"Childhood"

First, some background: Clayton has some friends who are into photography as a hobby, so every month they have an online photo competition centered on a specified theme. Recently we were laughing about the guys' entries for the latest theme, "Childhood". Not surprisingly, the photos with actual children in them turned out the best and won. However, in an apparent attempt at being artsy-fartsy, or all poignant or something, many of the entries did not include kids, but instead showed familiar settings of childhood. Problem being, of course, that when you take a picture of empty swings, it doesn't turn out cute - it looks like someone's been abducted. And not that abduction is funny, but we had a good laugh at their errors. (Um, is this making any sense? Or do you just think that I'm the weirdo now? Trust me, it was funny if you were there.)

Anyway, with that in mind, I couldn't resist taking the following photo of the scene in the alley behind our condo. I mean, what says "Childhood" better than an abandoned training toilet, next to a trash bin, in dirty snow, in the dark, in an alley, with a "Beware of Dog" sign in the background?


"Childhood"

This is priceless stuff, people. You don't come across this kind of beauty everyday.