Gingko Biloba trees
grow on South Street in the downtown of Waukesha.
People stride by them mostly without noticing.
The tree in front of the Odd Fellows is recently shown
in its autumn repose.
The Gingko is a living fossil originating in China.
Here the tree, a species dating back
270 million years, stands temporary guard
next to the Putney building
- also known as the Old Odd Fellows Hall -
beside the limestone of the 1882 Putney building,
itself made of sediment rock formed
in the Silurian era, much older that the Gingko species.
A bird's nest is seen at the top of our OF Gingko.
Other South Street Gingkos as seen down
this decorous street.
A woman who lives on our floor
and who does some of the cleaning maintenance
in the building including watering the Impatiens
flowers growing along the inner courtyard
bemoans the pesky leaves she has to
sweep up inside the lobby corridor at this
time of year.
As our immediate tree is a female, it
sheds is fruit - actually 'seeds' per Wikipedia -
and the research indicates that when smashed
underfoot they smell of vomit.
On reflection, it occurs to us that such
a plaint relates to the downtown watchdogs
who call vomit to attention as
an unworthy feature
of our beloved stomping grounds district.
We have no focus or notice of such smelliness.
Walked dogs past our tree
have been often observed
peeing on our Gingko, but that's no matter either;
the Gingko takes all in stride.
The en-crispening fallen leaves
are gathered here for distribution
perhaps
within snail-mailed notes to certain friends.
A reading of the below website will convince
one of the 'why' of ancient veneration of this leaf form.
...........
try:
......................
To go with the squab from our Odd Fellows windowsill
previously-mentioned
this week, following a trip across the street
to the last farmer's market of the year
we had a new possibly edible bird
perched on the sill.
It was a large beaked creature with
a long warty neck;
it too stared down at the peculiar passers-by
on Waukesha's Five Points.
It reminds us of an old 1970s TV commercial:
"Manpower Business Training Institute
sure put it all together for us!"
We've only to substitute MBTI
with
"The Odd Fellows window sills....."
Rush Hour
Someone has folded a coat under the boy's head, someone else, an
Arab
businessman in not very good French,
is explaining to the girl, who seems to have discovered, like this, in the
crowded Métro,
her lover is epileptic, that something must be done to keep the boy from
swallowing his tongue:
he works a billfold between the rigidly clenched teeth as the kneeling
girl silently looks on,
her expression of just-contained terror transfiguring her, generalizing her
almost to the mythic,
the very image of our wonder at what can befall the most ordinary afternoon
of early love.
The spasms quiet, the boy, his left ear scarlet from rubbing the wool,
comes to, looks up at the girl,
and she, as the rest of us begin to move away, hesitates, then lays her
cheek lightly on his brow.
businessman in not very good French,
is explaining to the girl, who seems to have discovered, like this, in the
crowded Métro,
her lover is epileptic, that something must be done to keep the boy from
swallowing his tongue:
he works a billfold between the rigidly clenched teeth as the kneeling
girl silently looks on,
her expression of just-contained terror transfiguring her, generalizing her
almost to the mythic,
the very image of our wonder at what can befall the most ordinary afternoon
of early love.
The spasms quiet, the boy, his left ear scarlet from rubbing the wool,
comes to, looks up at the girl,
and she, as the rest of us begin to move away, hesitates, then lays her
cheek lightly on his brow.
..............................
Kerry McKay's good deed
The Steaming Cup owner
put a whopping dab of whipped cream
meant for his booth customers' coffees
and offered it to a happy small but heart-y dog
McKay stocks rear kitchen with wagon
He put some of that whipped cream on customers' fingers
earlier this summer at his stand.
See http://raccoonnews.blogspot.com/2012/05/birds.html
............................
Whence comes the raccoon on the election:
