easter morn

 

Garden of Gethsemane

Resthaven Cemetery

Lubbock, Texas

my easter dress

 

My frilly Easter outfit included hat, gloves, lace-trimmed sock and black patent maryjanes.

 

New Deal, Texas

March 25, 1951

first gerber

 

This gerber daisy (Gerbera jamesonii) has been wind-blown, sand-blasted and frost-nipped but is a happy harbinger of spring.

 

My backyard

Lubbock, Texas

polo practice 2

 

Texas Tech Women's Water Polo Team

Lubbock, Texas

polo practice

 

 The Texas Tech women's water polo team practices for upcoming matches in the Collegiate Water Polo Association against Texas A&M, Rice and Texas State. Guns up!

 

Student Rec Center

Lubbock, Texas

club house

 

As you can tell from the graphic, this is the club house of a motorcycle club.  The Messengers is a Clean & Sober Club whose members have chosen to abstain from drugs and booze.  Although the barred door isn't exactly welcoming, you may attend an AA meeting there on Sunday afternoons.

 

Vicinity of North Avenue Q and Kemper

Lubbock, Texas 



Need something or someone located?  Try National Locator Services - but first you have to locate them.  There's no listing in the phone book or on the web.  And your GPS would probably be challenged to locate the office.  Photographically speaking, this was an interesting street to find while locating roads I'd never traveled on.

1115 North Avenue T
Lubbock, Texas

"a safe place to buy"

 

Need a building, a garage, a used car sales office?  By the looks of the place, and the saplings and weeds, this housemoving business is not bustling.  Wonder if the cars sold out of this car lot office lasted long enough for the warranty?  And what did "a safe place to buy" mean?  They won't break your legs if you miss a week's payment?

 

North Avenue N and Kemper Street

Lubbock, Texas

window, bench and reindeer

 

There are some interesting tableaux on the lesser traveled streets in Lubbock.  I understand the metal bench in front of the welding shop, but the light-festooned straw reindeer?

 

North Avenue T and Harvard

Lubbock, Texas

perspective

 

The undulating line of the collars on the iron fence posts caught my eye.  I liked the way the curves were a counterpoint to the horizontal lines of the railing, brick and grate.  But then that college kid chained his damn bike to the fence!  I was at the Southwest Collections to view Melinda Harvey's Where the Wind Gallops photography exhibit.

 

Southwest Collections Building

Texas Tech University

Lubbock, Texas

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/One-Day-One-Image-photographs-by-Melinda-Green-Harvey/364030236958773?fref=ts

the zombie apocolypse

 

This isn't your regular street bike.  The rider took his 260 moped and turned it into the "zombie apocolypse" complete with skulls and crosses.  The fenders state "Fight the Dead -- Fear the Living."  You really have to notice the details -- the yellow-painted tires, the cranium and intestines on the cargo box, the skeleton key ring which the rider has had since age 15 (he's 50 now), and the hood ornament from his 1968 Cutlass.  I really wish I could have seen the zombie apocolypse at night - the eyes of the skull above the rider's seat light up and its jaw drops. The vehicle is probably a jaw-dropping experience for motorists on Lubbock streets.

 

60th and Slide

Lubbock, Texas

benny

 

Lubbock, Texas

3.14.2013

navajo

 



Benny, a new acquaintance, is a Navajo Indian.  He says he makes much of his jewelry; to the Navajo tribe, the color turquoise represents happiness, luck, and health.

Lubbock, Texas
3.18.2013

boots at breakfast

 

You can run into some interesting characters at the Ranch House.  No, this cowboy did not arrive by horse; he dismounted from public transportation.  Join us for breakfast sometime.

 

Ranch House

1520 Buddy Holly Avenue

Lubbock, Texas

http://ranchhouse.musselman.net

tractor man

 

Today we celebrated Pop's 89th birthday at the tractor museum.  His great-grandson and namesake, William, contributed toy tractors for the centerpiece.  Then he took them back and played with them.

bentley and doc

 

Bentley, the 7-pound Maltese, thinks he's a farm doc just like Doc.  Bentley rides in the tractor, chases cottontails and wades in the irrigation run-off -- but, unlike Doc, he can't jump into the back of the pick-up without assistance.

New Deal, Texas

3.14.2013

obligatory spring iris photo

 

My backyard

Lubbock, Texas

spring fever

 

Although it is too early to plant these coleus, it's not too late to start thinking about it. with today's 80 degree temperature.  According to weather history, the latest recorded freeze in Lubbock was May 8, 1938.  And I remember it snowing on May 1 once!

 

Ivey Gardens

1318 Municipal Drive

Lubbock, Texas

love or something like it

 

 

Spring is in the air and these green anoles must have heard Kenny Rogers' 1978 hit:

"Something's got a hold on me
It's cheap but it ain' free
Love or somethin like it's got a hold on me"


neighborhood beautification

 

This homeowner uses graffiti art to spruce up his place.  Visible from University Avenue, the painting on the fence and garage catches the eye of passers-by.  Crowns and skulls are popular graffiti motifs; I don't know what the message being sent is.

 

University Avenue and Colgate

Lubbock, Texas

drive thru to nowhere

 

Closed Liquor Store at The Strip

901 98th Street

Lubbock, Texas

signs of the times

 

With the passing of the law allowing package liquor sales within the city limits, the demise of the Strip was assured.  Citizen no longer needed to drive to the neon-lit area where liquor stores lined the highway.  The Double T Discount store closed its door.  The Lubbock Gentlemen's Club occupied the space, but not for long. All signs point to a barred building, cracked pavement and tumbleweeds.

 

901 98th Street

Lubbock, Texas

"areas of blowing dust with chance of evening thunderstorms"

 

The spring weather forecast in West Texas is predictable in its unpredictability.  Blue skies, strong winds, blowing dust and, hopefully, possibility of rain this evening.

 

FM 597 and Onion Shed Road

Hockley County, Texas

 



700 cotton street

 



There's not much history on the Arlington Hotel -- also known as the Martin.  Built somewhere around the early 1900s, the story has it that  the hotel faced closing before ever opening after an unscrupulous contractor took money without completing the work.  A local oil discovery  that attracted hundreds of workers looking for lodging saved the day.  The building is in dire need of another economic upturn--which would also help most of downtown and the historic district.

Arlington Hotel
Shreveport, Louisiana
3.4.2013

maybe once upon a time

 

Parts of Shreveport immediately west of downtown are some of the most notable haunted spots in town.  This row of furniture warehouses are interesting but creepy enough to fit the part; I was advised to be careful since the the buildings are "haunted" by the homeless.  Not surprisingly there are guided haunted tours in Shreveport and active paranormal societies.  In fact, according to the website (http://www.paranormalsocieties.com/state_list.cfm?state=la) there are 33 Paranormal Investigation Societies listed in Louisiana.

 

Downtown Historic District

Shreveport, Louisiana

3.4.2013

row houses

 

Shreveport was established in the early 1800s at the junction of the Texas Trail and the Red River.  It prospered with steam boat traffic and served as the capital of Confederate Louisiana during the Civil War.  Downtown abounds with buildings of great architectural interest -- from Victorian to Italian Renaissance to Art Deco -- although many are abandoned and dilapidated.  The Oakland Cemetery intrigued but I was dissuaded from driving through it by the presence of its living occupants.

 

Historic Downtown

Shreveport, Louisiana

louisiana hayride

 

Elvis got his start at the Louisiana Hayride - produced on the stage of the Municipal Memorial Auditorium in Shreveport.  The building, completed in 1929, is an outstanding example of Art Deco brickwork. Honoring WWI soldiers, I like the frieze on the front that states " Dedicated to those who served in the World War" as if that were the last and only war  (which in 1929 was true).  One difference from this vintage structure and the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum is the effort to save the structure.  A workman, who saw me on the ground shooting up at Elvis, thought I had fallen and came to check on me.  We talked and he offered me a glimpse inside (with original light fixtures, decorative plaster and yes, the original wooden theater seats in the balcony.  His crew was busy caulking windows and he mentioned the repainting, plastering, etc to maintain the building (follow link to Friends of the Municipal website).

 

Municipal Memorial Auditorium

Shreveport, Louisiana

http://municipalauditorium.homestead.com/History.html

red, white and blue

 

The condition of this mail box reflects the status of the postal service -- and maybe the nation.  Still functional but in need of rehabilitation.

 

19th and Avenue C

Lubbock, Texas

remember the alamo

 

Texas Independence Day -March 2

The Alamo - Mission San Antonio de Valero

San Antonio, Texas

3.24.2009

shadows on brick

 

At high noon today at the Buddy Holly Center, I was attracted by the shadows of the patio furniture.  BHC is situated in the old train depot (hence the name "Depot District") and a set of rails still can be seen in the courtyard.  These bricks would have stories to tell from nights of the Depot Bar & Grill -- long before the District was a concept.

 

Buddy Holly Center

1801 Crickets Avenue

Lubbock, Texas