If you are an agricultural aficionado, you know that sunflowers exhibit heliotropism.  Therefore you know from which direction this photographer was shooting.  (Hint: Sunflower heads turn with, or track, the sun early in their development, but later stay east-facing before facing downwards.)

FM 789
Hale County, Texas

self-titled

Isn't it ironic that the glass place has had this broken pane forever?  Wonder how many motorists passing on the interstate even notice?

Pittsburgh Glass Works

23rd and Interstate 27 Access

Lubbock, Texas

SH4-4537

SH4-4537 is the telephone number listed to contact Deal's Machine Shop.  Remember when Lubbock telephone numbers were preceded by SH, SW and PO?  'member what they stood for?  This old truck had a productive career as a tow truck for the machine shop; now it's a decorative accessory at the art gallery.

Glassy Alley

1914 Texas Avenue

Lubbock, Texas

7.18.2012

bus stop

For years I've noticed the concrete bench with mosaic tiles on the corner of Broadway and Avenue U.  It wasn't until this evening that I noticed that the back of the bench features faces, hands and feet.  The origin of the public art project is unknown. The timing of the photo is interesting -- this evening my friends and I created our own glass mosaic project at the Glassy Alley.

2024 Broadway

Lubbock, Texas

opera at the plaza

One can still catch glimmers of the glamorous past of downtown El Paso, although it's hard to envision the past cosmopolitan aspect of this border city.  Just down the street from the elegant Paso del Norte Hotel with its Tiffany-glass domed bar, the Plaza Theater welcomed sophisticates.  Built in 1930 and billed as the largest theater of its kind between Los Angeles and Dallas, it was a jewel in downtown El Paso.  Designed in Spanish Colonial Revival style of architecture, the interior featured intricately painted ceilings, mosaic-tiled floors, decorative metal railings and sconces.  With such grandiose rococo design, it's no wonder the Plaza was known as The Showplace of the Southwest.

http://www.theplazatheatre.org/about_history.php

El Paso, Texas

10.14.2006

rest in peace

Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery

Raton, New Mexico

5.24.2011

gone home

King County is one of those places where cattle outnumber people.  The 2010 census lists 286 individuals.  Guthrie is the county seat and the Guthrie Cemetery is about 3 miles to the east -- down a dirt road and completely surrounded by the 6666 Ranch.  Ophelia's marker lacks the marble and ornamentation of other tombstones but her destination is not in doubt.

Guthrie Cemetery

King County, Texas

5.14.2011

partying is hard work

William's first birthday celebration

Idalou, Texas

the opposite view

Adopt a Burro

South Plains Fairground

Lubbock, Texas

7.12.2012

adopt a burro

The Bureau of Land Management was at the South Plains Fair Grounds today with burros and horses rounded up from the herd management program.  These free range animals are available for adoption.  Of the dozen or so burros in the pen, three were adopted in the first 30 minutes after opening.  If you're interested, BLM will be showing animals Friday and Saturday.  If you have $125 and appropriate facilities, you can have your own burro or mustang - or as BLM calls it "an iconic symbol of American history."

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/whbprogram.html

BLM Adopt a Wild Horse or Burro

Lubbock, Texas

grille guard

The Ranch Hand grille guard on this Ram pickup is good luck for the vehicle -- bad luck for deer and feral hogs.

Texas Tech Parking Lot

Lubbock, Texas

beer time

One of the newer joints in town is the Texas Republic at 2426 Texas Avenue.  By the name, you'd think it might be my kind of bar; however, here's the description of the July 15 band:  "Molotov Solution, a Las Vegas based death metal outfit, keeps things interesting by melding their death metal chops with grindcore, hardcore, and a skeptical political eye."  Whatever happened to Willie, Waylon and the boys? The sign was fabricated by my friend Tony Greer -- catch it on YouTube at Texas Republic Sign, Texas.

2426 Texas Avenue

Lubbock, Texas 

crinum asiaticum

These showy tropical flowers have adapted well to Lubbock, Texas.  The crinum lily is "recommended for the Houston climate."  My first plants were a gift from the Austin sister-in-law who was dividing her growth.  She gladly shared the crinum but I got lucky and also got some of the bella donna amaryllis.  These cousin plants have similar foliage but the bella donna are my favorite blooms.

My Backyard

ripples after a rain

Long Park

56th and Aberdeen

Lubbock, Texas

sam

Sam Kitty the Siamese cat was my companion until her demise at age 22 in 2001.  She came with the house purchased in Alabama and ruled the yard.  The forsythia bush by the creek was a favorite hiding place.

Jacksonville, Alabama

1988

"The Man who wears the Star" would be greatly disappointed in the condition of this defunct gas station.  Can you sing the rest of this advertising jingle?  Remember the TV show (hint - Milton Berle)?

Raton, New Mexico

5.24.2012

red, white and blue 4

An American Tribute

9-11-2010

red, white and blue 3

Up and down the street, places are spiffing up for "Fourth on Broadway."  This annual event boasts as being the largest free festival in Texas.  Join us for a parade, live music, food booths, street dance, and evening concert accompanied by fireworks.

2309 Broadway

Lubbock, Texas

red, white and blue 2

The Iwo Jima Memorial, also known as the U. S. Marine Corps War Memorial, honors the Marines who have died defending the United States since 1775. The Iwo Jima Memorial is located near Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia, just across the Potomac River from Washington, DC. My dad, a Marine navigator, flew in C-47s over the South Pacific, with landings at Iwo Jima.

Arlington National Cemeter

Washington, DC

5.26.2008


red, white and blue 1

All American Storage

5839 49th

Lubbock, Texas

pepsi, the ranch dog

Pepsi invites you to the reception for "Putting on the Dog" the International Cultural Center's annual photography exhibit which hangs through August 17.

Friday July 27  5-7 pm

ICC, Texas Tech

Pepsi - Yankee, New Mexico

5.26.2012

wading bird

I gave up googling to identify this bird.  A black-white, long-billed, red-legged wading bird seems out of place in a Lubbock County playa lake.  I'm pretty sure it's not a long-billed dowitch nor a black-headed godwit, but it's definitely lost.

daylily

While the daylily bloom is shortlived, the plants are hardy.  This flower is a progeny of roots transplanted at least 4 times the last 20 years in various moves.  The original daylilies grew under my bedroom window at the house in New Deal.  Before the house was razed in the 80s, I raided the beds and saved some daylily roots.  Half a century later, they are still blooming.

damn hot

Triple digit heat again today but not hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk.  Another myth disspelled!  Maybe June is too early and attempts should be made in July and August.

http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/friedegg.html

hannah

lantana in yellow pot

william

manneken pith

Brussels doesn't have anything on Lubbock.  The renowned "Manneken Pis" landmark in Belgium is often replicated.  Today it was found as yard art on the Garden Tour.  The Belgian statue has a vast wardrobe of costumes (Ukrainian folkdress the day I visited); the Lubbock lad is protected from the sun by a pith helmet.

Lubbock Arboretum Garden Tour

rattlesnake bomber base

Other than leftover concrete, there's little to indicate that Pyote Air Force Base was once a major training center for highly trained flying crews.  In the wide open spaces down the road from No Trees and Monahans, in 1944 Pyote had over 6,000 personnel  and countless rattlesnakes.  After the war the base stored over 2,000 planes, mostly B-29s and B-17s, as well as the Enola Gay.  Today one has to imagine the history, especially since the small museum is being moved to Monahans.

Pyote Air Force Base

www.co.ward.tx.us/ips/cms/PyoteRattlesnakeBomber

10.15.2006

"my paw paw's oil well"

This photo is from my mother's baby book containing the caption "my paw paw's oil well."  She and my grandmother Burma are standing in front of great-grandfather Elijah Howell's oil well on the homestead in Trent, Texas in 1927 (wondered what happened to the mineral rights?).  The past connects to the present.  Today I received an email from some one who had seen reference to Elijah Howell on my 2010 blog.  Come to find out we're 3rd cousins -- his great-grandfather was Elijah's brother. Small world.  I was looking for family pictures when I was distracted by the oil well. 

Trent, Texas

1927 (photo not taken by this photographer!)

horseshoe ends up -- good luck

Anvil at V8 Ranch

Lubbock County, Texas

11.18.2011

reflection in a horse trough

V8 Ranch

Lubbock County, Texas

11.18.2011

kayaks

Erie Canal Harbor

Buffalo, New York

6.8.2012

stand of cotton

The benefits of the rains this past on the stands of cotton has been offset by the need to "sandfight" (a tillage or light plowing of the crusted earth to minimize wind and sand damage).

Cotton Field

Lubbock County, Texas

maid of the mist

Beneath the rainbow with Canada in the background, the Maid of the Mist ferries passengers for a closer look at Horseshoe Falls.  It was amazing to watch, on television from the comfort of my hotel room, Nik Wallenda walk a high wire 200 feet above the river at its widest point  at night (from the United States into Canada June 15, 2012) -- just a week after I was at that spot on the Maid of the Mist.

Niagara Falls, New York

6.8.2012

On almost any corner in Dearborn, Michigan one can watch the Fords go by.  In Greenfield Village, Model Ts are the preferred mode of travel.

Greenfield Village - known as "The Henry"
Dearborn, Michigan
6.12.2012
www.thehenryford.org/village

a bright idea

Some men collected coins or stamps; Henry Ford collected historic buildings.  Greenvillle Village, established in 1929, displays his collection of places dismantled, moved and reconstructed -- ranging from the courthouse in Illinois where Lincoln practiced to the Wright Brothers cycle shop to a Cotswold cottage from England.  Tour the village in Model Ts or horse-drawn carriages -- the village is microcosm of early American life.  Ford was friends with Thomas Edison who donated his Menlo Park, New Jersey buildings to the village, including the lab where the light bulb was invented.

Greenville Village

Dearborn, Michigan

6.13.12

ambassador bridge

The Ambassador Bridge over the Detroit River which connect the U.S. with Windsor, Ontario, Canada had the longest suspended central span in the world when completed in 1929.  It would hold that title until the George Washington Bridge opened in 1931. Privately owned, the Ambassador is the busiest international border crossing in terms of trade.

Ambassador Bridge

Windsor, Ontario

michigan motto



Ford Motor Company is an American multinational corporation and the world's fourth largest automaker based on worldwide vehicle sales. Based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, the automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903.   Employees number about 213,000.

big boy

As I took a picture of Big Boy, a woman asked "Is this your first visit to Michigan?"  It seems visitors are impressed with BB but the natives are not.  As the lady said "we have thousands" (although the webpage indicates only 17 in Michigan).  The restaurant has its headquarters in  Warren, Michigan.  Big Boy was started in 1936 in Glendale, California by  Bob Wian who sold his prized DeSoto Roadster to purchase a small hamburger stand that he named Bob's Pantry.  For more history, check out www.bigboy.com/history.html.  I remember eating at the Dallas franchise - Kip's Big Boy.

Big Boy Restaurant

Romulus, Michigan

symbol of buffalo

The 32-story City Hall was dedicated in 1932.  The Art Deco building with its ornamentation and geometric patterns is a great sight.  Unfortunately, I visited on a Saturday and we all know municipal buildings are closed then and thus the observation tower was unavailable. Who remembered from American History that both Presidents Grover Cleveland and Millard Fillmore hailed from Buffalo?  And that William McKinley was assassinated there.  One could spend much time recognizing the symbolism of pioneers, Indians and Greek figures.  I just wondered where they found Art Deco window air conditioning units.

Buffalo City Hall

65 Niagara Square

Buffalo, New York

6.9.2012

www.buffaloah.com/a/bflobest/city/city.html

Driving along the Outer Harbor I spotted a lighthouse out on a spit of land.  Then I passed a sign:

"Boquard's Boat Livery - Lighthouse Keepers Since 1894."  I pulled in and was greeted by this gentleman seated in a chair in front of the trailer house.  He explained that the "boss lady" didn't let nobody walk out to the lighthouse because of liability.  He said he didn't have a boat to rent me and then bemoaned the lack of business.  They didn't rent boats anymore because people wrecked 'em.  It had been a mild winter with no snow and there was no ice fishing; he was actually quite loquacious.  However, he did permit me to take his photograph.

Historically, fishermen's clubs along the Niagara River and the Eire Towpath were popular social systems. Alongside the fishing clubs and sometimes sharing the same buildings were the boat liveries where boats, bait, and fishing tackle could be acquired. Most fishermen rented boats rather than owning them. Until after World War II, most Buffalonians relied on public transport - buses and streetcars - to get around the city. For a fisherman who did not own a car, trailering a boat home after a day's fishing was out of the question. Even if they did own an automobile, there was often little room to store a boat. Houses were built close together, and garages and backyards were very small.  Boquard's is still in business today, one of Buffalo's last boat liveries. 

Boquard's Boat Livery

Outer Harbor

Buffalo, New York

boat ride

Seen from the observation deck 200 feet above, passengers in blue slickers board the Maid of the Mist for a close-up view of Horseshoe Falls.

Niagara Falls State Park

Niagara Falls, New York

fortune cookie

If at first you don't get the fortune you want, order more cookies!

P. F. Changs

Buffalo, New York

br& passenger depot

The Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh passenger depot was built in 1912 in the bustling heyday when rail travel was the primary means of transportation city to city.  Today the building is restored as the rail museum. The town of Salamanca is located on the reservation of the Seneca Nation of Indians -- population 5,851.



farm - cattarangus county, new york

After traveling all day (brunch in Chicago) I arrived in Buffalo.  Along the way to Little Valley (well-known ski area in western New York state, one county east of Lake Erie), I oohed and aahed over the farms, barns and onion-domed silos.

Cattarangus County, New York

what the heck?

Ever come across something strange and wonder about the story behind it?  What did the guy imbibe from the plastic cup that caused him to lose  his prosthesis?  How did he get home -- walk?  Did a previous drunken encounter cause the loss of his real limb?  Does he have a spare at home?  Wouldn't the neighbors know where to return it?  Or is it just trash fallen off the garbage truck?  Inquiring minds want to know.

E. 3rd and Igoe Street

Anton, Texas

6.2.2011

hmmm . . .

It's hard to know whether this directive refers to the snakebite salsa for mama's mucho nachos

or the frozen margaritas!

MamaRita's Border Cafe

66th and Slide

Lubbock, Texas

warning

So much for small town friendliness.  Thanks goodness for a long zoom -- I didn't get off the public roadway!

Anton, Texas

farm girl

This corn isn't as high as an elephant's eye, but it is as tall as three-year old Clara.  We took "environmental" birthday pictures (daddy raises corn).  The photos on the John Deere tractor were cute too.