When I think of gardens, I tend to hold the memories of my childhood in England as the standard for what a garden should look like. Lots of lupins, lawns and laid out to look natural but usually quite planned or designed and with certain features such as flowering trees, ornamental flowers and plants. But more and more, as an American, living on a continent with many different climates and contours, I have come to appreciate that gardening is about stewardship, aesthetics and practical solutions. So each day when I walk past this brick holder of flowers and the pots of giant cactus I admire the effort and thought that has gone into it. Likewise, I can appreciate the garden next door, which is a green carpeted expanse suppressing the weeds and trees and creepers that would surely spring up if the front lot is left unattended. The gardener has placed a solitary pot on the green carpet, sometimes with flowers planted in it, but more often it acts as a dusty birdbath. I appreciate that someone has taken the time to solve their "gardening problem" even if it doesn't meet whatever standard I may be holding for what a garden should look like. I know there are people in my neighborhood who would sneer at this 'polyolefin green carpet garden' but sometimes, we just have to be practical when it comes it aesthetics and stewardship.
I haven't photographed all the sites associated with the Big Dig to manage water in Bloomingdale but I was captivated recently by the huge pipes I saw being laid under the road at 2nd and W streets. I couldn't help but think they are so big you could sleep in them quite comfortably! Or play some kind of crazy hide and seek game! And the machinery and men working on the job look so determined to solve the water woes we've had for a while. I know I've experienced some of the aggravation caused by the digging as the bus I take all the time -- the G2 -- has been rerouted or detoured for TWO YEARS, stopping no longer at the two bus stops I have used for over ten years. Instead, I now have to walk seven blocks almost to Anna Cooper Circle instead of the terminus stop in front of the Water Works on Bryant Street. And, I hope, when the pipe digging job is done, the bus will return to its old route. But I suppose this type of thing is one of the prices we will have to pay for fixing the water run-off sewage problem that's captivated the neighborhood for the last two years. And I certainly don't want to experience the basement seepage problems I've had to fix and pay to repair to make my basement usable again. Just writing about it makes me think of the smell of mold! After two or was it three episodes of soaked carpeting, I just had the whole thing ripped out and put down tiles after having the concrete repaired. Even though it was very good carpeting and made the space very warm and livable, I actually prefer the tiling now. And I've nothing against the rain as it really makes the flowers bloom in my garden. I just wonder when the rains will come again!NOTE: be sure to read the Anonymous commenter below who says this "dig" ISN'T the run-off sewer water fix, but a water main replacement instead. Hmm....
