End of the year

In honor of the ending of 2011, we decided to take a drive through Pierce County with our cameras. Saw lots of cool waterways that were hard to photograph and many many trashed and seemingly-abandoned houses (some should have been abandoned but actually had inhabitants). We eventually found ourselves tromping through boggy, mossy mud without slog-worthy shoes at Alder Lake. The best way to describe the location is "stumpy."

Alder Lake stumps

I just finished Cormac McCarthy's Outer Dark and I guess I was looking for ravaged and scorched earth to match the pictures in my head.

Leslie and Son

I've been pretty thin on my posts of late. I've got a little break so you'd think I'd be on top of it, but I'm preoccupied with working on photos. Haven't shot anything for a while so I'm feeling a little antsy. Hopefully, that will change over the next week.

Thought I'd post this picture since it cracks me up (I'm a little dorky). If I had a son and had a farm or a business, I'd definitely have a sign like this one. I love how bright the yellow is. If the farmer had been around, I would have bugged him to let me take his picture. I'm sure he would have been delighted.

In memoriam - Vaclav Havel 1936 - 2011

In memory of a truly great and brave man, Vaclav Havel:

Link to an article on the significance of November 17 to Czechs.

Abandoned phone booths

It's strange to call these things phone "booths" since there's very little that is "boothy" about them. They actually remind me of study carols from elementary school - three sides and the inability for someone to look at what you're doing straight on. Public phones seem to be disappearing. The cell phone has caused the demise of what was once a fairly ubiquitous convenience. It's unfortunate for those who don't have cell phones since they are left searching for a phone "booth" with an actual phone in it (Is this like a food desert in urban areas? A phone desert?). Many booths, few public phones. These pictures are companions to this one that I shot in Florida.

Puyallup

Edgewood

Crumpled structure

As you start to head north, away from Beverly, there is an old agricultural structure that looks like part of it was crumpled by a giant.

This is a satellite image of it and the flotsam surrounding it.