Monthly Archives: October 2013
The edge of Earth
My cousins lived in Earth, so you can only imagine that they heard every single ridiculous joke about their town’s name. At our house, when it was time to go up there for a visit, my dad would say we were “going to Earth.” It never got old. (Although it probably should have, at some point!)
These days there’s not much left in Earth. My cousins all moved away, and I can assume that most of their classmates did, too. There’s just not much going on around Earth these days. The Dairy Queen is closed, and so is this service station, out on the edge of Earth, along the highway to Springlake.
It’s not a new story.
Earth, Texas
photographed 5.24.2013
To be sold eventually to strangers, 6
1. Once, when I was in junior high and my dad and I were going through one of our times of not getting along, he sent me a letter. I can only remember two things about it. One was that after my friend Jan read it, she said, “He sounds like a preacher.”
2. After a long career that involved meeting people all the time, and talking to them, and making presentations to City Councils and so forth, my dad has diagnosed himself with social anxiety disorder. (Thanks a lot for that, Mayo Clinic Newsletter.)
3. My mom really was very shy. In groups, especially, until she found one person (or a child: she liked kids) to talk to.
4. Both of them were generally content to spend their time in each other’s company, doing quiet things like reading or sewing. They almost never went out with friends, and as far as I know my dad always came straight home from work at the end of the day. (Right after my dad retired, there was some talk of taking ballroom dancing with another couple, but that never got past the talking-about-it-stage.)
5. They both were active church members. Once, my mom was teaching Sunday School for three year olds – the class was called Toddlers – at the same time my dad taught a class for senior citizens. He dubbed them the Old Toddlers. We laughed about that for a long time, but don’t bring it up any more: now that he is an Old Toddler himself, it might not be quite as amusing as it used to be.
6. So depending on how you look at it, this either makes no sense or a lot of sense: both of them spent years working as volunteer chaplains at the hospital. They’d go on hospital visits every Sunday afternoon, still wearing their good church clothes, and spend a few hours stopping by to visit patients.
7. My deepest admiration goes to them for doing that; it’s not something I could do.
8. It’s been almost fifteen years since Methodist Hospital changed its name (and its religious affiliation, too) to Covenant Medical Center. But, my parents’ nametags from their chaplain days were still in the dresser drawer.
Lubbock, Texas
photographed 9.1.2013
One particular afternoon
A few days later, the season’s first snow would fall.
But on this afternoon, it rained. It was a cold rain, and lasted longer than the normal afternoon showers. After the rain, and some fog, the clouds started to break up. By then it was late afternoon, and a walk around town before dinner seemed like a fine idea. The tourist train had departed for the day, taking most of the town’s visitors with it. The cinders on the unpaved streets had a nice crunchy sound under our feet. The late sun was catching the slopes of yellow where the aspen leaves were turning. The scent of woodsmoke hung over a few houses. The wooden footbridges over the unfortunately-named Cement Creek were slick from rain.
And, over at the Masonic Lodge, the signs over the door were broken.
Silverton, Colorado
photographed 9.20.2009
Overthinking it
Do you think there was some sort of organized system to determine who got to have the mailbox decorated to look like a barn?
Do you wonder why five mailboxes share one ledge and two others are ostracized?
Do you wonder why the numbers aren’t in numerical order?
Do you wonder why mailbox 2 is so much bigger than the others?
Do you wonder why the mailbox on the far left tilts away from the rest?
No? Really?
Must be just me.
Uhland, Texas
photographed 5.10.2013
UPDATE:
I am lucky to have many site followers who contribute to One Day | One Image by posting comments. Today, my friend Ehpem posted a comment on the photos that was far better than what I wrote in my original post. It was so good, in fact, that I am promoting the comment. Here it is – enjoy!
Sorry guys, but it’s Texas politics.
The boxes on the left…actually they are in the centre, but Melinda cropped off the far left because there was nothing to see.
So those boxes in the centre, they *are* shunned, and on their way out. The one leaning is looking around for a train, preferably headed for the left coast.
The ones on the right are jostling for the far right position and barely able to stand being on the same platform as each other.
The number 2 is large because tea chests have to fit in it, filled with money. I hear there are plans to erect its own post and put a steeple on it with some pretty glass windows, bullet proof of course. Plans stalled while they figure out if they can rip out the existing platform and stay close to the main vines, of if they have to nuture that straight up vine to the far right so they can put there post well clear of the others.
The barn? That was from the days when agriculture and common sense meant something in local politics, and people needed somewhere to keep the elephant. Surpising that someone spruced it up, as I expected it to look a bit like Melinda’s usual fare. Maybe someone still hopes the elephant will be found and returned to the right barn.
The vine? Tendrils of influence from wealthy interest groups.
Well said, Ehpem. Well said.
One detail spoiled everything
You knew this: that I almost never take photos of new buildings. I like old ones better.
But, when you are walking around downtown Dallas with your friend (we’ll call him “Carlos” but only because that’s his name), there’s a lot more new stuff to look at than anything else.
This place, then. I am very fond of the glass blocks, lined up like huge ice cubes. I like the way the light reflects off the column on the right into the window, making a lighter rectangle on top of everything. I like the long shadow, the way it angles down, goes straight across the wall, and then angles down again; that’s a very nice shadow line.
But what I saw when I took the picture and can’t bring myself to un-see is that duplex outlet, right there in plain sight. Why, architect of this building, did you let that happen? I want to believe that you knew how that reflected light would work, how the shadow’s angles would be so appealing, that you’d thought about all of it and made very sound design decisions. But a wall outlet? That was the very best place to put an outlet? You’re sure, architect of this building?
Dallas, Texas
photographed 3.19.2011
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