Steven in Town

     Steven Schroeder came to town bearing the gift of poetry. His daughter, Regina, brought a gift, too, of lessons in paper-making. I would not miss a minute of any of it.
     Schroeder named the event "from page to poem, with music," presented by the Wichita Falls Literature and Art Review. Antuan Simmons, Sheri Sutton, James Hoggard, and Kenny Hada also contributed to the event. The Dutchess provided food and wine for the audience.

The two-day event began with Regina's paper-making workshop.

Sift the cotton in the frame, gently, firmly, until it looks glassy.

Lay the paper on felt to dry overnight.

Regina Schroeder, from the Boston Paper Collective, shows the different kinds of paper she makes.

     I arrived quite late, having enjoyed a pleasant lunch visit with Claudia, John, and Jesse. Jesse treated us to chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Normally, I do not eat sweet foods or desserts of any kind, but out of politeness I discovered a world of taste I had missed by denying myself before . . . the chocolate chip cookie. My first bite made a discovery which I know I will remember for a long time. I ate the whole cookie, then, and decided to treat MyMrMallory with one later in the week.

    I could hardly wait to draw and paint a chocolate chip cookie, relishing the memory of its taste -- AND the memory of a pleasant, relaxing lunch with some fine people. 

     My relaxed feelings slipped off my back as I hopped on my bike to rush to the Forum, having missed two hours of Regina's paper-making workshop. No worries, she indicated, "Come up to my studio in Boston any time." I admired her calm demeanor.

     After plunging my hands in the water to swirl the cotton fibres, I scooped them up in her frame. I felt the cotton, the water, the heavy wooden frame, and the copper that held it together, and felt convinced that I would indeed travel to her studio in Boston to experience more in depth the endeavor of making paper. 

    In the evening, Antuan Simmons read his work first. I have noted his work to uplift the spirit of the reader. Simmons contributes to our world with a new website BlackmobileTV for smartphones, and Black History Films in the online version. 

Simmons read at the event from page to poem, with music.

Sheri Sutton and James Hoggard read their work as Kenny Hada accompanied them with guitar music.

    The next day, Schroeder held a poetry workshop, also at the Dutchess. Students sipped coffee and tea. Since we celebrated Ellen's birthday the day before, and I had left my share of the cake there, she sliced it in several pieces to share with the students. That was the second time in two days that I learned that denying myself sweet foods had kept my taste buds from reveling in life.

Infrared Saint Ben

Saint Benedict Orthodox Church

Could not drive by a beautiful building on a sunny day knowing I had an infrared filter in my car.

Ferris Wheel and Clouds

   

      Nikon d3200, ISO200, f14, 1/1000secs, constraints set by photography class assignment and a cloudy day. I post-processed in Lightroom and Photomatix to bring up the shadows.

No HDR on this image, but simply, bringing up the shadows. 

Reaching

D3200, 18-55mm, 1/4000, 200ISO, shutter priority.

Wichita Trucks: 1911-32

Good good article written by Hugh Hemphill 

on the Wichita Falls Motor Company: 

http://www.txtransportationmuseum.org/history-wichita-truck.php

Wichita truck on exhibit at the Wichita Falls Railroad Museum. 

The Holt Hotel is seen in the background of this image.

Wichita trucks were strong and reliably built for the oil fields, 

among other difficult fields found all around the world. 

A worn tire.

Behind the driver's seat, a copper plaque showed instructions. 

Notice to Truck Driver 

In order to obtain -

         the most miles per gallon

         the best power

         the smallest repair bills

the truck driver must personally take 

an interest in keeping the motor at about

180 F.  in all seasons of the year.

The driver should get the motor temper-

ature up to 180 F. as soon as possible af-

ter starting by closing up the radiator.

The choke should be used very sparingly.

Do not let the motor idle unnecessarily.

Nikon V 1, 10mm lens, no post-processing in the digital darkroom except for cropping.

Dashing After Bugs

   The passionflower vine continues to thrive in the small amounts of rain. Its three flowers yesterday caught my eye, and as I admired them, I noted something else thrived in the garden. Flitting from plant to plant, flower to flower, disappearing and reappearing from behind foliage, their colorful wings glimmering in pockets of sun underneath the great oak tree, dragonflies and butterflies landed and then took off. I ran for my camera. 

    MyMrMallory sat in a chair minding the coals in the old grill, preparing to cook our supper of grilled eggplant, glancing from fire to our garden as I dashed after a monarch (Danaus plexippus) butterfly. "He's behind you now," he would say, as I stood up from behind the lantana bushes, looking all around me for the butterfly. The insects provided me with fine exercise and a show for MyMrMallory before our meal.

Taken with a Nikon D3200 set on auto everything and a 55-300mm lens. 

Cropped during fearless and shameless post-processing with the dodge tool in the digital darkroom.

The monarch stood still enough for my camera to finally focus on it, rather than the surrounding foliage. 

Do hunter's with rifles have this much fun?

Here is the same butterfly sitting on a turk's cap leaf in the shade. 

No post-processing except for cropping. 

Elsewhere in the garden, more challenges:

A skimmer alighted on the buds of a turk's cap plant.

Skimmer lands on the dead stalk of a rose bush. 

Libellula pulchella males.

Gulf Fritillary

Agraulis vanillae and a caterpillar.

D3200 set on auto.

WW II Biplane Training Reenactment

      PBS folks filmed the Jenny during pre-flight and flight. The Jenny flying anytime is reason to lug my camera and monopod to the grassy strip.

As the troop car pulls the Jenny, the cameraman begins rolling.

Sitting in the Model T Ford, Mr. Ginnings salutes.

Mr. Ginnings driving the troop car.

Mr. Robert Seabury, the pilot whose vision made the Call Field Museum possible. 

Wood and brass propeller.

Pilot David Martin discusses last minute details with the director. 

The student pilot photographing the lineman as he touches the prop.

Filming begins. Student hands his hat to the lineman and climbs aboard.

Checking on the student. Okeh! So the instructor climbs aboard in the back seat.

Pre-flight completed, the pilots are ready to start the engine.

The lineman rolls the fire extinguisher closer to the aircraft. 

Propping the engine.

Engine started, he moves the extinguisher aside.

They remove the chocks.

The lineman signals.

The Jenny flying. 

Visit the Call Aviation Field Memorial Exhibit Facebook page for more information.

UPDATE: Nice Times Record News story by Alyssa Johnston.

D4, 17-35mm and 85mm.

Plathemis lydia

Adult male common white-tailed skimmer. Love them for they gorge on mosquitoes.

Visit Dawes Arboretum for more photographs of dragonflies.

Ol' Ninety-seven

     Ol' Ninety-seven, a Hereford bull, he's a charming fellow, if you don't approach him too closely, and a happy one, for all the gals following him around the prairie grasslands of North Texas. Rather than a number, I call him Sweetie.

From Start to a Finish

    Intrigued by the facade of a building downtown, I poked my nose in the city index of 1923. Why that year? Easy to answer: The facade shows, "19 and 23." The year, plus the address, are good places to begin. JoAnn had already discovered that they, the folks in the building, earned a living in real estate.  This afternoon, nose in several years of the city indexes, I noted that Gullahorn and Beard were partners in both real estate and live stock dealing. As far back as I studied this afternoon, which was 1920, those were their businesses. Their address was listed as 501 Indiana until 1945, when they listed 101 Indiana.

    The address of the beautiful building is 517 Indiana, different from the address listed in the index. 

Facade of building showing Gullhorn, 19 and 23, and Beard 

across the brick above, and the address on the wood.

A truck sits abandoned alongside the building. 

    On a side note, having nothing to do with the intriguing building, except, perhaps, its location, also parked on its property is the trailer of an eighteen-wheeler, which provides shelter for two homeless persons. Underneath, they seem to have most of what they need to provide for their creature comforts.

     By 1945, the address listed for Gullahorn and Beard shows 101 Indiana, where only the concrete foundation exists now, and the trunk of a tree long gone. 

Lycoris radiata: Three Views

Spider lily on the 24th.

Nikon 3200, 55-300mm, 320ISO, f5.6, 1/60 secs, auto WB, manual,

cropped in the digital darkroom.

Spider lily on the 28th.

D3200, 55-300mm, 280ISO, f5.6, 1/250 secs, auto WB, manual, 

cropped in the digital darkroom.

Red spider lily.

D3200, 55-300mm, 100ISO, f5.6, 1/15 secs, auto WB, manual, cropped.

Impromptu Soccer

One evening in front of the Hardin Building.

Nikon F6, 17-35mm, Portra 400.

Steaming a Cowboy Hat

Paul, from Ranch Horse Outfitters, steams a straw hat 

to make it pliable enough to shape to a customer's head. 

Nikon F6, 17-35mm, f2.8, Provia 400, cropped.

Poetry: My Friend Jeff on the Baltic Sea

My Friend Jeff on the Baltic Sea

I used to ask my friend about everything.
Before he died on a sunny, windy day, I asked him,
Jeff, why do the swans swim on the Baltic Sea?

But silently he walked toward me for a farewell hug.
I said, Where will you go when you walk up the shore?
To see more swans swim, he said, on the Baltic Sea.

As he stood on the shore, the sun's warmth on his head,
I looked up at him. I wanted to walk with him up the shore
to watch other swans as they swam on the Baltic Sea.

The wind blew. I blinked. Time flew. Jeff -- Jeff left.
I wept -- yet since then I have stood tall without him
watching the swans swim on the Baltic Sea.

 

    Canon PowerShot A530, 23mm cropped, f5.5, 1/320sec, 0ISO,
    post-processed in the digital darkroom for color contrast in CS6.