When I walk through cities, neighborhoods, or parks, I often come across small items that don’t quite belong. Their unusual placement is part of their charm. They can be drawings like this bird on the beach, or a chalk message on a school parking lot.
Behind a factory, I found Christmas ornaments tied to the branches of a few trees. It didn’t matter that it was summer and that temperatures were near 90. I have no idea how long these ornaments hung there, but naturally I took a picture of one.
It even became an involuntary selfie of me and my dogs.
In Boston, I saw that sellers in an open-air market had used the statue of a famous local historical figure to block off premature access to their tables while they were setting up and getting ready. A line was already forming, and this solution was keeping over-eager shoppers at bay until everything was ready.
In Maine, literally at the end of a small road, there was a stack of firewood, and on it someone had pinned this piece of paper. It can’t have been there long; the day before it had rained. It was my great fortune to be there while it was clean and new.
In Houston I saw this message on a bridge that has been painted over many times, it seems. My guess was that soon someone would come and delete this message, so I made sure I had an image of it:
And in St. Louis I found this little bell in the Missouri Botanical Garden,
as well as this fish, eager for a few morsels:
Back at my neighborhood school, on the fence surrounding the playground, I found this little masterpiece, lovingly hung up for all to see:
A perfect butterfly. Made my day!
Orley's Travels 