Blog Archives
Fountains in low light
I like to read reviews on Yelp, but only bad reviews. I like to see what sorts of things people find to complain about. It’s just astonishing the things people think matter*. One of the reviews of this place, the Gene Leahy Mall, said “…we misunderstood this to be a shopping mall and kept looking for one until I realized that it was a park.” So, um, yeah: it’s a mall in the same way that the National Mall in D.C. is a mall.
This mall had some very nice water features, especially when the light was getting slanty in the afternoon.
Gene Leahy Mall
Omaha, Nebraska
photographed 8.30.2018
*Sometimes, though, things ARE worth complaining about.**
**When I had a career in public transit, a woman called to complain on her bus operator. She reported, “He said ‘good morning’ to me, but he didn’t mean it.” That’s an example of a very funny complaint but one that’s not even worth the time to phone in and report.
Salt is very popular
Evidently, salt is a very popular item in this part of Nebraska – it accounts for 25% of the words in the signs on this market.
On the other hand, maybe the proprietors over-estimated the need for salt: the place is out of business…
Maywood, Nebraska
photographed 8.26.2018
Market (closed Sunday)
The Patient Spouse and I have just returned from a drive across Nebraska, where we visited some of the towns he lived in as a child. This grocery store was there when he was a kid, and I sort of think the very same person still works there as a cashier… The place is closed on Sunday, so we’ll never know for sure.
Maywood, Nebraska
photographed 8.26.2018
Somewhat less than it was
I’ve been pretty busy at my real job and was starting to get a little twitchy because I hadn’t been out with my camera. Only one thing to do in a situation like that: the work stuff can wait (and indeed. it was still there when I got back on Monday), but that twitchy feeling’s only going to get worse unless I get out and shoot.
I got out my big atlas (The Roads of Texas) and selected a destination, then cross-checked it with a quick Google street-view look, and off I went.
This wasn’t my actual destination*, but it was a nice thing to spot along the way, a clear reminder that Wilson, Texas, used to be able to support a block-long business district.
Wilson, Texas
photographed 7.28.2018
*A swing set at a tiny crossroads town in Crosby County. That’s what I saw on street-view. Stick around – that photo will post in a few more days…
Maybe I misjudged the place
I’ve lived almost my whole life in the western part of Texas, so I think I know how to read a place accurately and quickly.
Turns out, I’m not as good at that as I thought: I did not think Fort Stockton was the kind of place that would need a tuxedo store…
Fort Stockton, Texas
photographed 7.13.2018
