Down on the corner

Flower siblings: This yellow flower and its sibling are thriving on an entrance ramp at the junction of I-530 and South Hazel Street in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. The bloom is advertising for pollination. The seed pod in the lower right, formerly adorned as its colorful sibling, has completed that mission. The next trick is to allow Mother Nature to distribute the seeds to precipitate a repeat performance. Neighbors to these posies include a colony of American Lotus plants in an adjacent pond.

Click on the lotus for a bigger picture and the start of this story

At the southeast corner of the junction of I-530 and South Hazel Street in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, there’s a neighborhood uninhabited with homo sapiens. People are a little further south. The neighborhood I reference includes a perennial colony of American Lotus (AKA water lily) plants. I have watched the colony for a few years. I decided last year to photograph it.

When I did, I discovered that in that small macro environment, there were a number of small blooming plants growing in the hard pan of the interstate entrance ramp. See more about this corner including a picture of the big lotus on the Photo of the Week Page at Corndancer dot-com. We’ll wait here while you look.

I’ll have to hand it to the plants that seem to thrive on the interstate entrance ramp. The ground is hard pan and sloped, conditions not good for retaining moisture. What water they do get is fouled by runoff from the on-ramp which falls way short on the purity index. Here’s a glance at two more of these hardy specimens.

My love of going barefooted began as far back as I can remember. In fact, my feet are bare as I write this missive. One of the hazards of going barefooted was stepping on a cockleburr (our mispronunciation of the pest was “cucklebur”). This resident of the on-ramp is not a “cuckleburr,” but it looked enough like one to make my foot twinge. It is in all likelihood a clover head.

A kind reader once informed me as to the correct identification of these micro-daisies. Unfortunately, that information escapes me, so they are once again “little bitty daisies.” The real thing is about a half-inch across the beam. The top one is at full glory. The rest are going into the “gone to seed” mode.

My friend Dick Warriner advised me earlier this week that his crepe myrtle was resplendent following a rain and a good time to shoot. Unfortunately, the alligators at my ankles prevented the wet shoot. Even dry, they still look good.

Here are more blooms from the same tree up close and personal.

Suspicions confirmed:

Given the name of this post, one would expect this video to be included. The picture quality is lacking, but it is the original guys. Bring your nickel, tap your feet.

I believe I can say without reservation, there are millions of these special little communities similar to the one we explored today. Perhaps I’ll discover a few more. Better yet, perhaps you will.

Thanks for dropping by,

Joe Dempsey
Weekly Grist for the Eyes and Mind

http://www.joedempseyphoto.com/
http://www.joedempseycommunications.com/

An urge of unknown origin

We believe there are sign alignment issues with this caddywhompus arrangement. As best we can tell, the towns of Marvel and St. Charles have not been moved. This is for real, not cut and paste.

A spontaneous trip to St. Charles

An urge of unknown origin sent me to tiny St. Charles, Arkansas seeking fodder for this venue. Once the urge was codified to action, I decided on separate going and coming routes. In days past, this practice was defensive in nature. Currently, it is a practice to afford more visual opportunities. My going route took me through Stuttgart, Arkansas to Crocketts Bluff, Arkansas and then to St. Charles. That selection put me in front of the hilarious sign above.

Click the store to see pictures and story of how this adventure started

In St. Charles I found a historic store with some  east-coast connections one would not expect to find in the depths of LA (lower Arkansas). I also discovered a few tidbits of history about the area.

It was a “days gone by” trip, looking at what worked years ago but does not work now, a valuable exercise if one intends to survive the whirlwind economic and social idiosyncrasies that steer the world in which we live.

See the Photo of the Week Page at Corndancer dot-com for pictures and observations.

The following pix are targets of photographic opportunity to and from our destination

East of Stuttgart, we confirmed the presence of armed and frisky “good-ol-boys” in the local population mix. A shotgun smacked this sign along with what appear to be .22 shots.

You are looking at the entire central business district, as in “down-town,” in Crocketts Bluff, Arkansas. What the town lacks in size it more than makes up with its cleanliness. It is also a destination for serious anglers and waterfowl hunters.

I’m not sure what these doo-dads are or what they do, but they looked like an interesting picture. They are part and parcel of the huge University of Arkansas Agricultural Research facility east of Stuttgart, Arkansas.

Farmers on the Grand Prairie are generally a neat lot. Their premises, for the most part, are well manicured like this one. The old barn is providing shelter to aluminum irrigation pipe sections which have fallen from grace in favor of collapsible plastic pipe.

I always call these wild flowers Holly Hocks, with full realization that they are not. They grow by the gazillions on LA roadsides this time of year. These are on Highway 153 south of Crocketts Bluff.

Being a dog person, it is always nice to find a furry friend who is as glad to see you as you are to see him. This dude wandered up to visit as I was leaving St. Charles.

We have established an additional population of armed good ol’ boys in the DeWitt, Arkansas area. Unlike ducks, geese and deer, signs never seem to be out of season.

I first shot this residence South of DeWitt, Arkansas in June 2009 when it was occupied. There was a tricked out blue chopper ensconced on the front veranda. Click here to take a look at the 2009 picture. You will need to scroll down to see the picture when you arrive at the linked page.

After this shot, we lit a shuck for home. I hope you have as much fun looking at these pictures as I did shooting them.

BONUS GALLERY

There are 20 pictures in this trip collection, you see nine of them here. You can see these anbd th rest of the pix, in a larger format in our Weekly Grist Gallery.  Enjoy looking!

Thanks for dropping by,

Joe Dempsey
Weekly Grist for the Eyes and Mind

http://www.joedempseyphoto.com/
http://www.joedempseycommunications.com/
http://www.corndancer.com/joephoto/photohome.html

 

 

 

 

A picture of heritage redux

A cool country barn on a sweltering day

Click on the old barn to see our original July 4, 2010 post.

It was as hot as blazes July 2010 when I was fortunate enough to stumble across this old barn.

I was even luckier when I discovered the owners lived across the road — and were more than willing to talk about the history of the barn — and gave me the run of the place.

Turns out it has been in the same family since it was built in the late in the 19th century. Click here to check out our original July 4, 2010 post on the old barn. Be sure and check out the gallery links at the bottom of the page to see more pix of the barn.

Click on the barn to see more pix and information

The owners  of the barn were very congenial. They invited me into their living room to give me the skinny on the when it was built by their fore-bearers. I had not expected this generous hospitality to be extended to a total stranger standing at the door on their front porch.

Our conversation required turning up the volume a bit to keep up with the noise from the “window-shaker” air conditioner operating at full blast to stave off the 100º temperature.

We actually started the discourse on this barn, it’s owners, and it’s contents on the Photo of the Week page at Corndancer dot com, we’ll wait here while you take a look there. Though the story was first published in 2010, it will still interest you.

Thanks for dropping by,

Joe Dempsey
Weekly Grist for the Eyes and Mind

http://www.joedempseyphoto.com/
http://www.joedempseycommunications.com/
http://www.corndancer.com/joephoto/photohome.html

 

Miscellaneous fodder

This is one of the quintessential bits of New Orleans imagery. You stand by the cannon on the south side of Decatur Street across from Jackson Square and point the Kodak directly at St. Louis Cathedral. If you do this properly, one Andrew Jackson astride his steed in Jackson Square will fill your view finder. Depress shutter button. Repeat if necessary. If camera clicks could harm that statue, it would be bug-dust by now. In my defense, it was a glorious day with perfect light, so why not?

This picture of Andy Jackson in Jackson Square started my day on January 23, 2002 in New Orleans. Though the image is so common, it has almost become visual triteness, it still portrays and brings to mind an important event in American history. Beside that, it looks cool. 

Click on the mule for more mule pix

I was in New Orleans with friends during our annual pilgrimage to (at the time) watch the Saints lose a football game, eat good food and soak up local color to the best of our meager abilities along those lines.

For me, it was an opportunity to wander around and shoot with reckless abandon in one of the most pregnant- with-opportunities urban environments anywhere. I went on that day to photograph mules, Pirate Alley, and a late evening River Walk image which was not too shabby. To see these pictures, move your person to the Photo of the Week page at Corndancer dot-com and take a gander. We will wait here for your eventual return.

No mention of Jackson and New Orleans should be made without harkening back to Johnny Horton’s 1959-60 smash hit, The Battle of New Orleans. This tune impressively climbed the charts and continuously crackled through AM radio speakers to fans singing along. I was one of them.

After the trip to New Orleans, it was back to business as usual, wandering through LA (lower Arkansas). My wanderings took me through Stephens, Arkansas, a small town near the epicenter of the early 20th century oil boom in south Arkansas. The town still bears vestiges of its former glory. Among the remaining landmarks is an old service station, which is another favorite photographic target. I took my turn.

The old station in Stephens, over the years, has been inhabited by hopeful entrepreneurs. The last time I saw it, the doors were closed. At the height of its useful life, an attendant would pump your gas, check your oil, and wipe your windshield. For your convenience I’m betting they offered nearly cold Ko-Kolers (LA for Coca Cola) and the little round thingies of peanuts one poured down the neck of the pop bottle. Both were a nickel to you.

Back in the Delta, at Cornerstone, Arkansas, a lone tree stands in a field with a nice uncultivated patch of ground around it to help maintain its lofty integrity. There’s bound to be a story there, I have yet to uncover it. In this picture, the field is planted with corn. I have also seen it planted with beans, and years ago, with cotton.

In the Delta, every square centimeter of arable land has opportunity value. That said, it is notable when planters respect and plant around a tree occupying otherwise productive dirt. Usually, the tree is a “home-place” tree which provided summer shade and aesthetic benefits to a rural residence. Though the residence has long since succumbed to Mother Nature and economic realities, family memories trump and the tree survives. I’m betting this is what happened, but in all honesty, I must admit that my opinion is pure conjecture.

Thanks for dropping by,

Joe Dempsey
Weekly Grist for the Eyes and Mind

http://www.joedempseyphoto.com/
http://www.joedempseycommunications.com/
http://www.corndancer.com/joephoto/photohome.html