In downtown Portland there are a lot of drinking fountains. Most of them are vaguely clover-like, four round basins about ten inches in diameter on a pedestal, each of which has a spout in the center shooting water up. They're always running except maybe in the winter. I guess I should just take a picture or find one to post here. Anyway, yesterday morning on the way to work I saw one that someone had modified in a grade-school vandal kind of way to make the water shoot up really high. They did it to two of the four spigots. I thought, "Kids these days." Someone had fixed it by the time I went downstairs for a cigarette later in the morning.

Today on my way to work the fountain was like that again. This time, though, instead of thinking "darn, those kids" I thought, "wow, someone made a fountain fountain out of a drinking fountain." Sure, it was a little messy, if water on the sidewalk is what you think of as messy, but at the same time, it was also like changing that little part of the sidewalk into a very tiny park with a fountain. I hope they do it again tomorrow.