Photo Friday: traveling by train

January 5, 2012August 16, 201431 Comments

Mia culpa! This got posted before I was finished editing, but I think I got it now. ~ L 😉

Once upon a time travel by train was the ultimate in luxury, though I am sure that those who traveled by rail in its infancy might argue that point.

Photo credit: Scanning around with Gene – please click the photo for source and many other wonderful vintage photos and adds.

~*~

As a child, in California, my 2nd grade class took a ride on the train to the San Bernardino Depot. It was a wonderful experience, though I also remember how cheated felt on finding out we did not get a return trip!

San Bernardino Train Depot, California

I also recall arguing with my teacher about this point. At which time she put her hand firmly on my arm, and with the conductor’s assistance, redirected me to the bus!

Photo credit: Scanning around with Gene – please click the photo for source and many other wonderful vintage photos and adds.

The picture is the right vintage, but do you see that the Teacher and Conductor have strained smiles… and me? No way was I smilin’! Posers all!

~*~

Later in my life I would meet my husband Bob. He and his father were great train enthusiasts. Why, he even had a model RR set up in his bedroom that was so big it went edge to edge, taking up a full two-thirds of the room. That necessitated the placement of his bed shoved head first into one closet, with the chest of drawers shoved into the other! Me, being a tomboy at heart, loved to watch him and his dad run the HO Scale models on the layout. There were mountains that climbed the back walls, tunnels, bridges, a town and more. All done to exacting scale and very realistic.

~*~

Jump forward to this November when we went to the Huntsville train museum with our friends Pam and Tim… They wanted to take the “Fall Color Ride” and could either of us say no? Of course not!

The following photographs were taken on that day and recalled many memories of times that are no more…

In its heyday, the dining car carried folks long distances, and you were wined and dined in comfort and luxury.

~*~

Looking about I saw

A Diner’s still bright windows,

and I thought to myself,

“They resemble eyes, still bright, that remember better days.”

Clinging vines tying iron wheels to the tracks,

dust, rust, and

Couplers gone green with algae

were now rendered useless.

The men who remember,

some as old as the relics they tend,

dream of a time when life was large

and mighty engines

huffed,

screamed,

and rattled down the tracks,

taking us to where we were going

in style and luxury.

A time that passed…

and is no more.

~*~

Photo Friday: the hawk in the cemetery

November 4, 2011November 4, 201119 Comments

On Saturday we visited Maple Hill Cemetery, which is the oldest cemetery in Alabama. It was begun in 1818 when Leroy Pope sold two acres to the city. Over the years the “burying-place” was officially named “Maple Hill,” and it has grown to just under one hundred acres in size. It is a historical and quite beautiful place to visit.

PLEASE NOTE: All photographs are clickable for a better/clearer view!

~*~

While driving out of the grounds I chanced to spy this fellow…

gorging himself on his catch of the day…

~*~

I thought him very photogenic…

~*~

and quite accommodating…

although he did eventually grow tired of our intrusion on his dining experience, and grabbing his grub, he flew into the trees.

~*~

Note: I am uncertain as to what kind of hawk this is, so I have sent a request for Bob of Texas Tweeties to help me ID him. I will post his reply here when it comes. 🙂

UPDATE: Bob believes it to be a Juvenile Red Tailed Hawk. (See Comments below) Thanks Bob! 🙂

PhOtO PhRiDaY: sometimes it simply defies description

October 14, 2011October 17, 20118 Comments

Recently on one of our Sabbath treks we stopped at a flea market and parked out back…

Like hidden object tasks? You will have to click the photo to find: a potted plant, tire, old spray can, three leering skeleton faces, a roll of barbed wire, a cactus, a child’s face laying in the grass (hard), two BBQ grates, and what would appear to be the skeleton of a baby… ew?

~~~

In retrospect, I think we were taking our lives into our hands by even entering this place. That aside, we poked around a bit and decided that if we stayed we might actually pick up a flea or two! So we left, but not before asking what it was originally.

The answer?

In the very early 1900s it was a bar. OH… yes I thought, there was that one little 10 by 14 room deep in the center of the building. And sure enough, it did have a counter with what I had thought was a display case behind it… Certainly the configuration would make it a bar in its former existence!

Yup, that made sense, but the rest of the place made Sarah Winchester look positively brilliant by comparison.

NOTE: If you have never heard of, or been to, the Winchester Mansion in San Jose, California, then please take a look by clicking on her name above. The official website tells a bit of the intriguing tale about the Heiress’ of the Winchester Rifle fortune, and the video below will help to clarify my last comment! 😉

Here for your viewing pleasure is a silly, but interesting video tour of the Winchester Mansion.

Photo Friday: he hates it

October 7, 2011October 7, 201110 Comments

From time to time it becomes self-evident that the dogs need a bath. Not hard if it’s the little dog, Tucker. I put him in the sink and the job goes quickly!