This particular neighborhood has meaning for me!

Just a bit to the east of the George A. Jackson Elementary School sits an idyllic, verdant tract of green. It is on the corner of Merry Lane and Maytime drive. Lately I have spent considerable time in this area.

As many times as I have been there, it has never been crowded. Its outstanding feature is an asphalt circular path that encircles the green field. I have concluded that walking or trotting around this path five times is equivalent to doing a mile. Along the pathway are various exercise facilities for the hearty and hale.

These are leg stretch, back leg lift, hip rotation and isometric squat. To be perfectly honest, I have done none of these strenuous exercises. Only fast walking.

If you decide to bring a newspaper, there are benches, some in the sunlight and some in the shade of maple trees where one can sit and read in perfect peace. Each of us needs such a spot in the hurly-burly times of the modern world.

I usually bring The New York Times, the New York Post and Newsday to read. That way I get the full scope of the political spectrum as I bask in the sunlight. Occasionally, I smoke a mild cigar as I read the events of the world.

Last Election Day I spent the entire day (from 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.) as an election day poll watcher at the George A. Jackson School on Maytime Drive, right next to that glorious little Garden of Eden.

As a local columnist, I rarely get to meet the readers of my weekly articles. The voters were lined up to cast their ballots at 6 a.m. Truly, this was a hot election. One of the first voters approaches my table and says, "You're the columnist, dentist and boy from the Bronx. Also, your son writes, too!" I blushed, WOW! At least I know I have one reader who doesn't just glance at my column. He reads for content.

I also met some of the parents of my team from my days as a soccer coach for the Hicksville-Americans. They were the Hermans, the Kesslers and the Nisensons and other friends.

That little enclave of East Birchwood, just down the street from the Jericho Library, holds many good feelings and memories for me.

This neighborhood indeed reflects my past and present.