AN ADVENTURE WITH A TWIST

I've been to Decatur, Wise County, Texas in the past and have already recorded a photo of the county courthouse for my obsession with such structures. This was a revisit to Decatur with a different twist.

As I took photos I tried to put the "fill the frame" characteristic of good composition into practice. For whatever reason, that and the "rule of thirds" are the 2 hardest for me to achieve.

Regardless, did I ever mention that I love trains? I stopped the car on the shoulder of the highway to take the picture following this one. As I grabbed my camera from the gearbag I looked up and noticed the approaching train. I barely had time to remove the lens cap to get this shot.



This was the reason for the stop. As mentioned, I'd been to Decatur in the past but I must have entered town from a different highway because I sure don't remember seeing this Petrified Wood filling station. It was the beginning of a Texas Travel Camp built in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The link will take you to more information about this unique intact site. (The featured article is toward the bottom of the page.)

The Whistle Stop Cafe.... part of the above-mentioned travel camp.

This wonderful piece of architecture was previously unknown to me. As I drove the highway leading to town I could see the spire rising above the trees and incorrectly assumed it was the tower on the courthouse. I turned to discover this. It is known as "El Castile" or the Waggoner Mansion and is the remains of an estate built by one of the cattle barons of the 19th century, Daniel Waggoner. The link takes you to a site about the home and the family. Very interesting reading.

Now the special part about this adventure. I have a friend who is the sole caregiver to an elderly, disabled father. Before I went on this adventure I "kidnapped" her to accompany me. She needed a change of scenery and a respite, however brief. I hope I achieved that. She seemed to have fun and, if nothing else, returned home with a smile on her face. Will have to make it a point to do it again.

Until the next adventure...

JUST ANOTHER SATURDAY???

Due to various reasons, we'd gotten off schedule with the adventures! Life is interfering with the fun, if you can imagine such a thing. There have been birthdays to celebrate, sick family members to visit in the hospital, emergency chores to attend to at home, promises to fulfill, meetings to attend, and you get the picture. Or in this case, the picture was NOT gotten.

An adventure was long overdue. Saturday we headed west of Fort Worth to Springtown, Texas population about 3,000. It was the weekend of their annual Wild West Festival in the downtown square. Didn't take long to see all the sights, hear all the sounds, and visit all the booths. Harry bought a slingshot and I bought some soup/dip mixes. That was the extent of our Wild West celebration.

We aimed the SUV toward Jacksboro, Texas seat of Jack County to take a photo of the courthouse. We also made a scheduled stop at the Fort Richardson State Park which is the ruins of a post Civil War Army facility. It opened about 1867 and closed by 1880. The large building in the background is the hospital.



A visit to the Commissary provided these moss covered stones. The lush verdancy spoke to my lens!

I have no idea what these flowers are called, but they truly look like miniature pineapples.

Next stop was Possum Kingdom Lake. Coming around a bend in the road provided the following photograph. Some were taken through the dirty windshield. Others were through the open window of the truck.

The group of bucks numbered about four. These were the only bucks we saw. The rest of the deer were does and fawns. We saw upwards of 40 deer in all. It was a great photographic experience.

The most points on a single buck which we were able to count was eleven.

The fawns are beginning to lose their spots.

This little deer posed nicely for the camera.

This doe was amazing. She was curious enough to walk past the front of the truck, stop and look at us as we looked out the open window.

She crept closer to the window than we ever thought possible. We could see her eyelashes and whiskers.

Another beautiful doe takes her turn at posing for her portrait.

Can you tell I had a marvelous time? It truly was an adventure, thanks in no small way to a very accommodating sidekick!

Until the next time...

THIS IS A GREAT COMMERCIAL

DISABLE THE SONGS IN THE SIDEBAR PLAYLIST BEFORE STARTING THE VIDEO. TO DISABLE, CLICK ON THE PAUSE BUTTON AT THE TOP LEFT OF THE PLAYER.

I think this commercial is one of the best I've seen in ages. It is for Danier Leather. Not only is the content sophisticated and entertaining, the song is wonderful. After Googling around a bit I found it is by an artist named Sherie Marshall and the song was created specifically for the ad campaign. Too bad it isn't available for sale!

Regardless, the commercial has been making the rounds via email lately despite the fact it is almost 2 years old.

Enjoy!

Until another day....

Gena

INTRODUCING...

... one of my newest fish. It was relatively easy taking his picture. The albino cichlids are too small and fast to photograph at the moment. Maybe when they are a bit bigger.

Here are some of his stats -
Scientific Name: Pseudotropheus sp. “Acei” (Msuli)
Common Name: Yellow Tail Acei
Color/Markings: yellow tail with bluish-purple cast to his body

Until another post....

KINDA FISHY IF YOU ASK ME!!

Took a trip to The Fish Gallery in Dallas, located at 6955 Greenville Ave # 100 Dallas, TX 75231 at phone number (214) 750-7002. (I promised I'd mention them and put a link on my blog if they allowed me to take pictures while I was there this morning. They did, so now I am).

The 2 pictures below were not taken by me. They are, however, pictures of the newest additions to my aquarium.

Beginning below are pictures I took of fish on display and for sale. Most of the pics were without use of a flash. The largest problem I had was the glare from the store lighting.

You will also note I've started adding watermarks to the photos so no one can borrow them as their own. Not that I have theft-worthy pictures, but after reading the story about the American family who posted a Christmas photo on their blog which ended up being used as a billboard in some foreign country, I thought I'd take precautions. This is a true story by the way. The country was a country like Croatia or Poland... maybe Serbia or Lithuania. ADDENDUM 9-6-09: ABOVE IS THE LINK TO THE ORIGINAL BLOG FROM WHICH THE PHOTO WAS TAKEN. THE COUNTRY WAS CZECH REPUBLIC.

For the most part I wasn't paying attention to the kind of fish. I was going for colorful. Some fish almost seemed to pose!!

Until another post...

SUDDEN PLANS

I am going to the fish store to get another fish (or 2) to add to my aquarium because it is a good time to do so. I won't be feeding the existing fish for another 24 hours due to a filter change within the last couple of days. When I add new fish I leave the tank alone for 24 hours so this will be perfect timing: add fish and wait 24 hours; already waiting 24 more hours until I can resume feeding the existing tank.


Hopefully the store won't mind that I am taking my camera with the intention of taking pictures of their gorgeous fish and aquarium setups. I'll post pics to the blog later with a link to the store.


Until later.........