Weird Aluminum Animals at Pottawatomie Park

This is a drawing I did as a birthday present for Angela (July 25th, if you want to drop her a line!). North of us at Wolcott and Rogers is Pottawatomie Park, which has become a favorite. There's a nice playground with plenty of shade, and some candy cane shaped tubes that spray out water when you trip a sensor. Most of the equipment is relatively new, except for these old cast aluminum spring rockers. There are so many layers of mulch underneath that they no longer even bounce the way they used to.

I recognize these same stylized animals from when I was a kid at Lakeview Park in Lorain, Ohio. Angela recognizes them from her childhood in Ashtabula. Maybe in 30 years Felix will recognize them when he brings his children to a park. Strange to think that we're caught up in these huge cycles, just the way our parents were.

Angela likes the turtle, but I suspect her affection is mostly ironic.
 
(Note: We don't go to Pottawatomie as often as we used to.  Not since we watched some kid smash a bench to pieces with a baseball bat.)