There are those who like to mix up the ways in which they walk through their neighborhoods, and then there are people like me, who persist in going the exact same way each day. “Don’t you want to see something new?” more than one person has asked me, to which I respond “But I do!” The sprouting up in the springtime of new flowers, and their opening a bit more every day. Braids of rainwater at the curbs after a big downpour. A cleaning woman parked outside the house down my street opening her car to drag out a vacuum the size of New Jersey. At this time of year, you see the daily minute changes in the turning of the leaves. Yesterday, I found a helicopter seed from a maple tree lying on someone’s car windshield. It was colored orange and yellow and I found it very beautiful and so I took it and when I took it I feared someone would come out if their house and shout, “Hey! What do you think you’re doing? I was going to USE that!” No one did shout at me, of course they didn’t, but the thing is, I wouldn’t have been surprised if they did. If they had, I would have brought the helicopter over to lay in the palm of their hand and agree with them that it was a very useful thing indeed. Why, you could use it for….for…well, a bookmark! A decoration for a charcuterie platter! Something for the cat to chase! Well, maybe not that last. Poor helicopter seed.
Other things I look for on my walk are the white/yellow dog with what looks like a star on his forehead who is always lying on the front porch in front of a house on the next block over. I always want to see what that dog is up to. Usually it’s not much; he is very old, and an exciting day is one where he lifts his muzzle to stare myopically at passers by. On VERY exciting days, he rises up stiffly to consider a bark, but then, almost without fail, rejects the idea in favor of settling back down in his still-warm spot.
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