Two arches of water pipes sticking up out of the ground and back in next to a hedge, with valves at the top of each. One has a sign hanging from it that says Macy's Domestic Water.

We made our first Christmas-season foray into South Coast Plaza over the weekend. Well, really, we just walked over there to grab something at the Coffee Bean after a late lunch at Finbar’s at Metro Pointe, then walked back…but it was a taste of the holiday insanity of the mall. Especially that mall. (Usually I try to avoid it during the holiday season, but I always seem to end up making at least one trip.)

Anyway, the phrasing on this sign just struck us both as odd. Okay, obviously, these valves control the water for Macy’s, which was right on the other side of the shrubberies. But why Macy’s domestic water? Is there another pipe for foreign water?

A man dressed in aluminum foil with a sign on his back reading Sir Reynolds of the Wrap, talking to other people dressed in more serious Renaissasnce Faire garb. More people are milling about in front of some shop stalls.

Somehow I don’t think he’s taking this quite as seriously as Faire folk might prefer…

At the Renaissance Pleasure Faire held at Glen Helen Park near San Bernardino, California in spring 2001. (Yeah, I’ve been scanning old photos again…)

Update: I like this filmstrip-style filter and border. It’s a good fit for a Throwback Thursday on Instagram.

The same photo, cropped square, colors faded and wrapped with a border that looks like the border of a strip of film.