Saddle Salesmen

First Monday Trade Days

Canton, Texas

Fence No. 20 - Glenrio Texas/New Mexico

Once a thriving small town, Glenrio straddled the Texas/New Mexico border on Route 66.  When Interstate 40 opened in 1973, Glenrio was almost forgotten.  A few buildings remain.  The old Route 66 is still visible although grass grows up through its cracks and it is filled with potholes and chunks of missing asphalt.  I'm not sure this fence would actually keep anyone out of the old cafe which it surrounds.

LINKING TO FRIDAY FENCES

Wildflowers and Butterflies

These photographs were taken yesterday on our farm on either side of our driveway and adjacent to our hay meadow.  The top photo is of what I believe to be a viceroy butterfly on scarlet clover.  Scarlet clover is very prolific here, growing along the roadsides.  Ours is almost two feet tall.

Beyond the clover are the Texas bluebonnets.  They are plentiful this year, due to our spring rains.  A two-inch rain a couple weeks ago caused the grass to grow so high it is practically hiding the bluebonnets.  The 'bonnets will be gone in another week or so.  I've enjoyed them so much this year.

This zebra swallowtail fluttered his wings so rapidly I had a hard time getting a good photo of him.  He allowed me to get very close however.  It was like he was saying, "Get as close as you want.  You still won't get a good picture. Ha, ha, ha!"  He was more interested in the dandelion blossoms than he was the bluebonnets, Indian paintbrush, and scarlet clover, all only partially visible in the shallow depth of field.

Thanks to TexWis Girl we have Indian paintbrush this year for the first time ever.  She sent us seeds last fall when I mentioned I could not find any for sale on the Internet due to the drought.  We've been blessed with maybe up to 30 plants on either side of the driveway (even though we only sowed them on one side!).  Thank you, dear friend.  My mother is so proud of them.  She counts them every day!

For any of you who do not follow my OTHER BLOG (I'm one of those people who just need two!) there are some closeups of the bluebonnets you can see by clicking HERE.

In Search of a White Dogwood

I finally found two flowering dogwood trees at the Libby Cemetery, a small cemetery deep in the heart of Nacogdoches County.  Dogwood trees are difficult to photograph because you can't get much detail on the small blossoms at any distance.  This photo was just blah so I used the Topaz Adjust filter called Whisperly.

This photo and the one below were edited on ipiccy.com but using two completely different approaches.  Don't ask how I did either one!

That's all the dogwood pictures until next year.  It was a very short season, indeed!

In Search of a Pink Dogwood

 About ten days ago the dogwood trees started blooming here in East Texas.  I intended to get out and take some photos but then I got really busy for about five days and didn't get out when I should have.  With the early spring warmth, the dogwoods, much like the other flowering trees, leafed out much sooner than usual and the blossoms faded rapidly.  By Sunday it was difficult to find any trees blooming along country roads or in our nearby woods.  I ventured on into Nacogdoches on some errands and drove by a residential neighborhood which is known to have beautiful azaleas and dogwoods this time of year.  I've always wanted to take a picture of a pink dogwood but, not being found in the wild, they are always on personal property and people are pretty picky about trespassers here.  I passed one nice home that had a small still lovely pink dogwood right next to the street.  I went to the door and the homeowner gave me permission to photograph the beautiful pink dogwood.
 

I was a little disappointed in the closeups.  They show that the pink dogwood is really a white dogwood with dark pink or light red veins in the petals.  They therefore are much prettier from a distance than they are up close, at least in my opinion.

I put a slight sepia tone on this photo.  I like looking at the dogwood from the bottom up toward the sky.

So now that I've had the opportunity to see the pink dogwood up close and personal, I think I like the white ones better.  Tomorrow I'll show you some of the ones I managed to find.

Desert Monsoon

July 2011

Near Black Canyon City, Arizona

Looking for the Perfect Snack

Remember Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the beautiful twin roosters who live in our area?  

Well, I can never tell them apart, 

but here is one of them on a quest to find the perfect snack amongst the leaves. 

Early-Day Air Conditioning

Fence No. 19 - More Bluebonnets

Last week I showed you bluebonnets and red honeysuckle along our farm's fenceline.  This week I went to Nacogdoches for the weekly errands and saw this pretty patch of thick bluebonnets along a picket fence in a cottage-type house near downtown.  I actually found one pink bluebonnet (which is an occasional anomaly) and a few red bluebonnets which were hybridized in the late 1990s by Texas A&M University.  Some of their seeds occasionally get mixed in with blue seeds.  And yes, they are called red BLUEbonnets and pink BLUEbonnets!

LINKING TO FRIDAY FENCES

A Day at the Lake

This photo was snapped back in January before signs of spring started bursting out.  This lake almost dried up during last year's drought.  One of my cousins lives on the eastern end and they were unable to even launch a boat in it until last month.  With two more good drenching rains that we've received since then, it should be well on its way to recovery by now.  This photo was taken near the dam which is obviously the deepest part of the lake.  My relatives have once again been able to get their boat launched and enjoy some good bass fishing.  Also this particular lake was the alternate water supply for a town of about 5500 people.  Thank goodness their worries have now been somewhat diminished as to where their water would be supplied if their primary source evaporated!

Old Nacogdoches University

Located just north of what is now Main Street in the heart of town is the Old Nacogdoches University Building.  Chartered by the Republic of Texas in 1845, it opened its doors in 1859 as the first nonsectarian university in Texas.  Of Greek Revival architecture made popular in the US in the 1800s, it is one of three oldest school buildings in the state.  Today it is home to a museum dedicated to education in Texas during the 19th century and items from a Confederate hospital, which was housed in the structure during the Civil War. 

Note:  Nacogdoches is recognized as the oldest town in Texas and has historical markers on practically every corner, even some in between!

Tribute to the Confederate Soldier

Texas, as a slave state (sad to say), was aligned with the Confederacy and seceded from the United States in 1861. Thousands of Texans lost their lives in America's Civil War (ironically, almost twice as many Union and Confederate soldiers died from disease rather than battle during the war), and many Texas courthouses have erected monuments to military heroes, including those who died in that conflict.  Many soldiers served to preserve their homeland, not to preserve slavery.  This monument to the Texas Confederate soldier was erected in the Oakwood Cemetery in Tyler, Texas, in 1907.  I find it quite interesting that the soldier depicted seems to be a mature, if not middle-aged, gentleman.  Many of the courthouse statues I've seen portray boys the age of 14 or 15 years old!

In the past few months I have been reading John Jakes' trilogy regarding the Civil War:  North and South, Love and War, Heaven and Hell.  The three books combined are almost 3,000 pages and I am within 300 pages of finishing the last one.  Although a novel, the books are highly researched and provide a very good learning experience of what happened to America during the Civil War and its aftermath.  I highly recommend them for those who like historical novels.

LINKING TO TAPHOPHILE TRAGICS

More of Mercado de Uco

In yesterday's post I wrote about Mercado de Uco at the Phoenix Zoo.  This is one of several buildings in the South American village portrayed on one of the zoo trails.

 

Door Detail.  Sort of makes you want a purple door, doesn't it?

Metal Coke Sign in Spanish

 And maybe you're wondering where in the world did I find this wonderful old metal Coca-Cola sign in Spanish (or could it be Portugese? Tell me if you know).  And the answer is at the Mercado de Uco, a

reproduction of a South American mercado at the -- drum roll, please! -- Phoenix Zoo!  One of the many trails through the zoo is the Forest of Uco, a lush rainforest landscape that surrounds visitors along a one-mile walking trail and also includes reproduction of a South American scientific expedition and ruins and highlights several tropical animals, including the South American macaws and the Andean Bear -- which I unfortunately did not see, presumably because they were in their quarters taking a nap!



The Phoenix Zoo is the largest nonprofit zoo in the United States.  The zoo has been conservation-minded from its inception in 1962. Soon after it opened it hosted what was thought to be the last few Arabian oryx,  which formed the basis of the world herd created for Operation Oryx and eventually allowed the reintroduction of the species into the wild.

(What's with blogger throwing in all these extra line spaces?  I've corrected it three times and it continues to occur.  So I give up!)

Is Rural America Dying?

This old store is located in the small community of Melrose, Texas, east of Nacogdoches.  It looks like it may have been scorched in a fire.

For some strange reason I'm drawn to these forlorn, abandoned, dilapidated remnants of what was once  rural life in America, I suppose because they represent a dying era that will go the way of the Pontiac,  affordable health care, and safe neighborhoods where children can ride their bikes home from school!

Fence No. 18 - Bluebonnets and Red Honeysuckle

Our bluebonnets started blooming this week!  We Texans love our bluebonnets.  We have very few in our area but my mom has been cultivating a few on either side of our driveway for a number of years.  We've got a bumper crop this year.  Although you can't see much of this fence, it gave me a good excuse to show off some of the pretty bluebonnets along with some red honeysuckle along one side of our driveway.  The other side is not fenced and the bluebonnets are along both the road and the driveway.  We're hoping to have a few Indian paintbrush mixed in this year.

Linking to Friday Fences.

If you'd like to see more of our bluebonnets, 

you can see them on my other blog HERE.

Kelso Cock

I think this chicken has the most fabulous feathers I have ever seen on a piece of poultry!

Yes, this is a male and I know he has no comb.  The females are bland beige and brown birds.

Lush

Jerome, Arizona

Summer 2011

Giraffe Landscape

Phoenix Zoo

Ginocchio Home ~ Marshall, Texas

Italian-American business leader Charles Ginocchio (1844-98) and wife Roxana settled in Marshall, Texas, in 1871 and built this home in 1886. The Ginocchios operated the Ginocchio Hotel which was just down the street from their home.  The hotel was next to the railroad station and Marshall was therefore a hub of activity in East Texas both before and after the Civil War.  You can still catch the Texas Eagle, in Marshall, Amtrak passenger service traveling daily between Chicago and San Antonio, taking you through Austin and Dallas.  Connecting service between San Antonio and Los Angeles is available three times a week via the Sunset Limited.  A study is currently being made as to the viability of adding a spur between Marshall and Shreveport, Louisiana, to help ease what is expected to be congested automobile traffic between Shreveport and Dallas in the years to come.

Ford Tractor

Fence No. 17 - Fleur-de-Lis

Jerome, Arizona

A beautiful wrought-iron fleur-de-lis patterned fence protecting ... history I suppose.

LINKING TO FRIDAY FENCES

As darkness falls

This is the road that goes by our house late one winter afternoon after a rainy shower.

Guardian Angel

City Cemetery

San Augustine, Texas

Columbus Cartwright (1837-1901), his wife Sallie Lane Cartwright, and their son Clinton Cartwright are buried beneath the Angel in the San Augustine City Cemetery.

Columbus was born in San Augustine August 23, 1837.  His father, Matthew Cartwright, at the time of his death in 1870 was one of the largest landowners in Texas. He had acquired extensive land holdings by riding horseback throughout the settled portions of the state. He owned a horse he claimed to have ridden over 20,000 miles. Others claimed he could spend the night anywhere in Texas and sleep on his own land. After serving in the Civil War Columbus returned to San Augustine, and because of his family’s vast land empire, he spent the rest of his career in real estate. A tall, slender man, he loved horses and was a respected horse breeder. He has 16 descendents buried in the cemetery. In 1897 he deeded an entire block within the City of San Augustine to the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. This land gift contained one dominant provision—that a certain portion of the premises be set apart for hitching horses and standing room for buggies. To this day, on the southwest corner of the block, a 15-foot hitching rack is available to all who might come by horseback or by buggy. The angel was placed in the City Cemetery in 1898 prior to Columbus’ death. At the same time an identical angel was placed over the grave of his father, Matthew Cartwright, who died in 1870, in Terrell, Texas, which is near Dallas.  In 1943 the angel’s wing was broken when a tornado ripped through the town.  The broken wing section was preserved through the years and was repaired in 1992.  The obvious fracture is visual in the photograph.  I first photographed this beautiful angel three years ago and she was covered with mold, soot, and lichen.  I was pleasantly surprised upon my return to San Augustine recently to find that she has been cleaned and is now sparkling white. LINKING TO TAPHOPHILE TRAGICS

Aunt Ruth's Barn

As a child, and even as an adult, I loved going to visit my Aunt Ruth, who lived but just a couple of miles from us.  She always had a good pie in the kitchen, a soft, loving voice, and plenty of time to visit.  After returning to Texas last year I happened to notice one day that someone was at Aunt Ruth's place and the gate was unlocked.  I drove down the road to the house and found my cousin, one of her two surviving children (Aunt Ruth has been gone about 20 years now).  We had a nice visit, the first in about 40 years, and I told him how much I'd like to come back and photograph Aunt Ruth's old barn.  He told me I'd better hurry because he had plans to tear it down.  After all, it was just hanging by a haystring anyway and the tin patching was also beginning to look a little frail.  The next weekend I returned and took many pictures.  I haven't been back but I assume it's gone by now.  I'm glad I got to see it one more time.  I love the vine covering the exterior and the natural air conditioning.

LINKING TO TRICIA'S BARN CHARM

Giraffe

Wildlife World Zoo

Litchfield Park, Arizona

A Bouquet of Camellias

Fence No. 16

Beyond the Gate

LINKING TO FRIDAY FENCES

NOTE:  I no longer comment on blogs which require word verification 
due to time constraints and the inability to decipher them.