Shards of slate in the road

Even the nicest neighborhoods suffer foreclosures these days. The end of a "street of dreams" block, with slate walkways and Frank Lloyd Wright windows. Fancy white fences. Babbling stone fountains carved into the yard. Sport courts nestled behind fences.

And yet, a piece of that nice slate is in the road. The white fences (plastic, as it turns out) are askew, covering with moss. No one plays in the sport court, and the entropy of the old country house next door spills into the street, cars on blocks, and no nasty homeowners association for them. A burn pile even!

I used to love (and probably still do) going to the Street of Dreams open houses in August. Always up someplace you have to take a bus to, climbing up into the rarified air which probably does not cause allergies (are pets allowed?). The infinity pools with views of vineyards. Maybe the wine is free if you live next to a vineyard? If you help pull weeds once in awhile, maybe?

I will probably go yet again to the Street of Dreams. Not sure why - maybe it is a Disneyland experience for someone who gets motion sickness on rides. Something far from your every day experience, oh! Did Oreo just barf on our new carpet? So much for keeping it virgin clean and taking our shoes off faithfully every day, I guess at some point even a new car loses its new car smell.

I don't know whether entropy has the upper hand today, or order. But I do see signs of the Street of Dreams crashing down, evidenced by the shard of slate in the road. And no, the "fruit of the poisoned tree" is not from Genesis, its from Matthew. Actually more commonly quoted with respect to a 1920 court case, which refers to evidence illegally gathered. Like all the words we coughed out of people the U.S. has tortured, with waterboarding or other methods.

Maybe some things were not meant to be real. Platonic ideals. Just meant to be ever out of reach, heaven on the horizon. You can think about it, want it, strive for it, but you're not really meant to have it. Not on this earth.