Butch & Lori

I remain fascinated by the multitude of roadside memorials aound... This one is along SR-159, about 6 miles north of Edwardsville. On a cold and windy Saturday...

Sign of the Times?

Driving around town today, I discovered that this nearby KFC is gone. Not sure how long it's been closed, it's been at least 6 months since I was in this part of town... but I've eaten there a few times over the years.

Time to vote: which one do y'all like better? And why??

Lighting Abstract

Continuing the BP archives, another "Editors Pick" from 2006. This is actually a close up of a light fixture in a hotel room.

Numbered

Another from the BP archives, back in 2006...

Duke Goes Down and my Bracket is Busted

Didn't get to see much of last night's game, we were (understandably) fed the Mizzou game here in the STL area. Doesn't seem like we missed much. Villanova held Duke to 54 points, and a pathetic 5-of-27 from 3-point range. Duke hasn't been dominant this year, and when they don't sink 3-pointers, it is going to be an ugly game. Last night's 18.5% is just barely better than 1/2 of their season average. Ah well, I'll be rooting for Mizzou and Pitt now.

Pinewood Derby, Part 2

You may remember, back in January, I posted about my son's car winning the Pinewood dderby (for the wolfs in Pack 34). Yesterday was the district finals, where the top 3 from each Pack (in each division) gather to determine the "real' winners...

There were 54 cars in the Bear Cub class, each car ran 3 heats, with the winners ranked based on average time. I don't know exactly where we placed, but it wasn't in the top-3 (since he didn't get a trophy)... Hopefully they'll post the complete results in a day or 2. His goal was to do better than 37th, which is where he placed 2 years ago, when he also made the finals. Seemed like a good target to me...

Above is his #7 Steeler car, in one of the heat races. They were all pretty close!

Bricks & Arches

1/160th f-7.1 - Uploaded on 5/16/2006 - Made with Nikon D70 Digital SLR Camera

I haven't posted from the BetterPhoto archives in a few days, here's one for a Saturday....

Great Music not available on digital

Some of these discs may have been available at some point or another, but looking at iTunes and AMazon, they're not now...... Granted, none of these are in the list of "greatest albums of all time", but I'd replace my well wormn vinyl copies ina flash:

Tonio K. - Life In The Foodchain (Worth it for H-A-T-R-E-D alone, Rolling Stone magazine declared this among the greatest records of all time when it was released)

Greg Kihn Band - Rock Kihn Roll. Featuring "The Breakup Song", but an strong album overall.

Iron City Houserockers. - Love's So Tough, Have A Good Time But Get Out Alive and Blood On The Bricks. The trifecta from Pittsburgh's favorite bar band (of the late 70's)...

Herman Brood and His Wild Romance. OK, just the song "Saturday Night"....

Poco - Rose of Cimmaron and Indian Summer. Their last 2 "original" albums, before Timothy B Schmidt joined the Eagles. Rose was their biggest seller..... but not to be found.

That's just a feew, my list goes on-and-one. I check in every once in awhile, and occasionally something from the list will pop up (most recently "Sniff n the Tears" on CD)... What gems are you wishing for?

Get In The Wind

Just a bit south od Springfied, IL, a windmill has sprung up. All alone in the middle of the prairie, but there will probably be a dozen of them by the time we blink twice. It was actually generating the other day when I drove by...

Along I-55

somewhere in Illinois

Stinkfoot

A little Frank Zappa for a Tuesday lunch... from the song Stinkfoot, from the album Apostrope:

Well then Fido got up off the floor an' he rolled over an' he looked me straight in the eye
An' you know what he said?
Once upon a time Somebody say to me
(This is a dog talkin' now)
What is your Conceptual Continuity?
Well, I told him right then
(Fido said)
It should be easy to see
The crux of the biscuit Is the Apostrophe(')
Well, you know the man who was talkin' to the dog
Looked at the dog an' he said: (sort of staring in disbelief)
"You can't say that!"

Old Barn

This old barn os along I-55, near Pontiac, IL... It has been a favorite landmark of mine for many years. I took these images at 75 mph last week, headed northbound.

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Below is the first picture I took here, probably 1996. The barn (above) would be just off the right side of the photo of the farmhouse. The farmhouse has recently been torn down, I imagine the barn won't be around too much longer...

Take The Highway....

OK, I had a meeting in Chicago this week. A quick (250 mile) run up I-55, be there in time for lunch... Do the meeting, head back south. Naturally, our meeting went substantially longer than anyone expected, and it was about 7:30 before I hit the road home.

Makes for a long day... This is somewhere south of Bloomington, IIRC. I simply sat the camera on the dash, all automatic, and pushed "go"...

Friday....

Busy week, sorry for the lack of posts....
Anyway, it is Friday, and not a moment too soon. From the iPod, Friday songs....

Friday - Joe Jackson
Friday – J.J.Cale
Friday Night In America – New Grass Revival
Black Friday – Steely Dan
Get ‘Em Out By Friday – Genesis
Good Friday – Cowboy Junkies

Any otheers??

Driftwood

1/250th f9.028mm Uploaded on 3/31/2006 6:14:15 AM Made with Nikon D70 Digital SLR Camera

An editor's Puick at BetterPhoto, way back in 2006... Taken along the banks of the Mississippi river, near West Alton, MO... This one is also on microstock, where it gets sales every once in a while...

Tae Kwon Do

Today was my son's first Tae Kwon Do tournament.... Compete with breaking, forms and sparring.... It made for a full day, but was lots of fun. More pictures on my facebook account...

Spring Is Sprung!!

It's March 6th, and the temperature is currently 78 degrees!

When I woke up this morning, the first thing I noticed (other than the alram clock) was chirping birds in the backyard. The grass is starting to show hints of green, the days are starting to get longer.... yee ha!

This is an older picture, taken several years ago outside a friend's apartment in Edwardsville, IL.
That was a drizzly spring day, as opposed to the bright sun today, but I liked the blloming tree and decided to go on and repost it. Hope y'all don't mind!!

7-Up

slow shutter speed, to capture movement...

Made with Nikon D70 Digital SLR Camera

Another monthly Finalist at BetterPhoto, back in early 2006...

Marching Along

Well, it is finally March. The third month of the year. Which has inspired my choice of playlists today. I’m listening to Top 40 Hits from 1973 (The whole “3” thing, get it?). and it was a very good year. 1973 was the year I became a teenager… I was in the Middle School, wearing a coat and tie to school every day. Winter of 1973 I had to drop off the wrestling team due to a flare up of knee problems (I spent a month or two in a walking cast, yee-ha!). By Fall of ’73 I was an 8th grader, top-of-the-heap as far as Middle School.

Movies I most remember seeing in 1973?? Gotta be “The Poseidon Adventure” and “Walking Tall” … Remember, I was a kid, flicks like “The Exorcist” and “Serpico” simply weren’t in my league.

Musically? Well, there was a lot of great pop songs on the charts in 1973 (Drift Away, Stuck In The Middle With You, Dancing In The Moonlight, Midnight Train To Georgia). And a lot of not-so-great ones (Tie A Yellow Ribbon, Delta Dawn, Half Breed, Wildflower). Some solid rockers that made the charts ( Long Train Running, Smoke On The Water, Rambling Man). And some that were just wonderfully silly (Hocus Pocus, Cover Of The Rolling Stone, Dead Skunk)…

Oldies

I took quite a few images last year that never got properly processed. I was sojourning in Washington State, and only had a laptop computer. Not so good for Photoshopping.

So...... Lateley I've been looking through the archives, and spending some time sweatin' with these oldies...

These two are along the drive from Spokane to Pullman, near Steptoe Battlefield.

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Along the drive from Pullman to the Almota Grade

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An old Datsun, up on blocks... in Pullman, WA

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Slice Of Life....

Just a couple of images found while driving around Edwardsville yesterday, while my son was at his guitar lesson.....