Barbara Hammond, Juxtapositions: Midsummer 2023

The View From Here

A cloudy, humid morning in mid-July. On one side of the street a woman sits on her porch sipping a cup of black coffee. A neighbor next door backs his pickup truck out of his driveway. They wave to each other and the zinnias sway in their pretty party dresses. On the other side of the street in the quiet city park, a homeless man wrapped in a blanket sits and smokes and coughs at a picnic table near an old, dying elm tree. The 8:00am traffic calmly moves on.

The woman comes out again after dinner. Humidity and hilarity are high in the park across the street. A herd of dark-haired teenagers arrives accompanied by parents and various toddler siblings. Boys bunched up on one side of the parking lot, girls over there in a conspiratorial cluster. Some tinny car radio music vies with shouts of the kids in the adjacent swimming pool. The music goes off and someone’s Mami or Tia organizes them into couples and calls out dance instructions.

This is a preparation for an upcoming Quinceañera to be celebrated by one of the girls. The boys slink awkwardly to meet the girls and all clomp stiff-legged through the torturous circuit. It goes a little better the second time around with real music. Five sentinels in a small crowd of Canada geese turn toward the music and movement, executing the role of an audience. The homeless man slumps motionless on the picnic table amid his various trappings as the weezer bugs shrill in the trees.

Post Script: These students attend North High. Here are some interesting demographics.

Another Day

8:06am. A crew of Intrepid Diggers arrive to save the woman’s neighborhood from the tragedy of outdated city water pipes. They have been working on her street for a couple of weeks. It is closed to traffic and she enjoys the calm.

This is a highly trained, energetic, and efficient crew.  Just look at how well these men protect their tools from getting dirty or ruined.

8:10am. The boss rolls by for an approving chat.

8:20am. The vital work resumes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Post Script: In all fairness, these men were waiting for the concrete mixer truck so they could replace sections of the sidewalk in the park. They arrived on time; the truck was late.

Nature in Action

That cardinal! “what-cheer! what cheer! He began before daylight. How can he be so happy at such an Oh-dark-30 time in the morning? And he’s still singing as she scans the peaceful view from the porch. She herself needs that daily enabler, a large cup of black coffee before speaking to anyone. She doesn’t have a bird feeder, so she doesn’t see the cardinals often. But they have been cheering her for the twenty-three years she has lived in her house.

But on this morning, she startled a robin that had perched on a rose trellis. It’s a trick to take a photo of a bird while holding a coffee cup and not moving. It was almost a perfect shot – well, consider it an action shot – the robin took flight at the photo moment.

 

 

             The Pink Naked Ladies came out to play

            All on a hot, summers day

            They frolicked until half-past-three

            Then they ran inside in time for tea

 

“Summer breeze makes me feel fine
Blowin’ through the jasmine in my mind”

While the rest of the country slumped in overheated days, Kansas welcomed rains throughout June and July. This morning, the woman on the porch enjoys sweet coolness that actually required her to search for a sweatshirt. The bird bath is full of fresh rain water and droplets glisten poetically on the rose bushes. Those valiant zinnias are now gaining four feet tall and swishing their bright frocks to beckon the bees and butterflies.

Across the street, a man and woman led by two dogs on their leashes take advantage of the cool morning on a walk through the park. Their conversation floats on the summer breeze.

The homeless man in the park came in the day and left during last night’s thunderstorm, The woman was surprised to see him at his park picnic table throughout those very hot days; sitting motionless or sleeping stretched out on the bench. She thinks about taking something to him, but hesitates. Once she saw him eating something and a bicycle is propped beside him, so she hopes he goes to the Lord’s Diner, a non-profit facility that offers free meals, three times a day. She is embarrassed that she only thinks about doing something for him.

August Arrives

The woman sits on her porch on a sultry morning, the first day of August. With a second cup of coffee in her hand, it’s a perfect start to the day. An old elm tree provides enough shade so that she can enjoy the dappled sunlight. A fly buzzes over her head and lands on her arm. Absentmindedly, she shakes it off, and glancing down, sees that it wasn’t a fly, it was a honeybee. If she had not had her face buried in her phone screen, she would have recognized it and let it rest there. Perhaps it was telling her it was time to water the zinnias.

Look up. Look out. See the bees.

 

 

Juxtaposition: the fact of things being seen or placed close to one another for contrasting effect.

As observed by The Woman on the Porch.

 

A Sidenote from Barb

The license plate that is shown hanging on the wall at the top of this story is relevant to those of us born in the war years. The plate was issued in 1942. But by 1943, metal was being diverted to wartime manufacturing, so new plates could not be made. Instead, little metal tags with “43” embossed on them were screwed over the previous “42.” If your folks had a car when you were born, they had one of these.