This ball was in the gutter by Vic High School earlier this week. I have come across such ‘streetcombed treasures’ in the past and wonder if a dog has lost it or if it was the result of a particularly long lob (is that the word?) by someone on the tennis courts way on the other side of the school.
In any case – and since I was not confronted by a confrontational dog or tennis player – finders keepers!
And, as in the past, I rescued it, nudged it away from the curb with my toe, kicked it along the next three blocks to the Polish Deli.
This is an activity I much enjoy. I like how the foot positions the ball, takes a stance, draws back, balances, aims and kicks. I like how, at times, the foot and ball connect at just the point to send the ball on a straight, steady, powerful path. I like how a wet ball, at these times, sheds its puddle water in sprays beside it like ground wings. I like how, at (most!) other times, with a less direct connection, the toe feels the off-kick and then watches to see just where the ball is destined to go; how both the toe and the eye, somehow, watch. I like how, unlike in pool or badminton where something comes between the body and the ball, the toe and the ball meet – well, toe-on.
At the Deli, I parked the ball in the parking lot to takes its picture and then gave it a slight nudge toward the hedge, intending to collect it on the way home. It scooted under the hedge and I could not find it! Finders-keepers, hedge. Easy come, easy go. Que sera, sera. My mind is a wealth of such platitudes.
A few days later, this ball – and isn’t it colourful; I don’t recall ever seeing one so bright before – was in the Park just past the high school and again I found it on the way to the Deli. I did not kick it there but picked it up and carried it. It was only when I put in on the chair at the Deli to record its presence did I think to wonder why I had not kicked it.
What came to mind first was, "It’s too pretty." Now that was a thought worth pondering! Does beauty stimy function?! Hmmm. To both the ? and the !.
It doesn’t seem I am prone to not using something for this reason, but maybe there is a question of time, of allowing for a period of time for an object to settle into consciousness, a space of being a guest before being welcomed into the family. This guest is presently on the deck but soonest to be part of the family.