april 11--adventure on the road ways

i started out only wanting to take pictures of the new cherry blossoms in front of my house.



















but then i started walking and i saw this bike and saw myself in the mirrors and started trying to capture my reflection.

















and that's when the guy came out of his apartment and said "is there a problem?" and i had to explain that i was just taking a picture of the mirror. (it sounds so lame whenever i explain it) and he said "well that's my bike and i'm worried about people messing with it." pause. "noo... i'm just taking pictures. haven't touched it." pause while he just looks at me. "well it didn't even work anyways." i said and started to walk away. "oh it didn't?" he said as i turned, suddenly sounding sympathetic. "well if you want to take more pictures just knock on my window." "oook." i said walking away, thinking "great, i got in trouble again."





i phoned phatima while i walked towards the oak street bridge. we had to make plans to 'meat'. as we were talking, i passed the construction site that's right on oak and 72nd. a guy smiled at me as he packed up his tools or something and i smiled and said a distracted "hi." well i walked over the bridge and took some clicks but tried not to stay in one spot at the same time, so as not to be caught by the fuzz again.

bridge pics:


















i told fatima that concrete tubes was the reality of today.


















had to take one of mount baker, just because it was there waiting to be noticed like it always is.










this is how the train gets across the river















and this is how the boats get through



















and that'st the other side.










there were so many good seagull shots if only i could get them. they were flying along same level as me, but they were too fast for me. however i did take a healthy, if that's the way you see it, and i do, amount of gul pics.






























































it was sooooooooo windy on the bridge and i was just wearing a short sleeved blouse. i told fatima that one does not wear coats in april. she said that was dumb and i did not agree. but it was pretty cold on the bridge. kind of exhillerating though. and the wind kept undoing the silky tie on my blouse but i wouldn't know it until i saw this brown ribbon flying in the air beside me and i wondered what i must look like to the drivers on the bridge. wild, i expect. lisa m. told me the next day that she saw me on the bridge when she was driving to her parent's house.




anyways, and here's a train.




















a shack and a flowering bush that caught my eye.
















some girls were playing with a joy stick and made this big bubble that floated up into a tree. i snapped this shot really fast. i would have liked to take one of the kids but got shy and didn't want to look like a creep or get in trouble again, so i continued on my way with photographer's regret.




i passed the construction site and that's when the guy(not the same one i saw on the way there though) peppered me with the questions
guy: did you walk all the way over the bridge and back?
me: no.
guy: how far?
me: shrug. most of the way.
guy: what is that? a mile or something?
me: shrug. idunno.
guy: do it just for kicks?
me: holding up camera, i was taking pictures.
guy: of what?
me: shrug. anything.
guy: that's a good hobby. that's a good hobby!
me: smile and polite laugh. walk on feeling slightly self conscience like i'm being watched.



but thought "this street looks so green!" and i took this shot and forgot about him. i think spring is so amazing. like just a couple of weeks ago these dark trees were bare and now they are shrowded in tender green and it happened gradually but now it seems like it always has been so. you know what i mean?






























so i was back on the streets of the hood and i stopped to take a shot of these stairs. well it was a lame shot and that 's why i'm not showing it here, but i saw the curtains move in the window beside the stairs and then i realized that i was back at the bike man's house and that he saw me taking pictures, now pointed towards his home. "great. he probably thinks i'm stalking him." i thought and started to high tail it out of there. i had already crossed hudson, when i hear someone calling me. "excuse me!!!!" it was bike guy. he had run out and was calling me back. "can you take a picture of my bike?" he yelled to me waving me over. "i have this really great shot of all the chrome, it's my favourite shot....blahblahblah." oh. well that's not what i expected, and i shrugged again and thought "why not?" so i went back and bike guy excitedly showed me this angle. and i clicked it. "and i'll buy the picture off of ya." he said to me. "you don't have to do that." i protested. "my name is jim." he said sticking out his hand. i shook it and said "laura." "nice to meet you." said jim. isn't it weird how formalities are still observed in odd situations? it's like something people automatically fall back on. to shake hands and say nice to meet you. it strikes me as odd, anways. so jim started talking to me all about bikes, of which i know nothing, so i just was nodding and saying things like "oh yeah." and "wow." and "oh!" and "really?" i asked jim if he wanted a picture of him with the bike and he said "no, i'm not very photogenic, eh." "really?" i said. "ok."





and jim asked me if i had ever 'sat' on a bike before, while i was taking this shot. "no." i said absent mindedly. "well if you want i'll take you around the block sometime." he was so eager. "i'm really careful...blahblahblah" i was still taking the shot, but said what came to me, which was that i was accident prone and was afraid of hurting myself, which was not even an excuse, but may have sounded like one. i asked jim for his email so i could send him his pictures but he said he didn't have one, so now i am dropping it off at his place some time. "yeah, just knock on my window. that's my kitchen window right there." he told me. "ok." i said. "see ya later." i said and crossed hudson for the second time.

the two interactions with jim made me think of how people these days are so suspisious of one another and uneasy and secondly how people are so eager and needy for interactions with one another.


the cats were hanging out on the balcone when i arrived home from my adventures.



















i called to them which kind of freaked archie out and confused izzy.











and that's what fills my living room window. isn't it lovely?