On Mulberry Street

Posted on June 29, 2013 by TJ

More of our cherries our getting ripe. Yesterday I put on a hoodie with the hood up and went out to pick them. I persevered as long as I could, but the mosquito hoard soon drove me back inside. I was only able to harvest a few cherries.

Later I took my dog for a walk. Many times when I walk Danny, I think of the Dr. Seuss book, And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street:

When I leave home to walk to school
Dad always says to me,
“Marco, keep your eyelids up
and see what you can see…”

But when I tell him where I’ve been
And what I think I’ve seen,
He looks at me and sternly says,
“Your eyesight’s much too keen.”

“Stop telling such outlandish tales
Stop turning minnows into whales.”
Now, what can I say
when I get home today?

Only, unlike the little boy in the story, I find that what I see is often strange or interesting enough that I don’t have to make up wild stories. Sometimes I see beautiful clouds or flowers. Sometimes I see an interesting bug. One time I saw a huge praying mantis at the side of the street. I called my son on the cellphone and asked him if he wanted to come see it, and he drove the car over, and we stood there remarking on the hugeness of its size. And sometimes I see people doing interesting things.

Yesterday as Danny and I walked, I saw someone mowing his (or her?) lawn, which isn’t remarkable in itself. However, this person was dressed in white coveralls with a white hood covering his head. The hood was a towel-like covering like you see on shepherds in nativity scenes. The person was so covered from head to foot that only his face was visible. I had my camera with me–because I never know what I will see–and I took pictures. They didn’t come out very well because I was trying not to be too obvious about taking the picture, and the person’s lawn mowing route kept taking him out of my sight. I suspect that the person was dressed like this to protect him from the vicious horde of mosquitoes as he mowed his lawn. Either that or he is actually an alien living among us and can’t go outside without a special life suit. Or maybe…

We have had so much rain this week that yesterday a lot of people were mowing their lawns in the break between yet another round of storms. When I got home, I told my son that it would be a VERY good idea to mow our lawn also. It was sort of a race against time because as he mowed, the sky was darkening with a storm. The sky got very black and threatening. Despite the dark skies, the storm went past us with only a few rumbles of thunder, but we did get some beautiful clouds.

In fact, the clouds were so beautiful that later my son and I went for a drive to photograph storm clouds. Whenever we found clear places with unhindered views along less-traveled roads, we stopped, got out, and admired the scene while I took pictures. This is one of my favorite pictures from yesterday:

We had a great time together. The mosquito horde might keep me from my garden, but they can’t keep me from enjoying the day…