A Journey in Frames

Andrea R Huelsenbeck

Jul 1

phone photography — *Photo by Linda Xu on Unsplash.com*

If you read yesterday's Creative Juice, you may have noticed the link to Don Giannatti's article, "15 Little Photo Assignments to Help Ease Your Troubled Mind." I chose one of the assignments for today's post--"A Journey in Frames: Chronicle a short journey, like a walk around the block, with each photo marking a moment. This will remind us that every journey, no matter how long, small, or tough, is made of small manageable steps."

The other day, I walked to the pharmacy to pick up a couple of prescriptions. I documented my journey with my phone camera.

We've lived in our current house for almost 35 years. It's conveniently located near a lot of places we like to go to. We're around the corner from a strip mall that was once home to a supermarket, a fabric store, a Taco Bell, a video store, a restaurant, a veterinarian office, a Walgreens, and several other thriving businesses.

*Red bird of paradise bush in our front yard.*

Within the first year we lived here, the supermarket moved to a brand new strip mall across the street. The Taco Bell also moved to a new location across the street, and its old building was torn down. The Walgreens built a free-standing building on the corner, and vacated its space in the strip mall. The fabric store closed. Eventually the video store went the way of all video stores. Little by little, most of the the businesses closed, so that for most of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s, the strip mall was virtually dead, with very few of the stores occupied. So sad.

Recycling day — *It was recycling day--we had our bins out for collection.*

Then, finally, some new stores starting renting space. Steinmart opened. Changing Hands, a wonderful independent bookstore closed its downtown location and moved here (much better parking!). I don't remember the order, but a wonderful consignment store, a Trader Joe's, several restaurants, a dance studio, a PetSmart, and other businesses opened shop here.

Flag — *Our neighbor has his flag out in anticipation of Independence Day.*

Fire hydrant — How did I never notice there's a fire hydrant in my neighbor's front yard? When we applied for house insurance, I had to calculate the distance to the nearest fire hydrant, and I paced to a hydrant a block away.

Getting back to my walk to the pharmacy, one thing I love about our neighborhood, besides my neighbors' lovely landscaping, is the plantings the city provides along major streets. Here is a tree and a bunch of bushes on our corner:

And here are some plantings along the road:

Look at this bougainvillea:

I've never seen one with the blossoms grouped together in a cone shape:

Here's a broken sprinkler head pretending to be a fountain:

Here's a view of the strip mall:

Instead of continuing to walk down the sidewalk along the street to get to the pharmacy, which would be more direct, I usually turn in and walk along all the shops. That way I can avoid the three entrances to the parking lot with cars turning in from and onto the busy street. Then I double back toward the street. And here's a view of the pharmacy across the parking lot:

In Arizona, you are required by law to plant trees in and around parking lots to counteract the "asphalt island" effect (which significantly raises the desert temperature even higher.)

Trader Joe's has lovely displays of potted cacti and succulents outside.

Hmmm. Comedy night at the bar. I wonder if it's an open mic format.

Changing Hands has carts of sale books outside.

When I went into Walgreens, I found other stuff we needed besides our prescriptions. I didn't take any pictures on the way home because I was carrying three heavy bags. Even though it was hot and I was tired and burdened, I enjoyed my walk because I knew it was manageable, as the assignment promised.

Comment