THE END ~ 365/365

In July of last year I decided to take on a Project 365 and had no clue where it would take me. I was so proud of those first pictures even though they were quite poor but I immediately received encouragement from my daughter and several close friends. I have become particularly interested in photographing flowers, historic buildings, and anything with rust on it. After the first of the year I even felt compelled to set up a separate blog just because I felt limited in only posting one picture a day. There is the beginning of another project on FKH Photo Journal (link here) called 100 Strangers. Today stranger No. 10 appears there.

This project started with a rose and I felt compelled to complete it with a rose. This picture was taken at my mother’s home in East Texas. It is SOOC without any enhancements or even any cropping. I think the morning dew makes it look sugar-coated.  If you’d like to look back and see my first rose in picture No. 1, you can find the LINK HERE. Don’t laugh too hard. I’m proud of the improvement I’ve shown.

As time has gone on, I’ve discovered my eyes are more observant and I never have to search for pictures anymore. I’ve had different hobbies over the years but none that have captured my passion as much as this. So I’ll continue snapping pics and maybe I’ll start another picture-a-day project come January 1.

I have also decided to share this photo with TODAY’S FLOWERS, a meme I occasionally post to and one which always has an abundance of beautiful flowers. Please join me in ooh’ing and ah’ing over beautiful flowers from all over the world AT THIS LINK.

NOTE: This project officially ended on July 23. I was out of town from July 5 through July 28 and continued to take pictures every day but was unable to post them until I returned home. I’ve been backdating all the pictures to reflect the day they were taken. Today is actually August 8 even though the date on my blog says July 23.

Mare and Colt 364/365

One day to go in Project 365!

Old Nacogdoches University Building ~ 363/365

Nacogdoches University was chartered by the Republic of Texas in 1845.  Classes were held in various downtown buildings until this facilty was completed in 1859.  During the Civil War the building served as a Confederate hospital and later as headquarters for a federal regiment during Reconstruction.  In 1904 it was deeded to the Nacogdoches School District.  It has been restored to its original grandeur and is now available for community functions and houses a small museum dedicated to education in the city of Nacogdoches.

The construction of the building cost $10,500.  It features common bond red brick made on site, a prominent portico composed of massive Doric-style columns on plinth blocks.  It is a very fine example of Greek revival classicism of the early to mid-19th Century.

NOTES AND COMMENTS:  Tomorrow after I've posted the last two pictures of the 365 project, I'll try to post a couple of pictures of the Victorian home that has the horse- head figures at its front gate.  Sharon of Phoenix Daily Photos tells me that those large rings were for hitching horses up to the gate when visitors came a'callin'.  Thanks, Sharon.  That makes perfect sense to me!

Marilyn of Wheelchair Gardener in Mobile, AL, tells me she's eaten a boatload of crowder peas and absolutely loves them.  You won't find too many people outside the South who have ever even heard of them.  We Southerners giggle when others describe peas as round green things.  (Those are English peas to us.)

Iron Horse 362/365

There is a pair of iron horse heads that adorns a short iron gate that leads to the entrance of a delapidated Victorian home in Tempson, Texas.  The home, complete with Civil War cannon, a collapsed gazebo, monogrammed iron gates and a very large lot is currently for sale at a list price of   $45,000.

Bad Hair Day 361/365

This is a Polish chicken, one of numerous breeds of poultry owned by one of my mom's neighbors.

Foggy Morning 360/365

There was lots of fog in the Piney Woods of East Texas this morning.  Probably due to the heavy rainfall of yesterday and then the warm temperatures.  The humidity in this part of the world is stifling.  I'll be glad to get back to Phoenix and our temps of 115 and humidity of 13 percent!  Here it's 99 degrees and 99 percent humidity.  I don't understand why I haven't lost at least 20 pounds.  Perhaps it's because of all the brown crowder peas and cornbread I've been eating?    I doubt anyone who reads this blog knows what crowder peas are (with perhaps the exception of Glenda!).  You think so?

Five days to go!

Guardian Angel ~ San Augustine Cemetery 359/365

Today I took a little trip over to San Augustine, Texas, about a 40 mile trip from my mom's place to ramble around this historic little town often called the cradle of Texas independence.  Historic markers abound throughout this town where settlers first made homes in the early 1800s.  I was lucky enough to find the city cemetery and literally had to make myself move on after more than an hour of walking around reading gravestones.  This beautiful angel presides over the graves of the Cartwrights, one of the pioneer families of the area.  Sam Houston lived a large part of his life in this town, along with many other important figures in the fight for Texas' independence from Mexico.

The quality of my pictures is not up to snuff because this particular day was quite hazy and rain finally drove me to head back home after about three hours.  I'll be going back though because there is just too much to see in one afternoon.  I'll be posting more San Augustine pictures on my FKH Photo Journal blog if you'd like to see them.

Hay Season 358/365

Time to cut the hay.  My mom has a little meadow in front of her house that gets mowed this time of the year.  It doesn't produce much hay but at least it looks nice once it's mowed, raked, and baled.

Horace Francis Lives Here 357/365

I knew who Horace Francis was from the time I was six years old.  He was the superintendent of the Garrison School.  When I stumbled across this mailbox about four miles from my mom's place, I assumed, because it seemed to be so old and rusty, that it was indeed the mailbox of this man I remember from my childhood who has been dead for many years.  But not so, my mom tells me.  It belongs to Horace Francis, Jr., who still lives on this property.  It just seems that the weather in East Texas with all its heat and humidity just tends to be very damaging to metal.  But since I'm somewhat fascinated with rust, I was delighted that there was so much of it to see on my recent trip.

Shelby County Courthouse (Texas No. 1) ~ 356/365

                                                           The Irish Castle on the Square

The county seat of Shelby County, Texas, is Center, the little town I was born in 65 years ago.  It has a stately old courthouse which sits in the center of the town square.  It sports no fewer than 12 chimneys because the architect who designed the building, J.J.E. Gibson of Ireland, had wanted his  masterpiece to look like the castles of his native land.  Two of the fireplaces are located in restrooms.  The building is now the only remaining Irish-style castle in the U.S.  The courthouse building was completed in 1885 and the present renovation was accomplished in 1999.

Shelby County was organized in 1837 and was one of the original counties of Texas.  Center became the county seat much later, after statehood, in 1866.  The original courthouse was destroyed by fire in 1882.

The courthouse is a two-story Romanesque brick building containing over 2 million bricks which were made by Architect Gibson.  The mortar gluing the bricks together was made from sand found in Western Louisiana and toted over 40 miles by oxcart.

Center is a small town of about 5,000 residents and its population has remained very stable, hovering around 5,000, for as long as I can remember.  The courthouse is the only property in Shelby County listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Uncle Joe Buck's Old Tractor 355/365

Spreading Purple Angelonia 354/365

Such a strange plant that Mom found at the Ace Hardware store over in Center when we went to buy more Jomax for the fence (yes, I'm still washing the fence!).  It requires a lot of sun and supposedly produces tiny orchid-like blossoms when it blooms.

Comments:  Tracy:  Yes, they are llamas.  At least that's what Kay says they are and when I looked on the WWW and compared llamas to alpacas, they do appear to be llamas.  Kay said she got a bargain at $500 for the pair, and I've heard of alpacas selling for up to $20,000 each.  Llamas have curved ears at the top; alpacas have pointed ears.  Llamas have straight backs for carrying packs; alpacas have sloped backs.  Llamas have many tasks relegated to their species (pack animals, guards for alpacas, wool producers), whereas alpacas only produce wool.  Llamas are tall and thin while alpacas tend to be short and stocky.  Now you know everything I ever wanted to know about llamas and alpacas.  Magpie:  Knowing Kay I doubt very seriously she will shear them.

Tracy:  It's pronounced Nack-uh-doe-chez.  It's sometimes referred to locally as Nackanowhere or just 'Doches.  It's a Caddo Indian name dating from ancient times (sorta like our Hohokam here in AZ) and from what I remember from my early school days it means "land of many storms," although I can't find a reference to that on the Web, so I may have just dreamed it or made it up!  P.S.  Thanks for the link on the Archabbey.  Fabulous stuff.  If I weren't planning on being cremated I'd order my casket from them today!

Loyal Companions 353/365

Llamas 352/365

Mom's neighbor Kay has two new additions to her farm menagerie, these two elegant, if not disheveled, llamas.  I think they must like to roll around in the grass.  She said the previous owner had them groomed up like French poodles when she purchased them.  I don't remember which is the male and which is the female, but I definitely think she should name one of them Dalai.

This is the first of three posts today - I'm trying to get caught up my 365 Project!

Washing Fence 351/365

The work around a farm is never done.  My mom has reached an age where she has trouble keeping up with general maintenance and I provided a helping hand to accomplish a few chores.  One that was sorely needed was the washing of the fence.  It shouldn't have taken me three days to do it, but with the temperature and the humidity, about two and a half hours in the early morning was all I could tolerate.  In this type of climate outdoor chores such as this should be scheduled for the spring or fall.

First Methodist Church of Nacogdoches, Texas 350/365

The historical marker for this church indicates that at least one Methodist sermon was delivered in Nacogdoches (believed by some to be the oldest settlement in Texas; others say it's San Augustine) before 1821.  The church was founded in approximately 1837 by Missionary Littleton Fowler and was the first Protestant congregation organized in the town after the Texas war for independence.  Samuel A. Williams, the first pastor, came to Texas from Tennessee in 1838.  In 1860 the first church building was constructed across the street from the present site.  Until that time the congregation met in homes and other places.  A larger frame church built in 1887 was lost in a fire in 1907 and a brick building was erected in 1910.  The present church building was constructed in 1969.

Approaching the Storm 349/365

                                               Highway 59 north of Nacogdoches, Texas

Lovely Lady No. 16 - 348/365

                                                                     Even cows love earrings!

This sweet Black Angus who calls my mom's pasture home wasn't so sure she wanted me to take her picture.  Her girlfriend in the background sported No. 7.  It's great to be a breeding cow.  You have your own number and nobody better try stealing your identity!

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue 347/365

                                               Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
                                           And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
                                        Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
                                          Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
                                 You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
                                                 High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
                                             I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
                                            My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .
                                                Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
                                       I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
                                               Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
                                            And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
                                              The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
                                          Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

                                                                                                   High Flight
                                                                                                   John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

As I winged my way eastward my thoughts and my view from my camera reminded me of this wonderful poem.

Check out other fabulous "blues" shots at Rebecca's Midweek Blues.

Old Glory 346/365 (On Vacation)

This blog will be on vacation starting tomorrow until the end of the month.  I had planned to take my vacation later in the month but my mom has been having some health issues and I've decided to have a more extended stay with her.  I will take pictures every day and will post the remaining days of my Project 365 upon my return.  She lives in a very rural area and I will not have access to a computer or the Internet.  I look forward to catching up with all of you on my return.  In the meantime, keep on bloggin'!

Let freedom ring!