Junk In The Neighborhood Alleys & Streets

Bureau at bus stop

Analog TV in alley

Cat asleep on dumped furniture in alley

Some mattresses at alley intersection

I've been a bit disturbed lately by the amount of furniture (mattresses, TVs, tables, bureaus) just dumped in the neighborhood.  Is this residents doing this? Is this flippers clearing out attics so they can put up popups? Are these people driving into the neighborhood and just unloading some furniture?  Are people so lazy they can't take it over to the official city dumps? Or can't be bothered to find out how to properly dump stuff or have it picked up by the City?  Just plain irresponsible!

Old Washington Tree Cut Down But Stump Remains

There used to be a tree at the top of Adams Street on North Capitol Street NW at the #80 bus stop. I know this tree was pretty old, probably about 85 years. I'm just guessing that it was put in the ground when the nearby houses were built, likely between 1895 and 1920.  But due to damage and disease what was once 20 foot high has been cut down and a huge almost triple trunk sized stump is left. In a previous blog I  

Little mushrooms growing in bole

wrote about the amount of rot and fungus that was starting to erode the tree after some car crashed into it.  I've always liked this tree as it provided so much shelter at the bus stop, whether from the scorching sun in the summer where it gave a lot of shade, or if it was raining, it was a huge umbrella, or if just a cold wind blasting, you could huddle on one side and not get too blown.  I expect they will ground out the stump in the spring and then plant some skinny skimpy pin oak, but I do miss this old familiar thing.

Winter Leaves But Wisdom Stays

On my way to work the other day I looked up and saw that there were still some maple leaves on some of the trees on the street on the way to my bus stop. With the miracle of my cell phone camera I snapped this photo as I so loved the sun shining through the yellow leaves against the dark branches and blue sky. It's at these moments that I realize how much I have been influenced by a poem I learned as a child. Here it is:
Time to Stop and Stare
What is this life if full of care
We have no time to stand and stare?
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep, or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this, if full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
--  William Henry Davies 1871 - 1940

I remember learning this at age 7 when we had to memorize some poem for some English literature study we did while being home schooled. Of course, that was back when my mind was blotting paper soaking up new things avidly, not like it is now when the Random Access Memory program occasionally fails due to the  Information Uptake plugin software being "overloaded."   Or at least, that's how it now feels when I have to learn some new text -- it's just too hard to do. But at the least, all the words I've taken in, have had an effect and have lead me to action.  So it's just as well I read the Bible then or I'd probably be a real mess by now.