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“This is not my beautiful house.”
It was the part of town where a fairly high percentage of mean-looking dogs weren’t on a leash. Or a chain. I have an inherent fear of dogs anyway, and these particular animals looked like maybe they’d been waiting all day to enjoy a nice snack of photographer’s leg.
So, I stayed in the car to take this picture.
Which is why I heard the Talking Heads on the radio, singing “Once in a Lifetime” while I was shooting. And at the very moment I took this shot, I heard David Byrne sing, “This is not my beautiful house.” Coincidence or not – either way, I was greatly amused.
Slaton, Texas
photographed 3.9.2014
A chevron, suspended
While there is surely some psychological reasons that I am drawn to abandoned places like this, we are all probably better off without knowing what they may be. Let’s just decide that my obsession is probably (mostly) harmless, and let it go. OK?
Anyway. Check out that roof, with its chevron shape, and the way it appears to be suspended from that T-shaped tower and pair of cables.
Also, you might be interested to know that the door on the right side is actually blue.
Santa Rosa, New Mexico
photographed 9.22.2013
The way things overlap
Part of the same cluster of buildings where I saw this was a sight to make me very happy: metal siding, metal roofs (some even with pipes poking through them), bare tree branches, power lines, and that very nice brick tower.
Some days, it’s easy to do what I do….
Caldwell, Texas
photographed 2.28.2014
Push
A detail of the doors on the right end of this block of buildings.
I like a lot of things here – the square wire grid that’s installed behind the regular screen on the door, the instructions to PUSH, the thumbtack with a tiny scrap of paper still attached.
I also like to think about how, when this place was still in business, the sound of the screen door slapping shut punctuated every entry and exit. And how on the first warm spring days, the proprietor left the inside doors open so she could hear birdsong from the trees across the street filtered through that double-layer screen door.
Dime Box, Texas
photographed 2.28.2014
Overhang
One thing:
“The town without a frown.”
-motto, Happy, Texas
Another thing:
“A Hilarious Comedy!”
-movie review for Happy, Texas
And one more thing:
Happy State Bank
-actual name of the bank
But mostly:
the view from under the awning at an abandoned gas station, looking toward the grain elevators
Happy, Texas
photographed 2.22.2014
