An Evening at Countryside Park
The cool wind created ripples on the placid waters which created a distorted yet uniquely beautiful and breathtaking reflection of the setting sun. Quality time being my love language, I simply sat with folded hands and observed both the lake and the pedestrians while wondering why it is so difficult for many individuals in my generation to sit for more than 5 minutes without pulling out their phones. (Perhaps for me it's because several years ago we completely left Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and 1 or 2 others and vowed, so help us, that we would never return to them. We have never regretted that decision or had any doubts about it.) I had mine along for a clock and communication, not for wasting valuable time on it.
Valuable time such as noticing that the sun had shifted farther north since last week. A Guatemalan cattle truck was parked across the pasture and I overheard faint snatches of the conversation. I caught a whiff of a pig barn then the smell disappeared but was later replaced by the strong smell of diesel exhaust followed by that of cheap perfume. I turned and saw a girl busy on her phone, totally oblivious to me. For a few seconds there was a faint odor of wood smoke. I also noticed that the number of people strolling and excercising in the park had drastically increased from just a few years ago. A traditional Mennonite family gathering was in full swing nearby complete with the iconic orange Igloo cooler and a suspicious dark liquid known as "Mennonite beer" (iced tea). The scent of a decidedly masculine cologne caused me to turn again. A muscular Mennonite guy in a football jersey with cut-off sleeves wandered past. Two young women walked by, gravely discussing, of all things, Billie Eilish and OnlyFans. Mmhmm. An elderly couple in a luxury SUV slowed down, stared at me, then moved on. Then my sworn enemy appeared on the horizon. She glared coldly at me and I just as icily returned the favor. Due to the presence of others custom compelled us to acknowledge each other. We did. She gave the faintest nod and I lifted one corner of my mouth by a fraction of an inch. Just a pair of good old enemies. After this a person with very little clothing meandered past. I turned to the nature around me.
The sun was now touching the earth, a pulsating globe of fire partly hidden by the trees surrounding the lake. A blue-gray sky with a scattering of clouds, a magnificent orange glow which spread halfway up into the sky to fade into a faint pink on its edges and gold along the edge of the horizon. The dark water of the lake had now transformed into a bowl of liquid gold. A crane stood poised in this brilliance, quietly waiting for a careless frog. This was the perfect moment for a perfect picture yet to pull out a man-made gadget and snap a photo would render the moment imperfect and ruin the magic and even now I cannot do justice to that timeless scene which lasted only a few minutes.
As the sun sank behind the hills, the crane lifted its wings and disappeared. No sooner had the crane left than a frog jumped directly into that same spot.
Just a Thursday evening with a normal sunset at Countryside Park in the Mennonite colony of Spanish Lookout.
A. Mendoza
