Roots, Rootlets, Rooting

The cornerstone of the Delmar Building of Delmar-Harvard Elementary school. It will be shut down next year.

Grandma and Rose sweep up sweetgum balls, an activity that Rose eagerly repeated.

Rose rides the carousel at the zoo.
Grandma burps Reuben.
Rose washes play dishes, ones that Daddy used in his childhood, at the sink.
Rose and Daddy pet animals at the zoo.

Just got back from taking the kids to St. Louis for a week. There it was balmy, hot even, and all the flowers were blooming. Magnificent magnolias colored the treeline with white and purple while the ground was dominated by golden daffodils and accented by the purple of late crocuses and reds of early tulips. A few redbuds, my personal harbinger of spring in the Midwest, bloomed next to the library. And I wore shorts!

As I look out the window, I see a few flakes of snow drifting by. It is springtime in Boston, too.

Last week, I took my usual pilgrimage to the U. City Loop. Much has changed there since my childhood including that it has its own website. It is also greatly upscaled (or even gentrified) which has its positives and drawbacks. I am no longer afraid to walk there at night, but many of the family friendly features are gone.

At the U. City Library, I talked with a childrens' librarian as I walked around the room in which a great deal of my childhood unfolded. The same tables and benches are there, the books have been reorganized, but the place has the same great welcoming feeling. It turns out that the librarian reads a storytime for the children of one of my elementary school friends. My roots still run pretty deep in that place.

On that walk, however, I happened to be in the right place at the right time (or perhaps it was all wrong) to see a feature of my memory's landscape pulled down and removed from reality forever. The circular entrance to Cricket Walk was a place that drummers gathered, children romped, and I was even once approached by a drug dealer (I ran away).


It was fun to take my children in the stroller around the neighborhood and to the main park of my childhood. My little rootlets loved the flowers, and they loved being with my parents. Rose improved her potty training, and Reuben moved into 3-6 month clothes.

I can't think of St. Louis without a nod to the Cardinals. Spring Training is underway, and a bad one for them this one has been. I managed to catch most of a game on the day of my return, so my season of rooting has begun.