F: Foothill Fright

My next tag was a little scary and complicated, but ultimately a good learning experience.  No matter how much you tell yourself that yarntags are benefiting the environment, a gift to the community, there's always this little fear lurking that you're going to be BUSTED.  This tag was not done in my home neighborhood, but several miles away in front of an old gas station along Foothill Rd.  which has been abandoned for years.  I seem to be drawn to locations that seem like they need some cheering up.  

As I was tromping through the weeds, casing out the area, my worst fears were realized when a big ol' orange CalTrans truck pulled up near me and a guy leaned out of the window and called to me.  In a flash I pictured myself being lead off to jail in big orange handcuffs.  At least I could get a lot of knitting done there.  But then I realized that he was asking me if I was okay and needed any help.  Guess I looked a little strange studying a chain link fence.  I smiled bravely and lied, saying I was cutting vines to use for making baskets (could be true; the place is choked with vines).  

I don't consider myself a very courageous person, so that experience was enough to completely unhinge me.  Or at least cloud my artistic judgment.  I hastily tied some squares to the fence and beat it back to my car.  

After a good cup of tea at home, I realized several things:

1. I don't like to make a quick decision about where to tag, especially in an unfamiliar location.  I prefer to make an exploratory visit and see what the possibilities are, take measurements if necessary.  

2. CalTrans doesn't own that property anyway; the only one to really worry about is the car with the flashing light on the top.  

3. People aren't sure how to regard something unusual in a public place, but often they're okay if you tell them "This is Art".  So I need to find a way to clue people in that my pieces are ART, not gang signs.  

So a few days later I returned to the scene of the tag, untied the poor droopy squares, sat in the weeds and sewed them together.  Then I adorned a big post with a silly mailbox on top of it.  Who's getting mail here??