One finds strange things in alleys; before the migration of bedbugs to the southwestern shores of Lake Michigan, one could find usable furniture in the firebreaks behind buildings. College students roved in predatory packs, retrieving dinette sets, random chairs, tables, and bed-frames offered to garbage men. The garbage men in question never got them. They simply found their collective way from one apartment (or another) into another apartment, sometimes far, far away. One finds carnage in alleys as well. One wing of a sparrow may rest beside the foot of a dumpster. A the hind-quarters of a mouse may wriggle with insect larvae. Strange things may rot: cabbage heads, black with flies may rot in plastic bags behind Romanian Pentecostal churches. Shoes without heels may recall the journeys of women across dance floors in all of the cheap, tawdry colors of music, inebriation, and sex. Sardines my glimmer in the sunlight, as I saw yesterday. I photographed them, and looked—again--for them today. They were gone. I suspect a neighborhood cat has enjoyed a silvery, somewhat dry feast. I know where these fish came from. I purchased my own, and they rest in Corey's freezer, awaiting future photographic opportunities. Perhaps I'll bring them out, do something with them, and leave them for the passionate, Spanish-speaking neighborhood cats and the occasional, rotund raccoon. I'm posting this image directly from Corey's computer. My own work-horse has slipped the surly bounds of life on earth and is on its way elsewhere. It still works, occasionally, and there are ways in which I may retrieve stories, images, and saved correspondences (in Russian and in Czech) from what's left of the hard drive. Until then such repairs and replacements can be made, my internet time is woefully limited, and so my posts will be few and far between. For now. Only for now. I'll have a new laptop soon enough. As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I'll do what I can to catch up on all of the fun Renderosity things, as time and circumstances permit. I hope you're all having a great week, and I hope you enjoy these dead, shiny sardines as much as I do.