Lizardry

It's nice to have a fixed-up porch and some unique plants to go along with them. But after enjoying quite a few do-nothing evenings and afternoons in the same spot, I was starting to feel like the old man in the tower.

An evening walk is an easy cure for that kind of restlessness, though, now that the weather has finally turned spring-like. Along with refreshing floral scents, there's a nice creative energy in the neighborhood. Either inspired by the weather or just pressured by end-of-the-term deadlines, the art kids have been demonstrating a renewed industriousness as of late. Some carry around fragments of sculpture or large canvases while others tinker with their bikes until the seat is at a comically high (yet still ridable) elevation.

A half-block down Warwick, I found a large reptilian figure leaning against a tree. Even without any apparent head, the thing stands at over six feet. The soft green skin and light yellow stomach painted on the plywood suggest it to be some sort of discarded cutout of Pete's Dragon, but if you tilt the head back into place you'll see it sports the fanged visage of an alligator. Though there are many possible explanations for its unexpected appearance, my guess is someone's mardi gras spirit animal failed to make the spring cleaning/move-out cut.

I spent a fair amount of the last week posting poetic about the magic of Central Park, but tonight's stroll was a nice reminder that KC isn't too bad, either. Although it's a bit narrow and the stone wall on the south end is too steep to easily descend, Southemoreland Park has a faintly aristocratic look to it in the gloaming hour. Pretty soon the nightly rehearsals for the summer Shakespeare fest will be underway, the lights and sounds of which are always strange to stumble upon when you're not expecting them.

The Nelson lawn looks nice as always -- the waterstones and tree-lined promenades on either side of the lawn are now the verdant opposite of the iced-over avenues I walked through just a few months ago. While sitting on a bench in the southeast corner of the lawn, I saw the silhouettes of several figures against the bright lights of the Bloch. A small photography crew had set up a portable changing-booth on the hill, and a slender woman emerged wearing what looked like very fashionable evening attire. She cut a striking figure, and I couldn't imagine the view from up-close looked quite as sensuous and suggestive as it did from a distance.

The shoot was just ending, though, and as I walked by I noticed the ladies in the crew were having a hard time pushing the carts back up the incline, so I gave them a hand. Chivalry, in case you haven't heard, is not dead.

From there I walked on home to the staticky crooning of cabaret singer Claire Waldoff as she extolled the pleasures of May. Along the way I observed that the dragon-guy was still standing, which I'm going to go ahead and take as an omen that it's going to be a nice next few weeks.

Speaking of luck dragons, is anyone else going to see The Neverending Story tonight at Liberty Hall? If you're 21 or over, you can drink beer. And there's free popcorn.

later, gators.

LW