the unexpected

I absolutely love the unexpected.
it makes me happy, tickles some little spot deep within that must be filled with great ennui.
it's my decorating theme: put something somewhere you wouldn't expect to see it, or use a fabric or color or design that isn't quite along the lines of what is normally done. enliven things! surprise someone!
my kids think I'm weird, in part because I do things like cook eggs for dinner and color their milk for holidays or make their snacks in the shapes of animals. yes, they are teenagers.
but life is too short for boredom and predictability.

I love the incongruous, the quirky, the seemingly inexplicable.

which is why I was giggling inside and quite pleased on my way up emigration this morning.
a mile or so from the bottom, there is an artfully displayed bike part, and I am most curious as to who placed it there and what their thought process was.
at that section of the road there are some wooden posts, perhaps 30 inches high or so, which are spaced regularly along the right edge of the road. someone has taken a portion of a bike which includes the handlebars and perhaps just the front post --- maybe a beginning of the frame --- and has "hung" the handlebars on the far side of the post, facing in toward the road.
it's one of those things you would easily pass by, as it is subtly placed, curiously positioned, and just far enough from the road that it might not catch your eye.
I saw it for mere seconds, and have the impression that the metal was rusty, the handlebars a time-weary chrome. but I need to visit it again to be sure, because that initial glimpse was so startling I'm not sure how much of what registered was real and how much was my own story of what I saw.
regardless, the image has returned to me time and again as I've woven my way through the day, and each time it reappears, a smile comes to my face, and to my soul as well.