Lonely Cucumber

It's amazing what you see by the side of the road next to the center guard rails when you are stuck in traffic and crawling along. Whenever I am stuck in traffic I use my time wisely, I scope out what has been discarded in the wasteland that is the highway median. Things get stuck to the rail divider or washed into debris piles by torrential rains that flood their way to the nearest drain. I have seen things such as hats sticking out of drains, a curled up skeleton by an overpass, pieces of tire, front bumpers, hub caps, and general trash. However, most of these things are normal sights along the interstate. The other week I saw something unusual and completely unexpected.

As I was crawling along I-40, on the inner shoulder heading east, was a lovely English cucumber. It was sitting by itself on the pavement, whole and fresh looking. It made me want to reach out and pick it up as if the median were a farmer's market stall. Where did the cucumber come from? Why was it not squashed or damaged in some way? Why did it look so delicious sitting on a filthy highway shoulder?

Note, I did not take this picture but found that there have been
other cucumbers on the road in Sheffield, UK.
"Cucumber on the road" - borrowed from Spiritus Ex Machina on Flickr

Given the chance, I probably would have picked it up and taken it home. Had it proved edible, I would have washed it off and eaten it raw with a little salt. Yes, I know I'm odd, but why let a lovely veggie or fruit (thinking back to the roadside grapefruit) go to waste? People are starving all over the world! I would hate to laugh in their faces with my excess by letting something rot on the side of the road that I could have eaten.

However, traffic picked up as I drove past it and it was left behind. I watched is slide out of my side-view mirror and lamented having to leave it there. Other than the treat of having a reclaimed cucumber to munch on later, it would have been fun to see people's faces as I left my car to pick it up. I would like to have done that and heard what they were thinking as they saw me. That would have been priceless.

Poppies

Every morning and evening of this past week, I have seen the most glorious vision of red. On the rise of a grassy median that separates the US70 Bypass, there is a stretch of blooming wildflowers. The crimson heads of the poppies dominate the scene.

"Monet's poppy field, Giverny" by Debbie G - borrowed from her photostream on Flickr

I wish that I could stop and gather some of the poppies to take them home with me, but then I would mar the roadside scene that I have come to look forward to and luxuriate in the passing beauty for the full minute that it is in sight.

The scene always makes me think of Monet's 1873 painting, Poppies, Near Argenteuil.


I love that painting. It is one where I would love the ability to just walk onto the scene that it captures so well.

The poppies cheer me on the way to work, and cheer me on the way home. They are currently the highlight of my commute. I don't know how I'll recover from loosing their delightful impact on my normally dreary drive when they have eventually lost their bloom.

A simple wild treasure that can change your view of the world - crimson poppies.

Haunted by a Grapefruit

I often see interesting things on the side of the road while driving. My mother and I used to play a game when I was younger that involved things abandoned by the road. The game consisted of spotting something out of the ordinary in a ditch or median and saying aloud to the other person, "Hey, there's my shoe! (or shirt, or couch cushion, or bucket, ect.) I knew I'd left it somewhere!" I'm not sure why, but this was hilariously funny and we would both laugh. The more seriously and regretfully sounding you could say something like that, then the more fun the game became. Whoever thought of doing it first during a car ride was rewarded by the moment of confusion on the part of the other person as they hesitated a moment in belief of your words. To this day, I still play this game occasionally on road trips...even if I'm alone.

One morning this week I came to the intersection of a country road to a larger highway, where I turn onto the highway on my way to work. In the intersection that bridges the median between the two sides of the highway was a grapefruit. The fruit lay directly in front of my car and I couldn't help but stare at it. A grapefruit? Sitting in an intersection? How did it get lost? Where was it going? All of these questions raced through my mind as I stared at it. During that time I was also waiting on the oncoming traffic to allow me to turn onto the highway. When my chance came, I turned right as usual and then decided that I was going to do something ridiculous - I was going to turn around at the light just a short distance away and go back to pick up the grapefruit.

This may seem like a strange whim to act upon, but that is often how I operate. When I lived in Boston, I once found a tangerine in the snow on the sidewalk as I was walking home from work. I picked it up and ate it while I walked. It was delicious.

Though I had to laugh at myself for turning around to get a grapefruit stranded in the middle of a highway intersection, I was anxious that someone might run over it during the two minutes it took me to turn around. I worried that someone would see me pick it up and think I was insane. I wondered how I was going to pick it up without getting out of the car or running over it myself. I needant have bothered with all of these thoughts. When I got back to the intersection, it was gone.

It took me exactly two minutes to turn around at the light and make it back to the intersection where I had planned to make a U-turn and pick up my free grapefruit. I was actually shocked when I got back to the empty intersection. I quickly scanned the grassy median for my run away grapefruit and scanned both sides of the road for the crushed citrus victim of a careless driver. It simply wasn't there. It was gone.

I decided that as strange as I felt my impulse was to pick it up, someone else must have indulged the same whim and taken it before me. Oddly enough, I felt robbed! Who had stolen my grapefruit?!? Who had deprived me of a delicious addition to my PB&J lunch?!? After I got back on my route to work, I looked around at the other cars on the road and wondered who could have taken my grapefruit. It was silly, but I couldn't help it.

I know it wasn't just a figment of my imagination. Despite the ridiculousness of the whole situation, I regretted not getting out of the car, crossing the road, and picking it up before I turned onto the highway. Yes, I know I'm insane. But grapefruit are delicious!