does anyone care?
Yesterday, we noticed that a large tree had fallen over. It was most likely a casualty of the obnoxious Saturday wind.
This was problematic because it was totally blocking the sidewalk and grass. Sidewalk users were bound by a residential fence on one side and a busy boulevard on the other. (Note: this is "my" crosswalk boulevard with the horrible drivers).
I know that this sidewalk gets a lot of pedestrian traffic from kids walking to and from school. Now, I'm not usually one to think morbid thoughts, but I did have visions of kids trying to walk around the downed tree by stepping into the crazy-driver boulevard. I called the city.
"Hello, there's a large fallen tree blocking the sidewalk on crazy-driver boulevard."
"Oh, okay. Is it blocking the road?"
"Not really, it spills onto the road, but cars can pass"
"Okay, we don't have a crew to clean it up today. I'll leave a note for tomorrow".
"I see, well I do know that a number of kids will be walking that way to school in the morning, so I was concerned that they will try to walk in the street".
"Oh, okay. Is the tree blocking the road?"
"Not really, it spills onto the road, but cars can pass" *deja vu*?
"Okay, I'll leave a note for tomorrow".
Let me just say now that this isn't a rant about the city not cleaning up the tree in time for school this morning. It was a Sunday, and I was just happy that a real person answered the phone.
The point is, that we can take matters into our own hands, so that's what "we" did. *ahem*. Magnum took our camp saw to the tree carcass and cut a path for the pedestrians. It was quite an architectural masterpiece, really. I should've gotten a picture, but instead all I have is the aftermath of what the city left after they did eventually get to it.
It wasn't a complicated thing to do (easy for me to say) to provide some peace of mind. And it didn't go unnoticed. I ran into another mom I know from the neighborhood whose daughter walks with Meego to their bus stop.
"Your husband's awesome for cutting through that tree. I called the city, but they wouldn't clear it yesterday."
Yeah, maybe we'll send them a bill. Or maybe they'll "accidentally" fix the pothole at the end of our driveway?
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Now for something totally unrelated... I've learned that, not only is it NaNoWriMo, NaBloPoMo, and Movember, it is also portrait-a-day month for the portraitly inclined.
I confess that, when first hearing of this, I was all "nope, not enough time, plus, what if they suck?" but then I thought I could at least try because it will be good exercise for my "accepting my vulnerabilities" (life coachee speak right there!)
So I will try to crank a portrait a day. Just pencil stuff. Spending no longer than an hour.
Know who it is? Got a fave face?
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4 comments:
Steve Jobs? To show you how out of touch I am with the techie world, the day he died and a bloggy friend posted an "RIP" notice on Facebook I had to ask her, "Should I know who this is?" Sheeeeeeeeesh...I can't imagine I didn't know who he was but I didn't! I knew what Apple was...just not the person behind it all.
Kudos to you and Magnum for doing what the city would take a couple of weeks to clean up.
Nice portrait of Steve.
The world would be a much better place if more people took a more common sense, selfless approach the way you and Magnum did.
Love the Steve Jobs portrait!
You are a wonderful artist!!
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