The Odd Sock: Yesterday's walk report: and the black and white of it

it¹

/it/

pronoun

used to refer to a thing previously mentioned or easily identified.

I'll get back to "it" in a moment.

Here are some images from yesterday's rather uneventful walk. Saturday, September 14th.

First, on the way driving to my walking destination, a local community college, there was this very unattractive sign at the entrance. This sign has been there for a long time now basically stating when the need for parking permits would be enforced. They have gradually evolved into a more and more aggressive stance over the past year or so. This is the current status.

I don't have a parking permit. I pulled in and parked in the same spot I've parked on weekends for the past 12 years or so.

Here's what it says at the entrance of "all lots." Parking Lot 1. That's where I park.

Can you read that okay? It says, Enforced Mon. - Thurs. 7 AM - 10 PM. Friday 7 AM - 3 PM.

See, what I was thinking was I could be all bad ass and protest. Then, I changed my mind. I walked 4/10 of a mile first but I finally concluded, I'm not getting any younger. 20 years ago I might have made a stink but not anymore. Plus, the direction is obvious. I went back to my car, left campus and parked on the first public street just east of the school entrance. Another sign of the times, revenue for a community college has resorted to desperate measures by employing strategies to maximize income.

My 4/10 of a mile trek was into the botanical garden and back. A cursory examination and I realized, everything is still looking pretty dead. After moving the car I decided to hike around the arboretum on the east end of the campus. There were also 100s of people milling about the campus proper and the arboretum area was empty.

I guessed this was some sort of cultivar of lime but I've never seen a lime with such a bumpy texture. Turns out this is a Citrus hystrix also known as a kaffir lime, Thai lime or makrut lime. It's a citrus fruit native to tropical Southeast Asia. I took one home.

Some type of guava.

All of the fruits will suddenly disappear shortly before they're actually ripe. All the little critters hanging around take first dibs.

Speaking of critters. I somewhat marveled at this ground squirrel lair. Whatever that is that has oozed up from the base of this pepper tree, it looked like some sort of mortar plastering.

Nerium oleander,

the only bloom on the bush.

Hibiscus. This was right when Docken called and joined me over the phone. A welcomed event.

From that point we simply conversed and I wandered around somewhat randomly until I felt I had put in a decent amount of walking.

Back home... The black and white of it is actually a reference to Docken's and my dear feral cat friend of about 7 years, Stan. We both really miss Stan and I still think maybe he's going to show up one day. His last visit was on Father's Day of this year, June 16th. Stan was no ordinary feline. He had a way of communicating that made it seem like he understood the world almost as well as a human, perhaps better than humans. His eyes, often described as "wise beyond his years," held a depth that hinted at hidden thoughts and feelings.

We love you Stan.

There's my reference to black in my title. And here's the white. This is Vit. Vit means white in Swedish. Vit has been around the neighborhood since before Stan went elsewhere. Again, I still feel Stan's presence. At first Vit mostly showed up late at night on the trail camera in the backyard (thank you Docken). Lately he's been coming around during the day and for about the last few weeks or so there's been food out waiting for him on the patio. Today he came within a couple feet of me when I brought him some wet food in addition to the dry food that goes out early mornings. Vit also has very captivating eyes.

These are among the first pictures I took of Vit on September 8th.