EMPS: Love on Any Corner

Every year, it seems, I end up photographing Valentine's Day merchandise at Safeway for one meme or another. I started to do that for the Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #76: Valentine's Day, and even came up with a great title for the entry: "Safeway Is For Lovers!"



But really, I've been there, done that. Yesterday I noticed something I'd rather write about instead, even if the photos aren't technically as good. So I started taking pictures like this one.



As you can see from the examples above, Tucson this weekend was inundated with street vendors, selling Valentine's Day junk on probably hundreds of street corners and empty lots all over town. There were so many of them, sometimes as many as three set-ups on a single block, that I despair of most of these folks even breaking even on their investments in this glut of Valentine's Day merchandise. It was hard to drive more than a mile or so on any major street and not run across somebody setting flowers or balloons or bears or... what?



Okay. Great sign. I was intrigued. "I don't see any big trees," my friend Kevin said.



But after I dropped Kevin off at The Good Egg, I circled back around for another look. Ah. That other sign explains everything.

Not only that, but that particular street vendor solved my personal Valentine's Day problem. The Museum of the Weird is full to bursting already, and doesn't need any pink balloons or perishable flowers (which I'm allergic to anyway) to fill it further. Diamonds and jewelry leave me cold, and John and I don't like to exchange candy because we shouldn't be eating the stuff.



But when I saw John's Valentine's Day card sitting on top of my purse this morning I knew I had to do something. So why not a Valentine's Day Bonsai?



I think that suits the MotW indoor garden very well. And John confessed that he'd always kind of wanted a bonsai. Success!

Karen