Piedmont Avenue

- I passed a house yesterday afternoon that had a myriad of flowering shrubs, trees and flowers in all colors. It reminded me of my grandparents' backyard in Macon. It was a glorious mass of color in the Spring - with no particular organization. There was a huge pecan tree in the middle of it all. A little house all the way in the back had a series of tenants - the last one, Mrs. Pettigrew, was a sweet elderly lady who was always home and up for a visit from children.

- It makes me sad to think of the backyard in a way - some family members report that Piedmont Avenue has become a "bad" neighborhood with crack houses, etc. My grandparents' house is abandoned with the front porch caved in and holes in the roof. I like to imagine though that the yard persists with its blooms year after year long after its loving caretakers have gone.

- I wonder if it could have imagined that the children who played on its soft green grass would be scattered all over in various circumstances now. The memory of the sun dappled lawn and the ice cream churn humming lives on for me anyway.