World's Largets Catsup Bottole

It has been a while since I posted an image of this Collinsville Landmark, but I know it is not a first.

Anyway, this is the Brooks Catsup bottle, towering above the former "manufacturing" site of Brooks Catsup.  A certified "Roadside Attraction", with its own web site. They used to have their own festival, but it ended 2017.

Of course, all of this just brings up the sticky subject of Catsup vs Ketchup.  Given that I grew up in Pittsburgh, home of H.J.Heinz, it will always be Ketchup to me.

Backyard Birds

A couple of shots from our backyard.  Both taken with my Fujifilm X-T3, and my Fujinon 55-200mm zoom lens.  I'm still a big fan of both...

Presumably an American Goldfinch, maybe a breeding female?  This one was quite aggressive, repeatedly attacking the window (presumably its reflection).

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Pretty sure this is a Carolina Wren.  I even found a site with recordings of their call....  I thought it was interesting that it tucked its tail when singing....

Also posted on Instagram and at 365project.

Grand

The marque for the Grand Theatre in Alton, IL. Built in 1920, closed since 1977.  As of last November, there was a news story that the building had a new owner, and would be renovated.  But nothing seems to be happening 6+ months later.

It would be cool if they can turn this into another version of the Wildey.

Just Another Sunset...

Taking an after-dinner stroll with the wife, at Schon Park. This is SOOC (Straight Out Of Camera), no editing.  From my iPhone 8.

Now I'm not one of those SOOC purists, who get all indignant about anybody adjusting images using imaging processing software.  Quite the opposite, actually.  I was doing some level of tweaking back in the 70's, in my basement darkroom.  (crop / rotate / exposure / contrast adjustment).  And, though most of my editing is pretty basic, SOOC is quite rare.   if you scan my photos here (or elsewhere) you'll see more highly edited images than SOOC.  All that said:  this one is SOOC.  Taken on my phone, directly uploaded when we got back to the car.

Aside:  Maybe I'm just not following the chatter as much, but it seems there';s a lot fewer of the SOOC Purists around these days.  Back when I was active at BetterPhoto, it seems that there was a group of folks who would spend their days commenting on any photo that was obviously modified (and some that were only probably modified). 

Aside II:  If I were to do any "photoshopping" of this image, I would probably clone out that bird that is just to the right of the sun.  Distracting, that one is.

ACC104 - I Row After Health Like A Waterman

Time for my latest entry to the Album Cover Challenge over at 365project.  This is one of my favorite challenges over there, as it combines two of my passions:  Photography and music.  Yee-Haw!  Details on the challenge here.

Anyway, my randomly generated band name was "From A To Z-Z-Z-Z".
And my randomly generated album name was "I row after health like a waterman"

After some thought, I decided to start with an older image, which I though fit well.  And here's how it turned out:

And as I did last time, I came up with a various-artists song list of what I envision the band to sound like.  Complete with a spotify playlist.    In this case, I also added a little mock press release for my mock band, read it here (https://365project.org/lsquared/fourth/2019-05-15).

Check out all of my album cover challenge entries here.

I Yam What I Yam

...  And Dat's All What I Yam.

Statue of Popeye, at Clarksville, IL.

As it says on the plaque:

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"POPEYE

This statue is erected in tribute to

* * * Elzie Crisler Segar * * *

Born In Chester, Illinois, Dec. 8, 1894

Died in Santa Monica, California, Oct. 13, 1938

Mr. Segar created Popeye from his recollection of

Frank "Rocky" Fiegel - Jan. 27, 1868 - Mar. 24, 1947 - Local scrapper.

Popeye first appeared in the cast of 'Thrimble Theater' Jan. 17

1929.  William 'Windy Bill' Schuchert - Mar. 8, 1857-Feb. 20, 1941

ester opera House owner and Mr. Segar's benefactor

Appeared as 'Wimpy' the hamburger fiend."

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Don't beleive me?  here's a photo of the plaque, knock yourself out:

And a bit of a longer shot of the statue:

Asian Carp?

Taken Sunday, at West Alton, IL.  The Mississippi River was at Major Flood Stage, and had backed up into Alton Slough / Ellis Bay to the point of topping over the road into Teal Pond.

As I was watching, there were these rather large fish that seemed to be flinging themselves around the pond, where the water was pouring in.  I'm guessing they're some sort of Asian Carp?  Probably 2+ foot +.  Can anybody confirm / enlighten me?