Moving....

This project is moving to a new location right here.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope to see you over at the new place.

Old County Cemetery

A crystal ball, and a Bible.

Old County Cemetery
Brownfield, Texas

Baker Hotel, Mineral Wells

The once-grand Baker Hotel - where celebrities once came to "take the water" - has fallen on hard times.

Mineral Wells, Texas

photographed 8.15.2010

Church, Little Cayman Island

The only church on Little Cayman Island

photographed 7.10.2010

Magenta, and a raindrop

Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center

Austin, Texas

I'd name him "Einstein"

Don't you think this caterpillar looks that should be his name?

Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center
Austin, Texas

White Sands at Sunset

May Sunset
White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

photographed 5.1.2010

Wild Aster

The recent rains have made the wild asters very happy

Yellowhouse Canyon, Texas

Northern Lights?

Nope.  Just lights reflecting in the water of the Piazza d'Italia.

New Orleans, Louisiana

Churchyard

The church and graveyard on the grounds of Wimpole Estate.  The main house on the estate was built in 1643, and has been "much altered" in the subsequent centuries.

The estate, which also includes a working farm, is owned by the National Trust.

Wimpole Hall, Royston, Cambridgeshire, UK

photographed October 2007

Chadron, Nebraska

There are a lot of things to like in Chadron, Nebraska.  

One of the them is a fine coffee shop called the Bean Broker.  Another one is this excellent sign.  They are conveniently located on the same block, too.

Chadron, Nebraska

Sometimes an open door leads nowhere

Like here, at the defunct Southland Hardware Cafe.

Southland, Texas

Muleshoe and a Musical

It looks like we missed the "new musical" by about ten years, but is nice that the mural is still around to remind us.

But the best part, don't you think, is the name "Paula Paul"?

December 2009
Muleshoe, Texas

Sunday morning in Bridgeport, Nebraska

Sure, the Rock N Horse Lounge is closed on Sunday mornings, but the Midtown Diner, just across the street is doing a brisk breakfast business.

I can recommend the biscuits and gravy.

Bridgeport, Nebraska
October 2009

Pink Agave

Wouldn't it be cool if agave really DID look like this?

McCamey, Texas

A Garage in Marfa

If you are coming into Marfa from Fort Davis, and it happens that the Marfa Lights Festival's street fair has the main street through town closed (where it makes that dog-leg onto Highland Street), and you decide to park and check out the Festival (Because what the hell? You're on vacation.), you might notice this little garage, with a tenacious spike of greenery poking through the weathered wooden doors.

Marfa, Texas

An announcement

1. Some months ago I entered a photography book, Where the Spirit Left, in a contest sponsored by blurb.com and Photography.Book.Now.

2. On Wednesday, I got an email that the book had been named as an honorable mention.

3. Yesterday, I got an email that included things like "egg on our face" and "database error" and "isn't cool" and the news that my book wasn't, in fact, any kind of a winner.

4. What a bunch of idiots, specifically Mike Barash (mbarash@blurb.com).

The racetrack on the south side of town

The concession stand at a racetrack on the south side of McCamey, Texas

Old Chair in a Sad House

A flock of vultures rose from a dead tree, spiraling skyward, complaining all the way.

The brown lizard guarded the gate to the abandoned house, but the gate was redundant: the fence on either side had fallen over and a single high step could grant admittance to the yard, the house, the ghosts.

Sears bills from 1970 were scattered on the floor in a room that no longer had an outside wall. On the other side, this chair, pushed close to what had been a window, suffered the ill effects of decades of rain, and mice.

County Road 219
Hays County, Texas

Somewhere in Central Texas

near Manheim, in Lee County, Texas

National Ranching Heritage Center

A stone wall, and a roof made from logs.

National Ranching Heritage Center

Lubbock, Texas

Outriggered Arrow

This is the best arrow I have ever seen. It's got good colors, with fine contrast. It's got an outrigger to help stabilize. It stands out against the surroundings.

The only thing missing is my understanding of what it is pointing to!

June 2009
Lake Ransom Canyon, Texas

Comfort AND Value...

This is a suggestion for those folks who find the 15 minute walk from their hotel rooms to the street at those big hotels to be a little much: this cozy street-side room at the Yucca Motel. The Yucca is located on the Strip, so you aren't going to sacrifice any of that famous Vegas excitement.

I imagine this room gets booked up pretty fast, so you may want to plan way in advance.

May 2009
Las Vegas, Nevada

Desert Color

The Springs Preserve in Las Vegas is wonderful. It's an oasis from the lunacy of the strip, and you can see all sorts of desert landscaping.

And, a parking lot shaded by rows and rows of solar panels.

May 2009
Las Vegas, Nevada

Wind chargers, and a storm

Wheat and wind chargers before the storm.

near Snyder, Texas

May 2009

Britex Fabrics

Britex Fabrics may not be the most popular tourist destination in San Francisco, but if you like color and texture and contrast, there may be no better place.

On the third floor, you can see ribbons, braid, trim, appliques, buttons, fringes, tassels, and rhinestones.

Check out their website: http://www.britexfabrics.com/

Or, better yet - go there in person. The store is at 146 Geary Street. Tell them the odd woman with the camera sent you.

San Francisco, California
March 2009

California Cemetery

We went to the tiny central coast town of Pescadero because we'd heard about a good place to eat.

But what we enjoyed the most was the cemetery on a hill above the town - and the profusion of red flowers caught our eye.

Pescadero, California

Round is the shape of hope?

Glass mosiac tiles on the wall of a law office in downtown Lubbock.

Las Vegas

I tried. Really, I did. But I just can't understand Las Vegas.

There are, however, lots of things to photograph.

Las Vegas, Nevada
2009

Under the milky sky of winter

Under the milky blue-white winter sky, last summer's weeds creep toward the abandoned farmhouse.  It won't last much longer:  the dead elm tree has delivered the coup de grace.

There are thousands of houses like this on the Great Plains.

Lamb County, Texas

2008

The barn on Road B

Mired in, and slowly overtaken by, grassland, the barn is slowly sinking.

Road B, Hale County, Texas

December 2008

St. Anthony has two visitors

On a wall behind St. Anthony Catholic Church, St. Martin and the Virgin of Guadalupe pay a visit.

Pecos, New Mexico

Ritzy Lady

The best things to see in downtowns are the backs of buildings.  I enjoy the contrast between the shop's name and, well, everything else.

Littlefield, Texas

December 2008

If, only....

Dallas, Texas

October 2008

Buttresses, flying

This empty farm building in Ralls, Texas, is held up by a series of ad hoc flying buttresses.

Ralls

Crosby County, Texas

November 2008

Dumont Baptist Church

There is only one church in Dumont.

Dumont

King County, Texas

November 2008

Yesterday's News

The store in Hart Camp represents one third of the town's buildings; the front page photo in yesterday's Avalanche Journal, in the machine out front, is faded from the autumn sun.

Hart Camp, Texas

September 2008

Empty Sign

There surely is a reason that an empty sign would be decorated with clear Christmas lights.  In September.  I just don't happen to know what it is.

Hart, Texas

September 2008

Jesus on a Stick

The sign arching over the entry gates to the small cemetery said Camposanto de Cedar Creek.  This Jesus head, wired to a wooden post, was the creepiest item there.

Bastrop County, Texas

2008

Bust looking away

A weathered stone face gazes, with great patience and serenity, across the field to a distant folly.

Wimpole Hill

Cambridgeshire, England

Desolation

If you can crouch in the middle of the road to better frame a photograph of looming mountains, you are probably on State Highway 166.

Jeff Davis County

Texas

Tahoka Wall

That wintry Sunday, the most activity in downtown Tahoka was paint and stucco peeling away from a wall.

Tahoka, Texas

2008

Turquoise and Pink

On a street in east Austin, two pink walls and a short flight of turquoise-painted concrete steps are all that is left of...something.

Austin, Texas

July 2008

16 de setiembre

Mexico City's smog filters out all color except for the patriotic cathedral-side wares offered by a vendor.

Mexico City

September 2003

Greek Dancers

The sounds of shoes stomping on a wooden dance platform pulled me away from the line for baklava....

Festival at

Assumption of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Cathedral

Denver, Colorado

June 2008

Church Windows

Every Sunday of my childhood, I would stare at the stained glass windows at Forrest Heights Methodist Church.  The windows had a better message than the sermons.

I am still drawn to church windows.

These four are from England (top to bottom):

St. James's Church

Avebury, Wiltshire

Winchester Cathedral

Winchester, Hampshire

Greensted Church

near Chipping Ongar

Essex

Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury, Kent

October 2007

Between the car park and the Abbey

On the walk along the new car park and tearoom, an ancient statue-with-a-mask oversees the dribble of tourists making their way to see the Abbey and lode mill.

(The Abbey was recently renovated into a private home.  In 1609.)

Anglesey Abbey

Cambridgeshire, England

October 2007

A matter of opinion

"The tropics are too goddam vivid."

Switters

Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates

"You may be right."

M. Harvey

Nassau, Bahamas

May 2004