Postcards from a summer day

I have a tradition at the beginning of every summer. I pick a random day, with a random itinerary and embark on a writing adventure of random acts of “findness.’’

I call it “Postcards from a Summer Day.’’

Earlier this week, I saddled my pony and traversed the city. I was a front-line journalist on a mission to collect slices of life in familiar and unfamiliar places. I watched the day wake up and wind down across 109 miles and almost nine hours in the driver’s seat of a Toyota RAV4.

 It brought out the wanderlust in me. I played the proverbial fly on the wall and gnat on the front bumper. I meandered through parking lots, skirted the edges of ballfields, orbited downtown avenues and discovered roads less traveled. 

I was on so many roundabouts, I’m still dizzy. I bounced from College Hill to Breezy Hill to Pleasant Hill to Coleman Hill to Forest Hill to Beall’s Hill. I snatched views from Summit Avenue to Vista Circle. I even saw a boat in a yard on Easy Street.

 My hometown excursion included an unscripted cast of backyard gardeners, dog walkers, bench sitters and front porch enthusiasts. I lost count of the number of satellite dishes I observed. (I used to think they were the unofficial state flower.)

I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen so many American flags. They were everywhere – hanging from porches, fences, carports and trees. There were miniature flags placed along curbs. I don’t think it’s just because Flag Day is next week and the Fourth of July is approaching. There is plenty of patriotism on display in this town.

On Magnolia Street, I waved to a woman on the steps of a front porch. It was a day when everybody waved back. … At Northeast Plaza on Shurling Drive, I met a man from Cordele named David who was selling a bounty of summer fruits and vegetables out of the back of his yellow Dodge truck. (I left with a watermelon rolling around on the floorboard of my back seat.)

As I topped the bridge on Little Richard Penniman Boulevard, I paused to appreciate the splendid view of downtown from that lofty perch on Second Street. … The colorful digital sign in front of John R. Lewis Elementary on Greenbriar Road announced “School’s Out For Summer!” But a block away on Edna Place, class had not been dismissed for the school zone cameras. (Might want to remember to slow down in the mornings and afternoons.) 

At the Wellness Center on Northside Drive, I noticed a man wearing a red baseball cap going in for his morning exercise. … I watched a woman from Tennessee checking out of a hotel on River Place Drive. There was a cigarette dangling from her lips as she packed the back of her Jeep, so my guess is she wasn’t in a hurry to join that man on the track at the Wellness Center.

I witnessed various modes of transportation. I was surprised to see a man in an electric wheelchair take off down Boulevard, then turn down North Avenue like a dog who had jumped the fence. Near the corner of Roff Avenue and Clisby Place, a fellow with locs was pedaling a bicycle. After supper, I saw a young lady wearing a backpack maneuver her electric scooter along the sidewalk on Forest Avenue.

At the International House of Pancakes on Tom Hill Sr. Boulevard, I observed two tiny birds scampering between parked cars for their breakfast buffet — a piece of toast someone had dropped in the parking lot. 

At a house on Vacation Drive in East Macon, a young girl wrapped herself in a beach towel after she got out of an inflatable pool in the front yard. … I saw folks chilling out in the Adirondack chairs under the umbrellas on the plaza at the foot of Cotton Avenue. 

I drove along the bumpy bricks on Orange Terrace, then looped back to “Orange Barrels Boulevard,” better known as all the construction work around Interstate 75 and Interstate 16. (There are also orange-and-white striped barrels on stretches of Vineville Avenue’s “Torpedo Alley’’ where the reversible lane lights are not functioning.)

The day brought its share of chores to check off the list. A man was cutting his lawn on Northwoods Drive, and a yard crew was trimming the shrubbery at a home on Callaway Drive. … At the Ocmulgee Mounds, I watched a weary older couple from Minnesota retreat to their car after walking out to the Great Temple Mound and Earth Lodge. 

I chuckled as I passed the sign at Sid’s Sandwich Shop on Forsyth Street. The marquee read: “122 Years Ago Two Brothers Said They Could Fly. They Were Wright.’’ … At Amerson Park, a mother pushed her child in a stroller along the riverwalk near the stone pavilion and overlook. … In the late afternoon, I watched a young boy in bright red shorts hurry up the hill at Henry Burns Park.

On Corbin Avenue, I glanced over to see the aluminum chairs hanging from the hackberry tree behind Ingleside Village Pizza. Or, as I like to call it, Macon’s other “chairy” tree. … When I saw an oscillating sprinkler watering the grass in a front yard in Riverside Park, I looked up at the street sign and laughed. I was on Misty Valley Drive. … At dusk, I came upon a woman out for a walk in  Wesleyan Woods. She had AirPods plugged in her ears, and I almost stopped to ask whether she was listening to music or a podcast. 

I watched youngsters getting tennis lessons at the John Drew Smith Tennis Center and teenagers shooting hoops at Daisy Park and North Highlands Park. … I was a bit emotional when I stopped at the Mulberry Community Garden on New Street and looked over at the familiar cluster of banana trees growing near the fence. They are offshoots of the banana tree my dad got at a nursery in Florida when we were returning from a family beach vacation more than 60 years ago. 

At Carolyn Crayton Park, I watched a young woman use her phone to take a video of four children practicing their dance moves in front of the gazebo. … At the end of Florida Avenue, I saw a sign congratulating a young lady on her high school graduation. … I paused to watch a concrete truck cross the wide stretch of tracks at Brosnan Yards on Seventh Street. … When I saw two men wetting a hook from the shady shores of the lake at Freedom Park,  I decided that must be a delightful way to spend a lazy summer afternoon.

In front of the Terminal Station, people waited for their buses on benches beneath a colorful mural. … At Tattnall Square Park, the competition on the pickleball courts was heating up as the sun was going down. In the park’s grassy area, I watched four boys playing soccer and a young family trying to launch two kites in the air with hardly a wisp of a summer breeze.

I traveled out to patches where kudzu is king — green castles beside the railroad tracks along Rivoli Drive and tumbling across the front of the Museum of Arts & Sciences on Forsyth Road. … In the shade of Shed “D” at the Georgia State Farmer’s Market, I stood next to a lady making change for a customer who bought some tomatoes. … At a home on Winchester Circle, I took note of a trampoline, a swing set and an inflatable pool in the same yard. My guess is that they have children.

On Marlowe Drive, I noticed a marvelous replica of a small house on a pole, filled with books and billed as the “Free Little Library.’’ … I approached a line of cars stopped for a funeral procession at the intersection of Pine and Second streets. … At lunchtime, I stood on a hill to watch a guy walking laps on the track at Middle Georgia State University. … I saw a man carrying a wreath coming out of Davis Wholesale Florist on Holt Avenue.   

 As I neared the end of my “postcards” journey, I dropped by  the main post office on College Street to ask how much it costs to mail a postcard these days. 

“Fifty-six cents,’’ the postal clerk told me.

He nearly had to pick me up off the floor.

I’m old enough to remember when a gallon of gas was cheaper than a stamp.

Oh, well. It was a nice day for my annual postcard to readers.

I wish you could have been there.

Maybe you were.

Columnist Ed Grisamore is a long-time journalist in Macon and the author of nine books.