Yard Masks of SE Portland (and other quarantine noticings)

I’ve been doing an awful lot of from-home wandering lately, which has been a super fantastic way to get to know our extended neighborhood. I mean, I always wander, but given that I have much more time lately, my wanders have become a little farther-flung and a lot more concentrated — which means I feel like I’m really getting to know places I often walk by only once in a very long while.

As I wander, I’ve been coming across a lot of fun yard art. Lots of it is creative mask-wearing:

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(no way is this googley-eyed bush gonna infect anyone!)

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I don’t always have my camera with me (I know, it’s weird that my phone isn’t a camera, but that’s how the flip phone lyfe goes;) but when I do, I’ve been trying to document them.

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(topiary llama, for example: also very safe and also, if you look closely, complete with botanically-inspired eyes)

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( …part of a match llama set)

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And speaking of match set, I also came across these very safe (and very stylish!) lions:

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(check out their hats, too!)

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Now when I see any house with these sort of domain-guarding lions, I expect them to have masks on. Sometimes they do; sometimes they don’t; but I find it funny that that’s my expectation now.

The other thing I’ve been seeing so much of, and that makes me so happy, is sweet little encouraging messages, often scrawled (or sometimes painstakingly crafted) in chalk on the sidewalk, or taped up in windows, or hanging from trees. When a lot of the news that comes through my virtual world is so deeply frightening (I’m not talking only virus, but also all the things going on in the background while everyone pays attention to virus), these reminders in my actual tangible world that people do, in fact, care for each other are particularly heartwarming.

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Some of them, though less sweet, also strongly resonate with me:

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So, there’s a little snippet of quarantine life in SE Portland. I do have real thoughts that maybe I’ll write at some point, but right now, I’ve been more excited about writing to specific, individual people via letter or email than anonymous aggregates via blog. But that’s always a shifting balance, so stay tuned; blogging is sure to make its resurgence soon;)

4 Comments:

  1. Ooh! Does that mean a letter is on the way? :-D

    • Well, not on the way currently, but you ARE on my master list of letter recipients! :) Heh, you may laugh, but I do actually have a list going, just so I don’t lose track of anyone:) There’s no rhyme or reason to the order I go through this list, though how many times I’ve written previously and if I’ve sent postcards already or if it’s someone who I know needs extra moral support or has a birthday or something all play a role;) But as someone who actually responds to mail, maybe I should prioritize you!

      • Yass! Prioritise the people who write. ;-)
        But seriously…I’ve been writing a bunch of people during this pandemic, and the only mail I’ve gotten back is from the usual suspects, the people who wrote before. It’d be nice to get some responses from others, especially since many people now have the time. At best I’ll get an email (or worse, an Instagram message) saying “thanks”. I guess it’s better than nothing?

  2. I enjoyed your ‘Yard Masks of SE Portland (and other quarantine noticings)‘ post. And the photos. Thanks for Flickr follow.

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