July 8, 2023
OUT AND ABOUT:
THE PLEASURE OF WALKING (John Wilson, 6 . 30 . 23, First Things)
If there is a special pleasure that comes from walking in an unfamiliar setting, seeing it for the first time, there is also a distinctive pleasure that can only be achieved over time, an intimacy of knowing. Here are the two small brick houses adjoining each other where (so we have conjectured) two old ladies (but we are now old ourselves!) live companionably; could they be sisters, whose husbands have died? Glancing at their windows as we pass feels, for a moment, like looking back in time (the furnishings, briefly glimpsed, are not of this moment). What happened in this other household, where the yard was always gloriously maintained, and where a large garden flourished but is now neglected? We pass by; we keep walking.
Posted by Orrin Judd at July 8, 2023 7:00 AM