Did a lot of wandering about today. First off it was over to my sis’s house to take care of her mail and douse her houseplants, then we walked over to Cody’s in Ypsi’s depot town for lunch. It’s been unseasonably warm here, so we didn’t even need to bother with gloves and hats. Fifty degrees in January! It’s disgusting. But it does make it easier to get some exercise in by walking.
Plus, you see a lot of stuff walking that you completely miss out on in a car. There’s a sketchiness of a neighborhood when you’re going by at twenty to thirty miles an hour. When you drive by someplace, it tends to look cleaner. Your brain fills in a house shape, or a tree shape without the details.
A lot of the houses on the fringes of Depot Town have a sad air of decay about them. There’s one where a huge chunk has been taken out of an exterior wall, revealing the back of the plaster and lathe. Another has a beehive pattern of moss clinging to the edges of the hexagonal shingles on the north side of their porch roof. Driving by, they’d just be a white spot on a wall, or a green tint on the roof.
You don’t notice the odd ridges in the fake brick siding where an old phone or power line has been sealed under. You don’t notice the places where someone has had something thumbtacked to their trees, leaving little rivets of rust sticking out of the bark. You can see the fence, and the leaves, but you don’t see the little whiffle ball, half buried in the front lawn.
You know, this has come out sounding incredibly melancholy, and it wasn’t supposed to. It was an enjoyable walk, with a good lunch in the middle. My legs are a bit sore, and I’m slightly tired, but it was well worth it and I highly recommend walking to all of you out there. Right now, in fact. Just shut the computer down and go take a look at your neighborhood. It’s full of tiny details for you to enjoy.
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