The Corner

One of the several late nights of the last week, I walked down our sidewalk to notice our neighbor standing outside after 2 am. I thought it was odd. As it turns out, the next morning I notice him out once again, with broom, and his chain-link mashed down. Betsy filled me in.

Maybe it's obvious, but for the telling, a car had plowed into the corner opposite my side yard garden. My neighbor plants vegetables and herbs there, and she had just finished bird-netting the whole thing to keep the neighborhood gang of cats out. But it wasn't enough to keep out a car. This scenario is one of our most talked about corner topics. The cars zoom down the one way street and never even notice the stop sign, just plow through the intersection with the other street, which has no stop sign. I see dozens of cars do the same thing. I imagine them swerving in my direction, hitting the light pole which will slam down on me like a falling tree. The other day I was crossing, a large black car was zooming down, and I stopped and put my hand out, in that traffic cop manner, yelling stop sign, and the guy begrudgingly stops mid-intersection, then rolls down his window and spits out "You got a suicide wish." It's time for the DOT and their crawling bureaucracy to get involved. Or maybe I'll paint STOP on the road one night.

Meanwhile in the side yard, a shady nook moment.

The repotted sage has decided to bloom for the first time, and I've decided to let it.