Asakiyume mita

Today Wakanomori ran the Hartford Marathon. With this marathon, he's run a marathon in every New England state (not to mention several in New York). But two people running in today's marathon were using it as a capstone for running a marathon in every state, so there are always new goals to achieve.

I kept myself entertained by limping around Bushnell Park, which is not named after a corporation, as I darkly suspected (there is a Bushnell Corporation, but it's headquartered in Kansas), but after Rev. Horace Bushnell (1802–1876), who in 1853 proposed a park for the city.

I spent some time on this carousel (video is under 10 seconds)

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--riding this horse, whose magnificently lolling tongue I admired:



The horses all had really horsehair tails ... I was reminded a little of sartorias's Marlovens.

Along with horses, the park had some charming frogs:



They have spouts in their mouths and were in a playground area, so I'm guessing they add a fun water component in warm weather.

The marathon was tremendously well resourced. Here is a helper:



But initially I was in some kind of a mood--maybe partly because of the evidence of poverty around the place we spent the night and on our walk from where we parked.

Not evidence of poverty; just a mood-appropriate image from some cornice


( my grumble )

But everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves at the park, and after writing a letter and watching a fountain and seeing a monarch butterfly high up in the air--and riding the carousel--so was I. As I leaned on the railing in the spot I'd claimed at the finish, a young woman came and stood nearby for a while.

"Do you know how I can get over there?" she asked, pointing to the other side of the street.

"I think you just have to walk along until you come to a break in the barrier, and then you can cross," I said. "Do you have someone running?"

"No, I'm just visiting, and it happens to be a marathon," she said, laughing. Then, a moment later, "I admire their spirit."

Me too. It's not a zero-sum game. It's possible to have both public bathrooms AND marathons.