City Daily Photo December Theme Day - Gift

Ellie's two best friends in a not-so-great phone cam shot. In her right hand, Old Lambie, given to her soon after her debut by our good friend Virginia. Not long ago she became greatly concerned about O.L.'s increasingly decrepit condition, and so New Lambie arrived courtesy of her grandparents. She treasures both of them equally.

BTW, she sometimes insists on wearing her coat in the house just because she is four and wants to be assertive. She does it in conversation, too. For example, Mrs. C was talking to her about the day's activities at dinner last night. Ellie had helped change the furnace filter. My wife asked her where they had put the old one after they were done. The kid cheerfully replied, "applesauce!"   

Ars Gratia Artis

There is a storefront at 8th and Pine that has been vacant for 20 or 30 years. Its former use was unusual. The phone company filled it with physical phone books from all around the country. In pre-internet times, you could go there to look up a phone number in Chicago or Dallas. I did occasionally.

It's obvious what happened to that idea. This season Art St. Louis filled the dark interior with glowing, onion-shaped constructions, pulsing and changing colors. Maybe it was supposed to be Christmas-y. I thought it was spooky.

A bizarre accident, 2 smashed cars

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This big Border Police vehicle managed to do a lot of damage to two parked cars on a main street of my town early last Friday morning, thankfully without injuring any people.

Police were already there investigating, and this one was measuring distances with his meter measuring wheel.

A parked towing wagon had also been hit and was on its side. 

I really wonder how and why this happened.
Click one or two times on the photos to get the full "impact."
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When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When life gives you patio furniture, make sculpture.

Found at 6th and Chestnut, walking back to my car from Kiener Plaza. This is the outdoor seating area of a T. G. I. Friday's restaurant. (One of my law firm's slogans: Thank God it's Friday. Only two more work days until Monday.) Getting pretty chilly for dining al frecso so maybe this furniture was just stacked up for the winter. It made for pretty interesting geometry.       

Peek-A-Boo

The Arch is sort of downtown's eye of Buddha. It peaks at you from unexpected places and always seems to be watching you. Better behave yourself and brush up on catenary geometry.       

The views of Coffee Bay

At the bottom of the beach in Coffee Bay is Bomvu Hill offering stunning views of both Coffee Bay to the north side and Bomvu Bay to the south. The village is located to the left just out of the picture next to the Nenga River. 

Looking at the Coffee Bay view the white building at the top of the beach is the Ocean View Hotel where I have now stayed twice already.  Comfortable accommodation, great dinner buffet, direct access to the beach and they offer tours to Hole in the Wall.  I haven't had a chance to stay at one of the backpackers in Coffee Bay yet but would love to experience that side and vibe of it as well, but if you're looking for hotel accommodation in Coffee Bay then Ocean View is the way to go.

Looking south Hole in the Wall is about 7 or 8 kilometres down the coast.  Coffee Shack Backpackers is located just on the other side of the rocky beach below. To the left-hand side of the hill is virtually a sheer drop down to the Indian Ocean below.  Next time I visit Coffee Bay I want to do a surf lesson. Time for me to try something new.

Back To What Passes For Normal

Time to get back home. Too much to do, no ideas, the usual. So go walk around with a camera.

Someone funded an outdoor ice rink in Kiener Plaza downtown, open from Thanksgiving to New Year's. As you can see from some people's dress it's not terribly cold. We have had only a couple of nights below freezing and as high as 74 F / 23 C in the last week. It ain't right.  

B&W Challenge Day 7 - Big Piece Of Rock

The biggest one around. Glad I got to see it. This is the end of the seven day run but I've taken some more pictures recently that I'd like to edit in B&W. They get done that way when the image is right.

B&W Challenge Day 5 - Hay Bales

Marshall County, Kansas, near Mrs. C's family's farm.                

B&W Challenge Day 5 - 120 Wall Street

The last building on Wall Street in New York, where it meets the East River. My father worked there much of his adult life. I loved to go there with him on Saturdays, play with the office machines and watch the boats in the river.

Taken from the walkway on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Gray on gray

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It was a cool gray day in Jerusalem today, with a few drops of rain.
Heavy clouds were sitting on Mt. Scopus at the end of the street.
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(Linking to SkyWatch Friday.)
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B&W Challenge, Day 4 - ICP

An iconic institution for people who share my passion, the new quarters of the International Center Of Photography on The Bowery, just south of Houston Street in lower Manhattan. (I think the school is still at the old place on Sixth Avenue in Midtown.) This street used to be New York's skid row, but, like much of the island, it is becoming thoroughly gentrified.

It you look closely, you can barely see the white lettering in the pavement featured in the post of November 12. Of course almost no one notices it.

I think I'll finist this series with three of my favorite B&Ws from the archives.  

I finally got to visit Hole in the Wall

One of my absolute travel highlights during 2017 is the fact that I finally got to visit the Hole in the Wall near Coffee Bay on the Wild Coast.  It was somewhat of an embarrassment to be somebody promoting and marketing the Eastern Cape but having to say that I have never been there. It's not the closest destination to where I live in Port Elizabeth though so it's not like I could just pop up to go and see it.  About two years ago I was in Coffee Bay en route to Durban and wanted to go, but circumstances led to me not being able to.  It means that this time around there was no way I was going to miss it again. Non at all.

Coffee Bay is a good 6 1/2 hour drive from Port Elizabeth and knowing that I left PE early to give myself enough time to see one of South Africa's iconic geological attractions.  After checking in at the hotel in Coffee Bay and declining the invitation of gin and tonics from a few travel colleagues who had arrived already, I headed the 8 km or so down the coast towards Hole in the Wall.  There are two options to view "the wall".  One from the hill above and the second from the rocky beach.  I opted for the former first and followed the track up the hill.  What a sight! 

After taking in as much from the viewpoint as I could I headed down to the bottom.  Rather than leaving my car at the normal parking spot and allowing myself to be harassed by the "informal guides", I wangled my way into the grounds of the Hole in the Wall Hotel and after a chat to the GM made my way out the gate and along the path to find myself face to face with this Wild Coast icon.  I literally felt like I could spend all day here and if I had brought a towel and lunch I may well have done just that.  Finally I can tick one of the big things off my South African travel bucket list. 

B&W Challenge, Day 3 - Off Season

No people, no words. Busch Stadium, taken through the center field gate, late afternoon on a chilly November day.        

Olive oil by the barrel

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T is for tugging.

Dani, the in-charge of Kibbutz Gezer Olives had just driven two heavy barrels of our fresh oil back from the olive press.

And they had to be off-loaded to the entrance of the kibbutz bomb shelter where the oil would later be bottled.

American volunteer Ashlea took a whiff.

Dani made the taste test.

Ashlea got a capful of the precious fruit of our olive-harvesting labor.

Luke, a WWOOFer from New Zealand, tried it too.

Only I, as reflected in the pure oil, was busy with the camera and mercifully too busy to drink.
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(Linking to T-day at ABC Wednesday and OurWorld Tuesday.)
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B&W Challenge, Day 2

Once again, the plan is seven days of B&W photos, no people, no words. Need to go back in the archives to do this series. That's okay. I have a black and white album on Flickr and it made me go back and see what worked and what didn't.

I think this worked. Taken from the Illinois side of the Mississippi. Eads Bridge in the middle layer. The bottom layer is a floodwall with heavy concrete and steel supports to hold back the river.       

B&W Challenge, Day One

So there's this meme going around where somebody challenges somebody else to post black and white pictures for seven days, no people, no words. Nobody challenged me (sniff) but I don't have any better ideas so I'm just gonna do it. 

We start in Citygarden with Tom Claasen's Two Rabbits. They look passive enough but those of us of a certain age cannot forget another apparently innocent bunny. 

I may have to hit the archives to finish this exercise but I'm interested in shooting some dead empty shopping malls on Thursday, Thanksgiving in the United States. 

It Would Be An improvement

We took Ellie to STL's wonderful children's museum, The Magic House. (Yes, she is officially Madeleine but we all call her Ellie and I'm changing my usage.) I had not been there since our kids were young. It's been greatly expanded and improved. Ellie had a ball.              

There was an area devoted to American government. To my surprise, there was a mock-up of the Oval Office. The children could pretend to sit at the president's desk and Ellie took her turn. I think she was taking a call from Putin.

The Constitution requires that the president be at least 35 years of age. A video system lets the kids find out how long they have to wait. I hope it won't be nearly that long (months preferred to years) for a major improvement on the incumbent.