Last August I wrote a blog about how many of the dwellings that I had lived in as a kid didn't exist anymore.
Well, I struck out again. I used Google Maps to look up a duplex in East Cleveland that I lived in shortly after I started school until I was nine. Like the house that we moved to, it no longer exists. In its place is a vacant lot.
Interestingly, I can see the "cottage" that we lived in before that. It was a small brick house behind another around the corner.
The neighborhood is in a mixed state. As I went around the corner, most of the lawns were uncut, paint was peeling, and boards were rotting. But as I went down the block, lawns were mowed, some houses were freshly painted, and they were in good repair.
The house that I had looked for conjures up a pleasant memory. I had had a few friends over for my birthday in March and we were sitting on the porch. I can still see the fresh green leaves in my mind. Now in Duluth MN, I turn my head in late April and see bare branches everywhere.
The school that I went to then is there and it is not there. The old building is gone and it has been replaced by a sprawling structure. The playground where I was a budding hydro-engineer at recess is now a parking lot.
