Strange, Beautiful & Sometimes Sad

I have easily gravitated back to my comfort zone as I felt compelled to share more from my morning walks.  Carrying my phone makes it easy to capture a few things I see along the way.  I need to say here, that many of these images shift from one category to the next, combining strange and beautiful, or beautiful and sad, or all three, but I thought each one had a dominant feeling, and tried to place them accordingly.  

The Strange

It was rather unusual to find these two bizarre images of the human mouth… both smiling, one with shiny teeth reminding me of a side-show tarot-card, the other more like a clown-like half-mask, but none the less, thought provoking.  To a child, it is just a chance to have some fun, but obviously not too much, because after you tease your sister on the way home from school, you drop it on someone's overgrown lawn to be left for some obsessed artist to find, as she photographs it like a valuable artifact.

People always want to leave something of themselves behind.  I see footprints all the time, hand prints, names and often, bicycle tire marks or dog prints in the sidewalk or street pavement.  They impress me in different ways, from slightly haunting to amusing or just amateur graffiti, at best.

This delicate leaf kept me wondering how it could have left such a perfect relief of itself, being that leaves are so lightweight.  The hand print looks very deep as the early morning sun hit it at a sharp angle.  It almost appears to be convex rather than concave.

Here, I imagine how long this person's tires will last... there was at least a 20 ft. stretch of rubber on the road, but it still made for an interesting visual.

Some items are lost, but I often find it fascinating to see what people throw away.  This ceramic piece was in a cardboard box on the curb.  It must have been a rather ornate planter or bird bath, or something of a fairly large size, and clearly it smashed to pieces in a fall.  

The broom and mop are my favorites.  I thought they looked like a couple who have seen better days, but they are so well matched.  The next morning, someone had removed them from the trash pile.  Maybe they thought they had more life in them?  Or perhaps another artist saw some good, found-object material? 

This curious grouping caught my attention when I saw Goofy lying there.  He looks like he was part of a forlorn, stuffed-animal party, and someone brought the spray paint and football for added fun.  I felt a bit sad for Goofy, and hoped someone would eventually come to save him before the heavy trash pick up.

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Speaking of stuffed animals, this got my attention a few mornings ago.  They were all perched in the back of someone's car.  They say so much about the person who drives the car, although, I am not sure what that is, but do find it amusing.

This guy (left) looks like he is being made an example of.  I think he is a dog toy.  It was facing the sidewalk for anyone who cares to notice.  I did.

For added fun, someone decided to nail this flip flop to a telephone pole.  It seems to have a stick attached to it, and I wondered if it was used as a fly swatter?  Not sure, but had to post it.

The Beautiful

This seems to be a scarf, or some other sort of silky material that likely flew from a car.  I do love the way it landed in the street.  At first I thought it may be an animal, but once I was up close, I was quite relieved and pleasantly taken with its fleshy form, feeling it was a true thing of beauty.
 

It's funny how often one can find familiar shapes or symbols in everyday things.  It seems I often see the heart shape in things, and they are always delightfully surprising to find!

It is the natural elements that fascinate me - wood, metal, stone/earth and water, and how they constantly alter in Nature.  Here is a large, steel light pole succumbing to rust, even though it was painted long ago with some sort of silver paint.  The colors are glorious, I think.  Even though concrete is not stone, it is made up of many kinds of stones and earth.  The weathering of these surfaces, and how they are graced with lichen, moss, paint, oil, stains or some other substances can create alluring imagery.

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Here (left & right) the lichen is orange-rust in color.  After a good rain, some of these surfaces seem to come alive.  Even tree trunks/branches take on forms of discoloration from lichen, or should I say beautiful "coloration"?

Speaking of patterns, I often photograph sewer lids.  They have various grid patterns on their surface, and some have been painted by the city, or in some cases by homeowners.  I guess they feel it is part of their home's curb appeal.  The weathered paint or ornate patterns often creates an interesting affect.

The Beautiful Flowers 

They seem to need a category of their own.  What can I possibly say to honor these blooms of pure magnificence?  Poetry comes closest to what words can do, but being there before one is the only way to experience their true essence… their intoxicating scent, their velvety feel, and the delicate color they emote to the human eye.

The flower is the poetry of reproduction.  It is an example of the eternal seductiveness of life. 
~Jean Giraudoux

Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed.
~Walt Whitman

The earth laughs in flowers.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Sad

I knew this one would not be easy.  I see many things that get under my skin, and sometimes bring tears to my eyes.  The first would be all the "lost dog" signs posted throughout the neighborhood.  I have lost one of my furry family members this way, never to find out what happened to him.

My heart felt like it had been dragged through the worst kind of grief,  and even though this was years ago, each sign pulls up a remanent of that despair… probably feeling what these people are going through as they post their signs.  Just a desperate call.

Another thing I see too often is the senseless taking down of a tree.  Recently, some of the grandmother oak trees in the neighborhood were cut down to the ground.  I could not shake away the sadness I felt, and honestly, the anger I initially felt toward the people who do such a thing.  I understand that some tree roots damage plumbing or foundations, but when the trees are a reasonable distance from the home, what reason could be good enough?  Too many leaves to rake?  Too much shade?  Maybe a limb will fall during a storm?  After the serious drought a couple of years ago, trees are even more valuable, as so many did not make it.  We are still in drought, although people generally seem oblivious.  I know Austin has an ordinance that states you cannot take down a large tree unless you have a permit from the city, and you better have a very good reason, or the tree stays!

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I occasionally come across a dead animal - usually squirrels or birds.  This bird was one I did not recognize… just looked like one that was traveling through, and may have been hit by a car, as I saw it in the street.  It is a creature that definitely fits the "beautiful and sad".

This butterfly was way too still to be alive.  I did push it with my finger, and it did not react.  It looks like it lived its short life, eventually falling to the soft grass below, with open wings.

This seems a good place to end, as I have gone far too long trying to fit in as few photographs as possible to cover such a vast subject matter.  Hope it brought some strangeness, beauty, and perhaps a bit of sadness...  mostly to come away filled with a bit more awe for life.