Comments on: Eulogy for the Alley

By: MrBrownThumb

MrBrownThumb — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:04:19 +0000

Our alleys were never the kind of secret gardens of your childhood but I spent a lot of time in them. There was one alley with some kind of berry growing in them and we’d eat them all the time. Thinking back on it I’m surprised we didn’t get sick or lead poisoning.

By: kerri

kerri — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:49:51 +0000

Colleen, I loved this essay! Anywhere that provides a place for children to play in relative safety is a place that should be cultivated.
I fondly remember the places I played as a child…including rural, suburbia and beaches…almost always outdoors, growing up in Australia. It’s the healthiest thing a child can do, I think…a wonderful tool for developing imagination, and promoting good physical health.
Be it alleys, beaches, suburbs or rural, outdoors is where our children need to be. Here here! This sounds like a good book and is definitely a subject that needs to be addressed.

By: Gloria

Gloria — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:10:53 +0000

Colleen, we have paved ally behind the houses and all the garages open to the ally. There are few plants visible but still a playground at one time. Basketball nets kept out behind the houses noisy with children until everyone decided a group of kids together means trouble.Now they are outlawed.It is still a good place to play softball since there are no windows nearby, and a few small children with a parent will learn to ride bikes. The most activity is people walking their dogs.

I read ‘Last Child In The Woods’. He makes some good points about how sedentary children are and how little time they spend outdoors.
It seems to me that children and parents should spend more time outside ,reclaiming their communities.

By: Cindy, MCOK

Cindy, MCOK — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:36:24 +0000

Colleen, my section of the neighborhood has alleys and the almost 3 year old down the way rides her tricycle in ours. I always come out to say hi to her and her dad … it makes me smile just to hear the rumble of her wheels on the concrete. There’s not room enough to really garden in our alleys, although plants reseed themselves in the 3-4 inches of bare soil at the bottom. I have sweet peas planted in one spot where I hung a trellis … we’ll see how they do.

By: Bren/ BGgarden

Bren/ BGgarden — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:10:37 +0000

I love your lilac photos. Now that I have a new camera that does wonderful close up’s I am a MACRO JUNKY!!!

Happy Spring

By: Katie

Katie — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 03:19:42 +0000

I love that book and had the opportunity to see Louv speak. He is amazing and hit a nerve with me as well.

I too remember the days when our playing wasn’t scheduled and the neighborhood was our nursery.

By: Sheila

Sheila — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:56:35 +0000

Our home in Laguna Beach is actually on an alley. There are many in this old town and they are all filled with character, jsut like you said!

By: Annie in Austin

Annie in Austin — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:03:38 +0000

What a beautiful essay you have written, Colleen, and how right you are that children can mesh with the natural world wherever it appears. I can almost see that little girl eating the berries and hiding in the foliage.
My parents’ house was in the suburbs – no sidewalks, no alley – but when we visited grandparents, aunts & uncles and cousins in the city, I sometimes got to visit their alleys, walking on crunchy cinders back where the dads threw horseshoes and the tallest hollyhocks grew.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

By: Nancy Bond

Nancy Bond — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:42:59 +0000

I was very, very fortunate to have grown up in a rural, seaside village where there were woodland paths and mossy springs to explore; trees to climb; fields to dream in; and where the lure of the beach was only a few hundred meters away. My own children grew up in the same, small community. I was always able to touch Nature, and Nature always touched me. I realize what a spectacular gift that was.

Great post…and it sounds like a book to add to my Wish List!