Garfield

Double Double

I really like the word “double”. It is a fun word to say, and when I hear it I think of getting something extra. In baseball a double is getting an extra base on a hit. In basketball a double double is when you get double digits in two different statistics in the same game (the Cavs had two players get double doubles in their playoff victory yesterday). So, as I was biking this morning I kept thinking about the double images popping into my head when I hear the name Garfield.

One is the image of the 20th president, James A. Garfield. I can picture him with his beard and his receding hairline. He grew up in northeast Ohio, and I assume this street (as well as our middle school in Lakewood) is named for him. I found an interesting ivy-covered wall and pillar that looked out of place at the corner of Brown and Garfield and snapped a pic. Perhaps this was a remnant from a Garfield estate that once stood on this land (I looked around for a historical marker with no success).

The other image (and the one that I thought of first) was the lazy, smiling orange cartoon cat. I was feeling a bit sluggish like Garfield this morning, having only eaten French fries for dinner last night. At least they were quality shoestring fries from Hot Dog Heaven (my daughter brought me leftovers after her track meet in Amherst). I felt like I was destined to eat French fries yesterday given the names of my last three streets (French, Fries, Fry).

I also found one of the coolest two-family homes I have seen yet on Garfield. These homes are known as doubles, and this one reminded me of a Swiss Chalet. I then began noticing all the other unique doubles on Garfield. This street probably has the most diversity amongst its doubles that I have seen yet.