Some things in life just leave me stymied. I don’t mean the big things like government or technology. I mean the day-to-day stuff that gallops along behind us on our trek through this world, racing to catch up and smack us with a “huh?” moment.

Peabody Main Street and the Partners of Parks group were hosts for a pleasant evening meal and concert Sunday evening at Santa Fe Park to raise money for equipment, landscaping, and improvements for Peabody’s public areas. A nice-sized crowd of about 125 people, both out- of-town visitors and local folks, enjoyed the event and kicked in more than $600 to support the cause.

Santa Fe Park has been the recent recipient of generous contributions for trees, shrubs, and landscaping additions. It is looking refreshed. During the course of Sunday evening, some of the tree plantings at Santa Fe Park and the planned tree replacement program at City Park were discussed.

Did you know that some trees cost between $200 and $300 a piece? And these are not big old 40-footers. They are spindly four- or five-footers.

Now the really odd thing is that all over town are two- and three- and four-foot elm trees growing up in sidewalks and gutters, at the edge of curbs, and along the asphalt where the mower seldom goes. What’s up with that? If we want maple, flowering something, oak, or sweet gum trees, we pay big bucks at a nursery. We baby the trees along, but they often die within a couple of years.

However, concrete and asphalt everywhere keep pushing up little elm trees that hang in there until someone comes along with an application of Roundup or a pair of loppers. How does that happen?

I think it is because we don’t appreciate the elms as saplings. The same holds true for dandelions or the famous Peabody petunias. Because they are hardy and prolific, we consider them a nuisance.

See? Here comes a day-to-day situation getting ready to smack me and create a “huh?” moment. We make what is common a nuisance and what is uncommon appreciated.

It sounds like I have just arrived at a topic for an opinion column.

— Susan Marshall