18 August 03 This was a night walk 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. When we arrived at the garden plots these Chinese women were picking vegetables for dinner and chatting amongst themselves. The gardens are beautiful - packed with seedlings everything kinda stacked and trellised and orderly but definitely packed in there. Carpets and carpet remnants served as both weed barriers and walkways. The cart was parked on a Persian rug and when we went up to it the ladies pointed to us and we nodded our heads. The corn not only tasseled up but the ears were getting silks drawing in the pollen - the ears were about the size of stogies. One woman with a house said something to us in Chinese then offered to water the corn plants. Inside the cart was a teacup, a bunch of teeny plums, a big plum and about 50 apricots. It was really a nice surprise and I ate a few and offered some to her. She giggled and declined. We took off deciding to continue walking north on Ravenswood along the train tracks. I had my bike with me and it was a bit awkward and I found myself pulling the cart for the first time, instead of pushing it. We stayed in the street though it was narrow and let the skilled Chicago drivers glide between us and the parked cars. Crickets and night flying birds came out and the evening sky turned a deep blue. Train tracks are gorgeous quiet places. I saw many mullen spires on the rocky embankment. Melinda and talked about how art is an open-ended process for us. We also talked about boys. When we got to the castle, there were flickering candles on the front porch and jazz music being played - it was so welcoming. David served us open faced Humus sandwiches with cucumber tomato from his garden. We parked the cart next to the corn growing in their backyard and admired the rest of the garden in the dark. Melinda and Nance