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hammond
I have issues. Not in general (although of course I do have quite a few general issues) – but with the things in this photo.
First of all, it bothers me a lot that the star on the hot-cold thing is wrong side up. I can almost understand the decision to point in down toward the round thing* but, it is just wrong.
But what gets me even more is that cloud that has a hand (A hand! What the hell?) growing out of the bottom of it.
And let’s not even get into the discussion about if the building that’s held by the cloud-hand is supposed to be a hand-held size or if the cloud-hand is actually gigantic enough to hold an entire building.
Tahoka, Texas
photographed 2.28.2026
*to use the technical term
one drop can start a flood
An allegory:
It was just a drop. One drop.
There were drops before it; since I didn’t see them, it’s like they never happened. And there were surely unseen drops that follow, but they didn’t count either. At the time.
But then, before I even knew what was happening, the seen drop and all the unseen ones came together and there was a flood. Damage is still being tallied.
Post, Texas
photographed 8.6.2024
oddly classical
I’m not really used to thinking about a gas stations being so fancy that they required Ionic columns and clay tile roofs, but this place had both of those things.
Also, it has all those windows and would make a fine art studio – just needs a couple of weekends, probably, to get it all set up.
Breckenridge, Texas
photographed 8.6.2022
the string band got a cold gig
To save time, I’ve shortened the name of my new favorite book* to WNoCwaaaaaatrihutthAASpZBCMaMAtaesfwkitAVAMK. No need to thank me.
This is a lovely piece of public art, made by BC Gilbert, called the Friendly Cowboy Western String Band (or, if you want, TFCWSB.) The guy on the left is definitely Colour 76, Dutch Orange, which as you probably already know is “the orange yellow of Werner…gamboge yellow, with carmine.” It resembles, of course, the Seedpod of the Spindle-tree.
the snow day series
Lubbock, Texas
photographed 1.24.2026
*More commonly known as simply Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours, but it’s got one hell of a subtitle.
orange and blue and green
Now, then, about this book Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours…the full title has 44 words, which makes me realize how the title for my masters thesis fell far, far short of an impressive length.
I believe that the flower-painter* dude would agree that this shade is similar to Colour 78 – Orpiment Orange, described as “the characteristic color…about equal parts of gamboge yellow and arterial blood red.” That description raises a couple of questions:
- What is it characteristic OF?
- And gamboge yellow is what color?
- “Arterial blood red” – do what, now?
- And, the obvious question – what/who is an “orpiment”?
But I guess we can all agree that the book got it right when it says the color (“colour”) is similar to the “Belly of the Warty Newt.”
the snow day series
Lubbock, Texas
photographed 1.24.2026
*When my granddaughter Hannah was little, she aspired to be a flower-picker. She’s now in college studying international politics, which is practically the very same thing.
One Day | One Image 