Tudek Park, a Green Gem in Town

With our deck repair on hold, my husband and I set about errands in town that included eating out, nabbing a few groceries, dropping off recycling, and running some errands. My husband agreed that he could drop me off at Tudek Park for a 45-minute walk around the community gardens, while he undertook some of the errands himself.

The gardens are pleasing at any time of year, but even more so in summertime. Everything is green here from recent rains. It's a feast for the eyes. A garden is a respite from civilization, even if only a tiny one. Wednesday was hot, in the 80s. And Thursday was warm and humid, also in the 80s. 

I'm not a hot-weather girl, and though I loved living through the 1980s when they were here (especially the music!!!!), I don't actually like living in the 80s come summertime. My cut-off for true body happiness is around 79 degrees; I'd rather have it 11 degrees out rather than 81. We were building toward thunderstorms that would arrive later in the day and cool things off a bit. More rain is coming on Friday.

I walked around the gardens and took a lot of pictures of the flowers, of the barn, of the big old white oak tree that I love. The tree is to the left and the barn is to the right. The gardens are fenced, with a big sign saying that you are not to go inside unless you are a GARDENER with a garden plot, which I was not.

I've put together a 10-photo set on Instagram of some of the pretty things I saw. The picture above is photo number one. It's a fun view of the entire community garden all at one glance. To the right of this space is the paddock that contains three pretty mellow horses. While I was there, two people who live there (a rule of renting there is you have to own horses!) were working in the barn.

The rest of the photos in the IG set include poppies, roses, birds, the tree and barn, a fun garden ornament, a view from nearly overhead of the garden plots (that I had to stand on a picnic table to get), horses, a cowbird, the green grassy walkway, and some fancy pink daisies.

I had my tunes box on the whole time, listening to great music, as always. I've been buying up some outliers, some other and rare versions of things. Stevie Nicks. Pat Benatar. New people I've found on Instagram. It's fun.

And then my husband picked me up and we went out to eat at our favorite steak restaurant in town. I had bought gift certificates online that morning: spend $50, get $10 free. That's a square deal. So off we went to eat out with my brand new gift certificates. Everything was delicious.

As we left town, we encountered just a bit of rain. A bigger system would move in later. And then we were home, and as soon as we pulled in, I spotted a tiny bunny in the yard. ZIP! Off it ran, at WARP SPEED, with green stuff in its mouth. "Sulu, warp THREE!" I giggled. And so it was that the bunny got a name. You may see a few shots of our newest Bunzini in this Instagram posting. Enjoy!

The soundtrack song I've picked to accompany this image from one of the prettiest little gardens I know of is Lily Kershaw, with As It Seems, from her album Midnight in the Garden. 

And of course, you know what *I* would do with my garden plot, if I had one, and lived in town. I'd put a BENCH on it, and I'd come back here at night, and I'd lie on that bench, gaze up at the blanket of stars set against the black velvet of the midnight sky, and ponder the mysteries of the Universe.

I've also come across a piece of new music by Life in 3D. It's a lovely harmony version of the famous song, Shallow, from A Star Is Born. I love to watch her smile at her brothers. It's just . . . charming. I think a lot of the song but have never seen the movie, if you can believe that. As a bonus track, here is the version of Shallow featuring Lada Gaga and Bradley Cooper at the 2019 Oscars, which also rocks.