windy man

Seven years after its original installation, defacement and removal, Windy Man is back in Lubbock. Earlier accusations of paganism and negative representations of the city evidently have faded. Windy Man now looks over the Cultural District from the Marsha Sharp overpass at Avenue L. You have to look hard, because, despite the large and loud hullabaloo in the past, the actual sculpture is relatively small and is part of the larger depiction of the Cultural District.

Lubbock Cultural District Overpass

by don's early light

7:00 a.m. Friday - Thunderstorms spawned on the outer bands of tropical storm Don. We're still awaiting landfall in McAllen about 10 p.m. Everyone thinks it will blow through just with winds and rain and I catch the plane home tomorrow.

pelican cove

In its heyday, the Pelican Cove Restaurant must have been a snazzy place with its ship-shaped building and dining space in the crow's nest. Alas, its location off Business 83 across the railroad tracks is no longer the hot spot for dining. (But it did make the web page of ship-shaped restaurants - www.agilitynut.com/eateries/ships)

to-may-to vs. to-mah-to
fruit vs. vegetable

The Valley Fruit Company began in 1929 in a garage and growth resulted in this warehouse built in 1947. Valley Fruit was the major shipper of grapefruit in South Texas. The building is being renovated for the food bank.

Valley Fruit Company
724 N. Cage
Pharr, Texas

Valley Fruit Company

u.s. mail

San Juan, Texas

on broadway

Downtown on Broadway
McAllen, Texas

we're not in kansas, toto
(nor west texas!)

Palm Tree
Oustide the hotel
Hidalgo County

McAllen, Texas

leroy -- lord of the yard

rista

What does a rista of chiles have in common with July weather? Hot and dry!

From the archives:
Santa Fe, New Mexico
10.28.2010

littlefield skyline

Littlefield, Texas
Home of Waylon Jennings

curb appeal

Back Door Diner
1212 Ave K
Lubbock, Texas

variations on a theme

Is it real or its is Memorex? The pink gerber grew in the garden; the others bloomed in photoshop. The utility bill arrived yesterday. I may have to choose between watering the yard or cooling the house.

summer sky fakes: chicken and rain cloud

The distinctive cast-iron chicken counterweight marks the Hummer vaneless pumping windmill with steel wheel. A direct descendant of the Elgin Wind Power and Pump Company of the early 20th Century, the Hummer was one of the noteworthy vaneless mills used on the plains and prairies.

American Wind Power Center
1701 Canyon Lake Drive
Lubbock, Texas

tenor sax

Don Caldwell with the Texas Rhythm Machine
Buddy Holly Center Courtyard
Lubbock, Texas

graham nash

In an intimate setting at the Buddy Holly Center, Graham Nash of the Hollies and Graham, Stills and Nash discussed life, music and photography. It was the opening reception for the exhibit "Taking Aim" which is curated by Nash and composed of iconic images of rock and roll idols. After the gallery talk and book signing, Nash briefly joined the band and entertained the crowd with a medley of tunes.

www.grahamnash.com/news/TakingAim

Buddy Holly Center
19th Street and Crickets Avenue
Lubbock, Texas

capital venture

Looking for a space for your new business? Check out this asymmetrical structure attached to the mattress store. Maybe you can may a go of it where the barbecue and smoke stores failed.

Five Points Shopping Center

34th and Slide
Lubbock, Texas

the jones

Just 7 more Saturdays until Red Raider football

Jone AT&T Stadium
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, Texas

batter up!

Dan Law Field
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, Texas

luxury hearse

"Wreckers" with its industrial paint job now occupies the building which formerly housed the leopard-printed exterior Safari Club. The latest occupant of 1718 18th Street in the Depot District also boasts a Cadillac hearse with orange flames as front-door decor.

Wreckers
1718 18th Street
Lubbock Texas

willie jean

July 23 would have marked my mother's 85th birthday. Willie Jean Smith was born in 1926 in Trent, Texas. A few years ago I compiled a photo biography of my father and was asked by my niece to do one of her grandmother. This is the beginning -- the first steps in finding, identifying, scanning and putting photos together to commemorate a life well-lived. According to the notation on the back, this formal portrait was made at age 6 months at MaMaw Howell's house.

mother and daughter

Willie Jean was born to Ellis Willie and Burma Mae Smith. E.W. farmed with his family in Trent before moving to Lubbock by the 1930s. Baby Willie Jean joined a large family; her father and mother each had twelve siblings and there were cousins galore.

From the family album -- 1926

happy birthday

From the family album:
Larry and his 1958 Ford
on the farm near Pettit, Texas
1962

misleading information

Don't expect lodging at the end of this arrow -- it only points to a vacant lot on N. 6th Street in Brownfield, Texas. If you look closely, the sign had earlier indicated the availability of "DRUGS."

I had hoped to post 4th of July pictures but the dreaded words "no supported media on CF" on the computer upload indicated an absence of anything that the digital camera had shot - a first for me. You will just have to imagine the 3,000 small flags planted by the Farm Bureau Insurance Company lining the sidewalks of the Dawson County Court House in Lamesa and the flags flying atop the poles of the recently white-painted roping area in O'Donnell.

Brownfield, Texas

06.28.2011