Superstition

Step on a crack, break your mother's back.
Step on a line, crack your mother's spine....

Or, more practically, your own.

I used to believe this to the extent that I did try to avoid cracks in the sidewalks. Or perhaps it was less about concern form my mother and more about a way to combat boredom...

Now my mother is no longer with us and we don't have any sidewalks, but our street is so alligatored with cracks that it is reduced to cobblestone sized bits of asphalt separated by wide dirt cracks. It is impossible to walk down it without stepping on them. 

When we still lived in Berkeley we got a letter from the city which informed us that the cracks in the sidewalk in front of our house were dangerous tripping hazards and that if we signed on the dotted line we could receive the 'special' price of $600 for replacing three 4 foot squares. We demurred saying that we didn't think the cracks were dangerous,  and when did the sidewalk become our responsibility anyway? In the end, the replacement squares, randomly interspersed amongst the old pavements did not meet at the same level and created far worse tripping hazards. 

For their next gambit, we got a letter from the city saying that they were going to cut down all the trees on the street because the roots raised the sidewalks and created tripping hazards. There was a huge outcry and a neighborhood meeting at which every single house on the block was represented. We all loved the trees and hated the ones the city was offering to replace them with. One neighbor ended the meeting with the observation that, 'It took these trees 100 years to grow, and one afternoon for the city to replace the sidewalks, I don't see what the fuss is all about.' The trees remained.

Dana and I went to see the lovely Kathy this morning. We both have tape on our knees ( Dana tripped over a gate across the living room door to keep the animals out and off the new furniture) and Dana had her achilles tendon taped as well. We were then massaged and exercised and virtually danced out of there. She reminded me of the symbiotic relationship between my back and my knee and the importance of stabilizing my back to protect the knee.

The thermometer is pushing 100F today and slated to get hotter every day this week (up to a possible 107F) by the weekend. The heat pump is earning its keep by keeping the house wonderfully cool. In fact, I am wearing a sweatshirt as I write, but when I went outside to take the picture on the black asphalt (having taken the sweatshirt off!) it was so hot I could barely breathe. 

I am reminded by kendalishere that this is a significant Blip post...4,380 entries. I can only echo what I and so many others have already said, that this is a special place indeed. It is still a safe haven in the minefield that social media and the internet have become, and I am more grateful than ever to the good people who work behind the scenes to make it such a special place,  and to all the Blippers from all over who have made it so interesting and who have become friends. Thank you.