June 19

The former location of Terry's Tires.

Post, Texas

June 18

Quite possibly the best cupcakes I've had - from Cake by Distinctive Details in Kingsgate Center.

And not only are the cupcakes delicious, but they come in a brown box tied up with a brown ribbon.

Lubbock, Texas

June 17

This is in front of a place called the Patriot Firearms and Family Shooting. I was unable to determine if you bring your OWN family to shoot or if one is provided for you. But it is climate controlled, an important feature in these hot summers.

Lubbock, Texas

(My apologies for posting photos of stuff on my walls two days in a row.)

June 16

Since lately I haven't had too many reasons to carry a sterling-silver chain-mail evening bag, I hung it from a velvet ribbon on the wall under the stairs. That way, I can find it if the need arises.

Lubbock, Texas

June 15

My friend Kort makes wrought-iron crosses in his spare time. This one hangs on my office wall, and I am very fond of it.

Lubbock, Texas

June 14

The desert willow has burst into bloom...

Lubbock, Texas

June 13

Frosting flowers on a birthday cake.

Lubbock, Texas

June 12

The share at the CSA farm today included elephant garlic. And beets. And lettuce. And carrots. And two kinds of squash.

South Plains Food Bank - GRUB Program
Lubbock, Texas

June 11

We call this place "Rotary West" (and I will not divulge the actual name of the restaurant, but if you want to call it "El Chico" that would be OK with me). I met my friends here for lunch today.

The restroom is a plethora of colors and shapes, and made me feel a little drunk just walking in.

I can't imagine what would ensue if one encountered this restroom after a few margaritas.

Lubbock, Texas

June 10

There's a place in Austin where you can purchase surplus State desks and filing cabinets and all sorts of other cast-off items.

You can also paw around in big plastic tubs of items that have been confiscated by vigilant TSA agents at airports. There's a tub of nail clippers. One of pocketknives. One with little scissors. One with big scissors. And that's where I found this pair of Fiskar scissors. They seem brand new, and had a length of red satin ribbon tied on the handle.

I picture a little old lady embarking on a trip with her favorite scissors in her giant vinyl handbag. I am certain she was dismayed when they were taken from her, so in compassion for her loss, I've kept the ribbon just as she tied it.

Lubbock, Texas

June 9

Gloves - a hospital must go through 12,456,987 per day.

University Medical Center
Lubbock, Texas

(My dad had a procedure today. I was at the hospital for 8 hours and the ONLY thing I took a picture of were these gloves.)

June 8

OK, this is how it works.

Me, walking down the alley after work: Oh, crap. I didn't take a picture yet today.

One more step.

Me: Hey, check out those windows!

(Digging in bag for camera.)

An alley in downtown Lubbock, Texas

June 7

It was cool and cloudy early this morning, but by 10:00 the clouds were gone and the temperature was going up at a pretty fast pace.

The deck, though, stays in the shade nearly all day.

My backyard
Lubbock, Texas

June 6

I took a field trip today, to a place called Janes Gravel (No apostrophe is correct. I checked.) It's just past Slaton, at the rim of the canyon, and sort of shocking to see - especially the signs that say "mining zone"! This place is a maze of piles of variously-sized gravel, boulders, sand, etc.

It's where the big trucks come in to get rock for highway projects, or where weekend-project-doers come for a trailer load of cheap gravel. And the guy loading the gravel was amazing - he got the whole load right into the trailer.

Slaton, Texas

June 5

Two things:

First, it rained last night, and there are still puddles.

And, I am parking in a different parking lot, so there are DIFFERENT puddles than the ones I am used to.

Aren't you happy for me?

Lubbock, Texas

June 4

98th Street, just east of Avenue P - a motorcycle graveyard contained behind this chain-link fence.

Lubbock, Texas

June 3

OK, so that picture from yesterday? Of the white building against the storm? Well, this is inside that same building.

It's an excellent spot for some dinner (and beer) before going to the outdoor concert stage next door.

Lubbock, Texas

June 2

A storm heading our way this afternoon.

Lubbock, Texas

June 1

The main attribute of this restaurant is the outdoor dining - it's shady. And there are vines creeping up the wall.

Lubbock, Texas

May 31

OK - I have to admit that I was THAT person, that geeky person taking photos out of the windows of the plane as we left Las Vegas.

But you knew I would do that, right? And, anyway, you've always wondered what Hoover Dam looks like from the air.

Back in Lubbock, Texas

May 30

Having the (incorrect) idea that perhaps we could get close to the Colorado River from Laughlin, Nevada, we drove all the way there.

It would have been a completely wasted trip if we hadn't stopped in the desert to take some photos....

Somewhere between Laughlin and Las Vegas, Nevada

May 29

Look! it's the A Tribute to Elvis car parked outside the Little White Chapel. The wad of flowers is hot-glued onto the car, as is the length of festive red tulle. It's really quite fancy, if you like that sort of thing.

As you probably are aware, the Little White Chapel is where Joan Collins got married. But I don't know which time.

Las Vegas, Nevada

May 28

This sums it up: a pawn shop across from Lady Luck Casino.

Las Vegas, Nevada

May 27

I KNOW there are a bunch of dummies out there, but I was still startled to see this display of books for dummies. Quite a range was represented, and this picture shows only half of the ones on the table.

Do people really buy these books??!?

Lubbock, Texas

May 26

We moved to this house in the spring of 1985, and started planting trees as soon as we could afford them. (The house wasn't new when we moved in, but the yard was in pretty sad shape.)

The first clump of live oaks in the front yard didn't survive and had to be replaced, and we chose a pair of shademaster locusts on the west side of the driveway. This is the first year that the oaks and locusts have met in the middle of the two-car driveway.

Lubbock, Texas

May 25

A pair of buildings facing the main street.

Petersburg, Texas

May 24

The rain this afternoon was sort of tropical - it lasted a few minutes, came without the drama of thunder and lightning, fell straight down, and was gone.

I sat on the deck and watched the rain run off the roof, channeled into parallel lines by the ridges of the metal roof.

Lubbock, Texas

May 23

Brady, Texas
Un-named motel, with room-side garages
Refrigerator parked in one of the garages
Unpaved parking lot
Clump of live oaks
Three wooden crosses.

That's all I know.

Brady, Texas

May 22

Flowers in a yard in Llano.

Llano, Texas

May 21

Is it just me? Or, if Andrew Wyeth had lived around here, would this scene have been in one of his paintings?

Wastella, Texas

PS - Yep, that's the actual name of the town:

With the arrival of the Roscoe, Snyder and Pacific Railway in 1908, landowner Will Neeley donated the land for a new town. The rather unusual name was meant to honor Neely's eldest daughter. Wastella did develop as a town - and even had a hotel and a few stores, but being just one train stop from Roscoe stifled real growth. According to the detailed TxDoT Nolan County map, Wastella cannot even claim a cemetery.

from www.texasescapes.com/TexasGhostTowns/Wastella-Texas.htm, which goes on to note that the most recent census numbers, in 1990, put the town's population at 13.

May 20

It New Orleans, it would be called a "neutral ground" - the grassy strip between the one-way streets. There's no compact term for it here, so I guess we'd just have to call it the grassy strip between the one-way streets.

At any rate, this metal building has been there as long as I can remember, looking incrementally worse for wear each year. It looks like now the graffiti artists have even given up on it, which would be depressing for a building that was self-aware.

I don't know if this one is, though...

Lubbock, Texas

May 19

I have this interesting refrigerator magnet that is also a vase made from an old fence post. I've stuck a few springs of front-yard lavender in it.

Lubbock, Texas

May 18

For my faraway friends - and you know who you are - that doubt the existence of something called "frito pie," here's photographic proof.

Fritos, chopped brisket, beans, cheese, barbeque sauce, in case the above-referenced friends want to make some themselves. Although the frito pie purists might disagree, I supposed you could add sour cream, or relish, or jalapenos also.

Lubbock, Texas

May 17

This land used to have more than scruffy mesquite trees, as the ghost-ship of an abandonded cotton gin attests.

State Highway 17, near Pecos, Texas

May 16

The swimming pool at Balmorhea State Park is crystal clear, cold, spring-fed, and feels so good when it's hot outside.

Balmorhea, Texas

May 15

The City Prosecutor and the Traffic Engineering departments share a building - the prosecutor got top billing.

Lubbock, Texas

May 14

Clouds late in the day, hovering over the southern horizon rarely mean rain for us. But, if we're lucky, when it gets dark we're treated to lightning.

Lubbock, Texas

May 13

My friend Martha gave me this excellent paperweight. It's glass, green that goes to purple at the edges. It's heavy, just heavy enough to feel good in my hand. It lives on the left side of my computer, and when I am have trouble getting just the right word or image, I'll cradle it in my hand.

Thanks, Martha!

Lubbock, Texas

(On the back it says "Robert Held Art Glass - Canada")

May 12

An interesting, and colorful, row of downtown storefronts.

Lubbock, Texas

May 11

This is how you can tell if it's a REALLY fancy restaurant: you put the peanut shells into a bucket rather than on the floor.

Lubbock, Texas

May 10

Finally.

May 9

There are some residential areas downtown - this one is in an alley off Broadway.

Lubbock, Texas

May 8

The big liquor election is tomorrow. Maybe... maybe there are enough forward-looking voters that we can soon be treated like adults around here and be able to buy alcohol in town.

Lubbock, Texas

May 7

A couple of vintage (to use the currently-popular phrase) ceramic planters that live on top of a white metal cabinet in the bathroom.

Lubbock, Texas

May 6

Hannah is so used to having her picture taken (I don't know how that happened!) that she refers to all photographs as "hannahs" - and she really doesn't seem to have the slightest clue that there could possibly be such a thing as a "hannah" without her in it.

Lubbock, Texas

May 5

Inspired by a character in the Tom Robbins' novel Skinny Legs and All, I started a collection of random pieces of silverware. This forest of spoons is part of what I have accumulated.

Which character was the inspiration? Spoon, of course.

Read the novel if you want, but get ready for... well, get ready for a Tom Robbins novel. (Publishers Weekly called Skinny Legs and All "a phantasmagorical, politically charged tale." Sadly, they failed to mention my spoon collection in the review.)

Lubbock, Texas

May 4

That I took a photo of a restaurant sign around dinnertime today could lead to the conclusion that I (once again) opted out of cooking at home....

Lubbock, Texas

May 3

Abandoned and disintegrating farm buildings dot this part of the country. This one had an additional feature: an old storm cellar that was guarded by a green lizard.

Somewhere between Roscoe and Wastella, Texas

May 2

The lighting and a guitar at FUEL Coffee Ministries.

Llano, Texas

May 1

The "Where the Spirit Left" project loaded in the back of my car, and ready for the drive to Llano, Texas, tomorrow. The show will be at FUEL Coffee Ministries through May 23, so be sure and stop by if you're in Llano...

Lubbock, Texas