twinkle twinkle

All that left at Star Tires is this sign. It stands at the shop for Tom's Tree Place growing grounds in the 6600 block of West 66th.

sunset on the gulf

From the east coast to the gulf coast
Padre Island National Seashore
Padre Island, Texas
9.27.2007

message from the chef

Ruddy Duck Tavern
Morehead City, North Carolina
http://www.ruddyducktavern.com/

1.26.2012

porch sitting

Porch sitting is universal but is a fine Southern tradition. From this vantage point, sitting in the rocking chair with a glass of sweet tea, life is leisurely. One can greet the neighbors with a "howdy," observe the tourists along the boardwalk or watch the boats on the waterway.

Front Street
Beaufort, North Carolina
1.25.2012

coffee shop

The patrons of the Port Java coffee shop on Middle Street engage in various activities. If you could peek through the windows you would see the man in the rear on his laptop while the ladies in the front corner are knitting. The weather was very nice after the rain stopped but no one was enjoying the outdoor seating. We had dinner next door at the Chelsea. This upscale restaurant is housed in the original location of Caleb Bradham's Pharmacy which is the "Birthplace of Pepsi Cola." It was safe because there was a Civil Defense sign on the building.) I had shrimp and grits.

PS - The Shriners are in town for a convention.

Port City Java Coffee Shop
New Bern, North Carolina

by dawn's early light

I stepped out of the hotel this morning to snap this shot. The clouds over the outer banks rolled in and brought afternoon showers.

Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway
Morehead City, North Carolina

fishing on the dock

Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway
Beaufort, North Carolina

splish splash

I felt guilty about not getting my laps in today so I'm posting a swimming photo! I swim at the Texas Tech Aquatic Center; however this picture is the swimming pool in the Sport Science Center, frequently known as the "old men's gym." The Gymnasium for Men, plus a full size swimming pool and a Gymnasium for Women was built in 1961. The original Gymnasium, constructed in 1926, by J. B. Maxey from a design by Wyatt C. Hedrick, was condemned in 1982. As the Legislature was reluctant to pay for a gym in 1926, Tech asked for a barn which could also serve as a gym. The gym was thus nicknamed "The Barn" and athletes and livestock shared the space. The 11,700 foot building held up to 2,000 spectators. ("Old Gym Held Tech History," Texas Techsan, July/August 1984). The Sport Science Center, home of the Health, Exercise and Sport Science Department is scheduled for -- you guessed it -- demolition.

city scene

The parking lot fence is papered with images of an Indian princess - pasted graffiti, not painted. The parking lot also has a basketball goal -- wonder who plays?

1400 Block Avenue J
Lubbock, Texas

cowboy

This cowboy grew up on a ranch east of Dickens, Texas. The homestead is still there and the photo below is the bedroom he grew up in -- complete with wallpaper!

flip flops

Flotsam on a sea of sand. Who were you and why were your flip flops left behind?

Monahans Sand Hills State Park
7.1.2006

dublin dr pepper

Last January we stopped in Dublin, Texas at the oldest Dr. Pepper bottling company established 1891. That was my first -- and probably last -- visit since Dr. Pepper has devastated Dublin by removing their name from all Dr. Pepper signs in the town. The demise of Dublin Dr. Pepper, made with cane sugar, has increased the collector's value of any "Dublin" Dr. Pepper. Check your bottles and souvenirs.

1.9.2011

geta

Japanese Garden
Fort Worth Botanical Gardens
4.16.11

got mail?

There is a new little gallery in Tech Terrace shopping center where the Social Butterfly used to be. There's art on the wall but little information about name or hours.

2601 Boston Avenue
Lubbock, Texas

art imitates life

Actually Oscar Wilde wrote "Life imitates Art more than Art imitates Life." However, this philosophical discussion is too deep for this evening.

Lad's Wrecker Service
500 N. University
Lubbock, Texas

chartreuse store and orange fire hydrant

Botas El Malcreado painted their store an eye-catching chartreuse (verde-amarillo intenso in Spanish). Evidently El Malcreados are like Mexican Tony Lamas -- there are stores all over.

Botas El Malcreado
2312 Clovis Road
Lubbock, Texas

JANUARY 15, 2012

that old barn on west 4th

Every time I drive out west Fourth Street toward Reese I tell myself I need to photograph that old barn while it's still there. So I did.

the alamo at brownfield

No, I've not been to San Antonio recently. This Alamo is in Brownfield, Texas It was the gymnasium at the Brownfield Intermediate School which burned in 2001. It became a youth and event center in 2003 and volunteers painted the facade.

Alamo Event Center
320 East Broadway
Brownfield, Texas
1.07.12

Buster's Place
519 E. Boston
Covington, Louisiana
www.bustersplaceonline.com

christ church

Christ Episcopal Church is the oldest building still in use in Covington, Louisiana -- it was built in 1846. It fits in with the character of the historic downtown with its narrow streets and old buildings. Quite a contast to the high-tech, state-of-the-art Emergency Operations Center housed in the "contemporary" court house built in 1959, which replaced the razed 1894 building and abandoned for the new government center in 2003. The "hanging" oak trees are still there.

fishing on the bogue falaya

I'm not doing too well with pronouncing some of these Louisiana names! This river is the Bogue Falaya, not to be confused with the Tchefuncte. I could say Soap and Tallow Branch. To reach Covington on the North Shore we traveled from New Orleans 24 miles across the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway -- looked like an ocean to this West Texas gal.

january has an "r"

Charboiled Oysters
Acme Oyster House
St. Tammany Parish
Covington, Louisiana

Why do we only eat oyster in the months that have R's in them? The answer has to do with an oyster's sex life. During the month without R's, the adult oyster has little interest in sex . During cold weather the oyster's body weight is made up of the glycogen and salts that make it fat and tasty. But in the late spring, the oyster's fancy lightly turns to reproduction and it assumes a sex for the season, or at least part of it. It may be either sex, primarily. Having made a choice of which sex it will be, the oyster converts 80 percent of its body weight to sex organs, which are thin and watery and taste like nothing at all. It isn't that oysters are inedible during the summer; just that they aren't as meaty and succulent.

checkered flag

This golf emporium has painted its exterior to be reminiscent of the banner atop the flagsticks marking golf holes. Perhaps you need a green checkered flagstick for your home putting green!

Golf Headquarters
5044 Frankford
Lubbock, Texas

achromatic colors

While there is academic argument whether black and white are colors, they do not exist on the color wheel. However, black and white are critical tools in the photographer's bag.

Automax
1908 Avenue J
Lubbock, Texas

seeing starz

This red building, formerly housing Hamilton Auto Parts, is at the corner of 5th and Tate, just down the block from the defunct Starz movie theater.

Brownfield, Texas

turquoise

Color Wheel: Blue Green is Turquoise, between Cyan and Green.

7600 19th Street
Lubbock, Texas

blue building

I am on a quest to photograph structures based on the color wheel (invented by Sir Isaac Newton in 1706). Primary colors of yellow and blue checked off; looking for red and secondary colors of orange, green and purple and whatever hues I find in between.

A Small Business Works
2011 North Ash
Lubbock, Texas

reflection on yellow

Klemke's Meat Processing started in Slaton in the 1980s, expanded to the Sausage Haus and a BBQ Joint . In October Klemke opened a Sausage Haus in Wolfforth.

Klemke's Sausage Haus
930 W. 5th Street
Wolfforth, Texas

deer hunting

Actually Pop and I were hunting for the Lakeview Cemetery when we came across this buck. In the past, our part of the plains has not been a deer habitat but the drought and scarcity of feed and water have brought more wildlife to the south plains. Or maybe the deer know that Lubbock and Hale counties don't have a deer hunting season.

Hale County, Texas
1.1.2012

backyard bokeh

While reading about photographic techniques today, I learned a new word. In photography, bokeh (from the Japanese boke) is the aesthetic quality of the blur in out-of-focus areas of an image. So I had to try it. Using a small aperture and shallow depth of field, the lights on the pine tree form blurry circles while the lights on the reindeer's antlers remain sharp. What, you've already taken your Christmas lights down!

diamond t hood ornament

A recent acquisition on the Fortenberry equipment lot is a Diamond T truck, circa 1946. Although I'd never heard of Diamond T, they were known as the "cadillac" of trucks in the 30s and 40s. This model has spent the last decades in a barn and was only driven during parades.

Historical Note:
In 1905, the Diamond T Motor Car Company of Chicago manufactured custom-built passenger cars but switched exclusively to building trucks in 1911. Diamond T truck production prospered and was responsible for many advances in truck design including the fin and tube radiator, the adoption of 7 bearing 6 cylinder truck engines, 4 wheel hydraulic brakes, fully enclosed deluxe cabs, and hydraulic shock absorbers as standard equipment for heavy duty trucks. In 1958 Diamond T was purchased by White Motor Corporation .
www.diamondtclassics.com