Walking Without Leash

The weeds were overgrown at the end of the path, where the highway cuts in and the street deadends to cars, but the sidewalk continues to the edge of the onramp. Everyone who walks the path seems to avoid the weeds at the end by cutting over into the gas station parking lot, so the weeds aren't getting trampled enough, so they're more substantial than usual, so everyone cuts over into the parking lot, letting the weeds grow. Soon enough they'll die back, but presently they are a fulsome arch, with the occassional small flower and not even trash, too thick an arch for the trash to blow in sideways from across the lot. Last week there was a pint-sized pink and white Power Wheels child car at the street side of the weed arch, I'm guessing it rolled in quietly in the calm early morning from a driveway far away and got caught on the edge of the fence, just before the highway onramp. This week the tiny car is gone, either scavenged by whoever does that or maybe it just jostled loose from the arch and got onto the ramp and now who knows.

On the sidestreet, near the funeral home, where I crossed from one sidewalk to another to avoid a guy selling Nikes from a minivan, I thought I saw a plastic plant pruned back like a regular plant, but now that I think about it, I'm thinking no way. How can you know enough about plants to know about pruning them but not enough to recognize when one is just airbrushed plastic with fraying nylon leaves? More likely is that someone pruned a real plant too hard and then twisted fake leaves over it in the hopes that no one would notice.

I guess I saw some other stuff too but the important part is that outside the liquor store (my destination) I was delighted to see a single, softball-sized Yukon Gold potato resting in front of the door, again as if lightly rolled. It was funny to see and I got to wondering if I had my phone, would I have taken a picture? Would I have posted it to Instagram? I don't feel a value judgement towards either of those activities, but I think that because I didn't even have the option to take a picture, it stayed with me longer, as an ideal.

In Greek mythology, Eris, goddess of strife and discord, rolled a golden apple into the gods' banquet hall, with a message saying "for the most beautiful one". This caused a legendary fracas amongst the vain gods of the time. What I saw was a golden potato, a pomme de terre, and there wasn't any message at all as far as I could see, but anyway I just let it lay. Some agitation of course is helpful but strife no way. And all that aside, the most beautiful person at the liquor store is the lady that runs the place. I don't think anyone at the liquor store would disagree there.

I completed my mission and came home, and like I said, I saw other stuff but that's outside of our purview. No one had called and there were no messages, except for the shocked tuxedo, the fulsome arch, the potato rolls in, the Power Wheels rolls away, the fake leaves over recent wounds, and others left unmentioned.

I was worried about the missed calls I guess but given some distance I realized a deeper issue, further from the rational mind but lingering in the deep recesses-- I didn't want to go out without all the people I carry in my phone, without their presence, however faint. But all those people are in the world as well as being on my phone, and to be frank, that's where I love them the most. If I want to express my love and admiration for these people without tapping it out in phone world, I'll just send a vague signal out in all directions through the natural world, like a blue whale leaping out and slapping the surface of the water with a mighty fin. That's my traditional method. I hope everyone's doing good out there!

links / misc

• I'm going to be slowly adding more stuff to the castle library, in the sprit of Why Not. This week I added all the Mothers News back issues, they're up there now. The library is on the third floor of the castle, and the papers are in a red milkcrate, though I might make a more ornate enclosure for them. Here's a link if you want to just jump right there, or if you want a link for sharing with an interested party: [link]. As with any published or re-published work, feel free to tell me if you're digging it. :)
• before anyone bombards me with recommendations for "a great book with a killer riff about potatoes" I should say that I just finished Charles C Mann's excellent "1491" (illegal ebook version) and I already ordered "1493" (used paperback eBay version).
• I had a great time at the flea market- me and Jaan talked about les Rallizes Dénudés (Hadaka no Rallizes) [youtube], Dan bought a really nice cape, and around midday the three of us drank cold beers in a bush behind a band playing Kinks songs. I kept my phone on me this time because I was afraid of getting separated but this time it was completely warranted I think. I didn't get the candelabra I was looking for but I did get recognized by a self-professed fan who gave me this Garfield doorhanger. Thank you!!!!!
  

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