No matter where you go...

I’ve noticed in my walks around The People’s Republic that street signs at intersections sometimes seem to get turned around. But this one:

I mean—okay?

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Moving messages

It’s been a while since I’ve don an installment of vanity plates, and boy-howdy, they do pile up. So here’s a batch for you:

Um...

Often parked in the lot next to the W&OD Trail.

On a Volvo:

Presumably Seahawks fans.

Not sure about this. I'd have read it as Raider Family (I've long since lost track of where the Raiders play; they're absolute whores); the logo is for the Washington Capitals (ice hockey); and the frame is Team USA. I just dunno.

An alum, I presume:

I was shooting this one in the Trader Joe parking lot when the M of this plate came out. Her name is Muriel, her husband's David, Gray is the surname and she's a retired nurse.

Not sure at all:

Nice use of the local sportsball logo:

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Everyone's a critic

Last Wednesday I posted about the new tag on the American Dream Way bridge.

Thursday morning it had been removed.

Sic transit gloria mundi.

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Gratitude Monday: At last

A small gratitude today. After about eight years of making pizza most Friday nights, I am happy to report that I’m finally producing pies that are recognizably round.

If you had any notion of how misshapen my pizza have been for years, you’d kvell with me.

(One of my colleagues at my last job used to say his pizzas looked like the Elephant Man, and mine were right up there.)

Yes—it will not change the world, and I bury it right away with arugula anyhow. But it’s a small victory, and I am grateful for it.

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Tryn' to fool the public

At time of writing, the Kleptocrat is in Beijing, having his ass handed to him by Xi Jinping, although it’s unlikely that fact will have penetrated to the porridge that sloshes inside his cranium. He’ll come back raving about “the deal” he made, when basically Xi gave him bupkis.

Cf. the big “summit” he held with Putin in August, when KGB Daddy left even before lunch.

Anyway, I think today’s earworm needs to be “Tears of a Clown”, so here are Smokey Robinson and The Miracles to sing it for you.

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Not making any friends

I don’t know what it is about Trader Joe’s parking lots that makes people just lose their minds. It may be that they tend to be relatively small (unless the store is in a larger shopping center)—the lot in the original TJ, on Arroyo Parkway in Pasadena, had maybe 20 slots, and very limited on-street availability. Come the holidays it was not unusual to see people in BMWs and Benzes come to near-blows over a space.

The lot in The People’s Republic is larger than that, but still—I’ve learned not to go there between about 1115 and 1330, and again 1630-1830 on weekdays; I stay away altogether on weekends. People in SUVs just camp out in the limited driving lanes, waiting until someone comes out to load their car and leave. The SUVs block everyone behind them for however long it takes.

Well, the other day I saw this (wouldn't you know it's New Jersey):

You can believe I submitted it to the “Park like an asshole” Reddit sub.

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Ephemera

Some time ago I posted about a grafitto in the gap under the bridge over the W&OD Trail near me. Since Dominion Power razed all the shrubbery along the trail there, a new tag showed up on the abutment:

On that stretch of trail, I almost exclusively walk from East to West, so after I noticed that art, I checked the abutment on the western side, which I never see. No tag, but signs that something had been erased.

Yesterday morning I noticed that the original work has now been sanded away:

Artists get so little respect.

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Sharing the trail

Since Dominion Power razed the shrubbery along the W&OD Trail in The People’s Republic, all the critters that used to live there have relocated.

But apparently a cobra chicken family finds the accommodation suitable. I’ve seen them getting their morning exercise in the past week.

 

Yesterday the mother and one gosling were walking toward me, but by the time I got my mobile out, they'd melted into the brush.

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Gratitude Monday: She never lets me down

Between SCOTUS and the Virginia Supreme Court, both the law and enfranchisement had a bad week last week.

I mean—ugh.

So I’m turning to Nature today for my gratitude, and boy, does she deliver.

Just—have some irises:

And these fuzzy things that the bees love:

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Long, cold, lonely winter

Yesterday was one of those overcast days that May has been interspersing with absolutely gorgeous, humidity-free sunshine. Just after noon, I was sitting at my computer, doing some things, when I looked up and the sun was out.

So—here’s Nina Simone singing about it.

You're welcome.

 

©2026 Bas Bleu