It's just an apple!

I had the perfect walk today. It was the right amount of distance and adventure. I was in such a good mood and saw this apple and found it interesting. I was leaning over it, fiddling with my camera controls, when a guy, someone who I couldn't see, yells out, "What is it!?" He was really curious. Without looking up (I didn't want to lose my composition) I responded, "an apple, it's just an apple." I took the picture, stood up, and smiled at him. I turned on my heels and headed up the road. I wanted him to ask, "why are you takin a picture of an apple?" But he didn't. Had he, however, I would have replied, "because it's not just a freakin apple, IT'S ORIGINAL SIN, MAN!" But those heroic moments only happen in my head.

Yesterday some guy in a pickup rolled up next to me along the road with his cell phone in his hand. He shouted through his thick neck, "Why you taking pictures of my place?" He would never really look at me, nor did he take the phone from his ear, but he kept saying, "Aw ok" every time I defended myself as "just taking pictures". "Because you know, there's been some breakin's around here?" he says. "No sir, not my intention, I told him...I'm just taking pictures for... just for art sake." And when I said that, I could tell that he really understood and appreciated the value of art in society, and therefore supported what I was doing.

Today it didn't get creepy until the end of my walk. I wove through the city and got totally lost in alleyways. It was a good kind of lost, when you know if you walk long enough and far enough, you'll eventually orient yourself. I ended up walking up a giant hill through neighborhoods eventually reaching a summit where I could look out over Harrisonburg and see my neighborhood and the chicken factory just behind it. The light was beautiful at this time, and I stopped frequently for random shots. Then I came upon the end of the road, where asphalt meets trees. A wide trail through the trees led me to an old, rusty fence pulled wide apart, enough for a person to fit through. On the other side of that fence, on the left was a deep granite quarry--a steel gray landscape with yellow splashes of heavy machinery. On the right was nothing but rolling farm land (cows, barns, silos, the whole works). Before passing through the fence, I wanted a shot of the "No Trespassing" sign, which precariously dangled from an old post. I hardly saw it, but in the interest of full transparency I moved to get a shot of it. The camera was on and I squatted down, and carefully composed the shot, when my lens retracted and the LED screen blinked some fatal red message about my dead battery. I came unprepared and knew the rest of my walk would be without photographs.

I passed through the hole and it was a magnificent view. The light was perfect, the air temperature was great. I was thinking, I need to get a baby sitter when Hillary and the kids are back and take Hillary on a walk here. I'd make it really romantic! It would be an early evening date. Maybe in the spring there would be flowers. As I was thinking this, I was descending the summit and passing through a grove of pine trees, and the sun was low and casting long shadows in my path. I was heading towards Rt. 33. I had a creepy feeling, when a guy in an orange public works t-shirt walked into the path ahead of me. He had some measuring device in one hand, and something that look like a pickax in the other. He looked at me oddly, and I smiled and told him I was just heading to the road. He said that was good, and then asked me if anyone said anything to me "back there." I said no, "I'm just out for a walk." "Well", he said, "It's a federal offense to trespass here. They have live-rounds going off in there all the time!" I told him I was sorry, and waved and hurried to the road. He said, "No need to apologize to me, just consider yourself lucky."

As I hurried to the road, I wanted so badly to turn and scream at him, "BUT IT'S JUST AN APPLE!"