By late afternoon I want that sun on my back and so I walk over for an espresso at the second closest café, the one at Borders.
I approach it from the back, by the railway tracks. So empty here! Where are people? In cars? Indoors? But look how pretty even this very indifferent street corner is!
To the left, to the right, and looking up, it’s all so multi-toned. When we were studying for the bac in Poland, at the end of high school, the teachers said to us -- take the time to refresh and calm your minds. Go look at green things!
And now in Madison, I am again looking at green things. It was easy in Warsaw (the parks!). It’s easy here, too.
But where is everyone?
I go to the Borders Café. If you’re looking for the men of Madison, they appear to be right here:
The women? Maybe like in southern Europe, when they are not working, they are hidden within a dense fabric of family life. Maybe. Or, it's all chance and happenstance. Yeah, chance and happenstance.
Are you sure you didn't wander into the corner barber shop?
ReplyDeleteYour photos of trees are fabulous! Even on the hottest day, trees are an oasis of cool.
love the green ... I need to get in touch with some green today.
ReplyDeleteMy newest book this week I'm reading, by Joan Anderson, "A Year By the Sea" - has an interesting passage - made me think of your post today . . .
ReplyDeleteShe says, "I think it was Thomas Merton who said that the easiest way to rid yourself of neurosis is to surround yourself with nature, or more specifically trees. 'You can't be neurotic in front of a bunch of trees,' he claimed; nor, I hasten to add, in front of dunes or sea or humble scrub pine."
. . . just had to share :)