Serendipity in the city

photos, Diane Carnevale

Walking to work in the city is always an adventure for me. Although I am a country girl at heart, I do enjoy a bit of city life, and delight in the most ordinary and mundane things. I seek out beauty, whether it be in soft faces, hard concrete, obvious objects and monuments or randomly obscure nooks and crannies. Each of these elements are enchanting in their own special ways-- even rusty old twisted steel has a sort of sex appeal to me. I've come upon achingly long autumn shadows, snow angels in the park, the behemoth Zakim Bridge reflecting on glassy stretches of the Charles River, and I've seen the explosive and infectious joy of mad dogs as they ran wild and played together at the Charlestown dog park. And occasionally, when I was very lucky, I've even had eye-to-eye contact or  exchanged a warm smile with a human being (sadly, all too rare in the city). Today I came across this patch of ornamental grasses amidst their long winter's slumber. To me they look like a hillside of hairy wild beasts! I like the contrast of the natural plant material against the man-made fire hydrant in the foreground. What was amazing though, is that to the left of this vignette I noticed the green tips of jonquils popping out of the soil. It's only February 22nd—how can that be so?! My freelance job in the city will end soon, and I'll miss serendipitous moments such as these.