Prayers of the Faithful

If you ever visit Santa Fe, New Mexico, I encourage you to spend some time in Loretto Chapel, a former Catholic church that is now a museum and wedding chapel.  The chapel is best known for its miraculous staircase, which is shaped like a helix.  The gift shop sells collectible rosaries and many can be found decorating the trees just outside the chapel.  You can learn more about what prayers of the faithful can achieve at www.lorettochapel.com.

More Art-chitecture

One of the defining structures at the Georgia State Railway Museum in Savannah is a very tall chimney.  At the base of the chimney is a building made with iron, brick, and wood.  Given its function, it would be reasonable to expect the base would be have a utilitarian design, but both the iron and brickwork were given artistic touches.  I continue to believe we are all better for the presence of art and design in our lives and must admit to the surprise I registered when I first looked upon this construction.  I love these little visual surprises in unlikely places.

Sometimes The Subject Matter Has Nothing to do With It

This is one of those images that asked to be made.  It called to me from across the street and down an alley, so I went even though I had looked down the same alley earlier and saw nothing interesting there.  This time the light bounced off a nearby wall and brightened the scene.  The reds and blues contrast nicely with the greens and the brass eyes add a bit of interest.  I'm not sure why I missed it the first time, but I sure am glad it summoned me back.

More Savannah

The gas lamps along Factors Walk are an important design element and add to the historic appeal of the area.  They offer a special ambiance after the sun goes down and offer considerable visual interest in the early morning light.

On The Waterfront

I have a lot of respect for folks who make their living in the maritime industry and that came from spending a bit of time photographing them at work.  The conditions can be challenging due to the weather and working at night can be particularly dangerous due to the contrasty lighting and uneven surfaces.  Staying safe requires real focus when many of the things in your work area are hard, sharp, or under a lot of tension.   Though I enjoyed my time with the deckhands and I like being on the water, I was glad to get back to the parking lot and the relative safety of my car.

There are usually a few working boats along the Savannah riverfront and I saw this composition during a morning walk there.  The lines, cables, and pulleys look pretty harmless, but I know better.

Working For A Living - Rodd

Rodd owns the Resurfacing Company in Jacksonville and we met him a few years ago when our driveway was in desperate need of some TLC.  The previous owner of the house had spilled epoxy on the concrete  and that left a stain that could not be removed.  We decided to create a paver apron and Rodd's crew broke out the old concrete and replaced it.  When we saw the finished product, we decided to have him widen and coat our walkway.  Several months later, when we were considering pavers for our lanai, Rodd got the call.  That project got significantly bigger than planned when we opted to put in a covered drain and ran those pipes out to the edge of the yard.  Once again, the finished product exceeded our expectations.  When we moved to a new home in mid-August, we wanted a non-skid finish on the garage floors, and there really wasn't a lot of discussion about who would do the work.  The only real question was whether Rodd could fit us in to his schedule and meet our timeline.  Lucky for us the answer was "Yes".

Refinishing concrete is a dirty, physical process anytime and when you add the heat and humidity of  Florida in the summer, it's demanding work.  Part of you wants to get the job done so you can get to a cool place while another part is telling you to slow down and get it right to avoid having to do the work over.  It takes physical stamina and mental discipline.  Fortunately, Rodd has an abundance of both.

What is your job title?  Owner

What do you like most about your job?  I get to go to a different location each week and there's a lot of creativity that goes into my work.  I love seeing the "Before" and "After" photos of the projects I've done because there's such a difference.  Plus, I get to meet a lot of really nice folks.

What's the hardest part of your job that no one knows about?  Keeping up with the demands of the job...doing sales, planning the jobs, scheduling crews, making sure each job has the supplies they need, and dealing with the heat in summer.

If you weren't doing this work, what kind of work would you be doing?  I think I would be working for U.S. Customs somewhere on the water.  I'd actually like to be a fisherman in the Bahamas, but don't think that would pay as well as the Customs job.

If you could go back in time and talk to yourself at age 16, what would you say?   Invest early and often.  Save your money and resist the temptation to buy cool toys. 

What's the best advice you've ever been given?  Stay in school!

Textures

Factors Walk along the Savannah riverfront is a feast for the eyes, particularly in the early morning.  The ages of the buildings and variety of materials used in their construction offer opportunities for interesting visuals from a distance or close up.  Test your compositional skills and see how many individual pictures you can create from this image.

Savannah is one of our favorite destinations.  Regardless of how many images I make during our visit, I'm always ready to return for more.  Oh, and then there's the food.  It's pretty amazing...and I'm not a foodie.

Straight Lines

Living so close to St. Augustine allows me to get there early to catch some of the great morning light on the waterfront and out in the neighborhoods.  The back of this house had some great straight lines already going for it and the shadows just made it more more interesting.

American Enterprise

No visit to Cahone, Colorado is complete without stopping at the Ruins of America Trading Post.  You won't find any details about it on Trip Advisor, but then you won't find anything about Cahone there either.  Most of the community appears to be for sale and the part that isn't looks abandoned.  Located on Highway 491 between Dove Creek and Yellow Jacket, I can say with confidence that you are likely on your way to somewhere else if you get to Cahone.

While the community may be dying, the spirit of American enterprise lives on in Cahone.  Amid the maze of trash and treasures left to the environment in front of the trading post is a jerry can with a sign that says, "Take a Picture, Leave a $1."  There were eight quarters in a puddle on top of the can when I unscrewed the lid to add my dollar.  Looking inside, I counted another three dollars in bills and change for a total of six bucks.  A pretty good return on an investment of a repurposed gas can and a hand-lettered sign.  While I'm not an economist, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, I think it's going to take more than six dollars to get the community back on its feet.  Still, I sleep better knowing I did my part.  I also left my contact information in case Cahone rises from the ashes like a phoenix and city officials want to recognize early investors with a statue or by naming a building after me.

R. I. P.

This is a 1949 Buick Super and it rolled off the assembly line and into someone's driveway that year for about $2500.  Powered by a "straight 8" connected to a Dynaflow automatic transmission, it was the epitome of what would be known as a "lead sled."  Once it started sliding on a slick road, your efforts at guiding it were often futile.

I don't know the back story on this particular car except that it has been in its current location for a number of years and there is no indication it is going anywhere soon.  Because it's so dry in this part of Utah, the oxidation process may take a while.  Buick Super, R.I.P.(Rusting In Place). 

The Original Space Saver Tire

When you have a car that weighs over two tons, it is reasonable to expect that it will have large wheels, proportionally big tires, and, of course, a spare.  Something that size is going to take up a lot of room in the trunk, leaving little room for luggage and golf clubs. 

For many years, spare tires were mounted unprotected on either the front fenders or the rear of the car.  Someone came up with the Continental Kit as a way to protect the tire from the elements while giving a longer, lower look to the auto's profile and maximizing trunk space.  The "big is beautiful" approach to building cars effectively ruled out the idea of reducing the size of the tire until many years later when cars got smaller and it was impractical to fit a full size spare in the trunk.  Some new cars have eliminated providing the spare tire as standard equipment. 

I'm not sure that is an advancement in auto design. 

Perhaps An Inspection Is In Order

On a recent trip to Indianapolis, IN, my youngest son, Colin, and I were walking in the downtown area heading for Kilroy's to sample some of their 25 different flavors of Long Island Iced Tea.  Just a couple of blocks from our hotel we entered an underpass of indeterminate age and I noticed that all the steel support beams were in a similar condition to the one pictured above.  Since I'm not a structural engineer, I can't really offer a learned opinion on the integrity of these beams, but...we took a different route back to our hotel.  That should tell you that we drank responsibly.

For those of you who haven't been to Indianapolis, I can highly recommend it as a destination.  The downtown is alive with excellent restaurants, fun bars, and it's a great sports venue.  There are some nice museums, excellent walking trails, and even a canal where you can rent boats.  

If It Doesn't Move, Chrome It!

For a span of about four years, starting in 1957, there appeared to be agreement among the auto designers that the land yachts they were producing would become even more attractive if they had progressively larger fins and more chrome.  When the 1959 models rolled off their respective assembly lines, most car companies had taken the tail fin idea about as far it could go and 1960 brought about more subtlety in metalwork.  Excessive chroming would continue for a few years.  This 1955 Desoto was on the leading edge of the chrome and fin trend.  

 

Bending Light

Monica has helped me adopt a more leisurely approach to travel.  She has taught me take my time and deeply absorb what the surroundings have to offer.  While on our way to lunch in Mount Dora, Florida, we  strolled between a bunch of small shops covered by a latticework sunscreen.  Looking at the pattern of light and shadow on the wall, I noticed the corrugated metal roof on this bay window bent the light just enough to create a shape unique to that part of the building.  

I keep thinking life can't get much better, but each day I find that it is.  Having a great partner will do that.

Universal Symbols - Part 2 - Yes! We Even Have Instructions For That

The folks at universal symbol headquarters put in a bit of extra work on this sign knowing how important it is.  They added colors that are recognized almost everywhere as "Yes" and "No" in the event that someone might mistake the meaning of the symbol resulting in an unfortunate event for the person using the facility or the next person who enters.  I encountered this sign at Arches National Park and initially questioned its need.  Then I remembered how many citizens of other countries visit our national parks each year and that millions of people use slit trenches and not toilets.  

To the employees of the U. S. Park Service, I say "Thank you" for making these signs large and for posting them in conspicuous locations at your facilities. 

Universal Symbols - Part 1 - Are You Sure About That?

Overall, I think the folks who design the universal symbols do a great job of communicating with few, and sometimes no, words.  Their good work makes my trips to other countries much easier.  Still, there are times when the finished product makes me wonder if the symbol chosen is the best one for the job.  While this graphic seems straightforward, upon closer examination it appears the sign is encouraging people to run into a wall.  

How We Got Things Done Before Smartphones

In the decades between the 1950's and the widespread use of smartphones, nearly every bedroom in America has some version of the appliance above sitting on a stand near the top of the mattress.  The origins of the clock radio are unknown, and the U.S. Patent Office has no record of it on file. Credit is often given to James F. Reynolds and Paul L. Schroth Sr. for inventing the clock radio sometime during the 1940s. According to Answers.com, Reynolds' grandson says Granddad created the clock radio because "the alarm quit working on his windup clock ... so he rigged the key on the back of the clock to the volume knob on the radio. When the alarm started going off, the key would spin around and turn the volume up on the radio."  Necessity truly was the mother of this invention.

This particular beauty sits in the Raton Museum in Raton New Mexico and is decked out with the best technology of the day:  a polymer (plastic) case, monophonic AM radio, a clock face straight out of "The Jetsons", a control knob to choose whether to wake to the alarm or music, and one of mankind's greatest inventions...the snooze button.  This and a princess phone were the primary elements of a cool bedroom in the mid-60's.

The Unofficial First Day of Summer

Though Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn are assigned particular start and end dates on the calendar, most of us have developed specific events that denote the arrival and passing of the seasons.  It might be seeing the first robin or noticing the maple tree that is always the first to change its colors as Fall approaches.  It's hardly scientific, but those are the things that make it official for us.

For me, Summer arrives when I first spot someone in a hammock.  This harbinger of warm weather was found along the Canal Walk in Indianapolis and is burrowed so deeply in her hammock that only her book was visible.  I hope she can get out when the home made ice cream is ready, which is the other sign that Summer is here.

The Importance of Looking Fast While Sitting Still

At some point, the joy one of our ancestors, let’s call him Thag, experienced at inventing the dugout canoe gave way to disappointment.  Realization set in that his invention was just a log with a space for a rider.  It was functional, but definitely not sexy.  It didn’t look fast.  Flash forward 1400 years and change locations to a shipyard in Europe where a master builder has just completed the finishing touches on what he knows will be the fastest ship to sail the seas.  Still, it’s not complete until the figurehead goes on.  It’s the element of the ship, placed at a rakish angle on the bow that catches the eyes of passersby as she sits in the harbor.

On land it took a while for a variation of the figurehead to catch on.  Conestoga wagons, stagecoaches, and buggies didn’t go fast enough to warrant any kind of acknowledgement that they were rapid transportation.  Eventually the automobile came into production and I suspect the designers of the first autos experienced the same disappointment as Thag and the shipbuilder.  Their version of the masthead came in the form of radiator caps and hood ornaments that made their products look fast while sitting still.  To accomplish this they used running dogs, rockets, unnamed superheroes, birds, and the occasional filmily clad young lady whose garments were wafting in the breeze.  As if being placed on the most prominent part of the auto wasn't enough, all these decorative elements were chromed make them more conspicuous.  Obviously they didn't have to contend with automated car washes back then.

An Ominous Shadow

If you can believe the shadow, it appears the Big Breakfast is about to meet the Big Wrecking Ball.  Of course everyone knows that shadows are great tricksters.  I spotted this while Monica and I were strolling down the side streets in Mt. Dora, Florida.