The View From Here: A Walk in the Park

GARFIELD — Raise your hand if your mood has been lifted by the recent arrival of sunshine and its bright glorious rays. What a gift! Temps in the 40s or--dare I hope it--50s are surely on their way. Until that occurs, I’ll take whatever I can get.

Our beautiful blue skies have moved me to get out of the house for much-needed fresh air and exercise. My go-to walk venues are around Garfield and Palouse, especially their parks. When I walk, I can not help feeling gratitude to the people and civic groups who invested their efforts to create spaces that continue to be local assets decades after they were first conceived.

Last week, while stepping it out at the Garfield park, I encountered “the mystery of the coat, scarf, and hoodie.” On Day One, I noticed a black, gray, and green winter coat, pink scarf, and brown hoodie carelessly hanging off one of the park benches. Surely, the owner would notice that they were missing and come back and retrieve them. Wrong. On Day Two, they had migrated to a nearby mud puddle. The following day, all had been moved out of the puddle (I suspect that a stick was involved in the transfer) and were in crumpled heaps in the mud. Busybody to the rescue! I scooped them into a plastic bag, brought them home, and washed them. My plan is to take them to the Garfield school campus and leave them in the care of Debbie, our wonderful school secretary, to find their rightful owners.

The coat, scarf, and hoodie are reassuring evidence that, at times, kids visit the park. I hope so. In my travels, I rarely, if ever, see kids anywhere outside. Regardless of the weather, the park is typically silent, and eerily so. Its basketball court is unoccupied, the swings are still, and the sliding board empty. Hope does springs eternal; perhaps the warmer weather will attract kids to put down their phones, put on their jackets, get out of the house, and enjoy the gift of our great outdoors.