the sweet places

As I roam about La Conner on my bicycle, I pass certain places that have a special meaning for me. They are my personal pocket parks and I happened on another one yesterday. I had bought a loaf of Brickbread from the grocery store. I like that bread because it is Honest Bread, dense as a neutron star, hefty like brass knuckles, good in a fight when thrown; leaves a lasting impression. Sometimes, I buy the fried chicken and have a pick-nick lunch. I bought the two piece lunch special and was on my way to buy some bedding plants when I happened upon another sweet spot at Mary Hedlins greenhouse. It features a vista of farm fields to the south, a couple of rustic swings, cool grass and welcome greetings from Mary. Underneath a row of five Black Locust trees, the two swings hang patiently from a long, heavy beam suspended between two trees. One Locust has a long and long-ago-split branch that leans into a gigantic Tulip tree, a lesson in friendship and community. If not for that tulip tree, the branch would have been a nuisance and then, firewood. You can swing on the swing and look up into the cathedral roof of the trees or wind-up the swing and let it unwind you or just gaze into the distance, with the distant sounds of traffic and near-by sounds of singing birds. Take more breaks!