the photine blog

Time to say goodbye

I knew this day would come, but I really tried not to think about it.  I kind of took the head in the sand approach.  But now it is in black and white with a date attached and it is time for me to face it.  The Alabama Bookstop is closing on September 15th.

I've always been interested in exploring Houston even from day one.  When I moved here 15 years ago I bought the Guide to Houston by Jerry Herring.  Unfortunately it is out of print and the information is mostly out of date, but it is still my favorite guide book.  The pages are glossy and have a certain smell and every time I open it the smell and touch takes me right back to lying on my bed in my new apartment and flipping through the pages.  I made stars by all the places that I wanted to visit and seek out in my new city.  It's funny to think that I did all that work when I only thought I would be living here for about three years.

One of the entries was for the Alabama Bookstop, the theater turned bookstore.  I loved bookstores and architecture so it sounded perfect.  It was one of the very first places in Houston that I went to as I began to explore my new city.  It was love at first sight and has been my primary bookstore ever since.  And now it is time to say goodbye. 

I'm crying as I write this (you aren't new around here right?) and I will probably cry when I go into the bookstore for the last time.  I hope with all my heart that someone will lease it who will keep the beautiful details, but the realistic part of me that I keep squashed far, far down in my heart fears that it will be torn down or gutted or something.  This makes me unbelievably sad.  

And now I need to find a new bookstore.  

Happy 4th of July

I love, love, LOVE fireworks.  I have only taken photos one time because usually I just want to watch them and enjoy them.  I'm torn between going to the symphony and watching their fireworks or going downtown to watch the big show.  I've never done the symphony so I kind of want to do that, but I hate the thought of missing the extravaganza downtown.  A friend on Twitter reminded me about this video.  School House Rock was such a big part of my childhood and as the video says... we turn the sky into a birthday cake.  There's gonna be fireworks!

Memorial Day

It's a little strange to have Memorial Day off like regular people.  Usually we are out of school by Memorial Day so it feels like a regular summer day off.  In fact usually I am so exhausted by the end of the school year that it passes by without notice.  But this year there are still two more weeks of school so this is going to be a real day off.  

I am going to try to go to the Memorial Day service at Houston National Cemetery.  I have never been and have wanted to go for several years, but as previously mentioned I'm usually so exhausted I just sleep in.  I am a very emotional patriotic sap, which will surprise no one here, so I'm sure I will enjoy the ceremony.  And frankly, I need to get out with my camera.  It isn't that I'm tired of my camera, but more the processing.  I think it is just a bi-product of being so busy and having little down time each night.  Hopefully things will settle down once school is out.  

Eight work days until kids leave, twelve days until I'm out.

Mac

A quick note to mark the passing of the baby elephant Mac from the Houston Zoo.   This has made me very sad.  I think it is hitting me hard because I know how hard it is for the elephant keepers.  Three years ago while I was writing for Houston Metblogs, I wrote about the passing of Bella, a baby elephant from the zoo.  She died after having an accident and breaking her leg.   The gestation period for an elephant is almost two years.  The zoo had lost a baby elephant before Bella and I couldn't imagine what it was like to wait and prepare for TWO YEARS only to have the baby die days after it was born.  I was so happy when they had Bella and so sad when she was lost to an accident.  Three years later here we are again.  I can't imagine the pain that they are going through.  After I wrote the article for Metblogs I heard from some of the zoo keepers and their families thanking me for my words.  One former keeper has even become a dear reader of this blog.  So again I find myself not only mourning for the sweet animal, but for the immeasurable grief that the keepers must be going through.  I could never in a million years do that job.  I'm too big of a baby and my heart is too open when it comes to animals.  

It's the most wonderful time of the year....

From Wings Over Houston, 2007.

Airshow Brain Dump:

For some reason I was so much more into it on Sunday than Saturday.  I felt better and my photos were WAY better.  In fact I haven't even looked at them yet, but I know that my photos were better.

All pilots are good looking.  I hate to generalize but there it is. Usually swagger is a complete turn off, but for some reason the pilot swagger is different.  And pilots in official uniforms like the Thunderbirds?  Whew.

I need to finally accept that my vision is wide angle.  I should always take my 17-50mm wherever I go and the only other decision should be whether I take anything else.  I felt so out of sorts on Saturday while walking around because I couldn't get the shots that I wanted because the angle wasn't wide enough.  I also really need to get a decent lens longer than 100mm.  I have a 200mm fixed Hoya that was given to me and it worked great last year, but I was fighting it all day Saturday.  But when I think about buying a new lens I think 10-20mm, not going the other way.

Normally I get to fully enjoy the airshow almost as a reward for finishing the major fall competition.  Thanks to Ike the competition is this Saturday instead.  I am worried about getting sick since I've been pushing myself so hard so I was extra careful about trying to take things easy.  One more week and it will all be over.

They had a P-38 Lightning there.  I haven't seen one since the airshows of my childhood.  What a beautiful, graceful plane.  This particular plane, Glacier Girl, has a fascinating history which you can read here.

I think I'm going to become a member of the Lone Star Flight Museum, which is funny because I've never been there.  It is one of those things I always meant to do, but never got around to.  I know they certainly could use my money now and I'd like to keep tabs on their progress.

Two Days Out

I'm finally sitting down to write about my visit with my aunt. I'm not sure what took me so long. It has been burning in the back of my mind, I just haven't sat down to do it. Even now I'm distracted by the most perfect man on earth (Mr. Darcy of course!)

It is always so much fun to spend time with my aunt. She lived in Houston for 40 years and has superb taste. She knows all the neat shops in town and all the nice restaurants that I have been to have been with her. I invited her to come see Discovery Green and to go eat at the Grove. Now that she lives in East Texas she enjoys any chance she can get to come to Houston.

SO much more after the jump including pictures!

Shopping Trip

In a quest to get healthier I recently decided to make a concerted effort to eat more fruit and vegetables. I always have them on my list, but I as previously mentioned I would gravitate instead towards candy bars, cakes, cookies, etc. I knew that I would be able to control it a little better during the summer (no vending machine outside my apartment like there is outside my classroom).

A few weeks ago I made my weeklyish trip to Kroger with the full intention of stocking up, but the selection was appalling. I've noticed over the last few months that the quality of the produce section at my local store has been sliding. I was complaining about this to my co-worker (who still needs a snazzy blog name) and she told me to go to the Fiesta in the area.

Fiesta? That never occurred to me. The Fiesta looks a little run down compared to the shiny Kroger Signature store by my house. But I had popped in there earlier to get some cookies and the inside seemed clean and bright so I thought I would give it a try.

Let's check out the produce section.

  

Whoa! Score! Now I'm not looking for Central Market levels. Just something that I can consistently find something edible. This will definitely work. And not only that, but they had lots of stuff that I don't normally see like yucca root, plantains and a whole bunch of other stuff that I don't remember.

They aren't kidding about the International Food. It takes up a full three aisles of the store with so many selections, I had to stop taking pictures otherwise I would have been snapping every three feet. Of course my Kroger doesn't sell washers, dryers, TVs or clothing. By this point I was wondering what the heck kind of store Fiesta was. Much more than a grocery store. It also had a taqueria and an amazing seafood market with LIVE catfish and tilapia just waiting to give their lives for your evening meal. I don't like fish so I probably won't be back there much, but they also had lots of choices in shrimp and that I do like.

Kroger has a much better meat department. That is negated some for me since I use Village Table. I needed some things that they did not have at Fiesta (low acid orange juice, specialty butter) and Fiesta's frozen section doesn't quite have the selection of Kroger, but it will work. I will probably alternate between the two. And let's not forget their slogan: Fiesta, lower food prices. It is probably in my imagination since I don't have exact numbers, but it feels like I got a lot of stuff for less than I would have paid at Kroger.

    

And one final note. All these photos were taken with my iPhone. This was its first real test to capture things that I would have normally taken with my compact camera. I think it did pretty well. It was a pain to have to unlock and reactivate each time and it certainly is not good for quickly moving subjects, but it gets the job done.

Spontaneity

Talk about last minute. I have known about Eddie Izzard hitting town today and tomorrow for months, talked about it in passing with my co-worker (I need to figure out a snazzy blog name for her), but nothing every really came of it. I finally just decided to let it go and not go. But then I got a text message this afternoon. She had got a ticket, was going by herself and urged me to get one too. I was already in town so a hop, skip and a jump and I was at the box office buying my ticket

[tangent]I got my first parking ticket ever because I can't read a sign and I'm an idiot. Sigh. [/tangent]

I'm much more of the plan every single thing out to the tiniest detail variety so this spontaneous thing is quite out of character. But I know it will be fun because I love Eddie Izzard. He is funny as hell. I also debated for a few minutes about what I should wear, but does it really matter when you are in the nose bleed section? I've decided no.

I know I have talked about him before but here is a clip of him talking about the Death Star Canteen. Enjoy!

UPDATE: Photo from the after concert Q&A session. Look how close I got!

Looking back through time

I went to a book signing this evening for the newly released, Houston Deco: Modernistic Architecture of the Texas Coast. I love architecture, art deco and as an added bonus, I know one of the authors, Jim Parsons.

The signing was held at the Sloane Gallery on Fondren and it was a terrific discovery for me. The gallery owner, Story Sloane, acquired a collection of vintage photographs of Houston and they are magnificent. If anyone ever wanted to get me something really nice, I would happily take one of his reproductions.

There is something about these photos, peering back through time to a place that I have come to know and love, that literally makes me misty eyed. My favorite photos were from downtown Houston, but anyone who knows me should know that downtown is my favorite place to photograph in all of Houston.

Hands down my very favorite photo was of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. This will mean more to local residents than anyone else, but check out this link and scroll down towards the bottom. See the photo that says Main Street looking north. That's the MFAH. Isn't that amazing! AMAZING! One day I *will* own that photo. You can't see it on that page, but in the large size at the gallery you can see the Houston skyline in the background and you can see that the Gulf building is still under construction. Stuff like that makes me all gooey inside.

I'm a history nerd I guess, but as I listened to the wise people this evening, who knew so much about Houston and it's history and architecture, I knew that I had a LONG way to go before I catch up to them. In fact I'm not sure if I ever WILL catch up to them, but this book will be a start. All this to say, if you like Houston and you like architecture go buy Jim's book.

Lights in the Heights Outtakes

Before we begin dear readers, I need another word for outtakes to use at my photoblog. I've been searching for the perfect description for photos that don't make the final cut for the theme of the week, but have been stumped. Surely one of you clever people can come up with a good synonym. Thesaurus.com is letting me down.

Here are a few of the outtakes from Lights in the Heights which goes up next week.

1.) I just love the houses in the Heights. Even though it is small I would be perfectly content in a place like this.

2.) Or this. Even though I can tell it is newer construction it is pretty to look at.

3.) This is interesting color combinations for one tree. Red and blue. Purple and yellow.

4.) I have a variation of this going on the photoblog. I like how it looks like the ball of lights is floating in the air.

More showing up next week at Photine.net. In the meantime let me hear your suggestions for my outtakes.