Tie-dye Joe

Liza and I got a little way into the park this morning when I noticed some flames coming from the picnic table and a scruffy looking man tending something over the flames.  I was a little wary, as this park is known to attract some unsavory characters.My mind went to a lot of different places, none of which were correct.  I circled around him and brought my camera up, thinking I'd sneak a shot, but he looked right at me and smiled, so I said, "That looks interesting! Do you mind if I take a picture?"  He smiled even wider, like he was hoping I would. 

Joe is a self-described artist who re-purposes a lot of stuff. Today he was melting crayons in a glass -- he'd gotten them at a garage sale down the street. He was mixing colors together so he could teach his kids (not clear if he meant his own kids or borrowed kids) about how colors get made "like red and yellow make green," he said. He proudly showed me some other little trinkets he'd picked up and how he'd cut off part of a toothbrush so it would fit in his pocket, showed off some socks and other paraphernalia he'd tie-dyed (hence, his name), a knit hat he'd found that he was planning to unravel and re-purpose. He told me nothing gets wasted. "When.I'm done with something, I burn it in the fireplace and put the ashes on the garden!"

The flames were getting higher and I was a little nervous about the table catching fire - it's been so dry for weeks, and a grass fire was a real possibility.  The table sits on a concrete slab, but still....  He grabbed a small plastic box and laid it on top of the flames to extinguish them. 

I think he would have gone on talking all day -- I imagine most people in the park shy away from him -- but Liza and I had to get going. I asked his name again, wanted to make sure I had it right. "Tie-dye Joe," he said. "There's Tie-die Mike and Tie-dye Pete, but I'm the only Tie-dye Joe." 

He's definitely one of a kind. . 

A few extra photos of Joe included.