So, an almost disaster morning turned out to be a winner, better than I hoped or anticipated.
Here I was, MINDING my own business, sitting on the lanai, trying to do something creative with colored felt tip markers, sipping a cup of freshly brewed coffee. Finished meditating. Looking around for a photo. No birds around singing or fishing. No trees blowing in the wind. No flowers in bloom. Just carts spreading poisons and lawn care workers shaving trees. The noise was deafening and the spraying made my eyes tear.
As I got packed up to go inside, a man wearing a Yankee baseball hat, holding a chainsaw (an instrument of destruction unfamiliar to and not allowed in the arsenal of Jewish men) knocked on the screen. In some undecipherable language, he motioned with his hands like he had a camera and said “Photo.” Let’s leave aside how he knew I was a photog, something I will never know and couldn’t ask, but I assumed he meant he wanted me to take his photo.
I grabbed my nearby camera, made sure I had a chip and a battery, and went outside. There were two of them. I separated them, posed them and shot, using my hands and feet and some facial expressions. They bantered, but I didn’t understand a word. After a few shots, I held up 5 fingers and said 5 minutes; they pointed where they were going.
I ran inside to the printer, imported the chip, did some minor processing and printed two 8.5×11 prints. Now, I had to find them.
Without saying something which will have me accused of some racist language, the workers all looked alike, except for their tools. I stopped a few, showed them the pics and asked, using hand signals, where the guys were. Some didn’t answer, probably fearing I was ICE. One pointed down the block and followed me as I continued my search.
I could hear the sound of the trimmer and knew I was on the right track. When they saw me, they turned off their instruments of destruction. One came over to me, looked at the image, smiled and gave me a sweaty half-hug. The other glowed.
Not bad for a street photo inside the Gates of Valencia Reserve, eh?
