City Daily Photo Theme Day: Shadow and Highlight

I've been cruising around looking for high contrast images. (Well, Photoshop helps, too.) This one is my favorite. Taken from the riverfront in East St. Louis, Illinois, looking back at the Arch. The concrete structure in the bottom foreground is a floodwall, holding back the highest levels of the Mississippi. Note the angled support posts. I bet there is steel inside.

The dark structure is the Eads Bridge, often seen in these pages before. (For example, here.)

Have a look at the submissions from CDP members around the world here.

There are a number of other high contrast B and W shots I took around the same time. More pix from Kansas first but then I think I'll roll with this set for a few days.                   

A bed

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Sighted yesterday at the edge of town, where they are building a new street and a whole new neighborhood.
Maybe even bulldozer operators need to stretch out and rest during their long work day?

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Theme Day - Shadow & Highlight

Last weekend, I tramped around beneath the southern approaches to the Harbour Bridge, in an attempt to reproduce the attached 1927 image. I think the photographer had been on the first floor balcony of a terrace behind me to get his elevation. Where I captured the Opera House on Bennelong Point, he captured the Tram Sheds! The icing on the cake for me was the troupe of "Bridge Climbers".

Southern Pillars (1927)(State Records, New South Wales)

This post is my contribution to the City Daily Photo Monthly Theme Day. To see the contribution of other members of CDP please visit the portal.

Getting lost in the Redberry Maze in George

Literally for the last couple of years now the Damselfly has wanted to visit Redberry Farm in George on the Garden Route.  We just never had the opportunity to be in the area long enough to do so until we spent a long weekend in the town recently.  It meant that Redberry Farm was at the top of our "To Do" list for the weekend.  The reason for us wanting to visit Redberry Farm wasn't to actually go and pick strawberries (it was cheaper to buy them in their shop anyway), but rather to go and experience the Redberry Maze.

I had seen one or two photos of the maze so I knew it was a proper maze, but hell's bells, it was so much more than what I expected.  It was a proper dinkum right out of the movies and fairy tales maze.  The maze has about 10 000 meters (yes, that is 10 kilometers) of pathways and is grown from over 30,000 Syzygium Paniculatum plants.  The object of the maze isn't to go in one entrance and find your way to the exit. No, it's a lot more complicated than that.  Each person who enters is given a stamp card and you then have to go and find the seven stations that will each give you a different stamp to put on the card.  The map you get is very small so not that easy to follow, which is cool because otherwise it would be too easy, and it only pinpoints two of the stations so you have to search for the rest.  Not that finding the two was easy either.

I gave the Family a choice to either go in as a group or individually for us to see who can get out first.  The Damselfly and Drama Princess decided to stick with me while Chaos Boy wanted to fly solo.  He was off like a bolt while we took the more systematic slower approach. 

The maze is really amazing (excuse the pun).  The hedges are between three and four meters high and where it's not totally impenetrable they have inserted wire to make sure nobody cheats their way out.  Plus the guardians will keep an eye to make sure you don't try.  Just don't get a fright when you come around a corner and encounter a big metal spider, scarecrow or some other maze creature.  If you are going into the maze, do go prepared and take some water and a hat... perhaps some padkos... and a sleeping bag and tent... Oh and make sure you do your toilet stop before you enter because you never know how long it's going to be before you get out again.

The one corner of the maze is totally isolated from the rest and the only way in is along a 25 meter long underground tunnel.  Dark, damp and scary.  The trick is to try and do it without your phone's torch.  A word of warning though, if you do, don't run your hands along the walls... 

I am proud to say that an hour and a half after entering the maze I led my little group out again with all seven stamps, collecting our prize badges at the exit.  We met some friends from George for some coffee / milkshakes / strawberry juice in the very popular coffee shop section and waited for Chaos Boy to emerge.  And waited... and waited... and waited... An hour later I headed back in to go and rescue him, finding him where he was collecting his last stamp.  The boy was exhausted from all the running.  Just shows that slow and steady often gets you there quicker.

Would I go again?  In a heartbeat.  I absolutely loved the experience and wouldn't it be great to see this as a roadblock on an Amazing Race?  What does it cost? R35 per person.  Not bad for an hour and a half worth of entertainment.

Just in case you were wondering.  We weren't invited to visit, paid our own way and nobody there even knew that I was a travel blogger. 

The Recital

He entertained the diners with his prose.

The Band

The entertainment after the Marysville High reunion was the Blue River Ramblers, named for the stream that runs by the town. Not a thing about them online so my guess is that they are just a pick-up group. There seemed to be chronic technical problems and Elvira needed to go home so we didn't get to hear them play.

They were diverse by Kansas standards. The guitar player had a face like the proverbial five miles of bad road and eyes that hadn't smiled in years. The singer-keyboard player looked and sounded like George Beverly Shea, Billy Graham's gospel music singer. The drummer was doing the Duck Dynasty look. Wish we could have stayed to hear their style.             

Horse Drawn Open Carriage

A horse drawn open carriage is a very popular way to see Cedar Key in relative comfort, especially on warm days. The first shot was taken on Main Street in downtown Cedar Key. The second photo comes from the Dock area. I hope all the horses are treated as well as the one in the second picture seems to be.

The First Baptist Church at The Villages

This is a relatively new structure housing The First Baptist Church at The Villages. It is located in the town of Summerfield, in the Spanish Springs area of The Villages. Across the street from this church is the Roman Catholic parish of St. Mark the Evangelist. Both are quite impressive facilities. Baptists and Catholics are well represented in The Villages.

Trains, trains and some other stuff at the Outeniqua Transport Museum

When in George the one attraction you have to visit is the Outenique Transport Museum (also known as the Outenique Railway Museum).  It used to be one of my regular stops on the Garden Route back when I was working as a tourist guide and the Outenique Choo Tjie steam train was still running.  Spending a long weekend in George I just had to take the family to show them this amazing place.  I was just a little worried, because although I love museums, they might possibly find it slightly boring.  I was wrong.

The museum has an exceptional collection of railway memorabilia which include 13 steam locomotives and probably twice as many (if not more) different carriages.  Some of the pieces that take pride of place in the museum are the Emil Kessler - Johannesburg’s first steam locomotive, the impressive GL Garrett, a coach from the Royal Train of 1947 and Paul Kruger’s coach and private saloons.  The Damselfly grew up on stations in the Langkloof while her father worked as a station master and she was mesmerised.  I could not believe that I was actually waiting for her the whole time as she slowly looked at just about everything in the museum, often calling me back to share some railway related childhood memories with me.  One of the things the KidZ loved the most was that they could climb into some of the locomotives and see what it looked like inside. They were all happy which made me happy and not guilty at all fro bringing them to a museum while we were on holiday.

One of my highlights of the museum every time I visit is the massive model train layout in one of the rooms.  I used to spend way too much time in here while my guests were wandering around and it got me interested in modeling.  When I say interested in modeling I mean I've actually started building my own landscape model, without a train though.  Like farther like son... and daughter.  The KidZ nearly got stuck in the model room and I had to dig out coins to make the trains run a couple of times.

But the museum is a transport museum after all and not only about trains.  There is a huge exhibit of privately owned vintage cars, fire fighting vehicles from waaaaay back, a car similar to the one from Ghost Busters (which Chaos Boy immediately spotted) and a horse drawn hearse. 

I think one of the biggest highlights of our visit turned out to be the Umfolosi Diner car.  Yes, the museum has a little coffee shop dash restaurant in a diner car and there was no way that we were going to pass up the opportunity to have something to eat in it..

So milkshakes, chicken nuggets and pies, chips & gravy it was.  All we needed was the sway of the train and the rhythmic katic-katic katic-katic sound of the wheels on the track.

So next time you are in George, doesn't matter if you are staying over or just passing through, pinch off an hour or so and head for the Outeniqua Transport Museum.  They are open daily (excluding Sundays) from 8am to 5pm in season and Monday to Friday: 08h00 to 16h30, Saturdays and Public Holidays: 08h00 to 14h00 and closed on Sundays out of season.  The cost, R20 for adults, R10 for kids under 12 years and under 6 years for mahala at the time of our visit in April 2016.  

And just in case you were wondering.  We weren't invited to visit, paid our own way and nobody there even knew that I was planning to write a post about it. 

The Selfie

A perfect backdrop for selfie fans.

At The Legion Hall

In many towns across America events like reunions and wedding receptions are sometimes held at the facilities of the Veterans of Foreign Wars or the American Legion, another military veteran's group. There is always a large, open meeting area, a kitchen and a bar. The prices are modest. Sort of an everyman's alternative to a hotel ballroom.

The Marysville High School reunion was held at the American Legion hall. It's convivial and informal. As you can see, the high school mascot is the Bulldog. I thought the bottom picture was better in black and white. Those are the red and white stripes of a big American flag on the wall and they are pretty hard on the eyes in color. These circles with a variety of military activity covered the wall. A bit off from the culture I live in.              

The Swan

A couple of rather scary looking swan sculptures sit alongside Battersea Bridge looking for all the world as though they are ready to attack passersby.

80th High School Class Reunion

Marysville, Kansas, High School, has an annual reunion for the classes with major graduation anniversaries, about 40 years and up. Mrs. C (Class of 1962) and I attended last night in honor of her mother, Elvira Kruse, the sole representative of the class of 1936. 80 years out of high school, 97 years of age and doing well, thank you. What a remarkable person.                 

An Illusion

Dressed in white she tentitively takes a step down on the grand Peace Pagoda.  Is she a bride or a nun?  No nothing so romantic.  A model and photographer. Phah! 

816 - The Metro

816 is the telephone area code for Kansas City, Missouri, where we find ourselves at the moment. It is also the name of the hotel where we stay in KC on our way to see Mrs. C's family in Kansas. It is full of photos and artifacts of the city from decades ago. We usually get one of the less expensive rooms but they are a bit cramped. This time we spent a little more and got a bigger one.

We had no idea that the room's decoration theme was Kansas City's public transit of years gone by. The second picture is of wallpaper behind the desk. The fourth is a fare box from not too many years ago. The bedside lamp on the right of the top of photo is the cylinder where riders dropped their coins decades ago.

Over to Marysville, Kansas, this morning. The weather is unsettled. Maybe we'll see a tornado.         

Hard and dry labaneh

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In Israel we love to eat the soft yogurt cheese called labaneh, scooping it off the plate with pita.
But Nissim, our excellent guide through the Bedouin part of the Beer Sheva market, explained that labaneh can also be made into these dried lumps.

  
Strained labaneh is pressed in its cheese cloth between two heavy stones and later sun dried.
The balls can be easily stored and for a long time. 
Arabs have been doing this for hundreds of years.
I guess when Bedouin were still largely nomadic, it was easy to transport the labaneh in such form; add water and it is easily reconstituted to soft yogurt cheese.

The labaneh made by Arabs in the southern Hebron Hills is slightly different in shape from that made by the Bedouin here in the Negev.
One version is round and the other is oval.

To see how women in the nearby village of Dirijat produce labaneh, please see my pictures from 2008, when I spent five days living there, learning Arabic.
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Three easy on the pocket George attractions

I don't think George is very high on anybody's list of possible holiday destinations.  Yes, as part of the Garden Route but not standing on it's own.  If that is how you think then I'm going to have to tell you how wrong your thinking is.  Spending Easter Weekend in George showed me in four days that George is actually the ideal family destination.  Beautiful mountains and passes, a stunning coastline, a laid back town atmosphere and not outrageously expensive attractions.  We were camping in George and took it easy while we were there (plus I did a load of Geocaches) so chose one attraction to do every day while there.  It turned out that all three are highly recommended and very cheap to do so here are Three things to do in George that are easy on the pocket.

The Outeniqua Transport Museum is a must do while in George and if you do nothing else then you have to try and get here.  The museum used to be the departure point of the Outeniqua Choo Tjoe and has the most magnificent collection of trains (13 locomotives and numerous carriages), vintage cars and other vehicles, railway memorabilia and the most magnificent model train layout.  I thought the family would be totally bored but they were anything but.  You can also have lunch or just a coffee and milkshake in a dining car.  The best of all, adults pay R20 and kids under 12 only R10.  What an absolute bargain.

The one thing we really wanted to do while in town was a visit to Red Berry Farm.  Red Berry Farm offers strawberry picking as well as a host of kiddies activities.  We were there to do the hedge maze.  I knew in advance that it was a proper hedge maze but I don't think I was fully prepared for what we encountered.  A truly dincum get lost for hours hedge maze.  You get a stamp card and have to look for 7 stations along the way to complete the card which took me an hour and a half.  After having coffee and a chat with friends who came by to say hi, I went back in an hour later to go and find Chaos Boy who was still wandering around looking for his last two stamps.  Would I go and do it again? In a heartbeat.  The cost? A paltry R35 per person.

On our last full day in George the options we considered were to either go down to Victoria Bay or up the historic Montagu Pass.  We opted for the latter of the two and explored this truly scenic pass completed way back in 1848.  The trip up was a combination of beautiful scenes, historic sites and being close to nature.  Although a dirt road that does take a battering from the rain, we drove up to the top and back down without any trouble in the Chev Aveo.  So what would you pay for this little outing? Well, nothing more than your petrol and some snacks for along the way.  Just don't leave your camera behind.