Embrace the Journey

You'll be happier as a result

I love going to work & seeing a freight train on the side of the road! It’s like spotting a rainbow & knowing where the end of it is with the pot of gold. I know it’s going to be a good day when I leave the freight yard at midnight, wake up for work & see another freight by 7 AM. I’ve gotten use to the smell of the freights. My girl can smell it on my clothes the moment I get back into the house. It’s a mixture of steel & dirt, outside & grass. When you spend a few hours going up & down ladders & writing on the sides of those things it starts to rub off on you.

I have to change my clothes & take off my boots before getting inside because now that it’s almost summer time, ticks & other bugs like to latch onto your pants & shoelaces to hitch a ride from the tall grass where they jumped on board to the lovely carpets you have in your house. I’m always cautious of stuff like that because I have dogs & ticks love to find an unsuspected host to feed on, especially someone who can’t speak my language. I’d hate to be the reason one of my dogs got sick or infected by some sort of disease from a bug that I carried into the house. I have spare clothes setup for me by the doorway in the staircase in case of emergencies. Crocs aren’t the most comfortable shoe wear, but they are helpful in getting from A to B inside of the house or to the backyard.

I remember one time when I was walking the railroad line in Holyoke & when I got back to my car, I seen a huge tick moving around on my sweatpants. Thankfully, I saw him in time & got his ass off my pants & out of my car, but those are just some of the dangers while taking adventures & walking through lesser known paths. The person I was with, got bit in the back of the neck by one of the family members of the poor bastard I flung off. The stuff I see & stumble across is ridiculous & hilarious at times. I’ve seen human poop the size of a tree stump on the side of the road, homeless people naked high on drugs, & wild animals that I didn’t want to get any closer to.

I used to walk my dog early in the morning before I went to work, but due to my late night adventures, I need as much sleep as I can get. But when I was walking around Forest Park a couple mornings in a row I seen a coyote! One of them followed us down the street & around the corner no joke! I have a 5-minute video of the damn thing tailing us. I was worried he was going to lung into attack mode & I’d have to put it down at 5 in the morning. I don’t want to harm something innocent like that, but if it threatens my dog or my life, I don’t want to take the chance. I got approached by a baby deer one morning in the same area. He/she was unafraid of my dog & must have been hungry. I spotted a baby fox with what appeared to be a dog collar on it’s neck. I say dog collar because it looked like it had tags on who it belonged to, but I wasn’t getting close enough to find out. I seen that fox a few times, which leads me to believe someone in that area has been feeding that fox multiple times to the point it built a relationship with them. Enough of one to let them put a collar on a fox!

Wildlife is a fun side quest I find myself embarking on while looking for fun spots to paint. Nature is beautiful & we need to take mor time to enjoy it. The fast-pace lifestyle of the city can be challenging & keep us away from the beauty that is nature. Be sure to find time today & tomorrow to get outside & embrace the sun. Put your phone down & smell the flowers on the side of the road. You might notice a tag or two on this side quest. Take a picture of it. Notice the small things & love the process & the journey more than the destination. I promise you’ll be happier.

The following pictures were taken when I got out of work & went to the different spot in Holyoke. Solid paintings!

Lord Kore

Merge

Self

Scope

Ayeyo

Revenge 5000

Ned

MatyQ

Self??

Thank you for reading & viewing! There is more freight pictures from that same morning below for a small fee. That small fee is helpful to you because you’ll start receiving sticker packs & custom canvases to hang on the walls. You’re paying for art.