I am TIRED of the heat. Like insanely tired of it. I miss running and for most of the time the last few months it’s too hot to even comfortably get out for a low-key walk. I’ve written before about how one of the things I love about running is the different perspective you get exploring on your own two feet and how there are strange sights that you are just more likely to miss when whizzing by in a car. So I wanted to share some of the additional very strange sights I saw late spring and earlier this summer while running. A collection of the good, the bad, and the very strange…

Let’s start with the good…. a few delightfully hopeful things I saw during the early phases of this pandemic when “lockdown” first started:

Remember when paper goods were SUPER hard to find because of all the hoarding? My neighbor decided to help the community out… they stocked dry good food as well in case anyone out of a job didn’t have their unemployment checks yet. It gave me so much hope to see this.

Also, if you have kids (and maybe even if you don’t but you get social media suggestions based on your friends who have kids?) you probably got into the craze of sidewalk chalk art and encouragement in windows. (This was before suddenly you couldn’t find sidewalk chalk online for a reasonable price because people were buying it all up and reselling for INSANELY gouged prices… but I digress since this is supposed to be the hopeful section) ANYWAY, my neighborhood doesn’t have much sidewalk so people decorated their driveways or the street right in front of their houses. Here’s one of my favorites:

Then there was the strange- the smoke alarm that looked like someone smashed it with a hammer and the grocery basket and abandoned suitcase:

There were the very upsetting pieces of litter that reminded me we’re in a pandemic during what is usually the time where I combat my anxiety and put that out of my mind (for some reason the mask was extra upsetting):

There were also reminders that in lockdown we’ve all forgotten what season it is and just let things go:

And finally, I leave you with my two favorites, these very strange but somehow wonderfully artistic sights:

1. HOW did the wheel end up that way in the bush?! And how perfectly retro is that bike color?! 2. Nothing like a classic Memento Mori showing up during your pandemic run… :

Today and tomorrow we finally have some bearable weather… but the heat returns after that, hopefully not for much longer! I’m looking forward to taking some more time for my mental health and finding some more strange sights as I get back out there and up my mileage again!