When life is so mundane like it is in the quarantine, one must go out and wander. I spelunked the lanes of a La Brea – I just don’t know when I’ll see it this void of traffic ever again.

I hit the road in search of gas and groceries, but instead, I found a long line at Starbucks. I parked my car with ease today – something is always off when that happens in LA. I saw the sign. I guess I saw a couple of signs. One read, STAY HOME Life is Beautiful, the other, Welcome Friends! Coffee is better with Friends!…

Instead of overanalyzing the signage I moved forward and took a photo of a heroic leaf. Something in the underbelly of that leaf gave me hope. A damaged leaf tells the story of a lifeline to the tree. A friend. A medic. Leaves are the lungs of the tree if you really delve into what photosynthesis does. This first leaf caught my eye. A single, slender line goes down the leaf. To me, it looks like the curves on a woman’s back. The leaf isn’t just a thing of beauty. The color is from the light, the byproduct of doing what the tree needs the leaf to do – the tree needs to breathe. And this tree has been around for quite some time. A tree in this case much older than me. A tree that gives us perspective as a dog sniffs around looking to take a piss. I distance into the street and wander back with my camera. Keep your head on a swivel in the qua. Don’t know who will be next in the qua.

I guess I sit at my desk reflecting on another day surviving and thriving. Masking up, showering more than usual. Washing my hands so often my skins has been rubbed raw. One day soon, I will figure out how to play Rubik’s cube. Until then, here’s to Pentax photography and incense.

Pentax photography