7 September 2024 – It’s suddenly hot — so much for the pivot to autumn! — and I decide to go chill with the Dude, in Dude Chilling Park. As you probably know, I’ve done it before. Today, I want to do it again, and for the same reason.

Half an hour, I tell myself: half an hour on a bench, to share once again the pulse of this little neighbourhood park with no amenities but so much community.

One amenity: the Michael Dennis bronze statue…

whose appearance gave rise to the nickname for both the statue (officially, Reclining Figure) and the park itself (officially, Guelph Park).

I find a bench in the shade, with the street to my back, a breeze in my face and a clear view across the little square of grass that constitutes the park.

I sit. I watch all the quiet ways that this park, and this community, engage.

• Tattoo Sleeve, hurling a frisbee again and again for her wildly happy little dog
• Book Lady, cross-legged on her blanket in the sun, her spine admirably straight
• Vape & the Baseball Cap, lugging their basket to the one table on the grass, setting out their picnic while their dog nudges hopefully for some ball-throwing
• Stroller Mum, in the shade on the far side of the park, over by the Dude’s feet, spending time with both her baby and her book
• Gossip Guys, laughing & fist-bumping over whatever stories they’re telling each other close to the Dude’s shoulder
• Labrador Man, whose arrival with a Golden Lab sets off a whole round of dog dynamics: dogs of varying sizes & loyalties inspecting each other, inspecting each other’s frisbees, checking if perhaps any other dog wants to play Run In Crazy Circles (and some do)

It’s a whole lot of nothing, isn’t it? It’s just nothing.

It’s also everything, I think. Quiet pleasure in simple actions, simple interactions.

{Later, I will cross paths with a neighbour, who tells me his very small, and very old & frail, dog likes this park: “The dogs are always friendly.”)

I rise from my bench. I only then notice the plaque…

and realize that I have not been sitting here alone.