A shirtless man on bicycle passed looked back over his shoulder, went ahead then circled around passed me again the opposite direction, now behind me again, up on me again and passing me again in the original direction. I'm wondering, what's up with that. He's going to ask me for money. I bet. It's the logical thing, but he pedals ahead on down a ramp leading to the cafe I had just passed.
A few of the sidewalk segments are are perfect for several addresses in a row and then one that is all messed up eroded or made of an original material or some earlier pour, sections become driveways for parking lots or for businesses and for apartments, some segments are brand new others old and depilated and eroded and filling in with weeds or with gravely bits and chunks of material, some areas strewn with landscaping rocks, then I pass over a fresh pour with footprints in it and I think, "How stupid" as I continue I see more of the same foot impression in a line, and they're very small footprints, I notice, a child's footprints captured as the ancient dinosaur footprints are captured on Dakota Ridge renamed Dinosaur Ridge for its footprints where I had been sitting above chipping away searching for troglodytes not knowing they were beneath the layer I was exploring. A few big footprints and a whole meandering line of little footprints in both cases. It tickles me, it really does, this kid I'm imagining does, I became vastly amused right there while walking on top of the footprint impressions, the thought of a child, a girl's shoe, I can see, a little girl wandering around on the freshly poured cement, the construction workers gone home for the day, seeing her stroll over their work recorded as the dinosaurs are. That suddenly becomes hilarious to me while walking. I'm so glad I saw that. Like the Family Circus guy.
Bil Keane. Like his wandering boy. "Come straight home."
"I will!"
walks straight: **~~/\_/*~~**\_/^*|__/\/**\/\/*
jumping puddles, trying the playground swing, see-saw, twirler, trash can, fire hydrant, peeks in window, climbs trees, pets a cat, walks around bush, looks at baby in carriage, jumps on hood of car, rides a skateboard the length of a yard, rides a shovel down a hill, buys candy, looks in store window, picks a flower for his mother, bothers the postman, hops over fences, drinks out somebody's garden hose, plays with dog, throws rock at a bird, comes straight home.
Can you believe Bil Kearne started out drawing things for the Stars and Stripes? At Ease With Japanese.
Chaplin's office. Ha!
That child earlier, blithely strolling across wet concrete knows what she is doing. She is intimate with her immediate environment after all, if utterly unaware of concerns immediately beyond it. Completely free of responsibility or any sense of it for that matter, utterly free of any adult concern that could ruin the fun of walking on something slidey and sticky and grabby like mud but not mud. It's fun.
Oh man, I love that girl I'm imagining.
Right as I pass the last girl-trodded segment and feeling amusement up to my ears with it, a man approaches the opposite direction, another hipster-sort from those parts, and I say, "Notice the footprints." and he answers back cheerfully delighted I notice without hesitation affirming familiarity with them,
"They're awesome!"
8 comments:
That takes me back to the walk from school, I must have been 7 or 8. It was a wide side walk running alongside the biggest church I ever saw, up to that time, a catholic Church named Santa Ana, in the barrio nicknamed Gualey, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
The sidewalk for some reason, I can only now surmise must have been do to runoff, always had just enough sand on it for me to slide on.
I would start at one end, pick up speed and just as I felt I had achieved slide velocity I would turn my body like as if I was riding a snow board, one foot in front of the other. Except my shoes were my snow/sand board.
Until one day I was spotted by someone who knew my father. The sand dust getting on my pants and the wearing and tearing of the shoes that were not meant for that kind of activity, must have been too much for that woman to bear.
So she told on me. I was severely reprimanded.
How about that?
It still there. Except they took down the crucified Christ from a cross, featuring prominently. It now appears at ground level, up against a wall.
The atheists must have gotten to it. nttawwt.
The church still there.
I got to walk my dog through some new cement while the workers were still there. It was a very small patch, about enough for one of his big paws, but I asked and they thought dog prints would be fun and said "sure".
It's the little things in life :)
That's a thing with Mexican tiles too. The ones' with dog prints in them are extra special, cost more, so now they keep a dog around and him walk over fresh tiles on purpose.
Hi
That is so cute, I would of never thought of that. I am definitely making me one or maybe a few! LolSanta Barbara Green Construction
I've considered slipcovers from a heavy duck fabric with my dogs' paw prints all over them. If I ever get new linoleum it will definitely match incoming footprints.
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