My favorite place to walk in Our Fair City is an urban park set just outside of downtown–I think of it as a little Central Park, although I’ve never been. Riverside Park has winding paved paths curving around and through lagoons, wetlands, and a spectacular tree canopy. I watch the geese, roller bladers, bikers, and disc golfers as I walk, and truth be told I even caught a couple Pokemon here this week–but I wasn’t so fixed on my screen that I couldn’t notice this tiny treasure: a polka dot feather!
Our house is within city limits, but just. The area probably has more undeveloped land than other other part of the city–which is a blessing to those of us who enjoy city living with suburban style, but a curse when it comes to fighting off developers. Right behind our house are nine acres that the neighborhood association has fought to keep free of apartments. This week I took meeting notices and a site plan around to 24 neighbors who border the property and would be most affected by yet another proposed development. Three hours of chatting and hoping to get people bring questions and concerns to a meeting with the developer next week. Community organizing is what makes a good city great.
So there’s this nugget of sweet baby to snuggle. Her big brother calls her Lala, his version of ‘Alexis’. We don’t know her real well yet, since we just met a couple weeks ago, but I. am. in. love. That big brother keeps me busy on Grammy day. This week we went to the library–he played in the play kitchen while I chose 2 books for him to keep in his special library bag at my house. Not that he stops long enough to read, but a grandma can hope! We got out of the library without a tantrum (or, I should say, just a tiny one!) because the kind librarian came to my rescue, trading Jonas one of the kitchen toys for a sticker. Whew! Then it was back to my house for some time in the wading pool and lunch. Little man is a petite thing who couldn’t get enough macaroni and cheese for lunch–at one point he was scooping with his fork while he shoveled handfuls in between.
I swear we have winter nine months of the year. Not really, but still. Our Great Lakes growing season is short and that makes CSA produce that much more of a treat. “Our” farmers Deane, Linda, and Tory of Chimney Creek Farm are the best local food ambassadors. Each year they host a spring open house where share holders can visit the woodlot pigs they raise (and we’ve eaten!), as well tour the hoop houses and fields. The fall brings a pumpkin share where everyone can pick out their own pumpkin. These farmers have gotten me to try turnips and kohrabi–and last week’s share allowed me to indulge my passion for pickled beets. This week’s bounty was summer at its peak: zucchini, green pepper, garlic, onion, cucumber, tomatoes, melon, plums, apricots. It’s like Christmas when I open my bags and spread out the goodies.
And then there’s this. Yearbooks arrived and I met the driver to sign for delivery, and then stayed to begin to put my room back together again. *sigh* But as much as my heart sinks a bit each time I think about summer’s end, there is something energizing about starting out fresh again with a new batch of kids, clean cupboards, and a clear desk. Until the first week of September!
This is a book blog, right? So you must see what I’m reading: Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet by H. P. Woods. I’m about halfway and it’s an 
original story which gets high marks in my book. Kitty finds herself stranded on Coney Island. Her brother dead, mother disappeared, Kitty herself kicked out of her hotel room for reasons unknown. She’s befriended by freaks from the amusement park shows: a giant, a man with no legs, a she-man, and a confidence man. The plague has broken out on the island and the police are rounding up victims and quarantining them. And of course because we humans fear the unusual, the freaks are to blame for the crisis. I love an unconventional storyline and getting lost in a turn-of-the-century freak show gives me a peek into a world I know nothing about.
This is my symphony 