Some Days Are Just Like That ...

...Nuthin' but blank walls and pussy cats.

Then I took another look and noticed the sun reflecting off the pavement made the asphalt look nearly white, the sections of bricks are evenly divided by support beams. The bricks uneven surface looks like basket weave; is that a natural outcome due to the hand of the bricklayer, or just shoddy work? 

The security lights cast shadows, breaking the monotony of the vertical lines, while a small yellow sticker on the door provides 

the one touch of color.

The slightly petulant cat is Taylor, a young female tabby who was sent to me by a rescue organization last December, the day after my previous cat died.

She was filthy dirty, extremely thin and picking her up caused her to become stiff-legged and frantic. The sounds of loud voices and heavy footfalls 

would make her hide for hours.

Things are better now. Taylor's coat is soft and glossy, she's filled out from a steady diet of kibble, and she sometimes gives indication that 

she actually may know her name. She's a bright cat -- you can see that in her green eyes -- she doesn't miss a thing, but it seems that the synapse or two that runs between her ears operates on some kind of delay. Her "chatter" is made up of peeps and chirps that aren't unpleasant to hear.

I guess she's gonna stay.

Plane As Day*

I allowed two hours Tuesday for my walk and used a route I know will take about that much time to cover. I stopped by the creek to look for turtles; there were none, possibly because the creek was too shallow. I crossed another portion of the Coke Lot to check out the old mulberry tree in yesterday's post, then went to look at the trees surrounding another of the parking lots.

The trees don't seem to show as much bright color as they did a year ago, but in many spots they are beautiful, nonetheless. I enjoy the way the sunlight accents the color of the yellow leaves and the tiny bits of red, but I think I enjoy the way the trees' trunks undulate and define the positive and negative space of the picture even more.

 

The sycamore tree seems to be holding onto summer. It's leaves are still green and standing under the tree was like entering a good watercolor; clear and liquid with defined edges, a master of the technique bringing the viewer into the warmth and smell of the sycamore "plane as day".

*With a small bow to Small Glass Planet  which introduced me to an alternative name for the sycamore tree.

Old Tree

"A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair ..."

Okay, we can forget that shit. This tree is gnarled with age

and shows the scars it's earned every step of the way. 

A red-tailed hawk maintains a hunting lodge 

in this old mulberry tree's matted tresses, and her leaves flutter 

not so much with the promise of a fuzzy bunny popping

out at the trunk, as it does a threat, a feral warning 

to not disturb her residents. As proof, the bright pink remains

of a pterodactyl hang, fatally snarled among the branches.

This tree, quietly inhabiting the center of the Coke Field

is one of the most feared of it's kind ...

... the dreaded Kite-Eating Tree!
Be afraid, be very afraid!! Aaaarghh!

Sun-Sparkled Autumn

Last fall the trees were so beautiful. 

I didn't have to leave home to see autumn color because it was 

beautifully expressed within a mile of my house.

Here, it looks as though I'm in the middle of a woods 

when I'm really standing in a parking lot across the street from the

Indianapolis Motor Speedway. There are houses just on the other side,

screened by the trees. I remember standing there, mesmerized

by the way the sun reflected off the leaves, 

sequins in the middle of the day.  

Apples in the Rain

It was a chilly, rainy day when I saw this beautiful apple growing on a tree.  

The rain was dripping off the fruit. It was a picture asking to be taken.
I was surprised to see the large apples shared the tree with a lot 
of much smaller fruit. I looked but could not find a second tree. 

I can only assume that a cutting of the one type of apple 

was grafted onto a tree of a different type, though same species.

Really, I have no idea other than that.

Tree Poodle

There's supposed to be a reason for it, one I don't quite understand, but each year some of the trees in the neighborhood get a trim job. Their limbs are cut back, leaving only little poufs at the ends. While I enjoy the way the limbs divide the sky, with splashes of sunlit leaves for accent,

I prefer to stand amid these curtains of color,

 where the sun enters between the leaves, 

creating shadows of themselves, on themselves.

Theme Day: Mystery Object

Hmmm, theme day comin' up. Topic: Mystery Object. 

Shall I post something I find to be mysterious? 

Or just enlarge an image until it's unrecognizable?

Here is it's info from a collectors' website:
"The No. 42 is a double petticoat type, with a long, smooth leakage path 
on the inner petticoat. It sits close to the cross-arm, thus giving the pin protection against rain splash. Its threads are accurately formed 
for a tight grip on the pin. The wire groove is a modern square type shown in Spec. 1-A-33 of the Association of American Railroads, and is accepted as standard for most telephone construction."


Hell, I just think they're pretty and have been fascinated by them
since childhood, when I first noticed them atop telephone poles.
Now I have three of my very own.


To see other mystery objects,
click to view thumbnails for all participants