We have seen collections presented to the street.  We have seen works of art advertised to the street.  And now we will see quirk for the sake of quirk.

In front of 1230 Monterey, just a block or so up Monterey from Hopkins, is a world of laughter, a world of tears, a world of hopes, a world of fears.  And so on.  You get it, no?  A small world after all?

The front lawn slopes up towards the house.  Placed and scattered throughout the slope are dozens, maybe hundreds of figures who seem to exist to remind us not to take ourselves too seriously.  This is whimsy for the sake of whimsy.  And it is wonderful:

And my favorite vignette, a panda on a speed boat:

Panda in a fast boat – how perfect!   Hanging from the branches of a small tree are bright ceramic bird figures.

The garden is a gift to the street from Grace Munakata.  She wrote me about her garden:

So many stories- once the cast metal frog (a candle holder) originally holding a cup of ‘rubies’, disappeared and reappeared years later on the porch with wax on the lilypad. Quite sure a neighborhood teen took it to college and returned the prodigal safely home. We’ve been gifted by many items that appear, globs of green glass, stained glass birds, once a ceramic reproduction of Rodin’s ‘the kiss. There’s a ‘legend’ we hear some children tell each other. You can take something from the garden as long as you replace it with something you have that you like as much.

 

I have a few more small worlds in mind – great little worlds on Talbot, Russell, and Ada.  My little desk-side “what a trip” friend would fit right in.  Maybe he slips off on full moon nights to dance with his friends here.  Maybe.