Happy Solstice

Welcome to the Natural New Year, ushered in at the dawn of days that will be getting longer from here on out. I gave a ride to a crazy lady the other day. A woman was standing in the middle of the road, in front of a bus with its hazards on. At first, I thought she was ranting at the passing traffic, in a general crazy sense, shaking her fist and shouting. As I watched a moment, it became clear she was trying to flag someone down to pick her up. About that time, she saw me, trying to exit the gas station, but unable to, because she was standing in the middle of the road. She came to my rolled up window and shouted, "Are you going down the hill?" I shook my head no. She came around to the passenger side, opened the door, and got in the car anyway. Now, I had just come from a really intense massage, and my reaction times at this point were very slow. Even so, my threat assessment level wasn't triggering huge warning bells, so I thought, "What the Hell, I'll give the gal a ride." As we drove down the hill, away from where I needed to go, she kept up a running rant.
"I won't steal anything," she asserted.
"I don't don't have anything to steal," I laughed.
"I'm usually not this bold, but I'm desperate."
"People don't pick people up any more," I inserted.
"I've been on two broken down buses, I've waited more than an hour and a half, and I've got eighteen people coming over for a dinner party tonight. Bless you for this. I should give you a present. I hope somebody does something nice for you. It's only two minutes out of your way, but it means the world to me."
And so on. I drove all the way down to the water. She asked to be let out at a street corner, jumped out, and vaguely waved goodbye as she ran down the street. I never got her name. She never asked me mine. After she got out, I started laughing, and couldn't stop, about four miles home. End of story.

And, in the I-Shit-You-Not category, I snapped this shot outside the alley of a local restaurant. I've passed by this barrel dozens of times and never noticed what it said. Gives mystery meat a whole new meaning.