At The Ready

They are in tall stockpiles in rail yards. And you can see them in small stacks spaced out along railroad mainlines, secondaries, and spurs. They are railroad ties waiting their turn. From a distance they are carefully arranged stacks of lumber. Move in closer and patterns and textures start to become apparent. Look even more closely and those patterns and textures come into sharper focus, and you realize you have a picture.

Railroad ties have a finite life and have to be replaced with some regularity. Hence the stockpiling. These stacks of ties, complete with the baseplates that the rail sits on, were in a small train yard about 40 miles southwest of Houston, Texas.

After A Sun Shower

Black And White Photography, Don, Photography

It was a cheery, sunny day in the spring. And then there was a quick shower; one little cloud, a minute or two and then done. We call them sun showers. Sometimes things don’t even get fully wet, like Philippi’s monument. The sides are mostly dry with some dark areas where the water slid down and created an interesting design. Serendipity can occur anywhere at any time, even after a rain shower in a cemetery.

Poor Cecile

Black And White Photography, Don, Photography

She was given a nice headstone complete with a bas-relief image that hints that Cecile was probably a young girl rather than a woman. But you are not going to learn anything else about Cecile from this stone. She has a headstone. But who was she? Did she have a last name? If she was a young girl, how old was she? When did she die? Who knows? She is but an enigma and has been for many years. Poor Cecile indeed.

I like to wander through cemeteries and look at old gravestones. I have seen stones of all types. Simple ones. Fancy ones. Crude, handmade ones with mis-spellings. But I have never seen another headstone as terse and with less information than Cecile’s.

Row On Row

Black And White Photography, Don, Photography

ROW ON ROW

In Flanders Fields, the poppies blow,

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

— John McCrae

This is a U.S. military cemetery – Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri. There are no poppies between the stones, row on row. that stand on this carefully tended hillside. But places are marked, and birds do fly by sharing their lovely songs. And, sadly, here in this country, there are indeed still guns below.

A beautiful day with a magnificent sky above along with a vantage point looking up the hill gave me the picture I was hoping for. The photo itself is actually a four frame panorama to provide the scope the image demanded. It is finished with a 16 x 9 aspect ratio and a slight sepia tint.

Night Is Nigh

Black And White Photography, Don, Photography

NIGHT IS NIGH

The lake is calm and soon will be glassy smooth,

The sky is full of shadows as the sun gradually settles,

Evening’s sounds are now falling lightly on your ears,

Night is nigh.

— Don Simmons

A Perfect Bloom

Black And White Photography, Don, Photography

We were wandering through a coastal wetlands on a spring bird walk. We were looking for migrators which had stopped on the island to rest and refuel on their way north. By chance while walking along, a spot of yellow happened to catch my eye. I looked down, and tucked in the grasses was this lovely spring flower with every petal perfect. Nature at its best.

Buddies

Black And White Photography, Don, Photography

You are sitting by the water. You are with your buddy. The sun is out, and there is a light breeze wafting by. Maybe a boat will go by. Maybe not. But who really cares? There is no need to be entertained, and there is no need for conversation. The day is quiet, you are with your friend, and life is very good.

“Pissoir Park”

Black And White Photography, Don, Photography

“PISSOIR PARK”

Porta potties in a lineup rise above the fray

Serving people throughout the long day…”

Courtesy of Kerkstra Luxury Portable Restroom Service Inc.

Yes, this company did indeed write a poem — an ode, actually — to the portable toilet. Why not? Supplying porta-pots is their business. But the two lines quoted are all that are necessary; there is no reason to subject you to the rest of it. Should you be curious (and I surely hope not), a quick search will bring the entire ode to your screen.

We seem to have a love-hate relationship with these little plastic buildings. They are not attractive. We don’t want to go near them. They smell. And they are hardly cleanest of places. But when the need arises, a portable potty can be a very welcome site.

At this construction site they decided to group all the portables together, almost like a little community. No waiting!

Wintry Wetlands

Black And White Photography, Don, Photography

On a gray Winter’s day these wetlands — rimming the edge of a small lake — have a gloomy, almost foreboding look. Ah, but Spring will soon move gently through, and its sweet breath will bring new vitality. There will be little white blooms as the water grasses feel new life; turtles will be sunning on the logs; and frogs, lurking in the grass and reed, will be humming and strumming looking for mates. And there will be lovely white egrets wading along the edges looking for tasties. With Spring’s elixir, this gloomy little corner will again bubble with life’s ebullience.

This photo is a six-frame panorama with an original aspect ratio of approximately 11:5 and a width of 12,000 pixels. The image is cropped to 16:9.