March 22

Moss Landing isn't that spectacular - it's got a protected boat harbor, a big power plant, and 456,981 sea lions. The sea lions have so completely taken over this dock that there are signs for kayakers to stay away, and other signs that point out the dangers of "vicious sea lions."

Moss Landing, California
(on the central coast between Santa Cruz and Monterey)

March 21

Almost the best part about a vacation is finding interesting places to stay. The Dream Inn in Santa Cruz, California, fits that requirement perfectly. It is right on the beach, all the rooms have a water view, and it was recently rescued from boring-ness with renovation that has a groovy 1960s feel.

I am supposed to leave on Monday, but staying here for a long time has some things in its favor....

Santa Cruz, California

March 20

The Strip: where Lubbock goes on a Friday night for all their alcoholic beverage needs.

Lubbock, Texas

March 19

This new fire station under construction, on sort of an in-fill lot. Three sides of the station are offices - mostly dentists, it looked like. The fourth side, across a narrow residential street, are condos. I bet those folks sure will enjoy the late-night fire calls, as the sirens on the fire trucks scream on their way down the block.

Lubbock, Texas

March 18

A locked door at a long-abandoned gas station. It is in the heart of downtown Lubbock, which could lead one to the conclusion that perhaps downtown isn't as vibrant as maybe it could be.

Lubbock, Texas

March 17

My mom gave me this figurine - along with a story about an elderly lady who took a liking to me when I was very young, and wanted me to have the little statue. I have always displayed it; I think it arrived with that expectation.

My curio cabinet
Lubbock, Texas

March 16

Call me, if you want some homemade apple butter. I really need to work on depleting my stock before the upcoming apple butter season. Sure, I know I've got 6 months until then, but I wanted to make sure I could get rid of it.

Lubbock, Texas

March 15

The Bridal Shoppe - you can tell it's fancy because of the fancy spelling. When I was little, we passed the shoppe frequently and I always gazed in awe at the puffy white dresses in the window.

My mom sewed my wedding dress, so I have never been inside the store. And it wasn't until earlier today that I found out the corner window of the place has a fine view to the alley and the trash dumpsters. Makes me think the spelling needs to revert to just plain "shop."

Lubbock, Texas

March 14

We spent the day moving around part of the crap that is in the attic. At first, I was very good about labeling the boxes. "Nathan's striped shirts - ages 2.5 - 3.9" or "Books for third graders" were the standard level of detail. At first.

It went downhill a little bit with the box called "Misc. Toys and Misc. Miscellaneous."

But then this happened:

"Nathans Box of Complete Randomness #2" - and I DIDN'T EVEN USE AN APOSTROPHE.

Goodness.

Lubbock, Texas

Note to Carlos: Things in the attic are better, but it is still not completely alphabetized. I hope we are able to sleep tonight, considering the disorder just above us.

March 13

This is a very odd thing to see: rain in the rain gauge.

in my wet backyard
Lubbock, Texas

March 12

When my friend Martha and I went on a vacation to far West Texas, we stopped in rock shops. There are LOTS of rocks in far West Texas, and I brought three of them home with me.

Lubbock, Texas

March 11

On grey days like today, the silvery aluminum panels on the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts almost disappear into the sky.

Lubbock, Texas

March 10

The underside of the gazebo roof looks like this. When it is warmer, and when we have the floor finished, it will be a great place to spend the night.

All around here, fruit trees are in bloom, bulbs are opening, and the grass is starting to green up. Last week, it was close to 90 degrees a couple of times. Snow - snow! - is in the forecast for the next couple of days. I didn't want to believe it. When I went to the canyon tonight, I was hoping to see fat buds on the mesquite trees: they never get fooled by fake spring, so I knew the outlook for snow was dimmed considerable if the mesquite were budding.

They weren't, so I am afraid it must be true about the snow...

Yellowhouse Canyon, Texas

March 9

This sculpture is called "Vortex of Ideas."  It is on the rim of the canyon at Mackenzie Park.  I like the way the spiralled metal claws its way upward, but mostly I like that it isn't symmetrical.  I don't care for symmetry.

Lubbock, Texas

March 8

My dad likes to discuss unintended consequences.  My front door is an example of this, though it's never entered the conversation.

The door has this decorative trim all around, making it nearly impossible to unlock the door without scraping up your hand.  It used to be worse, when the wood was rough cedar:  at least now the paint has smoothed over the splinters-in-waiting.

Lubbock, Texas

March 7

Seriously, who doesn't love some donuts with their Chinese food? It's YUMME!!!!

Seymour, Texas

March 6

The tags say that these were painted by one of Lubbock's well-known artists. If you need some Fine Art, mostly featuring fluffy clouds, I know where you can go....

Lubbock, Texas

March 5

It's the senior citizens center now, but when I was a kid, this building was the library. The children's books were at the northeast corner; the blinds that are now drawn were always open, flooding the area with light.

I can still remember the general vicinity of the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books, just to the right of the windows. And the heavy blonde wood furniture. And how quiet it was, and how it smelled. And the red-haired librarian, Mrs. Platz, who seemed skeptical that I'd truly read all the books I claimed during the summer reading program.

And I can remember the story my mother always told: that I would finish at least one book on the drive from the library to our house.

Lubbock, Texas

March 4

This wind-turbine sculpture is in a playa lake at Maxey Park. I would like to be able to tell you the name of the piece, and the artist. But for some reason, there's nothing to provide that sort of information.

And the ducks, quacking from the safety of the concrete base, wouldn't tell me anything.

Maxey Park
Lubbock, Texas

March 3

The cast stone on the building dates it to 1917. The old paint on the front identifies it as a wholesale feed and seed warehouse. And the other sign indicates it is the home of American Boxing and Gym.

On a site hemmed in by the railroad and an underpass, the building seems abandoned, having left behind the signs of its past lives.

Lubbock, Texas

March 2

An urgent field trip to the Home Depot was necessary, because it had been a long time* since we'd been, and we were afraid for their long-term economic viability.

* "A long time" is defined as any amount of time greater than 17.75 hours.

Lubbock, Texas

March 1

I drive by this law office every day on the way to work, and every day I hope to get stopped at the light so I can examine the glass mosaics that are creeping across the front of the building.

One day, I walked over to get a closer look, because I had a hard time believing what I was seeing. And today, I brought the camera to get some photos.

From the street it is colorful, and up close the amount of detail is incredible. The name of the law office is spelled out in tiny alphabet blocks, a glass monkey sits inside a large red glass circle, a chunk of glass says HOPE; there are more things to see than I could comprehend.

downtown Lubbock, Texas

February 28

Some kind of stormwater drainage project is underway near my house, and these pipes are stacked up in the park waiting their turn to be put in service.

Lubbock, Texas

February 27

I never got to meet my great-aunt, Ethel Green Russell, but these three volumes of her poetry are among my most cherished possessions:

Deep Bayou was published in 1941.
Lantern in the Wind was published in 1942.
Land of Evangeline was published in 1946.

Lantern in the Wind was a family copy that I got from my dad; I had to search out the other two books.

Here is a sample:

Quaker Mother

I shall kneel weeping when they say
His blood-stained grave is filled -
But now because he died, war's prey -
Because he killed!

This is from Lantern in the Wind, in a section titled "Break the World's Anger." The book was published during World War II, and I have always been struck by the pacifist theme of this poem, and of others in the same section of the book.

She was the Poet Laureate for Louisiana from 1970 to 1973, and was only the second Poet Laureate for the state, succeeding a poet who served from 1942 to 1970.

Lubbock, Texas

February 26

My office-wall art gallery (kudos to the genius who came up with cork wallcovering).

Please note that the light switch and the thermostat are NOT photographs.

Lubbock, Texas

February 25

This was my mom's mixer. She probably used it fewer than ten times. My dad said, "She always said her other mixer wasn't very good, and I finally talked her into getting this one."

After she died, I asked him if I could borrow it.

I can't think that I will ever part with this mixer: it was my mom's, after all.

(Go to my friend Jenifer's excellent blog - http://cleaninghouseamemoir.blogspot.com - and read her entry on February 17, 2009, for an explanation of why we keep our mothers' things.)

Lubbock, Texas

February 24

Stuff on the wall at Covenant Childrens Hospital

Don't ask.

Lubbock, Texas

February 23

People are always asking me "What, exactly, are the tools that you need for your job as a planning director?"*

They are: reports in binders (very important in other fields as well - see January 20 and February 11), a calculator, pens and pencils, a cell phone, memos, pages with numbers on them (I find 1,236,874 to be an extremely useful number to use), and a valuable reference book called A Dictionary of Bull****. This fine volume even includes matrices so you can build fabulous phrases like "We can force the patent onto the bottom line so we can focus on the product launch." or new job titles like Corporate Directives Director.

Lubbock, Texas

* Actually, no one has ever asked. But I know you are all wondering.

February 22

The birdhouse lives on the back fence - it's been there for maybe twenty years and has hosted many generations of new sparrows. Sometimes we've had to replace the floor. And now it's got that troublesome split by the front door.

Nathan made it in some kids program. We intend to take it with us when we move, but it may not last that long.

Lubbock, Texas

February 21

Part of the pumping xenia in my saltwater aquarium. They are my favorites - they look fluffy and their fronds continually open and close.

Lubbock, Texas

February 20

I know it's vandalism. I know I ought to disapprove.

But I really LIKE train graffiti.

Each new piece of rolling art opens up a lot of questions. How far has the car traveled since it was painted? Will the artist ever see it again? How long did it take? Was the design thought about in advance? Was it blocked out with chalk before being painted? Do they photograph their work?

And this one makes me wonder why the "A" is upside down, and if the artist will get to finish the dark outline on the A, I, N, and S. And then that makes me wonder if there is some kind of professional reciprocity amongst boxcar artists - will someone else finish outlining the letters?

And then I wonder if I will ever see VILLAINS again.

down by the tracks
Lubbock, Texas

February 19

I really like the feather grass in the front flower beds. It doesn't need much water or attention. And it produces fabulous drifts of golden grass that bow in the always-present wind.

You should get some for your yard - feather grass, I mean. Not wind.

Lubbock, Texas

February 18

Buddy Holly has a pretty dull view - a mostly-empty parking lot, and an intersection. Too bad that it's come to this.

Buddy Holly Center
Lubbock, Texas

February 17

I wore these shoes. All day.

Eight toes and my left instep are forming a delegation to evict these shoes from my wardrobe. (The other 4 toes are still too numb to join.)

Lubbock, Texas

February 16

St. Expiditus - Invoked against procrastination.

Pretty sure old St. Expi. doesn't work, or else I would have fixed his (her?) sagging frame before now.

Lubbock, Texas

February 15

We moved to our house in 1985, and Walter was already living across the street. He got married and had a daughter and his family and ours feel into an easy friendship. The kind where you just KNOW they can get your mail and feed the cat while you're gone. The kind where impromptu dinner invitations were the norm. The kind where we looked out for each other.

They sent us flowers when our 20-year-old cat died. They put Thanksgiving dinner in our refrigerator once when we were traveling home on the holiday. You know someone like that.

And, now they are moving to Tulsa: the SOLD sign makes it real.

It won't ever be a real neighborhood again.

Lubbock, Texas

February 14

This shell was always in my grandfather's living room. He lived his entire life in Kansas, Colorado, and the Texas Panhandle, so where did the shell come from?

Lubbock, Texas

February 13

There are approximately 2,789 corners in the bathroom. And not one of them is truly square.

Lubbock, Texas

February 12

Well, this is awkward: look how very clearly the dust shows up on the leaves of this plant!

If I didn't have such a firm commitment to put things in binders (see February 11) perhaps I could do some dusting....

Lubbock, Texas

February 11

As you can tell from this shelf, given the choice of writing or of sticking stuff in a binder, the binder wins. Every time.

Is that wrong?

Lubbock, Texas

February 10

Stein's is the best place to have lunch in all of Lubbock - and I am not just basing that on the amount of Tabasco.

Lubbock, Texas

February 9

Hemphill Wells used to be THE department store in town.

Ladies took their lunch at the Tea Room.

Brides selected china for their registry, saleswomen who'd been there for years carefully steering them towards the more tasteful selections.

Well-to-do and fashionable girls bought their school clothes there.

My mom and I looked at dresses there every summer and then stopped at Cloth World to get Butterick patterns to make copies of what we'd seen.  We didn't even fool ourselves.

All that's left of the store is the parking garage.

And I haven't sewn a dress in decades.

Lubbock, Texas

February 8

Look! An action shot of water from a spigot splashing onto rocks.

Yellowhouse Canyon, Texas

February 7

Part of my collection of LuRay dishes.  Sometimes, I use them.  Otherwise they use their spare time to serve as Art.

Lubbock, Texas

February 6

Something else I drive by every day... and finally actually LOOKED at it.

Lubbock, Texas

February 5

This is my Stealth Photo:  I took it really fast while my boss was poking dollars in the pay-parking slot.  It was easier than trying to explain this blog...

Fort Worth, Texas

February 4

A lattice, and a shadow of a lattice, on a wall in downtown Lubbock.

Lubbock, Texas

February 3

Normal people would go to the City of Lubbock cemetery on the 50th anniversary of Buddy Holly's death, park by his grave, and then visit it.

Which explains why I did all but the last:  I looked at the Charles Umlauf angel statue instead.

Lubbock, Texas

February 2

I once tried to take some photos in the Whole Foods store on Magazine Street in New Orleans; the store is in the old trolley barn.  The building is very interesting with high ceilings and exposed structures and all that cool stuff.

I wasn't even taking pictures of food - it was the old windows high under the eaves that captured my attention.

A manager asked me to put away the camera; I thought he was kidding but he was actually, as it turns out, quite serious.

So it was with a great sense of daring that I shot this photo in Market Street!

Lubbock, Texas

February 1

Giant smokestack west of Salt Lake City.

Salt Lake City, Utah

(posted at Albuquerque International Airport)