You in danger, girl

I was struck by this arrangement in someone’s front yard yesterday morning:

That little orange pumpkin looks like it’s in trouble.

 

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Moving messages

This car has a lot to say:

I think it was in the Whole Foods parking lot, which kind of tracks. My attention was grabbed by the Jesus sticker, on account of it being directed at all the evangelical Christian white nationalists who apparently stopped reading the Bible at Malachi (and then somehow unaccountably picked up again at Revelation).

But—given the attention to running, I thought it especially appropriate that the vehicle is a Honda FIT.

 

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Spreading the word

Okay, I’m not saying that there’s a movement afoot, but I found a second sign for a jumped-up townhouse development in The People’s Republic defaced. And in pretty much the same way that the first one was:

I don’t think the developers much care, so I’d be surprised if they replace the signs. I mean—by the time they notice, they’ll have sold all the units and be moving on to their next cookie-cutter “luxury” project.

Still—I kinda admire the commitment of the graffiti artists.

 

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

The color...

Okay, I just thought this was funny because it is so obviously not a yellow cab:

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

 

Roadside commerce

On one of my walks last week, I noticed this setup between a townhouse cluster and the local private golf course.

(Interestingly, this course is owned by developers who’ve been trying for about a decade to fill all the space with townhouses. Same thing’s happening with the public course on the other side of the People’s Republic. Watching the furor on both sides of the fight has been interesting.)

So I walked over to see what it was. It was American Free Enterprise at work.

This is located on the second hole of the course, so I don’t know how many golfers will feel the need of extra balls that early in a round. I also know nothing about the economics of golf, so I have no earthly notion whether $2 per ball is an attractive price.

I did find it interesting that there’s a quasi-honor system: up to you whether you pay, but if you do, once your money’s in the slot, it’s secure.

Unless someone wants to take the whole thing.

 

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Not vanity, but memorable

Okay, this is not a vanity plate. But I swear that when I first glanced at it, I thought it said “THE LASS”, and that became unseeable.

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Art appreciation

The neighborhood sidewalk artists have been out again. (The gnats and mosquitos seem to be abating, so that may have something to do with it.)

Not sure whether these are balloons roaming free, or bags of something.

This flower fascinates me. It’s like you could keep adding fill-in petals until you’ve covered the sidewalk.

And this is just...

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

Mobile truth

Another vehicular special edition today—not vanity plates, but the bumper stickers.

All I’ve got to say is: they are correct.

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Executive privilege

Special edition of vanity plates today.

Saw this one Saturday, on my way to pick up my CSA in the K-Mart shopping center. (Yes, the K-mart closed decades ago, but that’s what everyone calls it. I don’t even know what its official name is.)

The driver used both a right-turn-only and a left turn only lane to traffic hop on Baron Cameron/Elden Street. I lost sight of the car (naïvely thought that he’d actually turned left when he pulled into the left-turn-only lane), so I was surprised to see the thing parked in the fire lane near the ABC store in the shopping center.

Stayed parked there for at least eight minutes, with flashers on to I suppose indicate he wasn’t going to sit down to a meal somewhere, then hauled out ahead of me.

Didn’t seem to be in such a hurry on his return journey—there was no lane-weaving.

But what a maroon. An executive-level maroon.

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

 

Invoking the universe

This guy seems to have chosen a patch along the W&OD Trail for his morning meditation. He’s not there every day, but does appear with some frequency.

The thing is—August in the People’s Republic is ghastly: hot and humid, even in the mornings. Also, this year the gnats have absolutely taken over this part of the W&OD. I often see him using his towel to swat them away, which must interfere with the meditative experience.

However—full props for the practice.

 

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

The power of "free"

Saw this collation alongside the road Monday morning:

It was gone yesterday.

Either person or persons unknown found them of sufficient value to take them all or the original owner just finally chucked everything in the bin.

 

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

Moving messages

Time for another installment of vanity plates. I feel like I’m seeing a whole lot of them around these days.

I've seen this one a few times:

I confess that I'm not sure about this one:

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

Public opinion

Two cars parked next to each other at the People’s Republic library branch last week has Things to Say:

The driver of the red car came out while I was taking pix; she looked like Republicans’ core Democratic enemy trope—middle aged, grey hair (not blue, tho), dressed for her own comfort.

She’s someone I would personally not want to piss off.

Didn’t see the other car’s driver.

 

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Pausa de hidratación

The other morning I was walking around the former corporate HQ park campus (for the past three years a construction site for 82 four-story townhouses on five acres). I came across this guy, on the wrong side of a fence around one of the ponds.

He might eventually have found his way back to the water, but I decided to help him. Having had experience with Testudines from my time in grad school at William & Mary, when I regularly rescued them from the middle of major highways (and earned the epithet “[Bas Bleu], Redeemer of Reptiles”), I was prepared for him to pee on me. I made sure I was standing well behind him and holding him at full arms’ length.

He in fact let loose a gusher—must have been holding it in for a while—but it missed me. And he had unobstructed passage to the pond to fill up again.

 

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

The wider impact

Took a walk outside my cluster yesterday morning. Quite a bit of damage in the greater ‘hood, beyond my cluster.

The golf course cleaned up the one tree that was on the third hole fairway, but there’s still a lot of major damage in the rough.

W&OD Trail was okay, because Dominion Power razed the sides last year. But Old Reston Avenue looked like a cyclone had passed through.

(Note the smashed wall.)

The Bowman Distillery apparently escaped damage, but both in front and behind both tall and short trees were down or de-limbed.

The AAFMAA property (soon to be a squillion townhouses) got hit:

Temporary Road park had minor issues:

But the basketball court is out of action for a while:

Really, just don't mess with Mother Nature..

  

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Homeward bound

I’m guessing that one of the members of a neighboring household was away for a while. Really sweet to see this walkway o’ welcome for their return:

©2026 Bas Bleu

 

Fast food for the feathered set

On one of my recent walks on the W&OD Trail, I noticed a woman spreading what looked like seed from a pouch she was carrying onto the base of an electricity pole.

I asked, “Are you feeding the birds?”

She said she always carries food for them and went on her way.

Well, when I saw it was raw rice, I was a little dubious. But it turns out that birds can indeed digest uncooked rice, so some of our feathered friends got quite the feast.

 

©2026 Bas Bleu