Category Archives: Neighborhood

Outside Cat

Posted on May 29, 2018 by sputterpub

Your kitty is a house cat – not a beast of prey. And though I’ve seen her kill a bird, her instincts are dim echoes we’ve decreased with centuries of breeding. It’s absurd to think she wants a veldt or … Continue reading →

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Bus Stop

Posted on March 13, 2018 by sputterpub

Arriving at the bus stop yesterday, my app displayed the disappointing news: a dozen minutes late! (That’s half the way I’d planned to ride.) And so I got to choose a standing wait with phone and book, or stroll with … Continue reading →

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Neighborhood Shops

Posted on October 25, 2017 by sputterpub

Overheard in the Elmwood area of Berkeley, one October afternoon, as Del’s path crossed that of a middle-aged couple: He (looking at the “Available” sign where Jeremy’s used to be): “Another one gone.” She (with a glance at the storefront … Continue reading →

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Pop Beads

Posted on October 16, 2017 by sputterpub

Delightful weather summoned me outside again, though I’d acquired what I’d need for now, tonight, tomorrow. I could bide within, but sun and wafting breeze decreed that I inhale the local air and tread upon the cracked concrete. I thought … Continue reading →

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Ears

Posted on October 11, 2017 by sputterpub

Del is an active eavesdropper. That’s not to say she kneels at keyholes or holds glasses up to walls (although she did that once, in a Chicago hotel with her husband, to try to decipher what the couple next door … Continue reading →

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Choppers

Posted on September 26, 2017 by sputterpub

The chop of helicopters overhead does not create a happy atmosphere. I’m not too old to recollect the dread machines surveilling us and shooting tear gas canisters when I attended school, and though today they’re shooting news for us, at … Continue reading →

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Stripey and the Yard Birds

Posted on September 18, 2017 by sputterpub

I saw two hummingbirds beneath the crows that visited, the bold above the shy. The corvids sat the looming tree, in rows of roosting gossip, as trochilidae sought nectar from the blossoms in the yard (the nicotiniana over sage). The … Continue reading →

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From the Molehill

Posted on September 13, 2017 by sputterpub

A few years ago, the city of Berkeley installed a new variety of street crossing signals. On some busy corridors we now have the option of pressing a button for assistance. That will cause yellow lights to pulse for about … Continue reading →

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Anaburbs

Posted on September 1, 2017 by sputterpub

We used to know extended families. When several generations shared a place, the seniors often bent, hands on their knees, to tend the babies. Every age of face was then familiar; cries were swiftly quelled – evolution’s strategy was met. … Continue reading →

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CC Preserve

Posted on August 22, 2017 by sputterpub

I thought I knew the neighborhood I dwelled within, when I endured that last divorce. But after weeks alone, one day impelled to take a different turn, I set my course for north – turned left – and there before … Continue reading →

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