Tag: Monochrome Monday

Monochrome Monday: Calvert Oddities

Here are some of the oddities I found walking down the main drag, the only drag, of Calvert, Tx.

This isn’t the first cyclist art I’ve seen. Waco, TX, had a bunch of bicycles painted bright colors for one of their events. I’m not sure I like them. My wife took one look at this picture and immediately called him the Pompeii Cyclist.

One shop in Calvert was dedicated to rebuilding old motorcycles. This was part of a 1953 Matchless Motorcycle.

Jeff’s Jeep. Great gas mileage, only runs on leap days…

The “official” welcome sign.

The tallest building in Calvert.

All photos are copyright © Timothy J. Hammons, 2021. 

Monochrome Monday: Aggieland

I always enjoy being able to take photos at Texas A&M University. It is where I really had my photography skills refined back in the late 1980s when I was a student in the journalism department.

Going back with a digital camera is a delight. I was using a Canon AE-1 back in the day. Working for the Aggieland Yearbook, we rolled our own black and white film, processed it, and spent hours in the dark room printing photos. The senior in charge of photography really taught me how to take black and white and get it to pop with contrast. He was always telling us that he wanted to see both the whitest whites, and the blackest blacks in every photo. I still hold to that principle today and rejoice at the ease editing software makes the task. Those who actually worked in dark rooms developing photos will remember the countless filters we would go through getting the right level of contrast.

For the record, I didn’t have my digital Canon on this shoot. I had to use my iPhone. Since the boys and I were there to see the Aggies play, we were told that I wouldn’t be able to bring my camera inside the stadium, so I left it inside the car.

Amazing that my iPhone SE actually takes better pictures than my old Canon AE-1. No one could have imagined that I would be walking the A&M campus with a phone, much less, one that took really great photos.

My son Andy in front of the statute of John David Crow. He was the first Aggie to win the Heisman Trophy back in the 1950s.

The 12th Man statue.

All photos are copyright © Timothy J. Hammons, 2021. 

Monochrome Monday: Pine Creek Country Inn

Heidi and I took off for an evening over in Nacogdoches again. We were meeting up with a pastor and his wife on Saturday night, and then attending church on Sunday morning. In the meantime, after our last visit there and the experience of staying in a disComfort Inn Suites, she went to work finding something off the beaten path.

Pine Creek Country Inn was deep enough in the woods that we didn’t have cell phone service, wifi, or internet. About the only use for our phones was telling the time, playing Toon Blast, and taking pictures. Which is why I have some pics this morning.

It is the perfect place to get away. We needed peace and quiet that comes deep inside a forest, away from the constant and irritating hum of a city, the never ending flash of the news cycle on social-media and all they hype therein. The only thing we forgot was a good book to read. However, we did have the Good Book and spent time reading that, which was far more profitable.

Overall, a great place to rest for a day or two.

I’m not sure what makes a section of the woods a bird sanctuary, but they claimed we were in one. I didn’t see any birds to speak of. Now cats????

Lots of cats. Hhm? Don’t cats chase and eat birds? Seems like there was some educational films regarding the phenomenon when I was a kid, involving a bird named Tweety.

We stayed in room number 20. It’s one of the cheapest rooms at the place. It’s just a bathroom and a bedroom. The rest of the lodging were actual cabins.

Just a tad bit too cold.

Did I mention cats?

All photos are copyright © Timothy J Hammons, 2021. 

Eroding Adventures From THAT Place: Monochrome Monday

We have a few fond memories of the time we lived in THAT place. We refer to it as: “that place that shall not be mentioned.”  Ever have one of those places in your lives? It’s a place where the job or the people were so bad, that even the fond memories you have are tainted with the taste of bitterness.

Fortunately, the photos help my weak memory with the fond memories, while time and age help me forget that which is bitter. But I have yet to forget enough to ever go back, or mention the name of the place.

All photos are copyright © Timothy J. Hammons 2021.

It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere — Monochrome Monday

Heidi and I drove down to the Lowest Greenville area of Dallas a few weeks ago to go to Trader Joe’s. While she was shopping, I stepped outside with my camera to take a few pictures. It was about 9 a.m., and yet, these two gentlemen (used loosely) were already tilting back the bottle. As the saying goes, “it’s five o’clock somewhere.”

All photos are copyright © Timothy J. Hammons 2021.

Monday Monochrome — THE Silos Where Chip Loves Joanna

If you know anything about Waco, TX, we have two famous people living here. One is a guy named Chip, the other is a girl named Joanna. They are married and have made a fortune by taking old homes, fixing them up, and selling them all while being filmed for the television. They have their very own television program. I’m not sure what it is called. I’ve never see the show. I’ve never seen the guy named Chip, or the girl named Joanna.

I also know they bought the two old silos downtown, that are considered landmarks for Waco, and turned the place into a high-priced Pottery Barn, which is a redundancy to say the least. My boys wanted me to take them to the silos one day when we were walking around downtown. I didn’t that day. Then I checked it out, because silos are usually in rough parts of town, only to be surprised that the place has been fixed up by Chip and Joanna. I took the boys there. It felt very commercial. It was very expensive. I didn’t let the boys touch anything. We left without buying anything.

I did get some good pictures. And no, we didn’t see the boy named Chip or the girl named Joanna. But then again,  how would I know?

 

All photos are copyright © Timothy J. Hammons 2021.

Monochrome Monday — On the Trails

The boys and I went back out to the trails at Cameron Park on Saturday. I think we are determined to find every trail we can in exploring the park, as long as my knees hold up. There are some grueling trails to ascend and descend, so it is worth the trip out to visit. In fact, according to Andy, we are not really hiking unless we are going up or down. In other words, walking on a level trail is just a stroll.

This led us to finding the trail called “The Bat Cave.”  Most of the trails at the park have been given names, although, there are a few that don’t exist on the maps. So we headed toward the Bat Cave and didn’t quite find it. The map was a bit misleading. We started at Lovers Leap and worked our way down to the riverwalk, a decent of problem 50 feet in all (rough estimate). At the bottom of the hill, we found the Bat Cave trail, going up. The boys insisted we head up. And we did.

It was rather steep, so I was taking my time going up. Andy was so hopeful to find an actual bat cave, that he was disappointed when we didn’t come across anything resembling a cave. But he did enjoy the climb. When we got to the top, we realized we were back at Lovers Leap, so we turned around and went down the Bat Cave Trail. I decided to take it slowly.

Since the boys were waiting for me, I told them to head on down, go onto the MCC trail to the end, then come back up the River Trail and they would find me there. Andy was reluctant to do so. I could tell he was worried about me as I descended.

“Andy, realize that I know you are worried about me because I am old. I am worried about you because you are young. Go on, I will be OK.”

He did.

Below are some of the pictures, including the last one with Joey, where we discovered what I’m calling the Bamboo Shoot, a trail that is just as steep as the Bat Cave, only on the other side of the hill, going through the Bamboo portion of the forest. It’s an unmarked trail.

 

Out and About: Walking the Dog

As I worked my way around Bishop Park, I got the idea to take pictures of people walking their dogs just to see if the owners and pets looked similar. I will let you decide. It was also with the dog owners that I began to realize most people don’t mind you taking their pictures. Just ask. You can see some of these dog owners were smiling at the prospect.

It also helped that the dogs, typically, liked me. That’s usually a good thing when trying to take their pictures.