happy halloween

 

The zombie population of Lone Star, Texas is more than the human! Some of the 125 souls from decades ago assemble for a homecoming.

 

Lone Star, Texas

Floyd County

FM 378 

the world on texas avenue

 

This morning while eating breakfast at the Ranch House, I saw the world roll by on Texas Avenue.  Not one to pass up a photo op, I ran to the car and got my camera.  Erik and his dog Nice (as in "nice doggy") are on a personal mission of diabetes awareness.  They have logged thousands of miles with today's goal of Albuquerque -- or at least the KOA campground on US 84.  To learn more about the world guy, visit his blog.  His message -- go for a walk.

 

Texas Avenue and 15th Street

Lubbock, Texas

 

 

 



three-quarter Quonset

 

To reach the commercial district of Lone Star, take FM 378 then turn east on Spur 378 not quite a mile.  There you'll find this three-quarter Quonset hut.  If you look beyond the Gillette tire sign, you'll see the faded lettering for the Lone Star Chemical Company.  Other than this building and the defunct Baptist church, there's not much left in Lone Star.  According to history, the community began in 1892, boasted of a two-story brick school,a community store, a gas station a gin, an elevator and even a beauty shop.  Very little evidence of Lone Star remains except the star atop the church steeple.

 

Lone Star, Texas

Floyd County

FM Spur 378

10.26.2013

hope abandoned

 

I imagine that those parishioners who erected the Sandhill Church of Christ in 1924 had great hopes for their community.  The Depression took away much of that hope.  As the once-hopeful farmers moved away, the house of God became a house of tenants--until they also abandoned the place.

 

 

 

Sandhill, Texas

Floyd County

FM 378 and 784

 

open door to education

 

The first school in Sandhill was built in 1892 and schooling continued in the community until consolidation with Floydada in the 1950s. Today the school's portal and back wall are all that are left standing.  The post office closed in 1943; the store closed in 1984, but it appears the grain elevator business is still in operation.  The elevator, one occupied house with three dogs and an abandoned church are all that is left in Sandhill.

 

 



 

Sandhill, Texas

Floyd County

FM 378 and 874

school graze

Today I did a "dot tour" -- those dots on the map that represent early communities of the South Plains.  Like Lubbock County, Hale and Floyd counties had numerous small schools -- go about 10-15 miles and there's another cluster of civilization with names like Carr's Chapel, Sandhill, South Plains, Lone Star and Providence.    Each place is marked by maybe a church, a school, a gin or elevator, a store -- what determined if the town thrived or died?  Some places have only have a marker to indicate a school was there, like Pleasant Valley or Providence.

South Plains  flourished in the 1920s.  The post office was moved twice before settling by the Fort Worth and Denver railroad.  Today the railroad is gone but South Plains marks the western terminal of the Caprock Canyon State Park Trailway which follows the former railbed.  South Plains school opened in 1928 and closed in 1978.  Instead of the laughter of children on the playground, the schoolhouse echoes the mooing of cows.

South Plains, Floyd County, Texas
SH 207

ironing drives me to drink too

 

Ranching Heritage Center

Lubbock, Texas

for the directionally challenged

 

For the conscientious driver, road signs are a good thing.  They advise of the speed limit, the route you are on, the distance to the next town or road dangers ahead.  But, sometimes, one needs more information than just "west."

 

FM 1729

Lubbock County, Texas

violas and pansies

 

A nice fall afternoon spent planting violas, pansies and kale.  Purple is my preferred color palette.

 

My front yard

Lubbock, Texas

letters from viet nam

 

The 1960s were a lifetime ago.  In fact, John Richard’s life time.  John was born Oct 20, 1968—the first baby  born in our crowd of college friends.  His birthday this month unleashed memories.  John Richard shared a name and an October birthdate with John Leo Minor, whose lifetime was cut short in a one-car rollover in 1969.  How ironic to survive Viet Nam then to die on a West Texas highway.  We kids of the sixties learned the fateful twists and turns of life.

amber rows of grain

 

Although this field of grain in not quite mature, all across the plains combines are harvesting the crops.  Too bad there aren't that many cotton strippers in action.

 

Lubbock County, Texas

 planting winter wheat

 

Today's farmer relies more on technology than back-breaking labor.  Seth purchases wheat seed in bulk boxes rather than 50-pound bags.  To fill the wheat drill, a belt conveyor on the seed tender transfers the seed to the planter boxes.  And GPS allows for efficient planting and applications.

 

 

 

Lubbock County, Texas

chinese donuts

 

This was an interesting small town eatery and I wanted to work it better, photographically.  Alas, the next trip through Seymour and the place was not just closed but shut down.  I guess it was too hard to compete with the Rock Inn Cafe.

 

Seymour, Texas

2003

section 7

 

My grandfather acquired Section 7, east of New Deal, in February 1939 from Mrs. Myrta Bacon at a price of $16,000 -- or $25.00 an acre.  For decades this was viable farmland producing bales of cotton.  After his death, the land passed into different hands and was parceled.  Last year my nephew Seth, Mr. Bill's great-grandson, purchased the northern portion of the section.  The south half is no longer farmed; horses graze the reverted pastureland.

 

My dad was released from the hospital today about noon--by 1:30 we were in the pickup surveying the crops.

 

Section 7

Lubbock County, Texas

 

 

planting pansies

Courtyard, University Medical Center

 

Photography on hold while my dad is hospitalized.

 



water for sale

 

Water versus oil is a Texas dilemma.

 

Midland County, Texas

(so named because it is halfway between Fort Worth and El Paso)

billboard

 

At first glance, this billboard looming over the intersection of 19th and Buddy Holly Avenue is an advertisement for tattoos.  A visit to the website reveals that this is an evangelistic outreach appealing to the popularity of religious tattoos.  I was amazed at the millions of results that came up with a google of "jesus tattoos."

 

 

Jesustattoo

19th and Buddy Holly Avenue

Lubbock, Texas

gourds

 

My exterior fall decorating consisted of placing gourds by the front door.  When I purchased the gourds at my friend's garage sale in Doughtery, she advised me to wash them in bleach to remove the mold.  I consider the mold part of the autumn motif.  It's not like I'll be crafty and make birdhouses or jugs out of them.

fall on the guadalupe

 

The nip in the air this morning signals the approach of autumn -- and brings memories of past journeys to places with fall foliage.

 

Guadalupe River

New Braunfels, Texas

11.25.2011

closed

 

The general store in Cone was built in 1903 and housed the post office.  Cone in its peak had 150 residents, a school, churches and businesses.  The day I visited Cone, the antique store -- in what was once the general store-- was closed according to the sign.  The sign is fairly descriptive of the whole place.

 

Cone, Crosby County, Texas

9.21.2013

long wait at the shuttle stop for the hotel bus

 

45 minutes after a long day at work seemed a long time to wait for the hotel bus to pick us up.  So I spent the time playing with exposures on the point-and-shoot camera.

 

Raleigh-Durham International Airport

North Carolina

carolina morn

 

Sanford is touted to be the geographic center of North Carolina.  Our teaching venue is the Extension Education Center amidst cotton fields and oak-dotted pastures.

 

Sanford, North Carolina

open education

 

Today only Crosbyton, Ralls and Lorenzo have schools in Crosby County.  The situation was different in the earlier part of the20th century.  Small towns like Emma, Cone and Estacado once  populated the high plains and most built a school house.  The school in Doughtery was built in 1929 but today only partial brick walls still stand.  What looked like a prosperous future in the 1920s faded in the 1930s with the depression, dust bowl and declining cotton production.  The Producers grain elevator towers on the horizon but is also devoid of life and business.  Rural towns are not completely dead but in dire need of life support.

 

Doughtery, Crosby County, Texas

9.21.2013



ghost gin

The Farmer community was named after W.W. Farmer, a pioneer cotton farmer.  The growth of a town could probably be marked by the construction of a school,, a general store, a church, a cotton gin and then a post office-- maybe in that order.    The decline is also marked by the closing of these structures and it seems the church may be the last to go.  Farmer built its first one-room school in 1893, the general store in 1925 and the cotton gin was erected in 1929.  Today little remains of the community.  I counted two houses and the defunct gin with a parked GMC truck.  The latest construction in Farmer was the erection of a historical marker in 1970 dedicated to former First Lady of Texas Ima Mae Smith, wife of Preston Smith.  Farmer was her childhood home and she returned to teach there after receiving her teaching certificate from Texas Tech.

Farmer, Crosby County, Texas
FM 193
9.21.2013

messages in a mason jar

 

Many think my interest in visiting cemeteries is morbid but I find each graveyard offers intriguing glimpses into the past.  I am not alone in this avocation. Bob Bowman  confesses to being a  graveyard junkie, and like him, I prefer the older sites with unusual tombstones.  You read the dates and wonder about the lives lived; you see a lone marker and wonder where the rest of the family is buried; you note the personal remembrances left by mourners.  This man died young at 24 and was buried in the family plot far from his Texas A&M alma mater and career in College Station.  He is not forgotten.  Through the glass jar one can barely read handwritten letters wrapped in a wedding program.

 

Cone Cemetery 

FM 193

Crosby County, Texas

9.21.2013



doughtery main street

 

 At about 5 miles, you know you're getting close to Doughtery because its landmark black water tower appears.  The town appeared in 1928 and might have prospered except, when constructed, Highway 70 bypassed it by 3 miles.  The school closed but the post office is still open ad the Co-op still sells gas.  I took the scenic route via Idalou, Estacado, Farmer, Cone and Lakeview.

Doughtery, Floyd County, Texas
Population:  109

madonna

 

As the deadline nears for entries to the 13th annual High and Dry exhibit, I browsed through the rejects from previous years.  Although fortunate enough to have images exhibited 10 of the 13 years, for every image selected there might be 4 rejected.  Each judge brings a different perspective to what reflects the people and land of semiarid regions.  Click here to see the 2011 exhibit.

 

Somewhere in El Paso, Texas

2006

dexter

benny

 

Benny is one of the breakfast regulars at the Ranch House and was gracious enough to pose for me.

 

Ranch House Restaurant

Lubbock, Texas

3.21.2013

pop's chair

Calendars and the Passing of Time

I have admired my friend Melinda Green Harvey’s wit and writing since we first met in Toastmasters 20 years ago.  We share an avid interest in photography and often laugh at “channeling” each other when we shoot a similar subject or location.  Our other “parallel points” include the loss of a mother and coping with an eighty-plus year old father.  Recently Melinda has been dealing with her dad in an assisted living center and the chore of closing a childhood home.  She is sharing these thoughts in a photoessay entitled “to be sold to strangers.”  A recent entry  featured calendars and this post prompted another of our “connections.”  Melinda described the home occupied since 1964 as a time capsule.  Pop’s only lived in this house for 30 years and, instead of  museum quality, it is frozen in time since 1999.  Rather rattling around in the large house alone, Daddy has made his living quarters in the master bedroom—moving in his recliner, the television and a side-table for the remote, medicines, mail and magnifying glass.  Mother would have been appalled, but when Pop, for Christmas, received a photo calendar of great-grandson namesake William, he thumbtacked it right there on the wall within easy viewing range.  The calendar in the utility room is for birthdays and doctor appointments; the calendar in the bathroom, at year’s end, will join its previous years counterparts on the dusty shelf.  This decade or so of calendars chronicle daily handwritten entries of farm history – dates for planting, amount of rainfall, starting the pivot, harvest yields – an annual Fortenberry Farmer’s Almanac.

lazy living

 

By September, the swim beach at the lake is deserted--most of the tourists are back to usual routines.  Had it not been 97 degrees I might have lolled in the chair and watched the waves.  As it was, I only ventured from the air-conditioned car to take a few pictures.

 

Lake Ouachita, Arkansas

9.10.2013 .

gradys -- going, going, gone

 

 

When the Majestic Hotel was bustling, Gradys Grill & Bar was the place to be.  Now the arrow points to a deteriorating building with false promises of renovations.  The built-in booths are still in place but the only patrons now are pigeons and mice. The Velda Rose, a newer hotel built in 1964, also stands vacant  It is a prime destination for the ghosts tour.   One enterprising photographer spent his time in Hot Springs shooting the signs -- wish I had thought to capture more of them myself.

 

Gradys Grill & Bar

101 Park Avenue

Hot Springs, Arkansas

9.11.2013

majestic no more

 

 

The Majestic Bath House and Resort Spa is one the faded grand dames of Hot Springs.  Its history from construction in the 1800s to closure in 2006 covers the spas, baseball celebrities, gangsters and gambling.  Photographers who like old and abandoned buildings will be envious of Walter Arnold who had legal access and a key to the door to photograph the hotel and its demise. (We even had the same thought of shooting the facade through the awning struts.)

 

Majestic Hotel

101 Central Avenue

Hot Springs, Arkansas

9.11.2013

101 Central Avenue

line-up

 

My heart beat a little faster when I spotted these lawn chairs lined up against the chartreuse wall -- even with the wooden barstool impostor hiding behind the telephone pole.

 

No Name Drive-in

East Grand Avenue

Hot Springs, Arkansas

9.11.2013

false advertising

 

 

This souvenir shop did not actually carry cameras and film -- I checked.  The digital age has put a crimp in that inventory.  They did have t-shirts and caps galore, would imprint your penny with "Hot Springs" and have the Wizard tell your fortune.

 

Souvenir Shop

334 Central Avenue

Hot Springs, Arkansas 

famous BBQ

 

 

McClard's was known for great barbecue before Bill Clinton made it famous.  If you want a photo of the place, get up early before the cars congregate all around the block.  Opened in 1928, the barbecue sauce is based on a secret recipe offered by a destitute guest in exchange for the rates at the motor court.  The cafe soon surpassed the motel.

 

McClard's Bar-B-Q

505 Albert Pike

Hot Springs, Arkansas



towers 1

 

As I drove south on Park Avenue I wondered if the Tower Motel took its name from the spire of the Park Place Baptist Church down the street.  On the return trip driving north on Park Avenue, I discovered the answer:

 

towers 2

 

The Tower Motel must be named for the turret of the Queen Anne house next door.  It looks like the estate grounds were sold off for the motel.  For a vintage motel, it didn't look too bad.  The "God Bless America" is supported by the Statue of Liberty on the front porch.  The Short-Dodson house was built in 1902 -- the heyday of Hot Springs.  Just blocks down the street is the childhood home of Bill Clinton.

 

Tower Motel

755 Park Avenue

Hot Springs, Arkansas

 

 

 

 

 

 



blue chair and awning

 

The Buckstaff Bath House is one of two bath house still in operation at the Hot Springs Historic District.  The location has been in business since opening in 1912. 

 

Hot Springs National Park

Hot Springs, Arkansas

parking garage

 

Opened in 1949, Hemphill-Wells was the premiere shopping destination in Lubbock and the South Plains.  Long-timers will have their own stories of the department store.  As a child I remember Saturdays with my grandmother.  We would take a taxi downtown, I would fidget while she got her hair done at the Merle Norman Studio and then we would walk around the corner to have lunch in the Tea Room on the mezzanine of Hemphill-Wells.  My great-aunt Almedea was the "hat lady" in the hat department.  At Christmas cars would line the block for a view of the decorated scenes in the windows.  The department store is no more but the parking garage is vacant and still bears the sign. The Department Store Museum is a neat blog with more history of Hemphill-Wells.

"best for your engine"

 

North Ash Avenue is not necessarily a prestige address for business.  This owner probably didn't realize that vintage gasoline advertising signs might have some value.  Evidently the value to him was using the former advertising boards as a fence -- but to install them upside-down?

 

Fina Fence

1200 North Ash Avenue

Lubbock, Texas

political pickup

 

The driver of this F-150 Ford embraces freedom of speech so much that the bumpers stickers cover the tailgate.  The political opinions of the Ford may not necessarily be those of the photographer.

 

Spotted downtown on 13th Street

Lubbock, Texas

6 pieces $11.49

 

The University Cleaners--not on University Avenue but on Avenue G-- has been closed most of this millennium-- probably longer than the Famous Department Store next door.  However, shadows from the afternoon sun still show the sign painted on the front window "6 pieces for $11.49." 

 

University Cleaners

1215 Crickets Avenue (formerly known as Avenue G)

Lubbock, Texas

cow dog

 

The life of a cow dog is herding cattle and riding in the back of the pickup.  Each year the International Cultural Center at Texas Tech hosts a dog photography exhibit.  I'm considering this entry

 

Cow Dog

Dickens, Texas

abby

 

Abby is a ranch cat -- hanging out in the barn with the horses and tolerating cow dogs. 

Hometown -- Dickens, Texas.

advertising



This auto shop offers interesting insights of the owner.  The painted hot rod is flanked  by what might be illustrations of Nicolas and Aurelia-- the names on the plaque above the door with the silhouette of Jesus.  Then there is the shrine to Mary painted on the wall as  protection for property, home and  inhabitants.   The values of Martinez are visible on his business - God, family and, mostly likely, honesty.

Martinez Minor Auto Repair
2806 Idalou Road
Lubbock, Texas

tommy's famous burgers

 

Evidently expansion didn't really work for Tommy.  Tommy's Drive In #1 is still in business on University Avenue but the 34th Street and Idalou Road locations are closed.  One review stated that "they had no direction" and not really a drive-in with Mexican food and catfish on the menu.  While catfish might not have been a big seller at Tommy's Famous Burgers, the sign endured.  The drought seems not to have adversely affected the tumbleweeds.

 

Tommy's Famous Burgers

3303 Idalou Road

Lubbock, Texas