I grew up, right up the street from this park.
When I was a kid, you would look out and all you would see was two ponds, side by side.
One, used for skating in the winter, feeding the ducks in the summer, and strolling around all year long…the other, used for fishing and for being mysterious.
Since I was a child, however, nature has grown up around the ponds, and while the man-made stone walls allow you a vision of pond #1, pond #2 is all but obscured by the brush.
While I miss the old view, the new is pretty darn beautiful, as well.
My summers were spent going to the pool, then across the street to the baseball fields to catch a Little League game, then to the park, which backed up to the fields.
Pond #2 had a little sandy peninsula that you had to crawl through the brush to access, and Gail and I spent hours and hours there, imagining, pretending, playing.
Tiny and Monkey Girl were loving the view, as it is today.
In the park stands a statue of Thomas Paine.
If you don’t know who Thomas Paine is, and you are an American, shame on you.
(And, click his name, above, to get to the Wikipedia link)
In this park stands the largest statue of Thomas Paine, in the world.
It’s beautiful.
When we were kids, there was this rumor of a mysterious woman who would come and put a rose at the base of the statue.
We were always on the lookout for her, but as far as I know, none of us ever saw her.
We did, however, always find the rose on the statue.
Anyway, happy to have introduced Tiny to the park, we decided to go on our way and return another time, when the big boys could join us.
