Light and Shadows
-
Light and Shadows -
Remembering
The Back Door I grew up in a town just south of me, called Loveland, Colorado. Since Friday I have been house/cat sitting for a friend of mine while she visits friends on the east coast, where it’s been warmer. The gig has been okay. The cat, Mittens, and I are getting along fine. The one exception was Easter morning when he decided to wake me at 4:11 am. I told him no we re not going to any Easter Sunrise service. He gave me that look and went back up stairs.
In downtown along main street is a large coffee shop called the Coffee Tree. If my memory serves me correctly this is where a barber shop once was and I began my working life with a shoe shine stand. Made my first million there.
Needles to say, I have been coming down here for morning mocha latte and loving the memories. I’ve found a comfy chair with my name on it. I like their music and it’s not loud. The kids are always smiling, greeting you as soon as you open the door. This past Saturday morning after coffee I ventured around on the streets with my camera, reflecting back to these streets I use to wander. I remember the Loveland Reporter Herald building where I would pick up my newspapers, roll them and then load them on my bicycle for delivery. I remember the dentist office, the Woolworths store, J. C. Pennys, Drapers Drug store, McCauley’s Jewelry, Hancock’s Photography, Brown’s Shoe Fit, the Home State and First National Banks, the Rialto Theater, the post office, Klitzke’s Bicycle Shop. As a young one I participated in the world famous Pet and Doll Parade down main street. Even though the weather was cold and cloudy, I enjoyed the mocha and the walk through town. Memories and a mocha!
-
Window Light
Foyer to Theater at Lory Student Center I loved the light in this foyer to the theater on campus.
-
Through the Window
Through the Windowe “The camera makes you forget you’re there. It’s not like you are hiding but you forget, you are just looking so much.” Annie Leibovitz
-
Early Morning Shadows
Early Morning Shadows You’ll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut. Dr. Suess
Yes, I’m a morning person. But, I have three children and four grandchildren who are not. Their loss.
-
A Feeling of Spring
Sunrise at the Oval A few patches of snow remain on any shaded area where the sun cannot reach. Students are walking on campus and riding the bus with t-shirts and shorts. The blue sky seems bluer. There is only a small patch of ice remaining on the pond. The days are getting longer. This warmer weather this past week is causing a bit of excitement within me. There is a feeling of Spring.
“When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest. The only thing that could spoil a day was people and if you could keep from making engagements, each day had no limits. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.” ― Ernest Hemingway
-
Use of Solitude
St. Josephs Steeple “In order to be open to creativity, one must have the capacity for constructive use of solitude. One must overcome the fear of being alone.” ― Rollo May
While on a walk last week I ventured into St. Josephs Catholic Church. It was the time of day I like to visit when there few people. There was one man praying the Stations of the Cross, otherwise I had it to myslef. Churches are still a place in our city where I can find a place of quiet. Very little external noise finds it’s way in. I then use these places to sit and journal or meditate or read or all of them. Before going into the church I looked up and noticed the steeple against the sky. That’s one image.
Baptismal Font at St. Josephs Catholic Church Solitude has become an important part of my life. I enjoy it and need it. My condo is a place of solitude, a sanctuary, a way to distance myself from the busyness of the world. Please don’t think I’m a hermit because I need community, to have people actively in my life. I find community with family, friends, coffeehouses, bookstores and libraries and in nature.
I think many people attend church for weekend services and avoid weekdays. I am the opposite. I do not attend a church but spend time in church when most people are working. I go to churches for the quiet and solitude. And, I admit I am also seeking photo opportunities during these times, stirring my creativity and being open to a scene that can appear before me. I noticed the baptismal font and have a second image.
-
Sunset Schoolhouse
Sunset Schoolhouse The roots of my family, after immigrating to the the states, is in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandle. I still have family farming and ranching in the area. I visited a year and a half ago for a family reunion and was able to see and hear a bit more of the areas history. While down there last weekend for a funeral my cousin Daryle took my sister and I on a heritage tour of the Darrouzett, Texas area. This small community is located along State Highway 15 in northern Lipscomb County. It is at the junction of Plummer and Kiowa creeks. Upon completion of the rail line in 1919–20, settlers and businesses moved south from the Sunset community in Oklahoma to be near the railroad. By 1920, when it was incorporated, Darrouzett had various businesses, two churches, a school, a post office, and a population of 425. In 1984 Darrouzett reported twelve businesses and a population of 444. In 1990 its population was 343, and in 2000 it was 303.
There was mass migration to this area after the Civil War. This area held promises of rich grass, rich soil and a place for new life: Texas Panhandle. Bound by a lawless area to the north known as “No Man’s Land,” what was to become known as Lipscomb County must have appeared both beautiful and formidable at the same time.
The early settlers in this part of Texas found everything needed to establish a home, running water, tall grass, wild turkey, prairie chickens, wild plums and grapes and the bountiful buffalo sod for building. This future Lipscomb County was bisected by Wolf Creek and laced with its tributaries and offered many pleasant groves of cottonwood and willows as a relief to the vast expanses of buffalo grass. This area where Plummer and Kiowa creeks merged, was to soon become a favorite picnic area for the settlers in outlying areas and some years later, the site of Darrouzett.
My mother’s early childhood was in the Sunset community. She attended this one room schoolhouse as did her three siblings. She later moved to Laverne, Oklahoma, where she graduated. My dad was raised 13 miles east of here in another small community called Follett, Texas.
