breakfast on the road

Waffle House

Amarillo, Texas

5.24.2012

congratulations to all may graduates

university of alabama

1986

The origins of academic dress date back to the 12th and 13th centuries, when universities were taking form. The Academic Costume Code of 1895 standardizes academic regalia. in the United States   The black robe for the doctoral degree has bell-shaped sleeves with three velvet bands.  The "hood" signifies the university and the degree.  The Code calls for the outside shell of the hood  to remain black;  the interior lining of the hood displays the colors of the institution (crimson - Roll Tide). The color of the velvet hood trimming is distinctive of the academic field — light blue for education. The mortarboard is black; the gold tassel may indicate membership in national honor societies (Alpha Chi).

reflection of the past

In its heyday, South First Street in Raton bustled with traffic.  The past grandeur of the Palace Hotel, built in 1896, is hinted at in the stone facade.  The hotel's front door reflects the Raton train depot.  The Mission Revival architecture style of the 1903 depot honors Raton's Spanish history.  The quiet street comes to life once a day, especially during the summer season, when the daily Amtrak stops and Boys Scouts detrain -- and get on a bus bound for the Philmont Scout Ranch.

Palace Hotel
Raton, New Mexico
5.25.2012

hymnal page 33 "blessed be the name"

St John Methodist Episcopal Church

Johnson Mesa, New Mexico

behold God's handiwork

The St. John Methodist Episcopal Church has held weekly services since 1897.  It would be difficult to concentrate on the Sunday sermon while admiring the glorious spring view of the mesa (or puzzling why the pews are painted pink).

Johnson Mesa

Highway 72

New Mexico

5.26.2012

view from the pulpit

The St. John Methodist Espiscopal Church is a stone building erected in 1897 atop Johnson Mesa.  Johnson Mesa is a high, stark plateau-- lushly green this time of year -- rising 2000 feet above the Raton valley.  In 1887 miners from Raton, disgruntled with hard work in the mines, took advantage of free land and attempted ranching and farming on the mesa.  Alas, equally hard work and harsh weather took their toll.  Today, where once there was a homestead on every 160 acres, only a few ranches, abandoned homesteads -- and the Johnson Mesa Church -- remain.

some of my deer friends

Cimarron Canyon, New Mexico

now i lay me down to sleep

Tonight I sleep in a king-size bed at the Budget Host.  It was originally built as the Melody Lane Motel in 1945 on the main highway connecting Raton and Trinidad, Colorado -- over the pass.  Each decade saw subsequent additions, including in-room steam baths.  Marge has owned the property the past 17 years; her cousin owns the Raton Pass (formerly the Capri) down the road.

home sweet home

As a photographer, I'm partial to shooting old structures.  According to my baby book, this structure was my first home.  It was old at the time and since demolished.  Being a first child, my mother was meticulous in recording events in the journal.  Born prematurely on a Sunday at 5:08 a.m. weighing 4 pounds 12 ounces, I spent the first month at Grandmother Smith's in Lubbock and didn't come "home" to this house until January .  The address of this abode was "Route 3, Lubbock Texas" but the house was situated on the north side of the gin property in New Deal.  If you want to know who you are, you should look where you came from.

neon palms

China Beach Tan

3606 50th

Lubbock, Texas

bridge on the moselle revisited

I'd like to title this photo "nun on a bridge" but the zoom wasn't long enough.  Besides the focal points are the arches and reflections. 

Moselle River

Metz, France

8.25.2011

planter boxes

 

To many people, "planter boxes" are those structures below windows filled with flowers.  To farmers, planter boxes are the containers holding cotton seed.  Pictured is an eight-row planter, however, modern equipment can extend up to 16 rows.  Surely you can name the manufacturer of this planter.  Consider that a 50-pound bag of cotton seed may cost about $400; it is planted about 4-5 pounds to the acre; there's 640 acres in a section of farmland. Then factor in expenses of equipment, labor, diesel, irrigation -- and that's what the farmer bets each planting season against Mother Nature in the game of chance called cotton farming.

The Farm
Lubbock County, Texas

not the california one

Hollywood Nails

Village Shopping Center

82nd and Quaker

Lubbock, Texas

all that jazz

If the Louisiana Kitchen were built today instead of 25 years ago, it might not have a neon sign.

Jazz, A Louisiana Kitchen

3703 19th Street

Lubbock, Texas

neon buddy

As I drive about the city, I'm looking for neon signs but I fear brightly lit cowboys, windmills and dancing girls are a thing of the past.  If there is a neon sign, it's usually the "open" variety purchased at WalMart.

Buddy Holly Center

1801 Crickets Avenue

Lubbock, Texas

4.7.2006



no aroma advertising

Somehow I don't think of fresh-baked bread and Domino's Pizza as being synonymous.  Ironic that the pizza chain doesn't use neon except for bread sticks and wings.

otto

The "Otto" in Otto's Granary, a Godiva chocolate, coffee and tea emporium,  is based on a family name.  The structure is actually an old granary and it's history should be researched.  (Preservation is on my mind since this evening's Historical Commission gathering.  I'm also interested in neon preservation but more on that later.)

Otto's Granary

4119 Marsha Sharp Freeway

Lubbock, Texas

www.ottosgranary.com

sunday supper

Lucky Chen
1803 7th Street
Lubbock, Texas

stairway to a forgotten past

The staircase that led Lubbock society to the ballroom now goes to future business suites.

The former Pioneer Hotel

Lubbock, Texas

5.11.2012





ballroom splendor



The Lubbock County Historical Commission met today in the former Pioneer Hotel, which is being renovated as condos.  Built in the Renaissance Revival architecture style, Hotel Lubbock, later called the Pioneer Hotel, is one of a handful of remaining early pre-World War II major buildings left in the city.  The first five floors were built in 1925, with six additional floors added in 1929.  Other than the exterior brick walls, the first floor staircase and the ornamental plasterwork found in the former ballroom, not much of the original remains.  These decorative plaques sit atop windows in brick arches -- maybe an architectural-minded person can provide their name.  I remember attending a function or two in the ballroom but my clearest memory of the Pioneer was going to the Embassy Club as an underage, young Tech student in the days when Lubbock had only private clubs.

The Pioneer
Broadway and Avenue K
Lubbock, Texas

self titled

Raton, New Mexico

5.27.2010

savannah

I've been going through photo files -- purging those "why did I keep this?" pictures and negatives. However, among those are the keepers -- the favorites I had forgotten about.

Savannah, Georgia

June 1985

yucca after the rain

The blooms on the local yucca seem especially profuse and after last night's rain, the stems are bending groundward.  Looking for something different for dinner?  Google "how to eat a yucca."  Evidently most parts of the plant are edible and the blooms are said to be quite tasty.  Who knew?

Pop's hillside

Lubbock, Texas

cowboys

Lubbock County

November 2006

z is for . . . .

Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch

New Braunfels, Texas

date unknown

cinco de mayo

tanker truck fire

  "Disaster City®" is a mock city with numerous full-scale full-scale buildings, towers, tanks, industrial plant structures and a ship that are used during life-like training simulations. The 279-acre Brayton Fire Training Field in College Station is the largest in the United States and includes an Emergency Operations Training Center.  The Fort Hood firefighters are training on extinguishing a tanker truck fire.  I've spent the week here with the Emergency Services Training Institute working on development of an online course.

Brayton Fire Training Field
College Station, Texas
www.teex.org

key to the city

Parker-Astin Hardware Store
108 N. Bryan
Historic Downtown Bryan, Texas

club nice

Wonder if this night spot is named after the town in France or is it a place where naughty girls are not allowed in?

Club Nice

Bryan, Texas

signature sushi roll

Executive Chef Tai at Veritas prepares the signature sushi roll with softshell crabs, tobiko caviar, avocado, cucumber and wasabi mayo.  We sat at the bar and it was like ringside at "Iron Chef" watching the dishes being prepared.

Veritas  Wine and Bistro

400 University East
College Station, Texas