I must be on a blogging spurt. I've been noticing that in many areas of my life, I do things in spurts. Spurts of 3 or 4 blog posts in a matter of days after months of nothing. Spurts of devotion to exercise in some form, preceded *and* followed by months of nothing. Spurts of pure joy in the daily grind, and weeks...okay, sometimes months...of something less than joy. Even spurts of using my bread maker on a daily basis after months of--you guessed it-- nothing. I imagine there is some psychoanalysis within this realization but I refuse to ponder too much on it. I'm simply observing that I'm a spurt-oriented person.
It felt like a good afternoon for some musings of no particular sort. I typically restrict my blog posts these days to photos of the kids and our family activities. But I do particularly enjoy photo-less, wordy musings from my friends and colleagues on their own blogs. So here's a small jab at that.
I find that lately I am spending a fair amount of time pondering nature. Specifically, the amount of time that both I and my children spend in it, juxtaposed with how much time is spent in front of one screen or another. I just ordered, and am excited to read, "
Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder." I'm find that the t.v., the dvd player, the Wii, the iPod Touch, the iPhone, the iPad, the macbook, grandma's kindle..... all have a certain magnetic draw on my children that I typically have a challenging time overcoming when trying to get them outdoors and away from the screen. I find that I relish those times that we drive AWAY from home and everything associated with it, and end up at a park, where they can release all that pent up energy and just be. I find myself relaxing, and I see them doing it, too. It's an amazing feeling. I look forward to many summer afternoons spent picnicking and frolicking in green space. I especially want to hit more state parks. Local playgrounds provide a great outing for an hour or so, but I'd like to spend more time in the quiet peace of the outdoors this summer, and that often means a significant drive.
Still, I have been greatly appreciative lately of the sheer mass of local parks we have access to in our area. Our city park directory lists 24 parks. And that's just in WDM. We've also been touring the parks in neighboring communities, just a quick drive from our house. We are very lucky. This is one of the benefits of the more sprawling, suburban, private vehicle-oriented transport system community we live in. Lots of green space with several neighborhoods and their associated public areas to visit. This is a boon for a mother of three very active young boys. On nice days, we leave preschool with a picnic lunch (okay, sometimes Jimmy John's) and spend several hours at a new park. It sure helps get away from the multiple screens that immediately draw them in upon walking through the door of our home.
Speaking of green spaces (and private vehicles), I saw an article in the DSM Register several weeks ago that has been irking me ever since. It was about the growing downtown area of DSM, and what polled readers had to say about what they'd like to see for future downtown growth. The answers were posted in random fashion around the front page of the article, with the more popular requests written in bold. I LOVE that our downtown area has grown and become more urban. When I attended Drake, the downtown area went dark after 5pm when business people went home after work. Aside from the Court Avenue district, there were few places to eat or really hang out, except for some meathead bars. So it's exciting that now we have a sleuth of great restaurants and bars and shops in the downtown area, which make it more of a destination than just a working area.
The thing that surprised and bothered me was that some of the requests for our downtown area seemed so out of sorts. The ones that surprised me the most were "More parking!" and "More green spaces!" Hold up. More parking? Have these citizens visited other cities? We have tons of parking in the downtown area! And it's cheap! There is street parking, ramp parking, lots that open up on the weekends or after 5pm. Compared to other cities, DSM downtown parking (like our "rush hour") is a freaking DREAM! And green spaces?! Um, the downtown area is the only urban space we have. Which means buildings and buses and concrete and, um, urbanism. Not only that, but we do have green-- the streets are lined with giant, beautiful planted flowers that are changed every couple months. We have a river walk with several footbridges to cross it. We have an amplitheatre next to the river for outdoor concerts. Next to the state capitol building there is an extensive sculpture garden, surrounded by--you guessed it-- greenspace. And if that's not enough greenspace for you in our (small) downtown area, then.... DRIVE A MILE IN ANY DIRECTION. Seriously, for a state that complains that others know us only for our farms, who are we to moan about lack of greenspace downtown?!
Soapboxing over. :)
Now that my children are sword fighting around my feet, I guess my peaceful Sunday afternoon musings are over. Peaceful Sunday afternoons to the rest of you!
