Blue and I took a walk yesterday morning. Frankly, there are things about Prescott Street that I could live without. In the mornings cars whiz up and down this street, this short street going up to 50 miles an hour only to have to slam on their brakes at the stop signs at Midland and Southern. 

We can't have speed bumps because of the fire department on the corner. Somehow, my street's a cut through to Central.

The good part is that the traffic is only for about an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. The rest of the time it's quiet. 

The rest of the time it's like this picture I took; lazy looking almost. 

I noticed when I took this picture that the shadows are lengthening and the dappling seems softer. There are leaves all ready on the curbs.

The mornings are much cooler, but by 11 o'clock it's hot again. Blue's tongue begins to hang out after a mile or so around a couple of blocks. We have the best times on our walks. I have head phones and I download podcasts from itunes. I'll download This American Life, which is my favorite, I think, or Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippet. That's a good one. She talks to people of all faiths about their spirituality and spiritual experiences. Last week her show was about Azuza Street in Los Angeles at the turn of the century when a group of people gathered and started speaking in tongues, which gave birth to today's charismatic and Pentecostal movements.
A few weeks ago she talked with Eckhard Tolle who wrote(and believes in) THE POWER OF NOW.




It didn't take long for me to fill my bag at the Farmer's Market.

On Wednesdays I usually try to go over to the farmer's market at the Botanic Gardens. We only have one car and Billy had an appointment so I decided to ride my bicycle. I have a medium sized LLBean canvas bag that Billy gave me for Christmas one year. I strapped it onto the back of my bicycle and headed out. I've started taking canvas bags with me to the grocery store. I haven't brought one nasty plastic grocery bag into my house in 3 weeks! Yeah!(I'm so green).

My neighbors, Randy and Angie, take long bike rides. They ride all the way downtown occasionally by taking little side roads and avoiding the heavy traffic. I've learned to take that approach when I ride in Memphis.
One thing I really appreciate are traffic signs that have a little white stick man walking on the side lights that are on poles. Whenever I cross a busy street I push the little button with the arrow above it then wait for the stick man to light up then off I go. BUT BEWARE people in Memphis and I think in the South in general, view pedestrians and bikers as invaders who have no right to be on their road.
I'm always on guard lest someone decide to squash me. I bought a nice helmet last year that was on sale at my little bicycle store on Highland. It makes me feel a little safer.
I took the backroads. I went through the University of Memphis, crossed the railroad track there on Zach Curlin, and I crossed the street at Goodwyn. It took me about 20 minutes to get there and I'm not nearly in as good a shape as I thought I was. There was a man running on the grass path beside the golf course. Naturally I thought, I'll pass him, after all I'm on wheels. I pulled around and got in front of him. But the grass was thick and it was uphill and I am not used to pedaling that hard. He caught up with me and smiled smugly as he trotted past me and waved. UHG


I like the Botanic Garden farmer's market better than I do the one Downtown. I'm totally alone in my thinking and feeling on that. The market Downtown is much cooler and has lots of entertainment, venders and activities, but I went last year, actually I went a couple of times and it scared me. Don't know why. Palms started sweating. Felt like very body was staring at me wondering what I was doing there. Had strong sense that I didn't belong. That happens to me every now and then.

Sometimes I move toward my fear. I purposely do things I'm afraid to because, well, because its my nature, there's a pleasant sort of rush and if you have my addictive personality you enjoy pleasant rushes. 

At any rate, I can get tomatoes and peaches right here, close to my house, and thankfully, no one stares at me wondering what on earth I'm doing here. Go figure. 

You can see the kids behind me. They are the Whittons of Whitton Farm. They are so cute. I don't know how they do what they do, but they grow flowers, fruits, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, tomatoes, eggplant and tons of other things. I asked my friend Uele to take this picture. I wish I'd gotten one of her, too. The Whittons started clowning around in the background. I told them I was taking this picture for my blog because no one would believe I'd ridden my bike without proof! They were very funny and we all had a good laugh when Keith acted all shy and everything.

These two young men worked this summer for Grow Memphis, a community project whereby empty lots in the city are converted into gardens. This is one of the most fascinating deals going down in the city. All over my neighborhood are patches of green where flowers bloom, butter beans and watermelons grow along side lush tomato vines and squash. I spent some time talking with the coordinator. I'm seriously thinking about finding a lot in Buntyn and getting involved.It works like this: if you work in the garden, you get to eat the stuff that grows. But it doesn't always turn out like you plan. These boys had a watermelon they'd been watching all summer waiting for it to ripen. The day before they were going to pick it someone stole it! The coordinator(I took a picture of her that didn't turn out) explained to me that, "Well, at least someone was eating it."
She told me someone had picked every single butter bean they'd grown.
I think I'd get angry or angrier than I should if somebody stole my watermelon. I asked these boys about the incident and they were just as mad as I was.

My mini-pumpkins in a blue box.