Utility Work Ahead

8/6/19 Maple Leaf neighborhood

After a long-ish trip abroad, I often have difficulty getting back into my usual routines. Jetlag, accumulated chores, scanning and blogging about travel sketches and replying to emails I had ignored for more than two weeks all take time. It felt good to start sketch-walking around my neighborhood again during these perfect days of summer. (We have vowed to stay home all summer next year and enjoy the best time of year to be here!)

A recent walk took me on Fourth Avenue Northeast, just a few blocks from home, where a sign in the street beckoned tantalizingly. For several years, I had made a series of sketches of trees unattractively trimmed by the city to keep the boughs from interfering with power lines.

While the evidence of their work is plentiful, it’s difficult to sketch the utility crews doing the work – I’ve only ever caught them twice (both times in 2015, in the summer and again in winter). Hearing the buzz of a chainsaw, I followed the noise – and my heart leapt with joy! A city crew was in the middle of the deed!

Ahhh, it’s good to be home.

A good sign.