27/100 Strangers ~ Steve

I met Steve at First Monday Trade Days in Canton where he was a vendor offering demonstrations and selling a product called a Swiss peeler.  I'm always fascinated by what those guys can do and I shelled out 11 bucks for one of his little gizmos because I'm a sucker for kitchen gadgets.  Now, granted, it's an okay peeler and maybe with a little (I mean a lot) of practice I might be able to peel a potato, but never anything like Steve.  He actually made hashbrowns with this doohickey (notice the bottom right of the photo).  He fashioned curliques and rosettes and he even gave some lady in the audience a shag haircut and shaved her legs (don't believe everything you read on the Internet).

For those of you new to my blog, the 100 Strangers Project is a method to improve your street and portrait photography and make you more comfortable in approaching people and asking to take their photograph.  Just Google 100 Strangers Project and you'll find out more than you ever wanted to know.  It's fun but still rather intimidating.  If you want to look at my first 26 Strangers, just click on "100 Strangers" below or in the sidebar on the right.

Canton, Texas

Babbitt Brothers ~ Flagstaff, AZ

The Babbitt brothers - David, George, William, Charles, and Edward - came to Flagstaff in 1886 to go into the cattle ranching business.  They established the C.O. Bar Ranch on lands between Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon.  The historic C.O. Bar is one of the largest cattle ranches in the Southwest and continues in operation today.  It was named C.O. for the former Babbitt home of Cincinnati, Ohio.  

By 1889, the Babbitt brothers also had established a general mercantile store in Flagstaff.  This store supplied goods such as oil lamps, saddles, wool shears, canned food, hardware, and trade blankets to the trading posts which were beginning to spring up across the vast Indian Country of northeastern Arizona. The building is across the street from the historic Monte Vista Hotel, and the Coconino County Courthouse is hidden behind the trees in the upper right.

Romance

Windswept Beauty

Biker Dude ~ Jerome, AZ

Hardware - 1

Entry Door
Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Flagstaff, Arizona

Viva la Rust!

I love old tractors, the rustier, the better.  I discovered this one in a tractor/lawn mower/golf cart/race car junkyard near Douglass, Texas, last winter while searching for an old iron truss bridge with my Uncle Joe Buck.  Yes, his given name is Joe Buck.  Joe is not short for anything and Buck is just Buck.  My  mother said their mother allowed a friend to name him.  I suppose that's because after seven or eight babies, she just ran out of ideas!  Can you imagine allowing a friend to name your child?

Fallin' Down Drunk ...

... in Martinsville, Texas

This old barn is typical of many buildings throughout rural America 

that I like to describe as the final swagger in the stagger of fallin' down drunk.

The Long Hot Summer

Fence No. 7

Fence with Vines

Gladewater, Texas

Windows ~ No. 3

Masonic Building

Flagstaff, Arizona

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever ...

... in Arizona.  From the mountainside of Jerome, across the Verde Valley, through the red rocks of Sedona, the aspen and pine-studded forests of Flagstaff to the San Francisco Peaks (can you see them on the horizon in the upper left?).  I think such a dramatic view would outweigh having to occasionally look at that sand and gravel pit in the valley!  Tip for nonlocals:  This 200-mile geological escarpment across the state of Arizona is called the Mogollon Rim, and the proper pronunciation is muggy-YON.

Aunt Ruth's Barn

Aunt Ruth died a number of years ago.  Her barn quickly followed her in death.