies.JPG)^{*little guy waiting his turn at the fishing hole*}

^{strange bird, skin hanging from its beak}	^{most successful fisher by hands down}

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](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/DTiYoMAK-pov.JPG)^{*@sreypov tried to catch butterflies while I focused on birds*}

The Smaller Flyers

As we were working our way down the canal, we came across an area full of dragonflies, and I managed to catch a few good shots.

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](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/by6SU9ih-dfly.JPG)^{*never still for long, lucky to get this one*}

In the below photo, I may have caught a dragonfly shedding his skin. I was shooting in black and white and only noticed one dragonfly. What do you all think, second dragonfly or shed skin?

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](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/pua7oQ4g-hgd.JPG)^{*I may have caught this guy shedding his skin, but didn't see two dragonflies in the photo*} [

](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/dQHLyFS6-butterfly.JPG)^{*this lone butterfly was among the dragonfly party*}

Further Down The Canal

A little downstream we found this guy/gal hard at work landing a fish nearly every minute. We stopped to marvel at these fishing skills.

@Sreypov managed a few pics too, and I love to take pictures of people watching things, so I snapped a few shots from her point of view.

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](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/bXw5CQxT-55.JPG)[

](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/justinparke/i2hvxXqS-66.JPG)

Smiles All Around

Sometimes it's good to get out of the house and go for a walk, because even the sunshine and exercise alone is enough to change one's mood for the better.

We are surprised to have so much biodiversity around us, even in this urban environment.