Drivin' Home

On the drive home from checking out New Year's decorations and the new store...

Hmmm... where is that going? And why? Nevermind...I don't want to know.

Take a deep breath, think thin thoughts... this is a tight squeeze. On the way to my office. Mere inches on each side of the van.

You think they're trying to make a point with all those banners? This new shopping center is not yet open, but they're getting ready!

Check out the plastic stars that have been randomly thrown into the trees? Aren't they pretty? They light up at night.

See how we wrap our bushes during the winter? We build wooden frames around them and cover them with green fabric until spring. We're big on protecting our foliage during winter.

And this is how we water our foliage. We shoot high-pressure hoses at them. If we were watering the grass, the high-pressure hose would be aimed directly at the grass, causing huge divets. It's amazing that grass survives. We haven't had rain for months...things are starting to look disturbingly monochrome here after so many months of dust/dirt/sand buildup.

Don't forget to buckle up! Those are teddy bears, looking lovingly at each other.

Look at these kind, cheerful police characters reminding me how to keep the roads safe.

The giant hands. With the 3/4 circle around them. The meaning? No idea. But every time I see them, I feel like posing my hands the same way.

Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a funhouse at the circus... adults walking down the street with cartoon characters on their shirts, panda bear hats, and carrying life-sized stuffed animals... happy-go-lucky cartoon characters teaching me how to be a better citizen on street signs... I see these things and I feel like I should be dreaming. But no.

These things have become so normal even though I still don't understand how in the world they are normal to a culture. Some days you just have to stop trying to understand, snap a few pics, and smile at it all.