每個周日去跳廣場舞都會經過一片空地。一年四季，除了春天花開時，我會停下來多看幾眼，或停下車站在路邊對著茂密的花田拍幾張照，其餘的三季我大都不會駐足停留。不過匆匆經過時，總會從車窗往外看，順著這平坦的空地一直望到視野盡頭的山巒，不管有沒有花，不管山是不是青綠，心中總是有一份舒坦和寧靜。我享受它的存在，習慣它的存在，也深知那片空曠在日漸擁擠的城市有多珍貴。
來這裏二十多年了。這是我來美國居住的第一個城市也是唯一的一座城市。二十多年裏，我見證了它的安寧，它的開闊, 它兼繁華城市和寧靜鄉村於一體的美麗，也目睹了它的發展，人口的急劇上升，交通的日漸擁擠，農田、果園、草莓地的一一消失，取而代之的一個個新社區新居民樓。。。
今年三月的一個周日，我在右拐時注意到了插在路邊的一個牌子“Future Retail Center“, 就知道這塊地也將不能幸存了。
今日（6/9）見推土機已經就緒，鐵絲網的欄杆上已經用黑布遮住，路邊電子屏幕上不停地閃爍著“XX road will be closed from June 12 to October 23“。 這就要破土動工了。
鍛煉結束後回家的路上，我路經空曠的田野，停下了車，再折身回來，隻為了最後看一眼這片田野。陰鬱的六月天空下，我第一次走了進去，雙腳踏過早已被割草機鏟平如今已經枯萎的荊棘草叢，腦海裏再次浮現去年三月盛開在這片土地上的魯冰花，和今年四月的那一片黃色花海。今年的黃色雛菊花，在魯冰花缺席的情形下，如此排山倒海，如此傾情奉獻，好像知道這將是它們的last show, 好像是在告別這個世界，大有要把芬芳留於世間的架勢。
再貼一次這兩張照片，紀念即將消失的美麗：
人生就是在告別，一首首離歌有情無情。大自然原本可以四季輪回的，卻因著人類貪婪的追求，也一樣香消玉殞。
不敢想象，城市化的發展，越來越多的鋼筋混凝土建築，還有若幹年後可能充斥大街小巷的機器人。這個世界會變成什麽模樣？人類的發展有時候是不是在作繭自縛，把自己困在了越來越狹小的空間？
特此記之。
另附今日公園裏拍的花：
A vanishing field
Sunday’s group dance gives Em the chance to drive by an open land that adjoins to the park. Em thought that the land would be preserved for good like the open areas in New York’s Central Park that provides city dwellers an escape of squeezed city life. Not until this March, when a billboard suddenly erected by the corner that says “Future Retail Center”, did Em realize that soon this open field, like many others she’d witnessed in the years, will be gone and replaced by more concrete jungles.
On her way home, Em decided to take a walk on the field, as the road would be blocked from June 12 to October 23 for constructions, a roadside digital billboard blinking on with the message. The sun hadn’t come out, a rare June gloom that lingered after May grey in California this year. She stepped for the first time on the field that she used to take pictures from afar, of the blooming purple Lupines or yellow daisies that thickly carpeted and stretched to the end of her sight. But now, hearing the lifeless dried thorny remnants that crushed under her shoes, seeing the bulldozers ready to plow them, Em felt her farewell as blue as the Blue Jacaranda under the downcast sky in the distance.
She felt lucky that she didn’t miss the beauty this field once offered her. From now on, it only lives in her memories, along with the vanished orchid farms, sprawling strawberry fields, or the orange trees that the county is named after.
***
TJKCB's comment on a photo of a bulldozer: photo of a bulldozer = open-mouthed tiger
"Looking at this bulldozer, I can't help but see it as the embodiment of an open-mouthed tiger, both sad and scary in its relentless power. Its gaping maw seems hungry for destruction, yet behind its formidable exterior lies a sense of melancholy. It's a reminder of the often conflicting emotions we feel when faced with the impact of human intervention on the natural world. This juxtaposition of strength and sorrow in the image is both captivating and thought-provoking."
