ninety eight thousand sunrises
I went to this mission the other morning; almost no one else was there, which was exactly the right number of people to be around.
This church was originally founded in East Texas by Spanish friars 1711. It was relocated to its current site in 1731 and still serves as an active parish. The church building dates from approximately 1755 – it’s hosted over 98,000 sunrises so far.
And look! Here are some more facts:
- On October 28, 1835, Mexican troops and Texian insurgents fought the Battle of Concepción here, making it the first major engagement of the Texas Revolution. (The battle lasted 30 minutes.) (The Battle of the Alamo began seven weeks later. It lasted 13 days.)
- The western entrance to the church is aligned to the sunset in such a way that an “annual double solar illumination event” occurs every year on or around August 15, the feast day of the Assumption of Mary. (The ADSIE alignment is when the setting sunlight passes through two windows of the church and align on the altar.)
Mission Concepción
San Antonio, Texas
photographed 10.9.2026
car/show
When I travel for work, I almost never rent a car. Our work conferences are generally in a walkable city, which is a delightful change from the non-walkable place I live, and my work friends and I enjoy walking to dinner. The other night, we were waiting to cross the street and I glanced up just in time to see the World’s Longest Car™ turning the corner.
Now, if I’d had my photographic shit together I would have taken one of those cool photos where I panned to match the speed of the car, making in it focus, and blurring the background. However, I did not have my shit together. And I have also never successfully made a photo like that. And when those photos are bad, they are REALLY bad, with everything all wonky and blurry, so I guess it worked out more or less for the better.
San Antonio, Texas
photographed 10.5.2026
A Thing I Learned: I wanted to use ® after “World’s Longest Car” but when I was looking for the keyboard command for the sign, the Google informed me that there was a “strict rule” about usage, and that just adding ® for fun is actually not even legal. Sometimes looking something up just sucks the fun right out of it. (Using of ™ is not similarly protected.)
comparative religion
I don’t even mind admitting that it took me a lot longer than it should have to remember how to use the “miniature” effect that’s built in to my camera. Turns out that actually looking up how to do it is a lot more productive than just randomly poking at camera settings, which honestly is sort of a shock. Only, of course, not a shock at all.
And, now that I’ve figured it out (again) it’s actually quite easy. That’s the part that’s embarrassing: that I forgot the perfectly simple way to do something silly. That doesn’t seem like me.
But anyway, here’s a shot of St. Mary’s Catholic church which is on St. Mary’s Street.
San Antonio, Texas
photographed 10.6.2026
since 1968
Sometimes I see things that make me want to ask a lot of questions. In this case, though, I’ve only got one: what, exactly, happened in 1967 to inspire someone to decide the very next year that they trusted in God?
I would prefer the answer to be specific.
Lubbock, Texas
photographed 10.3.2026
buddy (crying/waiting/hoping)
I’ve driven by this mural a thousand times. I’ve stopped once.
From the street it looks mostly OK, but up close and from a low angle, poor ol’ Buddy’s glasses look like maybe he needs to get over and buy some new ones.
Additionally, the mortar joints and his eyes line up just right, give the impression that he’s weeping.
Lubbock, Texas
photographed 10.3.2026
