April 29

Window star at Rockin' Box 33, the best damn house concert series in town.


Lubbock, Texas

April 28

This is Balboa.  

She may be the world's most fatigued cat.  

She has a very rough life.  Once - this is shocking! - she had to wait until nearly 8:00 a.m. to get fed.  And another time, she suffered briefly from insomnia, and was awake for an entire hour.

It's quite pathetic, actually.

April 27

Usually by the end of the summer, the desert has turned brown - the grasses that greened up after spring rains have gone dormant from heat and dry weather.

This summer - 2008 - was different.  By Labor Day, the grasses were still green, rain was still falling, and the temperatures warranted a jacket.  

Texas Highway 17

between Fort Davis and Marfa

photographed 9.2.2008

April 26

Not to copy anyone, or anything, but look!  It's an iris.

My backyard
Lubbock, Texas

April 25, bonus

A perfect evening at the gazebo.

Yellowhouse Canyon, Texas

April 25

Almost every time I wander around looking for something to photograph, I make an Amazing Find. 

Today's find was a piano on the sidewalk in front of the (apparently defunct) Idalou Activities Center.  Turns out that Hamilton pianos are not especially weather resistant.

near the corner of Main and 2nd

Idalou, Texas

April 24

Water, from a spigot

Yellowhouse Canyon, Texas

(Shot with water-from-a-spigot lens, on loan.)

April 23

East elevation, Lowe's Grocery Store
Crosbyton, Texas

photographed 4.22.2010

April 22

Corner of Main Street and Tilford Avenue.
Ralls, Texas

April 21

Really?  I need this many pens?

(And these are the ones I don't use...)

Lubbock, Texas

 

April 20

Say you are south of McCamey.  And say you are in need of some fresh water.  You are in luck:  Mona's Fresh Water Sales is right there on the east side of the highway!

McCamey, Texas

photographed 8.27.2010

April 19

Detail, handmade paper.

Lubbock, Texas

(Shot with handmade-paper lens.)

April 18

After days and days of clouds, today something called the "sun" is doing what is referred to as "shining" which in turn creates these "shadows" on the floor.  It is quite amazing.

Please forgive my giddiness.


Lubbock, Texas

April 17

Detail of a pot made by Erin Lambers.  She was one of the artists at the Lubbock Arts Festival.


Lubbock, Texas

April 16

Would anyone be surprised, really, if I said this is what things actually look like to me?

Acuff, Texas

photographed 3.28.2010

April 15

My mom always grew iris in the yard - and not just those generic yellow ones, either.  She had black ones and cantaloupe-colored ones, white-over-purple, brown, and (this one was my favorite), white.  I can remember staying up at night when the iris were in bloom, worrying that the strong winds would destroy the delicate flowers.  (I took things hard back then.  And I am pretty sure one could make the argument that I haven't changed.  At all.)

I keep a few iris in my yard, but over the years the colorful ones I got from my mom's yard have dwindled and just the generic yellow ones are left.  I suppose if I understood plant genetics, I would know why that happened - although I suppose there is a slight chance that it might have something to do with my hands-off gardening philosophy.

Today's rain left water hanging onto the bud of this iris.

Lubbock, Texas

(Flower lens by C. D. V.)

April 14

Katrina-damaged house, Caffin Avenue, New Orleans.

See the word "dog" spray painted on the left side of the front steps?  That's leftover from rescue teams who worked the area in the days following the hurricane and the floods.

You can go here http://www.southernspaces.org/contents/2009/moye/1a.htm to learn more about the spray-painted codes that you can still see on houses throughout the city.

Lower Ninth Ward
New Orleans, Louisiana


photographed 4-13-2010

April 13

Abandoned building at the Milne School for Boys, nearly five years after Katrina.

The school, for troubled and needy boys, opened in New Orleans's Gentilly neighborhood in 1933.  It was founded as a biracial facility, but due to segregation, two of everything was built.  The facility ceased operations as a residential center in 1986, although it did continue to offer after school, summer, and other community programs for boys.

No word on where it currently operates from, or even if it is still operating at all.


New Orleans, Louisiana

April 12

A rather subdued building in the Faubourg Marigny.  

Marigny is interesting.

The "one way" sign has been altered and now reads ONE DAY.  Above it, a second sign proclaims "Think that you might be wrong."

I watched a man with a tuba walking up the street, toward the Quarter.  There wasn't a parade or anything, just this one guy and a tuba.  I thought to myself, "That's not something you see every day."

Only minutes later, I was proved wrong, when a different guy with a different tuba walking the other way on the street ambled by.


Yes, Marigny is interesting.

Corner of Frenchmen and Royal Streets
New Orleans, Louisiana

April 11

Intersection of Canal Street and Baronne Street
New Orleans, Louisiana

April 10

A mausoleum at the Metarie Cemetery.  The cemetery, which was previously a horse racetrack, has the largest collection of elaborate marble tombs and funeral statuary  in the city.  It has been used as a cemetery since the 1860s.

New Orleans, Louisiana

April 9

When we first moved to New Orleans, in 1982, we discovered a restaurant called Fitzgerald's.  It was at West End, on pilings above Lake Pontchartrain.  The first time I encountered bar-b-qued shrimp - heads, whiskers, and all - was at Fitzgerald's.

Today, all that's left of the place are the old pilings - Hurricane Katrina took care of the rest.

New Orleans, Louisiana

April 8

I like how the flash caught not only the drops from the faucet's sprayer, but the fine water mist drifting away from the faucet.

Lubbock, Texas

(Aqua-lens on loan.)

April 7

As can be easily seen by the condition of (1) the flower bed and (2) the landscaper's business card, I did not retain his, or her, services.

My backyard
Lubbock, Texas

(Shot with special dirt-enhancing lens)

April 6

Spiral stairs, my house.  

These steps are a magnet for every kid who has ever walked in the front door; their parents should thank us for having an architectural feature that invites their children to make approximately 238 trips per visit, thus tiring them out and ensuring an argument-free bedtime.

Lubbock, Texas

April 5

The old jail at Buffalo Gap Historic Village.

Buffalo Gap, Texas

photographed 4.2.2010

April 4

Merkel, Texas

April 3

Covered parking, somewhere in downtown Abilene.

April 2

It made me so happy to see this rack of numbers for the sign inside the Buffalo Gap Chapel - it's the little things, truly, that I enjoy.

Buffalo Gap, Texas

April 1

Lamp and vase, guest room, my house.