bicycling on the boardwalk

 

Beaufort, North Carolina

6.27.2013

www.historicbeaufort.com

motif mania

 

After its construction in 1859, the Cape Lookout became a model for all tower lighthouses constructed on the Eastern U.S. coast. When the remaining four North Carolina lighthouses were finished (Cape Lookout, Cape Hatteras, Bodie, and Currituck), the Lighthouse Board painted each different designs to easily distinguish one from another.  The diamond design lighthouse is seen everywhere on the Crystal Coast -- from advertising signs to yard art.  The guy offered to ship the six-foot model home for me but I chose the 2-inch souvenir instead.

saltmarsh

 

 

The barrier islands forming the Outer Banks of North Carolina are moving line of sand in the open Atlantic.  Harkers Island  is connected to the main land by bridges spanning expanses of saltmarsh.  Located on the east headland of Harkers Island, the Cape Lookout National Seashore offers a study in island ecology.  A boardwalk crosses a saltmarsh to Core Sound. The mudflats support cordgrass and a multitude of fiddler crabs.

 

Cape Lookout National Seashore

Harkers Island, North Carolina

the diamond lighthouse

 

The Cape Lookout Lighthouse on the Outer Banks is only accessible by boat.  During the ride over, we saw the wild horses on the other end of the island and paused to watch the dolphins.  No, I did not climb the 208 steps to the top.

 

Cape Lookout Lighthouse

Beaufort, North Carolina

www.carolinalights.com/north-carolina-lighthouses/cape-lookout-lighthouse

north carolina coast

elvis sighting

 

Ye Olde Drugstore

Historic Downtown

Swansboro, North Carolina

follow the arrow

 

In case you don't know where the drive-thru window is at the Cowboy Cafe, follow the arrow.

 

Cowboy Cafe

Plains, Texas

6-22-2013

lavender harvest

 

Neal Newsom demonstrates how to tie a lavender bundle.  He furnished the shears, twine and lavender -- and offered lemonade!

 

Rock'n N B&B and Lavender Farm

Plains, Texas

6-22-2013

lavender harvest

 

A nice road trip today to Plains, Texas to cut my own wands of lavender.  Located on the grounds of the Rock'n N Bed & Breakfast, the limited lavender field is in full bloom.  The B&B occupies a 1914 ranch house and Neal Newsom, the owner, says he's booked for next week.  Neal gave up cotton farming to grow grapes.  There is no on-site winery but he provides grapes for 14 others -- except for this year when grapes were wiped out by the early spring freeze.  Want a quiet get-away?  Consider the Rock'n N -- wide open spaces, starry skies and no distractions for romance.

 

Rock'n N Bed & Breakfast (and lavender harvest)

2 miles north of Plains on Texas 214

www.newsomvineyards.com/bb.htm

 

 

 

one stop

 

It's a long stretch along highway 350 between Trinidad and Fort Bend.  At one time, travelers could stop at the Delhi Store to buy a soda and use the facilities-- uh, the outhouse.  Now the place is dilapidated and abandoned; only intrepid photographers make the stop.

 

Delhi, Colorado

5.23.2009

illumination

 

Today I toured the Wiggins complex which offices University Housing and Hospitality Services.  They used black and white photographs by Art Limmer as artwork (http://www.artielimmer.com).  I love Artie's work -- he has captured the spirit of Texas Tech.  I never thought about the Carol of Lights sans color but was taken by the Administration Building in b/w by Artie.  Enough that I hurried home to see what some of my Christmas shots would look like in monochrome. 

Season's Greetings in June!

 

Chemistry Building

Texas Tech

Lubbock, Texas

art

 

If you can't find original art to grace your wall in the multitude of galleries in Santa Fe, then go with the popular Southwest motif of cow skulls.  If you don't find a skull lying around on the ranch, then one may be purchased from a shop surrounding the Plaza.  Georgia O’Keeffe said of the sun-bleached bones and skulls she found in the desert. “To me they are as beautiful as anything I know...they are strangely more living than the animals walking around. The bones seem to cut sharply to the center of something that is keenly alive on the desert even tho’ it is vast and empty and untouchable—and knows no kindness with all its beauty.”

 

Santa Fe, New Mexico

3.9.2012

upward mobility

 

There is upward mobility with a position in the city's Traffic Engineering department.  On any day, you might be dispatched to go up in the cherry-picker to repair a traffic signal.  This guy has traffic stopped while he works on the signal at 19th and Quaker.  The relative size of the traffic signal is deceptive.  Would you believe the the red light is 12 inches in diameter?

As I post this we have strong winds from the east, rain and nickel-size hail on the ground. Did I cause this with my choice of photo today?   Makes one wonder why McCarley's went out of business.

29th Drive and Slide
Lubbock, Texas

vanishing point

 

All over the plains, cotton farmers are plowing under this year's hope for crops.  Ever optimistic, they planted with little submoisture and prayed for rain to break the drought.  When the rain came, it brought with it damaging hail and strong winds.  What tender plants weren't beaten down were washed away.  Any that survived that were wind-driven and sand-blasted.  Too late to replant cotton, farmers are trusting in hay-grazer or milo or  else they're off to Ruidoso for the horse-races.  May be better odds there!

 

Hale County, Texas

affordable

 

There is some ambiguity to this "free house."  Does it mean one can feel free to move into this fixer-upper and live rent-free OR does it mean that one should feel free to haul the house away and relocate on one's own acreage?  By the way, there is a church for sale just down the road.

 

FM 40

Acuff, Texas

In its heyday, Bob's sign was lit by hundreds of light bulbs; today only black sockets and empty holes remain.  Like Bob's sign, "The Strip" is also only a shade of its former self.  The glow of neon from all the signs use to beckon those who imbibed to the stretch of liquor stores outside the city limits to purchase bourbon and beer.  With the passage of liquor sales, there is now a package store on almost every corner of Lubbock and drinkers drive blocks instead of miles to quench their thirst.  What was once the "wet" part of Lubbock has dried up.  Only a few relics, such as Bob's sign beside the Short Road, mark this era of Lubbock's history.

"The Strip"
89th and US 87
Lubbock, Texas

warehouse #3

 

The unnamed warehouse at 10th and Avenue F has something to do with tires, including tractor tires.  Sometimes they paint the rims.  Do tractor tires make crop circles?

 

10th and Avenue F

Lubbock, Texas

salt flat cafe

 

I don't know if the bus still stops in Salt Flat or if the cafe is open (it has a Facebook page), but the place was a welcome stop along the desolate stretch of US 62/180 between Carlsbad Caverns and El Paso.  The town got its name from a series of dry salt lakes.

 

Salt Flat, Texas

10.16.2006

MACH 6

MACH stands for Master Agility Champion title awarded by the American Kennel Club.  Dog agility is a competitive sport that tests a person's skills in training and handling of dogs over a timed obstacle course. Competitors race against the clock as they direct their dogs to jump hurdles, scale ramps, burst through tunnels, traverse a see-saw and weave through a line of poles in an obstacle course .  Saki, a miniature poodle is MACH 6 with a wallful of ribbons.  Look for Saki at the International Cultural Center dog photography exhibit.

doc

 

Don't look for Doc in the upcoming "Putting on the Dog" exhibit at the International Cultural Center -- he didn't make the cut.  I did have other images accepted.  You are invited to the reception sometime in late June.

main street

 

Today's post is a convergence of thoughts.  I've gathered canine images for submission to the annual dog exhibit at the International Cultural Center( this is not one of them).  Then, the June 6 image on "One Day One Image" (http://melindagreenharvey.com/) featured the main street of Sudan.  Hence today's post of a dog on the main drag of Van Horn.  Wonder if Ran Horn, the Van Gogh of Van Horn, is still around?

 

Van Horn, Texas

10.6/2006

A-1 no more

 

Another victim of last week's storm with 80 mph winds was A-1 Clutch on Avenue A (see January 13 post).  From the Avenue A side the building resembles itself; what is unseen is the collapsed rear two-thirds of the structure.  The curved roof trusses lie upon the stored contents and the concrete blocks are scattered.  Red buildings on this stretch are street must be doomed -- first the Sedberry Church at 18th and B was razed; now A-1 Clutch.  Just more vacant lots for prairie dogs to occupy.

A-1 Clutch
Avenue A and 8th
Lubbock, Texas



t.g.i.f

 

For a brief time this afternoon, smiley faces beamed down on Lubbock.  An unidentified skywriter, dispensing smoke that quickly dissipated in the wind, scribed smiles -- at least 5 that I observed -- with this last one being his/her best.  The last glint of the plane appears at the end of the grin -- which was probably mirrored on the pilot's face.

 



USAF L-4

 



D-Day activities at the Silent Wings Museum included exhibits and rides. For a fee, one could fly in a vintage C-47 or B-25.  On display was a Piper Cub Grasshopper hat was used as an observation plane during WWII.  The L-4 was the Air Force version of the Piper Cub in which many a pilot learned to fly.  We asked Pop if he wanted a ride; he replied that he'd logged his share of hours -- free and courtesy of the US Marine Corps!

 

Silent Wings Museum

Lubbock, Texas

farming

 

What looks like a vintage photograph was actually taken only a few years ago in Amish country.  If the drought doesn't break, there may not be any farming practices.

 

Lancaster, Pennsylvania

3.5.2011

backyard guest

 

I'm not sure if this is last year's visitor Leroy or his cousin Leonard.

 

My backyard

Lubbock, Texas