I am walking miles everyday and thoroughly enjoying it, as week two of being a one-car family comes to a close.  On Tuesday we saw a Palliated Woodpecker fly right across our path on the morning journey to the babysitter.  On Wednesday Lucy told me that walking is ‘so much more fun than driving in a car’.  Everyday I notice traces of nature and more miles of uninterrupted asphalt in our fair city.  I heard a statistic a while back that 86% of the downtown square mile of Pittsfield is covered in impermeable surfaces – leading to all sorts of drainage issues in the city’s low spots.  That number makes me think I must be remembering it incorrectly – maybe it is 68%?  Either way it is daunting!  Water drainage and plants, greenspace and trees wherever possible nurture me, my community and our planet.  My husband and I own a parking lot that stretches from our church foundation walls without break (accepting a few ever-widening potholes) right up to the adjacent property walls without so much as a blade of grass poking through.  Here is my answer to the lack of plant growth.  Next summer one might see these sprouting up all over the city.  Let’s Hope – please contact me if you are local and have a claw foot tub/s looking for interesting reuse!