No More Juju

 

9/10/26 Green Lake

This little pinwheel palm had unpleasant associations for me.

In December 2019, I had just started my walk/sketch fitness program (which I’ve maintained to this day). As with any new endeavor, I was still freshly enthusiastic, despite the cold and sometimes wet weather. A few months later on one of those walks, I had stopped in front of Duke’s restaurant at Green Lake for my sketch reward. After sketching this palm tree, I tried to take a trophy photo, dropped my brand new phone and chipped the screen. I take trophy shots of my sketches nearly daily, and that was the only time I have ever dropped my phone; surely the palm had something to do with my bad luck. Shortly thereafter, COVID happened, and I came to associate sketching that poor, innocent palm with both bad things.

Remembering all of that as I walked past the palm at Duke’s recently, I decided I needed to sketch it again to eliminate the bad juju.