The Ravines of Cudahy

A day with nothing on it. So rare. Nothing - no work, no shows, no classes, all on the same day. A cause for celebration. So, we decided, Joyce and I, to purposely take the whole day off from ceaseless toil, and do whatever we wanted, the whole day. I even got the grocery shopping out of the way by doing it Friday evening. So, the next morning, 6 am came around, then 7, 8 -- hell, we slept until 9:30 a.m.!

We debated going to the zoo, but with the parking and the hefty admission charges, we decided that we'd rather spend that $35.00 at the Indian casino some other day. And, instead, we decided to go for a walk in the ravines at Grant Park.
Grant Park is a superbly maintained county park located on the border between Cudahy and South Milwaukee. It's the place where Joyce remembers her childhood taking place. The fresh summer air reminded me of my own vacant lots on the edge of Watertown, where I grew up. A creek runs through a deep (20 ft or so) ravine, finding its way to Lake Michigan. As creeks usually do, it surrounded itself with unspeakable beauty on its way downward.

We didn't run around climbing up and down the banks of the ravine, as the little kids inside of us were begging us to do, but instead stayed pretty carefully on the path, watching out for the tree roots underfoot, so we didn't slip. Adults are so practical, nowadays.

And I was going to carve our initials in one of the many trees that seemed to be there just for that purpose, but, wouldn't you know it, I left my pocket knife somewhere, somewhere far in the past!

But the air was fresh and green, a day of verdant rejuvination in August. "And I think to myself, 'What a Wonderful World'"

Thanks for listening and contributing. For up-to-the-minute thoughts, come on over to twitter.com I'm @dimbulb52