"Walkin' in the Sand"

"Sunset Storm at Greenfield Village"

Mary Stebbins Taitt created this picture and sent it to me today. This was interesting... today just happens to be one of those days when it fits the mood, even though the sun is shining. Days can be like that, and it's a paradox, sometimes. You want to feel good, but you have trouble doing it. Or a friend is ill and can't be consoled. You try in good heart, and yet you fail. Thank goodness for such days, though. They keep us in check. They keep us from getting the "big head". They remind us that all is not tidy and predictable. They keep us on our toes, and watchful.

the true definition of curiosity

Gail Slaughter sent me this picture, but we don't know who took it... she sent it because my friend and companion Smokey looks just like this intrepid warrior... and Gail was the one who helped rescue him and bring him to me... thank you, Gail, from both of us!

"The Train Table"

This is a picture from Andree in Vermont. When I was strolling through her blog at midnight and things were quiet, no mail coming in, no axes to grind, no phones ringing, nothing burning on the stove, no duties to do, I came across this. It took me WAY back to my childhood and my train set. My father had a table built for it, about ten inches deep, held up by pipe legs screwed into flanges underneath. It was made of plywood, and a fellow owed an oil bill he couldn't quite pay, so Dad had him build this table instead.

The table was covered over with two half-sheets of thick plywood, concealing the train and tracks and whatever inside, and this allowed its use as a ping-pong table. It got an awful lot of use...my brother became an expert on that table and could not be beaten. At festive occasions, that table was used to carry the weight of all the great potluck dinners we had with the neighbors and relatives. It bore all the Christmas presents when we moved into the basement of our uncompleted brick home, the one Mom designed.

But it held my train, too. And the tunnel I built for it: plywood and chicken wire and paper mache. And this picture brings all of that back, and more!

An Old Georgia Barn

This one I really love... it's a picture by Dot, from "Strolling Through Georgia", a blog you can link to from "Everything in Particular" if you head that way, or simply by using a pogostick:

http://strollingthroughgeorgia.blogspot.com/

"Andree's Home in Barton, Vermont"

This beautiful picture was sent to me by my friend Andree. She told me the water to the left in the shot consists of beaver ponds. Just look at that sky! What a place to be! Well, maybe not in winter...she tells me the snow near Barton's Mountain comes a full foot at a time!
(Picture credit: http://www.aaronkotowski.com/Artist.asp?ArtistID=9937&Akey=G4YBGL8X)

Lighthouse

People who know me know I love lighthouses... the older the better... but this picture almost looks like it could have been painted on a cave wall! Actually my good friend Mary Stebbins Taitt sent me a beautiful work she did of the Lighthouse in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and I did this detail from it in Picasa, just for fun.
(See http://nerdshot.blogspot.com/2008/02/grosse-pointe-lighthouse.html for the original)

More Barns, from Michigan

Old Barns! Not-so-old-Barns! I don't care, I love all of 'em! Once found everywhere in rural America, many have passed into memory and history, and many have fortunately been preserved. Some survive without any assistance, somehow, because they were built to last for a hundred years and longer. Both sets of my Grandparents were farmers with barns, and I played in such wonderful places when I was a young'un.
(These pictures were taken by Mary Stebbins Taitt)

"Leeds Castle"

Any "boot" who trained at the Army Engineer's School will find this picture familiar. This is Leeds Castle in England, and a stylized version was officially adopted by the Army in 1902 as the symbol of the Engineers. I trained at Fort Belvoir in Virginia in 1984.
(Photo: Google Earth)

"Le petit chat et l'oiseau"

From pictures sent to me by Mary Taitt

The Bell Tower

This is Beaumont Tower, the iconic image of Michigan State University, where I received my BA in Radio and Television.

The campus is beautiful and very scenic to walk, known especially for its many varieties of trees and its botanical gardens.

The campus is well worth the visit, and is located in East Lansing, Michigan, about 35 miles north of my home in Jackson.