Blog Archives

impressed

A thing I’ve recently noticed that I like is going to botanical gardens when I’m traveling. It’s a nice way to get outside and see plants I may not be used to looking at, and to pretend that I am, in fact, the kind of person who likes yard work.

During a visit to the Springs Preserve, I was entirely enchanted at the way the unfolding spears of the agave plants embossed their shapes onto the adjacent spears. I think probably half the photos I made that day were of various agave…but (so far) I’m just posting this one.

Springs Preserve
Las Vegas, Nevada

photographed 2.15.2024

hydrant, in the sun

I had a conference in Las Vegas. Have I mentioned that I am not one of those people who go to Las Vegas for fun, and in fact I am a person who goes out of the way to avoid it.

But it was a conference that had some stuff I needed for my (real) job, so off I went.

The conference hotel was…not great. Everyplace inside smelled like cigarette smoke from the casino and it was almost impossible to get from one place (like your room) to another place (like the conference center) without having to walk through the smoke-cloud of a casino.

However, there WAS a thing called the “Zen Walkway” or something that did allow visitors to have a chance to breathe actual, non-toxic air. And to photograph a fire hydrant.

(Disclosure: I bitched about Vegas the whole time I was there. And then on the day I came home, I got sick. It’s the karma version of “the house always wins.”)

Las Vegas, Nevada
photographed 2.14.2024

it’s curtains for this place

This poor old building….it’s got a notice from the City of Levelland posted on the front door telling the owner the place has been condemned and will be demolished.

For quite a few years, the building was the location of a business called – according to the spray-painted sign on the front – the Lawn Mower Fixer. Mr. LM Fixer often changed his business phone number, if the frequently re-spray-painted numbers on the brick wall were any indication. Sometimes I’d see him out front, looking over the mowers that had been left to be fixed.

But I guess he was eventually so successful that all the mowers in town were fixed and the source for his business fell away.

Or something like that.

Levelland, Texas
photographed 2.10.2024

a job to do

This horse and rider had a job to do – to show the horse to its best advantage in front of a bunch of bidders – and they both seemed to be real clear on what they were doing.

Random (to me) auctioneer comment: Not enough horse for him to go Denver.*

Mallet Event Center
Levelland, Texas
photographed 2.10.2024

*He may not have been referring to this horse. The combination of photos/notes/memory aren’t real clear.

the action moved quickly

Oooh, look! An action shot at the auction. A little bit of auction action, if you will.

And another random (to me) comment from the auctioneer: There ain’t nothin’ wrong in drivin’ around with a new pickup, a purty woman, and a nice gray horse.

Mallet Event Center
Levelland, Texas
photographed 2.10.2024