Photographed along Interstate 494 near its intersection with Interstate 35W in Bloomington.
DAYLIGHT SLIPS INTO EVENING, closing mostly unnoticed before a hurried audience.
But I study the scene—the stairstepped buildings of gridded squares. Geometry in architecture. Life and landscape reflecting upon panes. Everything seemingly perfect on the exterior. No broken panes.
Below, motorists zip off the interstate headed for somewhere. Grab a meal. Sip a beer. Sleep a night.
Only stoplights delay. Or too much traffic. Or a rerouting detour. Just normal life.
We zip along in our gridded, patterned days, hours planned. Grab a meal. Sip a beer. Sleep a night.
On 494 near 35W.
Until the unexpected happens and life crashes in to uncertainty.
© Copyright 2016 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
Those gridded squares look so perfect at first glance, but the more I look the more I see discrepancies. Can it really be or are my eyes playing tricks? If only we could get prior warning throughout life, “Crash ahead.”
I appreciate your thoughtful comment, Marilyn. “If only…”
We used to call these “accidents” but, with the preponderance of those insisting on activities that result in these events, that word should be replaced with “consequences”.
Consequences. Good word choice.
Life certainly has a way of being unpredictable and throwing curve balls lately. Sometimes you just have to sit back and let it happen, right? Nice post, Audrey.
“Sometimes” would be the key word here.
Reads like a poem. Beautiful.
Thank you, Valerie.
I love these thoughts. Isn’t it almost scary how sometimes we’re driving along and once we’ve reached the destination we have no idea what we saw along the way… we’re so numb to what is around us or deep in thought.
Thank you.
I’ve found that my camera really helps me see the world in more detail.
You know, living in the Twin Cities, I see these signs all the time and they don’t jar me much anymore. That’s probably not a good thing – they should jar us all, remind us – as you have – that the unexpected is just around the bend. Good to reflect on that this morning!
I understand. Many times in life we become complacent, especially when everything is going well, the path unimpeded, the roadway smooth. And then we hit a pothole, a roadblock or crash.
Exactly.
Ha, you noticed all of those things in that first picture, and the first thing I noticed was the “Denny’s” sign..that could explain the shape I’m in.. lol
I’m glad you noticed how I incorporated scene details in to the copy.
Wow, Penn Ave, Lyndale Ave. the 494 and 35W cloverlief all bring back so many memories…………………….. Thanks for the pictures!
Glad to take you back to the roadways of Minnesota. My bet is that traffic is much more congested than you remember.
In just a moment’s time all of those well laid out plans can be dust in the wind.
Sadly, you understand.