The Shutter Maze

From Behind

2009-02-08T18:18:00.000-08:00

On the way home from OKC, we stopped at a truck stop for gas and other necessities. Imagine my surprise when I walked into the black marble ladies room. That's right. Black marble in a truck stop.

From The Shutter Maze

168

2009-02-08T18:17:00.001-08:00

We visited the memorial of the Oklahoma City bombing at the Murrah building. I find that I don't do well at these things. I'm a crier. But the reflecting pool was pretty.

From The Shutter Maze

Peanuts and Cracker Jacks

2009-02-08T18:15:00.000-08:00

From Bricktown in downtown Oklahoma City, views of Mickey Mantle Plaza.

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Tahoe, Tahoe, off to the Lake I Go

2009-01-28T19:52:00.001-08:00

I've been out of town, exploring South Lake Tahoe for the last few days. What a beautiful part of the country!

I took these out the window of the car, while driving around Lake Tahoe.

From The Shutter Maze

These were from the Vikingsholm observation point.

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This is the view on the way up the Heavenly Gondola, in gondola number 122.

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This was the view from our hotel balcony

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And the beach across the street

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Bald Ball Park

2009-01-17T15:50:00.000-08:00

From The Shutter Maze

Peaked

2009-01-10T17:50:00.000-08:00

A view from Pike's Peak. You can see some of the mechanism of the Cog Rail in the bottom right. By the way, altitude sickness is no laughing matter.

Immortal

2009-01-10T17:39:00.000-08:00

Taken at the Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado.

I love castles, and love doorways and arches that give glimpses of more than one thing. A stairway. A courtyard. Another room.

Travel Case

2009-01-02T11:27:00.000-08:00

Where are we going?

Somewhere fabulous for coffee.

Smarty Pants

2008-12-16T12:45:00.001-08:00

I drove a Smart car for the first time today. (My Saturn is likely offended at my saying, but it's just a brand name!)

My curiousity about the vehicle has been satisfied, and my kidneys have been jarred, so I don't think I'll be asking to take it out again. Nice place to visit. Certainly wouldn't want to live there.

Dinner

2008-11-24T10:13:00.001-08:00

We spend a lot of time at the Cracker Barrel. While I was expecting The Boy, I wanted their turnip greens, and ate my weight in carrots and black-eyed peas. I suppose it is only fitting that The Boy's favorite restaurant is where he was getting most of his prenatal meals.

Thus and so, if I say, "Where do you want to eat?" He will say, "Cracker Barrel. And I want mashed potatoes--NO gravy! And carrots. And apple sauce. And macaroni and cheese. And corn." And I will order these things for him, and he will eat them all. Me? I get coffee and eggs.

Endless

2008-11-20T14:38:00.000-08:00

I am interested in the feeling of endlessness that evaporated sometime in my teens. I get glimpses of it through my son, and in cracks between fences, hidden rooms, and hidey holes under staircases. I miss that feeling.

Hell on Wheels

2008-11-19T12:33:00.000-08:00

There is an abandoned car on the side of the highway, across from my office building. Every time I walk into my boss's office, the conference room, or even stand up from my desk, I can see it. And every time, I smile.

You see, that is an older model Crown Victoria--same kind and color my grandparents drove. The same kind and color that my grandmother took to her grave with her. Yes. She took it with her.

She never liked having other people drive her car. No matter that she had stopped driving years prior, and wasn't even tall enough to see over the steering wheel at the end. She did not want anyone else to have that car. She constantly groused that various members of the family wanted and were trying to take her car from her. Much like she often swore she was being starved, ignored, or abused.

The day she died, one of my cousins was driving the car. My understanding is that at the same hour Grandma lost her fight, that car broke down on the side of a San Antonio highway, in such disrepair that it cost more to tow it than the car was worth. In my mind's eye, I see that woman's angry ghost going and snatching the soul of that vehicle right out from under my poor cousin, and then driving that Ford through the Pearly Gates. I don't mean driving through them as they were being opened for her either. I mean, I picture her barreling right into them, with St. Peter as a hood ornament.

God bless you, Grandma. Thanks for the laughs. I'm pretty sure you knew I needed them this week.

Apple of my Eye

2008-11-18T19:12:00.000-08:00

Some images from the weekend of my cousin's wedding. I do enjoy photographing The Boy. He is fairly agreeable. I love the shape of his head.

Habitat for Humanity

2008-11-18T13:45:00.000-08:00

It is difficult to pick out just the pictures that have no visible faces!

Spring

2008-11-18T13:43:00.000-08:00

I took this after a fire drill. I am probably the only person in my company who grabs a camera when potential disaster strikes.

What's Out There

2008-11-18T13:40:00.000-08:00

I like surprising visuals. This portal window in the far wall of a very long corridor gave me a happy start the first time I saw it.

Trucks

2008-11-18T13:36:00.000-08:00

Barren Trees, Bountiful Salad Bar

2008-11-18T13:26:00.000-08:00

My job was to get a group of nervous, unhappy people excited about a place they were going, and to give them a sneak peek at the new property. Dead of winter. Disturbingly modern architecture.

So I took pictures of the cafeteria and the food, and told them how inexpensive it was. Later, the same cafeteria would charge me $7 for less than a cup of cottage cheese because it was, "a salad, and all salads are charged by weight."

Skeeter Hagler

2008-11-18T12:45:00.000-08:00

Lately, I have been very fortunate to meet and spend a little time with Pulitzer Prize winning photographer, Skeeter Hagler. He is a kind, busy man, with faraway eyes, who disappears behind his camera so that you don't even notice he is following you around and taking pictures.

At one event, I mentioned a photo of his I had admired. At the next, he surprised me with a signed copy.

I have put it on my desk at work. It is exactly the kind of scene I can sink into for escape. I like that you can see my reflection in the frame--I am part of the environment. But I like, even more, that the rising sun is exactly where my heart should be. I'll spare you the bad poetry.

My City

2008-11-18T12:21:00.000-08:00

I don't pretend that I am a great photographer. I snap what I see, and keep what I like. This blog is my view of the world, updated with the the things I like to see, the images that are important to me, and my truth, and my reality.

To be perfectly honest, as much as I love this photo and think the composition is keen, I hate that "UNO" is so prominent. Granted, the color of the neon is part of what gives the photo energy, but it's just so...corporate.