Community

Green spaces

Karol Kusmaul

I recently purchased an art quilt from Pamela Allen of Canada.  Its title is ‘Five Sheep and Three Big Fish’.

She explained, “As I was raised a poor inner city kid, I always wanted to be in the country!  I guess that’s why I seem to do a lot about the countryside!”  

That got me thinking about the places I’ve lived, most of which had plenty of green spaces.  As children, my siblings and I spent a lot of time outside playing, roller skating, climbing trees, doing cartwheels and handstands, hopscotch, etc.  In middle school, we didn’t have much of a yard, so we played kickball in the street. 

I’ve lived in Florida for 42 years now.  Florida is very green, all year round.  Now that it is summer here, everything is growing quickly.

 It can be hard to keep up with the grass and the weeds.  Although I would rather be inside sewing or painting, sometimes I enjoy getting out and helping with yard chores. 

Florida is HOT.  To me, rain is welcome.  It cools things off, and you can’t do any yard work when it rains.  On Saturday morning, I picked up sticks in our empty lot.  It rained. I loved it.  I continued gathering sticks in the wheelbarrow, and enjoyed being cool.

 Then the rain cleared, and I set about raising rocks around our garage, and mulching that area.  Toward the end of this task, it began POURING rain.  I loved it.  As long as we don’t have lightning, we can stay out in it.  My husband was pulling weeds and trying to mow. 

We were both soaking wet, so we decided to get in the pool.  It felt warm and wonderful.  Such a treat.  We are so fortunate to have a pool.  It’s magical.

7 thoughts on “Blue space!

  1. When we moved from Kansas to Alaska, one of the first things I missed was enjoying being outside in the rain. Of course you can be outside in the rain in Alaska but the rain is cold and often violent. It is incredibly unpleasant! In Kansas, it was wonderful to be outside when it is hot but the rain is cool and inviting. I miss that.

  2. Sounds idyllic. We had a big field across the street in our suburb. We played baseball, caught crayfish, climbed trees, it was always fun. And in summer we went to Lake Huron, still my favorite beach.

  3. As a city child it was a treat to go into the country to climb boulders and watch deer eating. Gathering wild flowers And wild blueberries. But home wasn’t without the wonderful park and lake as well as fruits growing in our yard. I think it was the freedom in the country. Adults paid no attention to us as long as we didn’t scream too loudly.

    1. Times are so different. Makes us appreciate the days of our childhood. Certainly much more free than for children now.

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