July 31

Yes.  Yes, it is very possible that I spent some time at our place in the canyon this afternoon.  And it is also possible that while I was there, I had a bit of wine.

Yellowhouse Canyon, Texas
shot with wineglass lens, on loan from C. Vigil

July 30

Honestly, I sort of wish this were MY house....

along the Pacific Coast Highway, north of San Fransicso

photographed 2005

July 29

The morning sun shines bright on the gin across the field.

Corner of FM 1585 and US 385
Hockley County, Texas

July 28

Jimmie Dale Gilmore
with the Flatlanders

Lubbock, Texas

July 27

5th Street

Levelland, Texas

July 26

 

INSPIRE.  Just that word stamped into a metal tag on a leather bookmark.

I found it at a bookshop five years ago in Edwards, Colorado, along with The Poetry Home Repair Manual, by Ted Kooser.

They seem very happy together.

from my reorganized home office*

Lubbock, Texas

(* That's what I did this weekend.  Instead of writing.)

July 25

Recipe for Fun (if you are three years old)

1 tub of water
1 water hose (turned on)
1 pink bucket
1 empty container of Texmati rice, with lid
1 yellow shovel

Combine.

Yellowhouse Canyon, Texas

July 24

Yard furniture.

Lubbock, Texas

July 23

I love those summer thunderstorms that build up at the end of the day.

along County Road 3100, looking southeast
Lubbock County, Texa

July 22

Anyone up for another round of What The Hell Is It?

No, I didn't think so.

This is part of the metal frame around a little mirror.  

You may be wondering if the walls in my house truly are that shade of green...

My sunroom
Lubbock, Texas

July 21

Hello, and welcome to Oh, That's What it Was! Day here at the blog.

Nine steps to getting the photograph:

1.  Purchase some wine (sounds promising already, right?) in a light-blue bottle.

2.  Drink wine until light-blue bottle is empty.

3.  Use glass-cutting kit to transform empty bottle into drinking glass.

4.  Fill glass with water (wine would also work).

5.  Drink part of it (which is why water is a slight better choice than wine).

6.  Stage glass, with some water in it, so you can stand directly over it to take photograph.

7.  Take photograph. 

8.  Little bit of PhotoShop here and there.

9.  Post photograph. 

Thanks to everyone who participated.

July 20

Hello, and welcome to What The Hell Is It? Day here at the blog, where we post the age-old question "What the hell is it?"

So...what the hell is it?

Lubbock, Texas

July 19

I wonder why I never once, until yesterday, even considered that I could PhotoShop photos that I took with my phone......

....but it worked out, as I am still logy from vacation and left the house without a camera earlier this evening.  Yeah for phones that take pictures.

Yellowhouse Canyon

July 18

My toes in the sand.

Little Cayman

July 17

The cemetery on Little Cayman

July 16

It rained late into the night - and from our balcony we could watch great bolts of lightning slash toward the sea.

Little Cayman Beach Resort

July 14

A pleasant spot called Point of Sand, at the east end of Little Cayman.  It has a nice, sandy beach and plenty of reefs that are in shallow water - snorkeling is great.  It is also uncrowded.

Across the way, you can see Cayman Brac.

July 13

Flowers next to the front door of Little Cayman Baptist Church

July 12

For a long time after I saw this orphaned shoe on the beach, I had a Terry Allen song in my head:

And the desert falls

Down on the ocean

And that motion is all

We'll ever know

It just keeps on spinning

This bunch of dancing fools

Run crazy across the Wilderness of this World

Yeah

Run crazy across the Wilderness of this World

There's an old shoe

Out on the highway

"Wilderness of this World"

Little Cayman Beach Resort

 

July 11

View from my hammock (last one on the left)
Little Cayman Beach Resort

July 10

You've just got to love an airport that is a one-room operation that posts a sign identifying Terminal A, Gate #1!

Little Cayman Island

July 9

Clouds building up over the Gulf of Mexico; I especially like the tiny rainshower just to the right of center....

between Houston and Grand Cayman

To my reader(s)

Please don't worry - I am going on a vacation.  A real one, with no computers!

The blog will return sometime after July 18.

July 7

The buildings along the Zocalo in Mexico City, just a few days before 16 de Septiembre, are already hung with huge patriotic banners.

The holiday is a celebration of Mexico's independence from Spain.

Mexico City

photographed 9.7.2003

July 6

Prayerful cemetery angel
Marathon, Texas

photographed 9.6.2009

July 5

A nest of fruit on a barrel cactus looks like overly-bright Easter eggs.

Yellowhouse Canyon, Texas

(Naturally, I used the Cactus Lens on this shot.)

July 4

Dear Hurricane Alex,

Don't get me wrong.  It was lovely of you to think about stopping by for a visit.  Didn't I even say that in my blog on Thursday?

We enjoy having company.  You know how it is - you get to hear some new stories or tell old ones to a different crowd, maybe go to a nice restaurant for dinner.  It breaks up the day to day routines.

But, really, Hurricane Alex, you need to go.  We are tired of you.  We don't like the rain.  We hate the flooding.  Devotees of the 82nd Street Starbucks, which CAVED IN FROM RAIN, are really angry.  In fact, if I were you, I'd go ahead and leave town now, quickly, before the caffeine withdrawls set in.  Some of those folks are going to be downright mean.

So, Hurricane Alex, this is it.  We are over.  Please do not contact me again.

Your former friend,
Melinda
Lubbock, Texas

photo - picnic shelter Chas. A Guy Park

July 3

I would say that by the end of the day, there is a very good chance that this zucchini will end up in some delicious bread.

And the yellow squash and corn will be sauteed with a little butter, a shallott, and some fresh sweet corn.

The eggplant, if you really must know, has already become baba ghanoush.

The vegetables are from my farm share, at the South Plains Food Bank's GRUB program.


Lubbock, Texas
 

July 2

Every single thing in this shot looks scratchy.

Out there by Acuff, Texas

photographed 3.28.2010

July 1

How lovely that Hurricane Alex decided to pay us a visit - we're miles and miles out of his way.

Downtown Lubbock