Under Construction

We've been back home for well over a year now, but I still have moments when I'm struck again by how good it is to be here. I was out running errands before work yesterday and saw so much going on in our part of the city. First, spring is making itself known with beautiful weather, flowers and trees blooming everywhere, and gardeners coming out to plant on almost every street. We have some kind of flowering bush in our front bed. It was unremarkable last summer when it only had its leaves, but this spring it has these amazing red flowers. What a nice surprise. If I get the chance, I'm going to plant some begonias this weekend.

The amount of construction going on is absolutely crazy. I must have seen thirty different projects between here and the grocery store. This kind of thing used to bother me. It's loud, ugly, and gets in the way. But now I've seen what a town looks like when no improvements are made in decades. Today I took some pleasure in all of the widening roads, renovated businesses, and new buildings.

But then the road was blocked on the way to work, and I started to get very irritated. It is almost impossible to know which roads will be open and which will be closed on any given day. It makes every simple drive complicated and I never know how long it will take to get anywhere. When I finally made it past this particular bottle neck in traffic, I saw that the city utility folks were trimming trees near power lines, something so simple but so important. We were without power for 3 days in freezing temperatures back in West Virginia because this kind of maintenance isn't done. It snowed in mid October, the tree limbs grew heavy and fell on the lines. Here at home, I'd seen crews doing this kind of work and never even realized how lucky we are. I felt all enlightened yesterday, like in one of those movies where the wise Zen Master finally gets through to the student.

I work all week, and I'm starting to remember why it is so hard to work, have kids, and a home. My students are fun though. I also remember why I rarely knit unless I was on vacation. Teaching is exhausting.

Sting Fact #2: From the Dream of the Blue Turtles album there is a song called "Moon Over Bourbon Street." It is the last track on the record, and I went back to it several times. Something seemed very familiar about the song, but I couldn't place it. Finally I read the liner notes and found he based the lyrics on the novel, Interview With the Vampire. I was so excited, one of my favorite books set to music. I've never had a chance to see him perform this song live.