Postcard from Walla Walla

The House On Lombardy Lane

It was my time of life, so vivid in my mind
A time of impressions so clear and deep
My time to move and find the home
The home and house to suit our style
My family only with impressions to gain
From the house that sat on Lombardy Lane!

The street so great in style and grace
Not a real street but one called a lane
The house with class and style kept my wants
Alive with anticipation; oh but to live there
Gave me the boost of desire and gain,
If only to live in the house on Lombardy Lane!

My friends were eager for that move
And family so true, brothers and sisters
Ready to venture in a residence so great
We were eager for the place of dreams
Then adapt to ways most suitable to reign
In the classy house on Lombardy Lane!

But the dreams soon faded away to another
House but farther away, though great and large
To bring my dreams in another way,
Bringing to me friends anew and many
Adding qualities of life that still remain
But losing a chance for the house on Lombardy Lane!

Larry B. Stell

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To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com…or visit my Flickr Page.

Postcard from Red Canyon

Red Canyon is not a National Park, nor even a National Monument. But it is part of the Dixie National Forest in Southern Utah. If you think it looks a lot like Bryce Canyon National Park, its because it is located in the same general vicinity…Bryce is but a mere 10 miles away.

In fact if you are driving to Bryce from the West, you will pass right through Red Canyon. Make sure you stop at the Visitor’s Center, right on Highway 12. It is worth it, trust me. If you can stay a day or two and explore the trails, you will run into scenes like this one. There is a great campground there with campsites tucked away among the amazing rock formations.

I took this on the trail to Castro Canyon. If you think this looks like a road more than a trail…well it is, sort of. One of the fun things about Red Canyon is they allow all terrain vehicles (ATV) to roam at will throughout the area. In fact, it was shortly after I took this photo that a caravan of 8 or 9 three-wheeled ATV’s passed me on this very trail. I would love to go back there sometime and rent one and explore deeper into these canyons.

Red Canyon is just one part of magnificent scenery that encompasses Southeastern Utah. Highway 12 may be one of the most beautiful highways in all of the US. If you have the time, you should drive the whole highway from Red Canyon to where it ends at Capital Reef National Park. And definitely bring a camera with lots of storage space for photos.

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To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com…or visit my Flickr Page.

Postcard from Northeastern Washington

If you have followed this blog for any length of time, you may have noticed that I enjoy creating digital paintings of broken down pickups and larger trucks. Well, here is another one…done in the Japanese Moku Hanga style.

My fascination with these old trucks started up in Northeastern Washington, a sparsely populated corner of the state near both the Idaho and Canadian borders. There are a few small towns here and there, but once you head north on highway 25 out of Davenport, the flat plains fall away and you enter some beautiful hills and mountain country.

This is also where you find most of the old trucks you have seen here in previous blogs. Sometimes I think there are more old abandoned trucks and cars up here than people. You find them in junk yards, in fields, sitting by the side of the road, and, in one case, under an apple tree.

No matter where I find these old trucks, they often make great subjects for paintings and sketches. Some of these paintings sold quite well when I was on the road doing art shows. I remember one show up in Montana where I sold out of every old truck print in every size.

Besides discovering old abandoned vehicles, there is much more to see and do up here in this far flung corner of America. Just outside the city of Republic, there is the Stonerose Fossil Site where you pay a small fee and quarry for 50 million year old fossils including shells, insects, fish, leaves and twigs, and bird feathers…and you get to keep them. I still have a small collection of ancient fossils I dug up on my visit.

Just barely south of Canada, we discovered China Bend Winery hidden away in the lush mountain greenery one finds that far north. I was surprised at the high quality of their wine being that the area is subject to some pretty severe winters. But the owner did his homework and found the right wine grapes that would not only survive, but thrive in these conditions. Trust me, their wines are delicious. 

And if old barns are your thing, there are plenty of them to see. Some are standing and some are not necessarily standing up straight. I photographed several of those, to be sure.

This part of Washington is a great place to get away from people and everyday city life. You can probably leave most of your electronic devices behind as there is little connectivity up here. We are talking about a return to the stone age…but a really beautiful stone age.

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To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com…or visit my Flickr Page.

Postcard from San Francisco

 

The Ferry Building Conspiracy

by John Carney

Again, they were at the Piers,
The Game Pigeons,
Clustered about in thick groups,
Knowing no order,
Yet only the ceaseless hunger for dissonance,
As, again, the great crowds bustled along the thoroughfare,
Gaming them with the Food of Disorder.

Some clustered about the Ferry Building,
Which had been renamed by some,
“The Gaming Palace,”
Where the mad were known only by the wise and the wary,
To game the crowds with voice tricks and acoustical wonders of the same,
Without the immediate knowledge of that unfortunate gathering.

There, against the backdrop of the background chatter,
The Voice Artists plied their wares,
Vending madness for free to those would hear their sales “pitch.”
To feed the pigeons the same Pomegranate Seeds,
Persephone devoured in Her folly of love.

Madness had taken on a new lover,
And cavorted endlessly about the wharves,
In that City by The Bay,
Whose Voice was never at rest.

There, if you would, you can find out what you’re “hearing,”
At the Devil’s Playground,
Where the Mad make merry with one another,
For the sake of the same.
Every seeking glory from those who have none,
And yet finding none save in the moment’s vanity,
Elusive as the moment’s passing,
And fleeting as a glance in Eternity’s Mirror.

As they pass one another along the walkway,
They trade barbs of reference,
To see who “controls” who;
To find out who is “talking to “who.”

“The Gaming Palace” is filled with busy, thronging mobs,
Blissfully unaware of who’s “talking” to them.

An unofficial act had come to town,
And the Voice Throwers had just arrived from the local madhouse,
To entertain the crowd.

The problem was:
They would never find out how entertained they were,
Until they, too, had arrived at the madhouse,
Lacking the company of the same for their trouble.
And bereft of the extra baggage of their sanity.

 

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To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com…or visit my Flickr Page.

Postcard from the Grand Canyon

I remember this day pretty well. It was my first day at the Grand Canyon North Rim. I had been to the South Rim 3 times before but never this side. In many ways, the North Rim is quite different. First, it is over 1,000 feet higher.

When you drive to the South Rim, you are in high desert country. But the approach to the North Rim is through lovely forested country. And while the South Rim is almost always open for tourists, the north side is shut down in the winter because of heavy snows. What a difference a thousand feet makes.

And while the actual distance from the South Rim to the North Rim is only a mile or so across, the driving distance from the south to the north is 212 miles. On this day, I drove there from Flagstaff, a distance of 207 miles. So I didn’t arrive until mid-afternoon.

First thing I did was take a walk to orient myself to this new place. It is quite different as there are only a couple of view points on the North Rim, while the South Rim has several places to stop to see different aspects of this magnificent National Park. I should mention there are a couple of long, severe dirt roads leading to other viewpoints on the north side, but I decided not to put my van through that torture. 

Towards sunset I took a hike out to Bright Angel Point. The wind was fierce that day, but the views were well worth it. Beautiful clouds filled the sky while the colors of the canyon were made bright by the late afternoon sun. Sadly, towards sunset, the clouds blocked the sun most of the time…but occasionally it poked through and I got some good photos, some of which have been shown here before.

On the way back, I passed this and a few other amazing trees in sunset light. I think this photo turned out well. One must always remember that even though you may be in one of the most magnificent and majestic places on this planet, always keep your eyes open for the small things, like a solitary tree at sunset. Those photos can be as beautiful as the ones you took of the sweeping vistas.  

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To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com…or visit my Flickr Page.

Postcard from Central Oregon

Take a guess…how many covered bridges are there in Orgeon? 10, 20, or 30? Wrong! The answer is 50 covered bridges. Surprised? I sure was when I first learned about them. Oregon has more covered bridges than any state west of the Mississippi.

While certainly being nostalgic and beautiful, covering the bridges serves a real purpose. Back in the early 20th century, bridges built as river crossings were designed using Douglas Fir. Two world wars made steel in short supply. And with an abundance of forests in the state, Douglas Fir was the natural choice.

A wooden bridge was covered to keep the huge truss timbers dry. A covered bridge could last 80 years or more, while an uncovered one would deteriorate in about nine years! That is a big difference. 

Covered bridges are no longer built as steel and other materials are plentiful. But, of course, no one wants to lose the old covered ones. So the are kept in good working order as they are still perfectly for what they do and they are definitely tourist attractions. Oregon passed legislation back in 1987 to provide funds to keep these nostalgic bridges up and running. Hooray for them.

The bridge here is called the Goodpasture Bridge. Located in Lane County, east of Eugene, it is the second longest covered bridge in the state and one of the most popular for tourists with cameras. It was named for Benjamin Franklin Goodpasture, a pioneer farmer who had settled near the bridge site…a great name for a farmer!

It was built in 1938 at a total cost of $13,154. In 1987 Lane County spent $750,000 to restore it (inflation is a bitch!). It crosses the McKenzie River, 2 miles west of the community of Vida. If you are ever in Central Oregon, you can easily find brochures that lay out a route for seeing some or all of the bridge sites in Lane County. They have 17 of them. That is what I did…visiting 6 of them on my tour before continuing my journey east on the McKenzie Pass Highway.

PS: If you ever do it, bring your camera.

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com…or visit my Flickr Page.

Postcard from Tumacácori

This photo is of Mission San José de Tumacácori, now part of Tumacácori National Historical Park. It is about 45 miles south of Tucson and 15-20 miles north of the Mexican border. Its sits just off of Interstate 19.

On this visit late in the afternoon, I got lucky with the light and shadows. The trees all over the park cast some great shadows on the various nearby structures. Happily, there were trees right by the old mission and I was able to capture this image. 

The mission itself was founded by Father Eusebio Kino in 1691, with the mission itself being completed in the 18th century. It was the first mission in Southern Arizona and was built to convert the local Native American tribes to Christianity.

Around 1860, it was repeatedly attacked by the Apache Tribe and was finally abandoned.  Restoration and stabilization efforts began in 1908 when the site was declared Tumacácori National Monument by President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1990 it became part of the new Tumacácori National Historical Park.

Postcard from Morro Beach

Nearly two years ago, I showed you a very nice photo I took at sunset on Morro Beach. I said at the time it was the only decent sunset photo from my time there. I lied…but, not intentionally. While recently perusing through my photos of that time, I came across this gem. Don’t know how I missed it…but here it is. This is definitely the only other decent sunset photo I took during my short visit there…I swear!

I missed it because I took it from a distance. I had to do quite a bit of cropping to get it to this size. Thank God for cameras with lots and lots of pixels.

Two years ago, I mentioned that Morro Beach was a fabulous beach for walking, or sunbathing, or bikini watching. But for landscape photography, it is less than desirable. It is just a boring long beach. But I suspect true beach lovers vastly outnumber landscape photographers. So it goes…

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To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com

Postcard from the Northern Cascades

The Lone Pine

By B. P. Avery

SWAY thy top, thou ancient pine—

  Warrior of the storm commanding!

Lone upon the mountain standing,

Whom no ivy’s arms entwine.

Melancholy souls like mine,
      

  ’Neath thy shadow passing slow,

Love to hear thy plaintive moan;

  ’Tis an echo of the woe

Found in human breasts alone.

Mournfully amid the ruins
       

  Of thy fellows standest thou,

Like a column of some temple

Living but in story now;

All around it, wildly scattered,

Fallen walls and pillars shattered.
   

Softly sighing through thy branches

  Sounds the wind, with fall and swell;

Now retreats, and now advances,

  Rousing fancy with its spell,

Like the melody that chances
      

  On the ear from distant bell,

Or the murmur that entrances

  Of the tinted sea-side shell.

Lo! musing on thy loneliness,

  Thy brethren seem again to rise;
      

On every hand a wilderness

  Shuts out the prospect of the skies.

’Tis verdure all, and deepest shade, no sound

Disturbs the thoughtful silence, save

A murmur such as rolls through Ocean cave,
       

And rustling of dry leaves upon the ground.

But while I listen with an awe profound,

A glance dispels the visionary wood—

A single tree remains where late ten thousand stood.

 

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To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com…or visit my Flickr Page.