--Jane Addams
This morning I walked our younger dog in the local "pocket park", Glendover Park. The other day I noticed that they are building something just adjacent to the park.
The part they plowed up and stuck culverts upon is just where the grass used to be left unmowed, so that killdeer could nest on the ground. Still, my dog and I walked around the little pond. We saw the wild duck and her two ducklings. Yesterday, when my wife and I walked at another park, Towne Lake Park, a toddler ran beside us towards a muscovy duck, saying "gotta go see the duckie". His mother followed along behind him ensuring, a bit frantically, that he did not experience either the water or the feel of a drake's bill. I do not know what they are putting on the land I thought was part of the park--more school, a baseball field, a mini-mall? We'll see.
This afternoon I worked, and then drove home through the "back way", a mildly rural drive, passing mimosa trees in bloom on side streets. I put on the CD 801 Live as I drove. I found my blood began really pumping when the song "Third Uncle" came on. Almost every Eno song benefits from the live performance. I could not remember enough of the words to sing along, though.
In response to my "encore song" poll some time ago, someone pointed out that they would cover the Big Star cover of a Kinks song, which I thought an utterly cool turn of phrase. I know that I'd cover 801's cover of "You Really Got Me", before I'd cover either the Kinks version or the Van Halen version. I worry that I discriminate against Van Halen, for even with Van Halen's "Jump", I'd cover Roddy Frame's Aztec Camera version.
Sometimes I feel as though everything is shrinking--and I'm just hunting some metaphoric greenspace.