9:04 a.m. and I am home from my morning walk. The thermometer says 74 degrees, but I am a sweaty mess. I’m not going to check out the humidity. I already know that it is high.
I’ve been making alterations to my regular neighborhood trek lately and this morning I randomly took a turn up a street I usually pass by. I discovered a beautiful wildflower garden. Intentional and well kept it has been created on a piece of shared property. You know, that area just off the street, between two driveways. One half belongs to one neighbor and the other to the people next door. What a beautiful bit of communal landscaping. I stopped to take pictures, of course.
The homeowner to the west also has a fantastic water feature that takes up a big expanse of their front yard and a Little Free Dog Treat house. Across the street is a Little Free Library with a painted chair alongside.
This is a quiet neighborhood. Mostly the noise we get comes from assorted lawn equipment or the rat-tat-tat of a new roof being laid down. I don’t consider the birdsong noise, just part of the general ambience.
I continued on through the sidewalk that runs between two houses and connects Sumner Street to the Morley School playground. The grounds keeper has recently sprayed all the trillions of weeds that grow during the summer without the daily trampling of small feet. In August the poison will be evaporated away and the little feet will return to do their job. A yearly tradeoff I presume!
A few years ago some well-intentioned parent or teacher group created a butterfly garden on the west side of the school. They did a good job and included a path with a bench and lots of local plants and pollinators. But the garden has fallen into disrepair. Those parent’s children must be in high school by now. Their time is now taken up with sports and clubs there is no time for a grade school garden project. I hope a new round of grade school parents takes up their mantel. It would be a shame to let it all go to weeds.
Around the corner and the air is filled with the clucking’s of angry chickens! One in particular is awfully upset. On the other side of a tall wooden fence I can see the wire top of the pen where they live. How fun! Fresh eggs in the city!
A house with an unknowable number of bicycles on a rack in back features a statue of Mary in front. Just down the street a yard holds many colorful signs. Rainbow colored hearts and one that reads, “Keep your hands off my uterus!” I’d say all ideologies are covered on that block!
The shade in my neighborhood is abundant. Shade gardens at the bases of towering oaks and maples are growing more and prominent in home landscapes. They are certainly featured in mine. As I walk I check out what others are doing to get ideas or to compare plants and hardscape ideas. Mine, I am happy to say, stacks up pretty well amongst the many I see!
I am home now, cooled off and ready for the rest of my day to begin. I’ll take a different route in the morning. Who knows what I might find?