Most mornings in Spring, Summer, and Fall, you’ll see my on my front porch, enjoying my coffee, solving Wordle, or staring at the sun. A few weeks ago I attended a class where the trainer kept referring to Midland as “Sparkle City”. His tone was sort of mockingly saying that Midland was a bit full of itself. I prefer to say that Midland has always been a nice & well-managed city. And it does sparkle here. But not by accident.

Case in point, the photo above: It is several weeks past the end of the school year, yet across the street at the middle school, an employee was diligently casing the area and picking up any litter. Sidewalks, parking lot, curb side - very thorough. He had a little music speaker hanging on the bucket playing classic rock. I may have toasted him with my coffee cup.