Weekly Photo Challenge: Relic
Something called the Century Plant is going to qualify as a relic today.
My friend Kristin had been sending me photos of the Agave Americana (known as the Century Plant) as it was growing in her family’s front yard on
St. George Island. When I went down for vacation I got to see it first hand. I couldn’t believe how tall it had grown.
It is definitely at least twenty + feet tall!
It was preparing to be in full bloom- and then it will die. I saw some other Century Plants on the island in different stages of their life cycle.
Kristin sent me these photos on the phone and said, “Wait until you come and see it in person.” She wasn’t kidding. I took some photos of it too.
How it starts. The mother plant sends out “pups”
Look at the thickness of the stalk
I used a flash at sunset and it makes the buds look interesting.
A shot at night
Agave Americana with the American Flag
Someone else’s Century Plant fell over.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Wrong
A flag in tatters. Montclair, New Jersey. Corner of Claremont and Valley Road. A revolutionary marker at the site commemorating George Washington’s Temporary Headquarters.
Parking on the wrong side of the street, going the opposite direction of traffic. Some neighborhoods ticket for this offense.
No Cardboard (you may have seen this one before)
No Parking in New York City. Just over the line.
Looks like the light is red but perhaps it was flashing
Green Eggs. And other interpretations for this week’s photo challenge may be seen here
Ohio House Front Yard
The blog has been a real family effort since I have been on vacation. My DIL drove by slowly so I could shoot the giant flag and Mustang on the lawn. This is one of those 100+ days we had in early July. Already we are past mid July! Oh my.
Now it’s drought conditions around here so the lawns are more brown. The thunderstorms just don’t provide enough precipitation
The Radio Said One Hundred One…..
German Village, Columbus OHIO. Back to the Book Loft on Third Street.
We were headed to Cup O Joe for an iced coffee or something wet. The thermometer said ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN!
And the humidity was right up there along with the temperature. The boys T-ball games cancelled due to the heat.
When I showed the iPhone image to Mark after supper, he called the boys to look at the photo asking them Who would like this picture? They said it would be me.
They looked more carefully than I did. They saw the Stars and Stripes of the American Flag reflected. Because I was born on the Fourth of July, my DIL and son have told the grandchildren how I love American Flags and everything Red White and Blue. A real Yankee Doodle Dandy !
They point them out everywhere we go. It has become a game in the car to see who can find them.
How comforting it is to know that when I’m gone and they see one (sometimes they are 1/4 of an inch on a cereal box) I will come to mind-
They call to me and tell me to look so I can see it. This year one of my birthday presents was a Red White and Blue apron with a flag motif.
Being so focused on the temperature this afternoon and the quick iPhone shot as we left the Book Loft, I did not even notice or see the reflection of the flag at the 12 spot if it were a clock.
What a gift of a reflection, captured unintentionally.
A Day to Remember
A neighbor’s display in his yard. Each flag has a metal marker of a different war. Too many wars.
Firefighter on the 62 Street Bridge- People at Work Series
It was mid July. The sun was dropping and I was on my way home. I stopped to photograph the huge American flag in the middle of Etna.
Etna #149
The light, the breeze, the undulating shadows. I pulled over to the side of the road and took quite a few shots. And then as I started back home, I was the first person on the scene of an accident on the 62 Street Bridge. I could hear sirens and a tow truck arrived, a Paramedic truck and the Etna Firetruck all made their way by me to the scene as I sat. I photographed the back of the firetruck through my windshield as I sat and sat. I missed being in the wreck cause I was photographing that flag blowing in the breeze. Watching the light. This Etna firefighter helped the line of traffic turn around on the bridge and find another route home. Before I did the K-turn, I asked him if I could photograph him and I think he said yes! Ahhh the men who save us. Thank you. He’s said, “It’s going to be awhile before anyone gets out of here.”
and one of the flag shots from the middle of Etna that saved me from being in the accident!.
Jimmy Stewart Statue and Old Glory-Indiana, PA
Got invited to photograph my daughter-in-law’s family reunion in Indiana PA. What a happy party and celebration. I considered posting photographs of all of the Polish food- Kielbasa, Haluski, Pierogies, Golabki (Stuffed Cabbage) but when I was headed back to the city the sun was low on the horizon. There was the Jimmy Stewart Statue in front of the Indiana County Courthouse. And on Philadelphia Street!!
One problem though, I was shooting into the West so shooting into the sun! I wished I had a step stool or ladder to capture the statue’s face from a different angle. Amazing how a statue can look so different depending on the light and the angle. The metal is bronze but at first there was a fiberglass statue that is now in the museum.
I waited until a burst of wind unfurled the flag. I was patient.
My family used to love watching Jimmy Stewart movies and the tradition is carried on with the annual It’s a Wonderful Life Christmas viewing at Mark and Erika’s home. There is a Jimmy Stewart Museum adjacent to this location but closed of course . Will have to research what is inside and return when it is open.
Twenty seven years of military service, A Brigadier General in the USAF Reserve- seems fitting that the flag is part of the picture to honor Jimmy Stewart’s service.
Just seemed like a perfect Independence Day Eve photo. A fitting tribute!
Footnote added July 10, 2011 Be sure to read the NYTimes article by John Marchese Visited Bedford Falls Lately?
The statue was erected on the occasion of Jimmy Stewart's 75th Birthday.
Vintage Milkbox on Dorothy’s Front Stoop
Used as a mailbox now, these silver milk boxes were on everyone’s porch steps. Growing up our dairy was Alderney Farms in New Jersey. Thick glass, with paperboard circle caps. You could get a dozen eggs, some cottage cheese. Leave the empties for the milkman to exchange for fresh cold bottles of milk. We still had delivery in the mid sixties. The delivery truck door had a sound when it’d slide. You can buy an old milkbox on ebay.
Lavender from Dorothy's garden rests on her vintage milkbox. I think I need to get her a new flag!
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