Stacking Crates

I was going to take a picture of the tidily stacked dairy 

crates just outside the downtown grocery, 

when the door opened and a stock-boy brought out 

more crates to add to the grouping.

Mundane as hell, but I like the young man's blue

shirt added to the glimpses of the blue crates.

The grocery, the only one in downtown Indy, is located 

inside a re-purposed Sears-Roebuck store that was

closed in the early 1980s.

Grids Everywhere!

I was walking across a parking lot yesterday 

when I happened to notice the buildings to my right. 

The patterns of rectangular grids had always been there,

but yesterday the buildings seemed to stand shoulder to shoulder,

showing me how their bricks, mortar, cement and glass

had acted to make them alike, yet different.

All I had to do to get them to align themselves

was to shift myself a bit. Though rooted in place, they 

stood quietly, as if they wanted their differing eras 

and functions to be recorded at that moment.

But why was it I hadn't noticed them before?

I'm anthropomorphizing, of course, but I did 

silently thank them before moving on. 

Uncloudy Day

I went downtown this morning to meet friends for lunch. 

After a pleasant couple hours, we all went our separate ways,

some to return to work, others to their homes, 

while I went for a walk to take pictures.

The weather was just about ideal, sunny with a breeze and 

reasonable temperatures. Puffy clouds dotted the sky in all directions;

seen from above, they probably look evenly spaced, giving one the 

impression you could reasonably expect to hop from cloud to cloud,

like stepping from rock to rock to cross a creek.

Even with the economic doldrums the world is in, 

why the hell would anyone go to a guy dressed like this 

to sell their gold? And in my neighborhood, 

I sincerely doubt anyone has gold to sell.

By the Numbers

There are telephone utility poles all over town, each of them bearing a unique identifying number. Some, like

this one have been impressed into soft metal, others have

die-cut numbers tagged on. Later poles have

a strip of plastic numbers posted vertically on their

flanks. I know there is a system to the poles' IDs

that tell the utility companies where and

 when the poles are installed, but I haven't been

able to decipher it. Damn. 

Funny Face

I love this little home-made creature and visit it several

times a year during my walks through the neighborhoods. The other

day, he was wearing a lacy gray collar, analogous to his

own coloration.

Growing up, I was frequently called ugly to my face,

occurrences that did not stop until I was well into my 20s. 

To this day, I have virtually no real sense of my own looks

except to say that none of my men chewed an arm off

to escape. In fact, most tended to stick around --

years at a time in fact. But I think it was more for my

efforts to accept myself  as "interesting," both in

looks and interests. The little gremlin above

started out with shiny paint and bright eyes.

Over the years, the paint has become worn, his eyes

a bit rusty. He's acquired a patina that has its

own beauty, that can only be gotten with

long experience. Like me? Like me.

Floral Galaxy ...

...or maybe floating lace. 

While walking through the Coke Field on Sunday

afternoon, I saw this grouping of tiny white flowers 

at the edge of the trees. The sun had caught them 

at an angle that made the flowers look 

as though they were floating.

A Wider View ...

As I took a picture of this mirror, it struck me as something 

of a contradiction - that the small convex circle condenses 

the outside world in order to project a wider view of same.

 And there's me, hoping I don't get hit by my proverbial beer truck

as I focus on the mirror.

In recent years, I've watched as a couple dear friends increasingly

cut themselves off from their friends and the women who loved them,

retreating into old fears and prejudices. In face of changes in the/their

worlds they could not accept - everything from the United States'

first black President to the failure of their penises due to years

of bad diets - they saw only threats from terrorists and self-created

gremlins. One returned to his home town, where he had spent years trying 
to escape an abusive home life, while the other became a recluse, 

and both were unmoved by their friends' concerns; 

nothing could budge them from their

self-imposed isolation.

As the years pass, I hope to always take the wider view. 

I want my life to be a series of small adventures every day, new things

to see and do. Even if it's just writing a small book or an 

"alligator slider" on my dinner plate, it means I'm learning new things,

researching a bit of the world I hadn't before experienced.

Oddly enough, both men played a part in helping 

me to acquire that attitude, to accepting it as 

a part of life, of growth. 

I guess that's why I always prefer sunrises - another

day to see how badly I screw up or get it right,

Another day to explore. While I may not exactly push for 

the edge of the envelope, I do extend my boundaries.

Just a little bit. Maybe.