Oink

Porcine Princess

Prize-Winning Pig at the Piney Woods Fairy 2013

The King

Kitambi, Phoenix Zoo

No, not Elvis, not Michael Jackson.  The King of the Beasts, the Lion King!  This is my favorite shot of an African male lion.  Of course, it is a zoo photo.  I've never seen a lion outside of a zoo.  And I'm not sure I want to either!  But you have to agree he is a handsome dude!  Several of my photos lately have been old shots that were taken in Arizona.  I've been feeling quite homesick for my former home lately, and with my mom's declining health I don't make it out to take photos as frequently as I once did.  A click here and there but nothing extensive.

Angry Bird

Get outta here you peeping Tom!

Can't you see I'm taking a bath?

Didn't you see the Do Not Disturb Sign?

Good grief!

Can't a girl have any privacy!

Summer Blooms

A Bucket of Zinnias

Humorous Sign

I think this is a very funny sign but for the life of me, I can't see why a retailer would put a sign like this up next to their cash register.  Wouldn't it give you pause for thought?

Roses Among the Ruins

A spot of brilliance against a rather dull, vacant, 

boarded-up building in Center, Texas.

Happy 4th of July!

I hope you run into an old friend at a 4th of July celebration!

Cute Little Goats

I believe these are pygmy goats, although I'm not positive.  Since they were at the Piney Woods Fair petting zoo last fall I must also assume they're not dangerous, although those horns look a little scary to me.

No Trespassing

A new gate, a new sign, new barbed wire.

Somebody means business.

Just Moseying Along

Is it just me or does this turtle's shell look like it's upside down?

Post Office Murals - 1 (Giddings, Texas)

If the photo in this post looks familiar, it should.  I’ve posted it before.  But I’ve decided to undertake a new Texas history project within this blog (in addition to my courthouse project), and that is a visit to some of the great Post Office murals in this big state.  The murals, examples of New Deal art, were commissioned by the Section of Painting and Sculpture of the U.S. Treasury Department between 1934 and 1943.  During the Great Depression the Public Works of Art Project was developed to bring artist workers back into the job market and assure the American public that better times were on the way.  Nearly $145 million was appropriated for the construction of new buildings, including courthouses, schools, libraries, and post offices, and the Section of Painting and Sculpture focused its goal on reaching as many American citizens as possible.  Since the local post office seemed to be the most frequented government building by the public, the Section commissioned 700 murals to be put on national display.  The Post Office Murals have come to be known as the People's Art.  I discovered a wonderful book called The Texas Post Office Murals by Philip Parisi which contains photos of all the Texas murals, even original photos of a few which have become lost or were destroyed.  The book is full of history about each one.  

Texas was granted 69 murals, 61 of which still exist, although a small number of those are not available for public viewing.  I encountered three of these murals during a trip I took a year ago into Central Texas, but even more exciting I now know that there are seven right here in East Texas within a short 100 miles of where I live, so my goal is to bring the People’s Art of Texas to the people who follow this blog.  Someday perhaps I’ll get the opportunity to travel to more distant parts of the state to see the others.  I’m still lacking 35 courthouse photos of Victorian era courthouses so hopefully having two goals will make all those miles easier to accomplish.

All 50 states and Puerto Rico have Post Office Murals.  You can find a list of your state’s murals by visiting this link.

Cowboys Receiving the Mail

by Otis Dozier - 1939

Giddings, Texas

When commissioned for the Giddings mural, Dozier started with some preliminary sketches featuring Pony Express riders and cowboys receiving mail.  But when he visited Giddings, he found that cowboys in that area were few and far between.  The postmaster informed him that the town instead had one of the largest poultry processing plants in that area, so Dozier began work on some sketches featuring the poultry industry.  Upon being submitted to the Section of Painting and Sculpture, Dozier was informed that the section found the poultry business a bit unsavory and its goal was to supply the public with works of beauty.  He was encouraged to pursue his ideas of cowboys receiving the mail, which he personally felt to be a charming subject which emphasized the mail’s importance in people’s lives.

 

In this mural we see cowboys gathered around a rural mailbox as one of them opens a newly arrived package containing a pair of red cowboy boots, a second cowboy reading a letter he has received (perhaps from a sweetheart?), while the third cowboy sits astride his horse with disappointment on his face, having not received any mail.  The mural includes some mountains in the background, although the landscape around Giddings is completely flat.  Despite this error and the lack of cowboys in Giddings, the community liked the mural and the postmaster has been quoted as saying it was “a first-class job.”

(Historical information for this post has been taken directly from The Texas Post Office Murals by Philip Parisi.)

47/100 Dogs - Flash - Basset Hound

Flash is the CEO of a rural plant nursery near where I live.  And no, he does not have a hangover.

Cruising Croc

Cruising through the murky, swampy waters of the crocodile pond at the Ellen Trout Zoo in Lufkin, Texas.

Young Buck

Another white-tailed deer wandered into our back pasture yesterday.  I could immediately tell that it was smaller than the one I showed you a photo of a few days ago so I assumed it was a young adolescent.  I grabbed the camera and very gently turned the knob at the back door.  Even the sound from a quarter turn put this one on notice.  I literally spent four minutes opening the door a fraction of an inch at a time but just far enough that I could hold it open with my knee and stick the camera out only enough so he didn't bolt and run.  He was a bit further down in the meadow than my last subject so the clarity of the photo is not as good.  But imagine my surprise upon cropping it down to find that this was a young buck sporting velvet.  I do hope he returns when he has a full rack.  We see lots of does but seldom a buck.  I hope he makes it through his first deer season.