Down By the Riverside

I had to take a book and some papers in to our church office today. In case you don’t know, our church abuts the Arkansas River in downtown Wichita. They have put walking paths, etc. along the river behind our building and it’s a rather nice place.
After I finished my business, I went back to the river and sat on a rock and just enjoyed the cool breeze. It was a little after the noon hour and there were several folks using the facilities at the river.
There were all kinds of folks there. Some were walking solo. Others were in groups of two or three. Some jogged. One or two were pushing baby carriages as they walked or jogged. One stopped across the river and rested for a short time. Some acknowledged me as they went by with a smile or a turn of the head. Others pretended I didn’t exist.
One old man shuffled very slowly up the walk. He was carrying a bucket in one hand and dragging something on the sidewalk with the other. I thought at first he might be homeless, as we have some of those in that area of town. As he went past, however, I noticed that the bucket had fishing stuff in it and he was dragging a couple of fish behind him. They were 15 or more inches in length, and appeared to be some kind of carp, although they didn’t look quite like the carp I’m familiar with. They weren’t catfish; they were scaly.
I sort of wondered where he was shuffling off to. I watched. In what seemed like an eternity, he got to the end of the walk and went to an old car that was parked in the back corner of our church lot. He put his stuff in the car, but stuck around doing not much of anything.
I enjoyed the time outside. I enjoyed as much (or more) being able to watch people as they exercised on their lunch hour, walked from this place to that, or dragged fish to their car. It didn’t really bother me that some didn’t acknowledge me. That happens in a larger urban area.
As it cools more on into the fall, the number of walkers/joggers will diminish, but not completely go away. The river is used a lot, it seems, and I’m glad I have a place I can easily access it.