Blog Archives
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
Happy Gameroom
And, in addition to those things I listed yesterday, here’s another thing to like about Happy – it’s got (apparently) a game room that caters to various animals, all of whom play pool! And, not only that, but they do not seem to mind that the pool table has a bit of an unconventional shape.
(Disclaimer: I did not personally witness these animals playing pool, or any other game.)
Also, check out that shadow/reflection of the pole in the glass door.
Happy, Texas
photographed 2.22.2014
Geometrics
In addition to the very nice industrial buildings I found in Caldwell, I saw this fantastic wall, full of rectangles and arches and polygons and angles. And brick and concrete and wood and asphalt and even a tiny bit of paint still clinging to the brick.
Caldwell, Texas
photographed 2.28.2014
Facing the tracks
Dime Box, Texas, is not the funniest town name in America. Traditionally, that honor belongs to Intercourse, Pennsylvania. I prefer Scratch Ankle, Alabama, Gnowbone, Indiana, or even Humptulips, Washington. Nevertheless, Dime Box, as a name, caught my ear, so that’s where I headed the next morning out of College Station.
– William Least Heat-Moon, Blue Highways
Even though William Least Heat-Moon’s visit to Dime Box was written a while back (Blue Highways was published in 1982), much of his description of the town sounded as though he’d been there earlier the same day as my visit. For example, he describes this scene as “worn brick buildings facing the Southern Pacific tracks.” Maybe that bright aluminum door has been added since his visit, but my guess is that the rest of the block looks much the same as it did the day he drove over to Dime Box from College Station.
Dime Box, Texas
photographed 2.28.2014
Underneath the lights
You know how I always like to go around back when I am shooting, just to see what I can find? I also try to remember to look up. Which is how I found this interesting array of lightbulbs hiding (in plain sight!) under the marquee of the Mesa Theatre in Clovis, New Mexico.
I wasn’t able to find anything much out about the Mesa, other than it had a fire in 1948 and was rebuilt. Perhaps my Research Department can take over from here?
Clovis, New Mexico
photographed 5.25.2013
