It was just down the street from where I lived and was the border of Fireman's Field, the ball field I mentioned in the side note of the Clerks wandering post (this is where I wandered to after that; maybe two miles apart).
What caught my attention while I was driving by was this display. I turned around and went back to look at it. The first paragraph in the upper left makes the claim that the view in the image below is Blue Heron Pond. I don't see a pond. And for all my years living there I don't recall anyone ever referring to this stretch of creek as "Blue Heron Pond". Nor can I recall ever seeing a Great Blue Heron anywhere near here.
I do remember frogs, tadpoles, fish, and eels in this creek. And a mammal that swan and made its home in holes in the bank. The eel would spawn in it. As kids we'd put a large bucket in the creek, on its side, and wait for things to swim in. Then we'd quick pull it up and survey our catch. I also remember a fish bowl on our back porch where I'd put my day's haul, until Mom made me take it back. Once, I caught an adult eel, it wrapped around the fish bowl and was no doubt rather uncomfortable there. I'm sure it was happy when I dumped it back in the creek.
From time to time the creek would flood, and we'd ride our bikes through the water.
I wonder what the kids did when this happened? The red line on the middle sign is the high water mark, 11 plus feet above sea level, during superstorm Sandy. Also in the picture on the left hand side you can see part of Fireman's Field. And way down on the left you can see a house with blue siding. That's the house I grew up in.
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This is the last of Saturday's wanderings. And likely the last time I'll be wandering in my old home town. I'm no longer on "dad duty", my other siblings having taken over until Mom and Dad move to an assisted living complex not far from my youngest sister. It was fun driving down roads I hadn't been on in 30 some years. Curious memories of familiarity and strangeness.
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