I wish I had taken my camera along for my run this morning. (Since I didn't have any of my own, I took a few off the web.) It wasn't a very good run and my energy would have been better spent capturing the images that make The Valley what it is:
- The soccer players at Winnetka park, a flurry of brightly colored jerseys and activity. Coolers, and blankets, families watching, little boys playing with the ball and doing drills in their dads' shadows waiting for their day on the field. The radios playing a mix of mariachi and narcocorridos. The guys on their bikes, just chillin' behind the baseball dugouts.
- Lawns all brown and dry due to the drought watering restrictions lending an extra grittiness to everything.
- The bright blue, cloudless sky.
- The low slung bungalow houses that sit against the flat blue sky and give the valley its signature mid-century look
- The soccer players at Winnetka park, a flurry of brightly colored jerseys and activity. Coolers, and blankets, families watching, little boys playing with the ball and doing drills in their dads' shadows waiting for their day on the field. The radios playing a mix of mariachi and narcocorridos. The guys on their bikes, just chillin' behind the baseball dugouts.
- Lawns all brown and dry due to the drought watering restrictions lending an extra grittiness to everything.
- The bright blue, cloudless sky.
- The low slung bungalow houses that sit against the flat blue sky and give the valley its signature mid-century look
- The street corner where cars roll in an out, presumably to score some drugs, and the guy with his slicked back hair, his coke nail, his lap dog, his cell phone and his bling.
- The shopping carts that are like modern day, mettalic tumbleweeds, rolling haplessly across the asphalt desert.
- The random trash that ends up ground into parkways and gutters - today - a black bra in a pile of dried up leaves and receipts.
- a little garden, overflowing with tomatoes and herbs and squash, hiding behind a tall, tall vine covered fence - evidence of someone taking great care (and maybe breaking the 2x's / week watering allowance)
and my favorite:
- a little old man - walking down the middle of Chase street - he was wearing shiny, new cowboy boots, perfectly creased pants, an immaculate, brand-new looking black long sleeved, western shirt with white rope trim that matched his shock white hair in a perfect buzz cut and a bolo tie. He was so fresh and perfectly groomed that he leapt out of his dirty, dusty, gritty surroundings like a glossy 3-D cut out from a greeting card. He was so spritely I thought he might just jump up and click his heels. When he saw me he did a little jig to imitate my running stride, laughed and called out, "It's a pleasure to see you young lady." I wanted to ask him where he was going and why and find out his story, but I had to get home.
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