Collegeland II

 Quintessential Carpenter Goth New England, eh?

The antibiotics are working but too slowly for my liking. Please forgive any listlessness to my style. Problems breathing tend to make me a little blue, a little anxious, all too fragile. So time to distract myself with beauty, in this case, the beauty of Collegeland.

These tall zinnias (with butterfly,) were growing on a gorgeous hellstrip half a block from a crop of dorms. Luscious color and attractive cup shape to the opening buds. Here's some more from the same hellstrip. Sage and Sedum, yum.

Walking around Collegeland is lovely for much the same reason Northwest Philly is lovely, though the regional style is somewhat different. I have come to really admire the virtues of the  urban village: older, well-built unique houses pretty close together, different sized lots, big trees, sidewalks, front porches, short front paths, and either no fences or see-through fences.

 This being New England most of everything is wooden, well made and well kept up.

I do not know why my heart is so much in New England, but it is. As a kid I had no interest in America at all, all I wanted to do was read about and imagine the British Isles. I even felt a bit angry at being born in a place that only had a few centuries of recorded history. Shouldn't God have known better? I was SUPPOSED to be English.

But New England grew on me. Camp and college, trips and family history, realizing that early American history had its interests too, till now I would love to be able to spend 8 months of the year there.

And garden there, they do have lovely gardens and the shorter, cooler, less-humid growing season makes for fresher, more intense gardens.


Speaking of gardens, while walking we came across...

This is a several acres park, owned by a private foundation and open to free public access.

My guess is that a lot of volunteering, love and money has gone into creating and maintaining this oasis.

If you read the history of the park you will find a common story often behind such worthwhile efforts. It started out as the estate of a rich family whose money was made in less than exemplary ways (Southern slave-holding, in this case.) Over time, as descendants multiplied, spreading out the cash, and the costs of grandeur rose, keeping up the estate became harder as the descendants became gentler or softer, depending on your view. In the end the land is given to a foundation or local government. The social cache of the founding family and friends usually provides enough status to draw in the financial resources needed.

In the end, good is made to come from bad.  The community gains from what were originally misdeeds and mistakes.  And  gardens rise celebrating the sweeter irony of what it means to be human.

 I love Collegeland and it's liberal, civilized, prosperous, protected, historical world. There is no community that lacks absurdities, hidden cruelties or silly conventions. These things are even part of what makes community, just as there are no communities that lack all virtues either. But as the balance of virtues and vices go, some communities do manage to weigh up far better on the virtue side. And Collegeland, to me, feels like one of them.