The Chattering Crow: First Avenue

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

First Avenue

I look down on a castle of brick with an entrance of three arches made of stone; its roof line is a jagged edge, not regal, not even Dutch, but grasping for an old gothic world effect. It announces itself with a red neon sign: Castle Heights. That sign makes me smile.

Only the second floor has a large bricked-in terrace with chairs and plants. The door to the terrace is open,

More interesting to me is the closed window with a hospital bed pushed up against it. Pillow and bedding are visible, but I can't see a face. I want to see a face.

This is what I love about living in the city: hints of lives in every window. Life humming all around.

1 comment:

m.mayFebruary 27, 2022 at 11:24 PM
You're back! I'm just finding this today (2/28/22) but I had to go all the way back to where I left off. I have to admit I may have searched the obits a couple of times. I am so glad you and your witty, honest self are back to blogging! I love it! And so does my mom (had to tell everyone, you know). P.S. I went to high school with Sam but didn't really know you or your family back then. Then I was in a ward in SLC with you (the 27th ward, I think--we met in the church by the cemetery).
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You can quote me:

"The beautiful is as useful as the useful." Victor Hugo
"I don't want the damned sportsmanship award."
"Jesus glows in the dark like my pajama tops" George Plummer, age 4
"Our parents are crazy as hell." Sam Plummer, 2016
"Grandma, your hands are old." Sally Plummer, age 3.
"Expect the end of the world. Laugh. Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful though you have considered all the facts." Wendell Berry
"Sitting is the new smoking is the new bullshit." Tom Plummer, 2014
"Never move an old tree." Dutch saying.
"I am universally offensive." Dede Plummer, 2014
"I don't want to see any movie with the word 'guys" in the title." Tom Plummer, 2013.
"Please bless Grandma. And Grandpa. That they can have a nice time. In their apartment." Louis Plummer, age 4.
“Don’t be afraid to be confused. Try to remain permanently confused. Anything is possible. Stay open, forever, so open it hurts, and then open up some more, until the day you die, world without end, amen.” George Saunders
"Hello, my name is Tom, and I'll be your spouse this evening." Tom Plummer, 2012
Me: " Jesus knows EVERYTHING." Hank (10), "Yeah? How many fingers am I holding up?"
"In my end is my beginning." T.S. Eliot
"Nothing has prepared her for the wide, grey simplicity of sadness and for the knowledge that this is what the rest of her life will be like." Carol Shields
"My life has been a fog, but the only light, the only clarity-- has come from the simplicity of putting permanent ink on paper." Rian Plummer, age 17.
"When I die I'm leaving my body to science fiction." Steven Wright
"Does anybody need to go poopies?" Louis Plummer, age 3
"I grew up in the wide and spacious building." Charles Plummer, 2011
"Pride is a such a useless handicap." Christina Putney
"You are not too old and it is not too late to dive into your increasing depths where life calmly gives out it's own secret" — Rainer Maria Rilke
"Don't retire; retread your tires." Lucy Jarvis
"Grandma is never boring." Mira Plummer, age 8
"Not all who wander are lost." J.R.R. Tolkien
"The only way to get what you really want is to let go of what you don't want." Iyanla Vanzant
"Being in your body is a good place to be." Beatrix Ost
"I'm the world's oldest teenager." Iris Apfel, age 89