When You're Not Looking

Old Men & Withered Flowers

So, my odyssey to work, which takes place about 5 days a week, gives me plenty time to think, to observe, to prepare myself for the fast food world. So many things on this walk just make me stop and enjoy life, for instance, the pair of acorn-tops that had dropped in a way that my oh-so-enlightened imagination saw as a pair of boobs or the rainy day when the sky was dark and steam coming from vents by the Natural Resource Building reminded of me of a horror movie or a haunted house.

Or the herd of old men who cross the intersection of Oak and Florida between 4:30 and 5:00, with their lunch pails and their old men paunches....Some darting daringly across the street, holding on tight to their old men work hats, while others wait obediently at the crosswalk, holding their lunch pails in front of them with both hands and rocking back and forth on their feet.

Or the now withered flower ring over by the Ag Engineering Building. One day last week, I was hurriedly walking, constantly checking the time, and stressing because I was running late. I don't know how I noticed it, but I sensed that that area was different somehow. Looking down, I see this little crate dug into wood chips. Inside was a bright yellow flower surrounded by green berries surrounded by red berries surrounded by a ring of little purple flowers. Interesting thing...I have no idea where the flowers came from. There are no flower beds close to there still bearing flowers. And that makes it that much better. Not only did someone take the time to make this little ring of flowers in this busy, but they also took the special effort to get the flowers. Now, the flowers are withering, but in a way, the ring is that much prettier...the colors of the flowers have deepened, and someone added little rays of green leaves around the edge that were blowing away as I walked to work today.

posted by molly @ 10:43 PM