Nieces and Alabama

Kristin, Hillary, Alison, Scarlett

The last time I was in Gulf Shores, AL I was with this group of yahoos :)  My sisters and baby Scarlett.  It was May and we had all come for the Hangout Music Festival. 

Baby Scarlett sat up for me all on her own just moments before she was to get strapped into her car seat for the long ride back to Michigan. 

This time I'm in Gulf Shores for an entirely different reason.

One of my oldest and dearest friends was coming to Gulf Shores for a family reunion.  When I found that out, I told him that I was going to go there, too and stay the whole week.

Usually when I get to see Steve, it's just for a day.  He lives in California and for the past few years he has gone on a cruise that leaves out of Miami, so he arrives a day early and I drive down to see him before he leaves.  It's hurried and rushed and although I love to see him, we are both just tired from traveling.

This trip is so much better - we will have a week to chat, go out to eat, go to the beach and just hang out.  He can do all of the family stuff he wants and we can meet up in between.  It is perfect!  I'm also really excited to see his parents and brothers again - it's been ages since I've seen them.

The best part is that I have my own place to stay (I'm not imposing on Steves family for a place to stay) and since I've been here several times in the past few years, I know the area pretty well.  I can find lots of things to do when I'm on my own.  My blogging friend Dust Bunny lives nearby, so I will be seeing her as well. 

I've already arrived at the condo and will meet up with Steve and his family tomorrow evening.  I hardly slept at all last night at home, so hopefully tonight, now that I've arrived in GS, I'll get a nice long nights sleep.


The photos below were all taken by my Mom last week.

I've been wanting to post some photos of my nieces.  Since I started off this post with baby Scarlett, I thought that this would be a good time to interject some recent kid photos :)

My mom took this photo of Scarlett in her cruising stage with big sister Zora sticking close.

Stella is helping shuck the corn.   I remember having that job.  I was always given a paper bag and sat out on the steps of the deck at the house where I grew up to shuck the corn.   I don't recall ever doing that job indoors.  Scarlett will now have corn shucking memories at Nana's house and she'll recall when she's older, that she will always be sent outside to do it.

I don't have a clue what Zora is doing - oh, she might be picking out a piece of silk.  Scarlett looks like she's choking herself!  Stella is the eater in her family.  She loves all kinds of food and will try it all. 

Zora was outside picking a salad it seems.  It's sort of unconventional though, she's got lily of the valley leaves and crab apples.

Ahh, I see, she was getting inspiration for her next art project.  What a great picture, Zora!


I hope that you have a great weekend!
Kristin

POTD - 4 Sale

POTD - 4 Sale

I drive by this sign all the time and each time I say, "I love that sign!  I hope I can get a photo of it before it goes away."  Well, it's been nearly two years and I finally stopped and took the photo!

Enjoy!
Kristin

The Old Spanish Trail

Last Sunday Tom took me out to this cool building.  He had driven by it on one of his tours of the area and thought that I'd probably really enjoy taking photos of it.  So after our delicious brunch and a tour of a few other neighborhoods, I had him take me out to The Old Spanish Trail. 



He was right, I did like this building.

Come join me on a tour of the outside. 

The Old Spanish Trail is a building (this one) and also a real trail across the United States.  There is an  incredibly interesting history of the trail from St. Augustine, FL all the way to San Diego, Ca.   I found it on the St. Mary's University website, here.  The photo above was borrowed from that website as well.  I never even thought about going across the road to take a photo. Not sure what I was thinking.  Thankfully I did find this photo. 

 Not sure you can see it, but there is a PRIVATE PROPERTY sign on the gate.

So naturally since the gate was open, I walked right in and took this photo.

I didn't want to get too close, that's why the trash bins are in the shot.

Never mind, I needed some close up shots.

In the center section, there are a pair of tennis shoes on the balcony ledge.

Someone was here because there was a car in the back driveway, too.

I decided that I'd risk it and get closer because there was a stairway that I thought might look cool.

AHHH!  I damn near ran into these two.

Ugh!

I still went over to the stairway.

I really liked this angle featuring the old terracotta.

This was the Photo of the Day (POTD) on Tuesday.

I named it something terribly intriguing.  "Cow" was it's title.  :)

I can't help it.

Sometimes the creativity just explodes and I come up with stunners like this.

In the second photograph, above, you can see the two cows, one on each side of the archway.

On the front of the building, above the two big arches, there was a wooden bull with an arrow and a cow with an arrow.  The cow, poor thing, had lost her legs, so I'll just show the bull. 

Then on the far side of the building, through the fence,  I saw this box with a sign over the top of it.

I have a feeling this isn't from the 1920s!


From what I understand, the building that I photographed was a grocery store and resting area for those traveling along the trail.   It was transformed into another business sometime between the heyday of the building in the 20s and 30s and 70 years later, because it's not in terrible condition. 

Once again, I don't have enough answers about this place.  Someone told my husband it was a stage coach stop and someone else said it was a grocery store.  It's such an isolated spot that I'm thinking it's probably been more of a warehouse than a retail space.  I'm hoping that by blogging about it, someone will have answers and let me know.

map source

This map is from the OST Highway Association Archives in Special Collections at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas.

I read nearly all of the OST history from the St. Mary's website and what an adventure that would be to go on the trail, or what's left of the trail.  Road trip anyone??!!

Have a great day!
Kristin

POTD - Mailbox's Birthday

POTD - Mailbox's Birthday

What a great example of an old rusty mailbox on a cobbled together post.  The funny thing about this mailbox is that it's squished between a chain link fence and this large orange and white pole.  It's not in a terribly friendly spot.  Hopefully being recognized for it's dedicated service will brighten the day of this lovely yellow mailbox.

A Blue's Clues episode was titled Mailbox's Birthday.  My friend was at my house for a week with her small children.  They liked  watching Blue's Clues and it was Mailbox's Birthday every single day that week.  I can hardly look at a mailbox without thinking - is it Mailbox's Birthday? haha

Enjoy!
Kristin

Brunch

I asked my husband...

Wait.

Let me rephrase that.

I led my husband gently to the answer I wanted to hear and on Sunday around noon we had brunch at the Brick.

You can enlarge the photo to see the menu, but what I focused on was the Tenderloin Benedict.  It's been a few years since we came here for Brunch and I seriously dream about this meal.

As you can see from the menu, they specialize in Benedicts :)

They do them well.

Very well.

Here is my meal.  Oh, my goodness!

I don't know if you remember the movie Annie, the one with Carol Burnett, but one of the little orphans says "Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness" in a certain way.  That's how I say it every time I think it.  Sometimes I even say it out loud that way, but to be honest, I don't sound like a 5 year old so it just doesn't come out the same.

BUT, Oh My Goodness!  this is so good.

I was offered home fries or grits.  I chose the home fries because Tom doesn't particularly care for home fries, so I figured I might be able to eat all of the food on my plate.

Turns out he LOVES the home fries at the Brick, after he had a taste.  They were tossed with green and red peppers, so he always gets dibs on those from my plate.  (insert wrinkling of nose here.  Not a fan of peppers)

 I've watched the movie Julie and Julia enough times that I should know how to poach an egg by now - maybe I should do that and make this meal for myself.  But honestly, for $14 and only having it once every couple of years, I do appreciate the hollandase, eggy, tenderloiny goodness being served to me.  It makes it a very special meal.

Are you hungry yet?
Kristin

POTD - Friends

POTD - Friends

Yesterday I mentioned that I was invited to one of the beachfront hotels.  This lovely couple, Chuck and Nancie, were the ones who invited me to visit and to see Jacksonville Beach in a whole new way.  I just don't think about taking photos of people, but Nancie asked if I would take their photo, so I obliged.  Twist my arm, Nancie :)     Thanks for letting me use this as a Photo of the Day.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Sky high on the beach

I was fortunate enough today to get an invitation to a hotel on the beach.  I've been to Jacksonville Beach many times, but never had a birds-eye view before.

Oh boy oh boy oh boy!  I loved the view!

The blue umbrellas are the reserved seating for hotel guests.

Last week I went out to the beach for the sole reason to photograph umbrellas.  I got my fill today!

Sometimes the water just doesn't look very blue, but today it was just brilliant.  Maybe it was my birds-eye view that made the ocean look so blue?  I'm just not sure.

I'll have to start a study.

Maybe one that pays.

I'd gladly do a photographic study of the water, for say...a year.

Anyone want to sponsor me?

Maybe I could rate the hotels along the beach as well.

for research reasons of course.

The other day when I came down to the beach I was on the other side of the pier.  

I thought this was a fun sight.  The hotel was right next door to the American Red Cross Rescue Station.  I think we were on the patio during shift change because a truck full of people came into the station and then a truck full of people left a few minutes later.

I really liked being able to see the coastline of Florida hook off to the right like it does.  I didn't realize it was such a dramatic curve.  I'm finally seeing the advantage of having a place in the sky on the beach.


Are you now itching to go to the beach?

Have a great day!
Kristin

POTD - Cow

POTD - Cow

Way out in the middle of somewhere, possibly still a part of Jacksonville, FL, there lives this rather interesting building called The Old Spanish Trail. On this side of the building were two painted cows, this being the cutest of the two. I'm not sure why it was there, but I've got to assume that at one point when The Old Spanish Trail was a thriving business, it must have had an ice cream shop or sold farm fresh milk. 

More photos of it coming this week.

Moo!
Kristin

Louis Sullivan

Louis Sullivan, architect

September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924

Louis Sullivan, born in Massachusetts, grew up on his grandparents farm.  He became fascinated with nature while on the farm .  Later when he spent his teen years hanging out in Boston exploring the streets and taking note of the buildings he connected the two interests - nature and architecture.

He was an incredibly smart fellow and realized that he could graduate high school a year early and attend MIT if he were able to pass a series of exams.  He did and proceeded to study architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the age of 16.

He quickly discovered that MIT wasn't teaching him anything new, rather he was being taught the minutia of Greek Architecture, Roman architecture, etc.  This was not what inspired Sullivan, so after a year he left MIT and moved on to Philadelphia for a short time.

What got Louis Sullivan to Chicago was Mrs. O'Leary's cow.

Well, not necessarily the cow, but the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Eventually it was determined that the fire destroyed an area about four miles (6 km) long and averaging 3/4 mile (1 km) wide, encompassing more than 2,000 acres (8 km²). Destroyed were more than 73 miles (120 km) of roads, 120 miles (190 km) of sidewalk, 2,000 lampposts, 17,500 buildings, and $222 million in property—about a third of the city's valuation. Of the 300,000 inhabitants, 90,000 were left homeless. Source

Chicago was all of a sudden in desperate need to reconstruct its city.

By 1873 Louis Sullivan was in Chicago and was working.  It wasn't quite what he was looking for at the moment, so after a year or so he went to Paris to study architecture again.  Once again, just like at MIT, all of the studies were concentrated in the past.  He stayed a year but did get some inspiration from Michelangelo and he learned to allow creativity to  guide his work not just replication of the past.

Back to Chicago Sullivan travels, becomes a draftsmen with one firm and then with Dankmar Adler in 1879.  Within a year he was made partner with Adler.

The partnership with Adler is where he had his most productive work.

 Chicago Auditorium theater

In the beginning of their partnership they were most notably known for being theater designers.  Adler knew how to make the acoustics of a theater or opera hall and his firm was sought after.  In 1889 they finished the Auditorium Building in Chicago.  It housed a 3000 seat theater as well as a hotel and office building.  Adler and Sullivan took the top floor of the Auditorium building as their offices.

 Guaranty Building

Buffalo, NY

1896

One of my favorite buildings. Very Very Favorites.  

Guaranty Building, which he designed while partnered with Adler. Completed in 1895, this office building in Buffalo, New York was visibly divided into three "zones" of design: a plain, wide-windowed base for the ground-level shops; the main office block, with vertical ribbons of masonry rising unimpeded across nine upper floors to emphasize the building's height; and an ornamented cornice perforated by round windows at the roof level, where the building's mechanical units (like the elevator motors) were housed. The cornice crawls with Sullivan's trademark Art Nouveau vines; each ground-floor entrance is topped by a semi-circular arch. source

I just love how the tree tops fan out at the top and wraps around the edges.

The sheer volume of ornamentation is just so incredible that it's almost too much...but honestly, I love it.  This is an 11 story building and it's been decorated from top to bottom.  Imagine seeing it for the first time.  I bet it would take your breath away.  I think it's spectacular.

I have more on this building, but I'll wait for another day.  

The Getty Tomb was commissioned in 1890 by Henry Harrison Getty, and is located in the Graceland Cemetery in Chicago.  I bet there are some photo opportunities in that cemetery.  I'm almost wanting to pack my bags and go right now! 

Owatonna, Minnesota

The National Farmers Bank 1908

In later years, Adler and Sullivan went their separate ways, as Adler disbanded the firm.  Sullivan found it increasingly harder to find work and he began a very long period of decline.  One of the projects that he took on probably for financial reasons only was to design a bank.  With the success of that bank, came more bank commissions.   These banks were called Jewel Box Banks.

If you look at the bank above and look at the Getty Tomb, you will notice the similarities.  It's a restrained punch for a small space.  It was a cornerstone piece for these small towns.  Can you imagine having something like this being built in your little small town in the early turn of the century? 

Here are the stained glass windows in the The National Farmers' Bank.  If you look at this, can you see a bit of the Frank Lloyd Wright style?  I hadn't mentioned it before, but Wright apprenticed at Adler and Sullivan.  He called Sullivan Lieber Meister (German for Dear Master) and worked for them from 1888 - 1893.  When looking through the photos of Sullivan's work, I can see where Wright got a lot of his early influence and the beginings of his own style.  This stained glass is just one example that reminds me of Wright.

Grinnell, Iowa

Merchants National Bank

1914

The Merchants National Bank was another one of the Jewel Box banks.  That ornamentation is incredible.  I bet the view of that stained glass window on the inside is spectacular.

The architects and draftsmen that Sullivan worked alongside pitched in and paid for his funeral and headstone. 

Sullivan ...died, poor and alone, in a Chicago hotel room on April 14, 1924. He left a wife and four children. A modest headstone marks his final resting spot in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood. Only yards away from his resting-place, some of Chicago's lesser-known but much wealthier dead are entombed in handsome and distinctive tombs designed by Sullivan himself. A monument (shown) was later erected in Sullivan's honor, a few feet from his headstone.

The photos in this blog post were all found through Google Images.  I didn't credit them because I pulled so many photos and so many were the same that I truly wasn't sure what photo came from what source.  Thank you blogland for having so many photos of this exceptional architect.

The reason for this post was because I saw the documentary "Louis Sullivan - The Struggle for American Architecture."   I blogged about it a few weeks back, here.

I hope that you have enjoyed this little bit of American history and architecture.  I only grazed over the surface of this subject matter, but I hope you enjoyed it. 

Thanks so much for coming by.
Kristin

POTD - Glass Doorknob

POTD - Glass Doorknobs

Nothing makes me swoon faster than seeing original glass doorknobs on original doors.  (I don't get out much)  Tom and I only stumbled upon one open house yesterday and it turned out to be one of my all time favorite houses.  This doorknob and all of her friends, were only just the beginning to a small love affair I had with that house.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Uniquely Identical

Unknown Mami hosts Sundays in My City. Bloggers from around the globe join in her picture fest, so if you'd like to take a quick trip, go on over and click on the other links. Thanks Mami (Mah-meee) for this event each week.

Jacksonville, FL  is my city this week, in the San Marco area specifically. I had my husband drive me around because I don't know that area very well and I know that he's scoped it out as it's got some cool looking houses.  We both enjoy looking at houses.

These two houses caught our eye.  They were a completely different style than the surrounding houses and yet they were nearly identical!  It definitely made us look twice.

The first house.  I especially liked the oval window with the vine (close up of it was the first photo.)

Second house.

Pink Flamingos :)

Love it.

I just realized that by the time I got to this house, the car that was in the driveway had left.

Oh Thank You kindly car owner - I really wanted a shot of the garage door.

When we first drove by these houses, this garage door is what called to me and had me instructing Tom to turn around and go back for a photo op.


As we drove around the corner we found a third house, exactly like these two.  I didn't take a photo of it as there were too many cars in the way.

THEN - we spotted a fourth house.  This one was for sale.  This meant we were allowed to peek in the windows :)

It had actually been turned into an office and the garage converted into living/working space.  That window where the garage door used to be is pretty cool. 

In a neighborhood where all of the houses were very different from one another, it was so much fun to find this family of identical houses with the unique brick curves and beautiful front entries.

Have a grand day!
Kristin

POTD - Caesar's Skirt

POTD - Caesar's Skirt

I was intrigued by the decorations on the statue of Caesar at the forum in Rome. It looks like there is a sheep's head, a lion's head and even a human head on the skirt.  Is it called a skirt?   I tried to look up information on this statue and I couldn't find a thing.  There were actually several statues along this roadway, near the Forum.  I'm sure if I researched hard enough I could find out all I needed to know - but Googling Caesars Skirt didn't reveal much. :)

Enjoy!
Kristin

English pronunciation

I think I saw this on Facebook and copied it over to my drafts awhile ago.  I've read through this again and it's truly amazing how difficult it is to read all of these words.  It makes me realize why it is that I have such a hard time spelling :)  Thankfully I do know nearly every single one of the words.  Foeffer is one that I don't know.  Guess I'll be looking that one up.


Here's what I found...

If you can pronounce correctly every word in this poem, you will be speaking English better than 90% of the native English speakers in the world. After trying the verses, a Frenchman said he'd prefer six months of hard labour to reading six lines aloud. Try them yourself.



Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.
Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it’s written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.
Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.
Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation’s OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.
Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.
Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.
Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.
Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.
Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.
Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.
Pronunciation (think of Psyche!)
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won’t it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It’s a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.
Finally, which rhymes with enough,
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!!!

               — B. Shaw

POTD - Chopping Broccoli

POTD - Chopping Broccoli

Broccoli is one of those yummy foods that I could live on if I had to.  Whenever I am cutting up broccoli I have the Dana Carvey song running through my head.  It makes me laugh every single time.    Every.time.  

Enjoy!
Kristin

A mean streak

I have a mean streak.

It's one of the things that I do try to hide from the outside world

...but every so often I snap.

Today was that day.

I wrote this email.

It's totally passive aggressive.

I just wanted to let you know that I am going to leave you positive feedback because the items that I ordered arrived quickly and in good condition and were what I purchased. I truly appreciate it.

What I did want to tell you is that I would have appreciated a Thank You email or a message that said that you had received the money (and Thank you) or that you had shipped the item (and Thank You.)

I paid you $135 and I spent several days wondering if I was going to receive my item because I didn't hear from you. For $135 I should have gotten a Thank You at least. When the box arrived, I opened it up expecting a receipt with a Thank You scrawled upon it.

I did receive the receipt, thank you for that.

I am truly grateful for the item and I'm glad that I can get them for a discount on ebay, but I also truly appreciate being thanked for doing business with someone.

This was a calm snap, but a snap nonetheless.

Don't you hate it when you don't get a Thank You?!

I guess it's painfully obvious that I do.


Thank you :)
Kristin

POTD - Little one with blue bucket

POTD - Little one with blue bucket

I went home last year and spent a lot of that time taking photos of my nieces.  Here is Stella on a mission to find the perfect spot to sit down with her blue bucket full of sidewalk chalk.  Stella is so much more grown up now.  I just saw her in June and no longer has the baby girl arms and legs like she did in this photo, taken in October of 2009.

Enjoy!
Kristin