Russell Lane

This is hardly a lane at all- it's more of an extended driveway off Elizabeth Street one block west of the Library on Fleming Street. I came across it pretty much by accident and I thought why not? Obscurity deserves it's place in the sun too:

While the lane itself is probably no more than half a block long what really marks it is the magnificent if slightly tired old mansion at the entrance. It features all sorts of nooks and crannies:

And includes rather disappointingly a set of aluminum letter boxes on the porch indicating it's owners have succumbed to necessity and turned it into rental apartments. Did the renter who got this in their apartment pay a premium? I would!I rather liked the side view of the enclosed bay windows through the shrubbery, the barely visible reading lamp hinting at long evenings split between a book and glances into the street:On the subject of shrubbery there were a couple of some type of blooming shrubbery overhanging the lane. I shan't embarrass myself by even trying to pretend I have a clue what they are. One is purple, one is red, that's all I know for sure:I grew up in large houses, my mother inherited a fifty room home and her husband wanted to live in big houses so spacious living was all I knew as a kid. Rebellion came to me in the form of not owning a car and living on a boat. For years I enjoyed living in a space small enough that I could reach all my worldly possessions while sitting under a reading lamp.

Looking back I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to live in a space far too vast for my needs because it knocked out the desire or the need to buy implausibly large homes now that I am an adult:

This summer my wife and I got one electricity bill that just tipped over $200 and we freaked out, now I remember to set the thermostat at 82 degrees (28C) when I leave the house and all the fans are turned off. Which helps me sympathize with the need to cut up a beautiful old home like this. I have no difficulty living in 800 square feet.Russell Lane reminds me that there are innumerable alleys around town, lanes that rarely lead anywhere, and quite a few aren't even marked.

I learned years ago from a Conch that the easiest way to navigate around town is by landmarks. She came to work one day grumbling about a home on a street corner that got remodeled, and I wondered why it bothered her so much. "They changed the color of the wall and i missed my turn," she said. Like most Conchs she wasn't fond of driving and going an extra block threw her off. Russell lane is close to the library and it's marked by a porch and a very bushy fence line:

I failed to click in time on the inevitable dog walker stomping along the sidewalk, but as I left the area i spotted a couple of humans braving the gray damp afternoon hanging out chatting on a porch around the corner.I doubt they knew or cared about the existence of Russell Lane but they seemed emblematic, through the palms of what people should be doing on the magnificent porch just around the corner.