Last Day Of August

It is the last day of August so that means my daughter's birthday month has come to an end. We celebrated at Gattiland, " I dont like the pizza Daddy but I do like the games!"

Two More

Two more from our earlier visit to the junk store. Every time I see a mounted deer head or horns I am reminded of the of the American Indian poem/song titled
The Deers Song it's entirety is this line.......
My shining horns.
And lately I've been thinking about how important our flag really is and how many times it is displayed for all the wrong reasons and how small, how insignificant an impression it makes on us when we see it. My daughter just completed her second week of school, kindergarten,she loves it! She has told her mother and I that her favorite part is saying the Pledge of Allegiance. It had never occured to us to teach it to her or even recite it to her. I know that I am often guilty of paying no more attention to the flag than a billboard or a sign for a fast food place. And maybe more concern/interest in what the price of gas is on a filling station sign!

For Hallie

On her fifth birthday.

More Parking Garage

This one views better on my monitor, but even still, there is a lot of subtlety lost in the shadow. When I look back at my previous post, comparing it to a print held in one hand it seems like half the image is missing, all the shadow detail. There would be no photo-blogs without computers, the internet, and monitors but this is still a very very long way from the best way to view an image.

Parking Garage

This new parking garage was on the jobsite I was visiting so I drove up to the top to take some "work" pictures from it's highest level. Drove and not walked, it was over 100 degrees and probably right at 100% humidity. After the first couple of levels there were no cars or workers, just all these marvelous rays of light! It was the first time I ever checked out possible photos, in a building, inside my vehicle, with the windows up and both A/C units running full blast. With no vehicles I could scout just about any angle in the coolness of the truck! I did get out to actually take the pictures. My apologies, not for the laziness, but for the fact that I can't show on a monitor all the range of light you can see in the print.

Back to the junk store

Autumn Leaves

It would be nice if those were autumn leaves lying there in the gutter, a cool freshness in the air, and it was twenty years ago. The occasion, meet the teacher night for Hallie's coming first day in public school!
It is August and early August in Texas besides. That is grass dried up and blown away by the 100 degree days so I don't need to tell you about the lack of a chill in the air. And as for the twenty years ago, well I probably couldn't, or wouldn't, have left work in the middle of the afternoon to go with my wife and daughter to meet the teacher back then.
As you see it wasn't exactly go with Hallie either! She didn't need or want any hand holding and kept up a pace that left Renee' and I bringing up the rear! Or maybe it was just the twenty years that made us a little slower. I know the sweat in my eyes made it hard to walk fast.

Second Story

You may be able to surf the internet and find all kinds of stuff on E-Bay but there is nothing like getting lost in a good old junk store. And if it happens to be one old enough, or big enough, to have a basement or a second story then you really are in for a treat! The second story of this establishment was just as large as the first and suitably packed with items that were deemed worthwhile of the effort to carry them UP stairs! After Renee' saw this picture she told me I should have bought one of the suitcases for Hallies dress up clothes! How could anyone have the heart to disturb the perfect symmetry of their hanging?

I wish I could remember

I wish I could remember the name of this cafe. We had breakfast there when we were in Minnessota and it was really good. It is along the shore of Lake Superior. I also got to watch this man read the paper with more precision and obvious satisfaction than I've ever seen before.