I suppose this qualifies as one of those "only in Elsinore" things...
About a week ago I was driving down Grand ave and saw a man in a motorized wheelchair riding down the street at a pretty good clip. In his lap was a full sized Christmas tree. I couldn't help but smile! :)
I didn't think about it again until this past weekend when I was picking my kids up from a friends house. On the way there I passed a house where sitting on their curb, apparently waiting for the trash truck, was a beautiful full sized Christmas tree still about half decorated.
Who knew that I would see two Christmas trees in the span of one week in June? Only in Lake Elsinore!!!
The Cowboy: I have seen The Cowboy walking on Grand ave and Riverside drive now for oh... at least 10 years. He is noticeable by the fact that he ALWAYS wears a cowboy hat, usually wears shorts, and all winter long wears a large down pillowed vest.
He is always walking straight and tall, and for some reason strikes me as being a very happy person. Even though he is an older gentleman, his posture is so good that I can't imagine he was anything other than a soldier of some sort in his younger days.
I wonder what his story is? Does he wear that hat because he is trying to simply keep the sun off of his face? Or did someone important to him give him that hat and it is now as much a part of him as his right arm? Does he walk because he cannot afford a car? Or does he walk because he likes the wind in his face and the things he can see at the slower pace? Has he lived here in Lake Elsinore all of his life? Or did he travel the world? Did he dream away his youth here hoping to get out, only to get out and dream away his adulthood hoping to come home?
Or maybe he was a real cowboy in Texas or Wyoming and only ended up in Lake Elsinore because this was where the wind and his horse led him? Not possible you say? Well, stranger things have happened. Especially here in Lake Elsinore.....
There are people that I have been seeing here in Lake Elsinore for years that I feel I know, even though I have never spoken to them. Over the years I have given them names and assigned personalities, and histories. Now, however, I am thinking maybe I should stop and talk to a few of them one of these days. Funny how people can be a part of our lives, yet not a part at the same time... I am going to be doing a series on these people and I urge you to do the same with the people in your life that you don't really know.
The first in my "People you see every day" series:
The Man in Black: I have seen this man walking on Grand Ave for at least the past 10 years. He is now in his 50's (looks like, but who knows?) with graying hair and beard, and somewhat resembles the actor Sam Elliot. He is ALWAYS wearing all black. Black jeans, black t-shirt, black boots, and in the cooler weather a black jacket. Hence the name "Man in Black".
I have imagined that once upon a time he was working as a stock broker in some tall building in some crowded city. Until one day he decided that he simply didn't want to do that anymore. So he sold everything he had and wandered westward until he happened to end up in Lake Elsinore.
He now lives a simple life in a cottage by the water and walks where he needs to go so he can smell the earth, feel the breeze, and embrace as much freedom as one can in this life. And in between his walks around the lake he fights for truth, justice and the American way.
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