Something On A Sunday

We're talking a walk through Central Park on a Saturday here on Something On A Sunday.

Something On A Sunday

Gulf Shores, Alabama  12.29.11

I am committed to continuing to post things here from time to time. True my focus has been shifted to other aspects of life and to other projects, but the space will still be a place where I wish to share.

My wife and I recently returned from a few days at the beach in Gulf Shores. It has been the vacation destination of my family for many years; between 25 and 30 I suppose. It is long been a place where I could go and drop a bag in the corner and reside on the balcony watching the surf. I would simply ask someone to, "Please tap me on the shoulder when we're going home." Otherwise, I was content to do nothing but look out at the water and enjoy the steady rolling and the calming sounds of the waves.

It had been three years since I was last in Gulf Shores and I missed it. It didn't matter that it was not the summer, or that you had to wear a jacket at times. I was back in a familiar haunt and came home refreshed and relaxed having had time to reflect on the days ahead.

With this being my first post of the new year, let me close by wishing you a fulfilling new year. I hope there is something new you wish to do, something exciting you wish to accomplish. All the best!

More to follow...

Something On A Sunday

I try to be a bit creative in posting my Facebook status. I do not always succeed, but I try. A few weeks ago I had a series of updates that highlight places I have, on occasion, considered moving to or moving back to. One such update mentioned that I have considered moving to Alaska.

Can you blame me?

Something On A Sunday

Wilson County Fair August 2009

I don't go to many fairs.

I suppose I am spoiled. I go to Walt Disney World often enough and thought of fairs simply isn't that appealing to me. Plus, I am old enough to remember a small amusement park once had in Nashville called Fair Park, which was a delight as a child to go to. I still miss it. I also, still miss, Opryland U.S.A. It was music themed park that occupied many of my days as a teenager and young adult.

So, I don't go many fairs, but did visit a county fair a few years ago. It is called by some, the best county fair in area. I could agree with that, though honestly, I don't have much of a basis for comparison.

Something On A Sunday

Choices

Gatlinburg, Tennessee 2007

Something On A Sunday

A Lamp, in some restaurant, in an old train station in Battle Creek, Michigan 05.04.08

Something On A Sunday

The Lake at Long Hunter Park 04.22.11

Something On A Sunday

Today we celebrate the Fourth of July from the penthouse of the Icon.

Nashville, Tennessee 07.04.11

Something On A Sunday

There used to be passenger train service in Nashville.

The Timetable

Union Station 02.20.11

Yes, there used to be passenger train service in Nashville. The photograph above is a timetable during the golden age of rail travel. As the years progressed and cars became the standard method of moving from one place to another, the services declined and some markets phased out entirely. Nashville was one of those markets.

But before the end my dad and I took a trip aboard The Floridian from Nashville to Palm Beach. What a great trip and a what great memories. At the time (the early 70's) Union Station was a home for pigeons. Thousands of pigeons. Amtrak had a small office and passenger waiting room in a corner of the lobby and to get from the front door to the waiting room you'd have to, in some places, walk on planks; the only walkway across gaping holes in the lobby floor. Flash forward - you'd never know that was the state of the building. Now it is a magnificent lobby for the Union Station Hotel.

Of the trip, I remember spending hours in the domed club car, one time staying up late playing nickel ante poker with some college students. My dad asked "How much did you lose?" "Well dad, I don't know how much I lost, but I won a little over $5.00." He was impressed. We visited the house we lived in when I was in the 3rd grade, spent a little time window shopping on Worth Avenue. Went to a greyhound track and saw my first game of Jai Alai. We drove along South Ocean Blvd. and I was amazed at the size of the houses some people lived in. Still am for that matter.

I could go on.

I wish passenger trains would return to Nashville. I would take as many train trips as time allowed. We have a few train trips noted in The Dream Book. Perhaps someday. On a train, the journey really is the point.

Something On A Sunday

Ordinarily, Something On A Sunday looks at a photograph of a place outside of Walt Disney World. But yesterday, while looking through photographs, I came across this one taken from the parking lot of Disney's Hollywood Studios. I rather liked it.

Hollywood Tower Hotel 12.13.08

Something On A Sunday

Manitou Springs, Colorado 02.05.10

I enjoy the use of contrasting colors. As much as I enjoy seeing these on the streets or during my travels, I wonder if I could use them in my home and if I would grow tired of them quickly? An interesting question. My wife will soon be in the process of redecorating her writing room and she wishes to decorate it in a whimsical style. This could fit that style I suppose. But then it is her room.

Not sure if she'd like this much contrast.

Still...

Something On A Sunday

A Fireplug

Ketchikan, Alaska 05.28.09

There are places in the world where the starkness or barrenness process a sense of beauty. In Alaska, the ruggedness, the sense of something being unkept, is it's beauty. Here, living life is too important to be overly concerned with a sense of order; or everything being kept pristine. Here, the landscape itself is what is pristine, what is to be enjoyed.

Perhaps this is too much to garner from a fireplug, but seeing it, unkept, paint flaking, caused me to think, in this place, the surroundings of the thing were more important than the thing itself. And in Alaska, the grandeur is what is important.

Something On A Sunday

Near Red Rocks

In my Dream Book, there are a few pages where I am mapping out a road trip through the Southwest. It follows the route of Interstate 40 and then include as many drivable stretches of Historic Route 66 as possible once we reach and pass Oklahoma City. The photo of the wagon near Red Rocks is simply a reminder of some of the scenes I hope to find on this journey.

I have traveled to many places, both in America and abroad, but there are many places here that I have yet to see. It is dream, to see the places I haven't seen, but want to. It is a dream to visit the states that I have yet to visit. It is a dream to experience more of the wonder of our country.

Something On A Sunday

U2 @ Vanderbilt 07.03.11

Something On A Sunday usually concerns itself with some of my other photographic endeavors; some successful, some less so. This Sunday is no different, in that it is a photograph of something other than Disney, but it isn't flowers or having to do with the adventures of Gerrie and I.

Strike that, it does have to do with the adventures of Gerrie and I. Last night we attended the U2 360 Tour here in Nashville. It was the one hundredth show of the tour. I will not give you a song by song review, but I do want to share one or two things.

I have seen U2 on two prior occasions. The first was on November 28, 1987 at Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. It was the Joshua Tree Tour. The set opened with Where the Streets Have No Name and closed with 40. The second was on October 10, 1992 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. This was the Zoo TV Outdoor Broadcast Tour. This concert opened with Zoo Station and closed with an a Capella tribute to Elvis Presley, Can't Help Falling In Love. The two concerts were, in my opinion, almost polar opposites. The '87 event bordered on an almost spiritual quality. Even before U2 took the nearly bare stage, with the crowd singing along with Beatles music, it was moving, challenging, emotional. The Zoo TV concert was spectacle and I missed the near communal quality of the former.

Last night, the concert was both large and small. The trappings, the set, were large, as were some of the selections. But it was small in that it had moments recaptured some of the transcendent moments of '87. Moments such as a Bono singing Amazing Grace and hearing 47,000 plus people sing along. Or when all the lighting was turned off, save for the lights of cell phones (photo above) that he asked be held up as stars of hope to the thousands in search of freedom. The audience sang nearly the whole first section of I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, while the band listened. All moments. Followed by a closing moment of Bono having a blind fan from the audience play All I Want is You as he sang. All the man said was that he wanted to "play a song for my wife.'

I don't know. I don't go to enough concerts these days, save the Nashville Symphony, so I don't know what happens. These moments that can cause your spirit to soar and make you think, even if only for moment, that you are a part of something that is bigger than yourself, may happen all the time. I don't know. Perhaps its every concert using the medium music to cause you to think, if only for moment, that there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people in the world who long for freedom. Who suffer for it. I don't know. I imagine every concert has a moment when you realize that it isn't about me, but it is about us. I don't know. Like I said, I don't go to enough concerts.

But I did go to this one. I like to think that perhaps I came out of it a little bit better person than I was.

"At the moment of surrender

of vision over visibility"

Something On A Sunday

Lake Junaluska, North Carolina 07 19 09

When my wife and I like to get away, we sometimes find ourselves taking the drive east to North Carolina. The quiet lakeside village of Lake Junaluska offers a peaceful respite from the hectic pace we find in Nashville. There are places for nice walks and a front porch to sit on and rock while watching the world pass by. Just the things that every life should have from time to time.

Lake Junaluska is also not that far from a great friend affording a chance to have dinner together whenever we make one of our trips.

And as you can see from the photograph, there are flowers.

Something On A Sunday

Miner Lake, Allegan County, Michigan

Something about me; I work in order to live and not the other way round. I work so that I can enjoy vacations. Mind, I love what I do, but I also love being able to take time away from the office. Who doesn't? But really, this is subject for another time.

Miner Lake was the site of many wonderful long weekends with family. My late brother-in-law had a cottage there and for a time there, my wife and I would spend at least one elongated weekend there with her sisters, the brothers-in-law, and friends. Wonderful times and wonderful memories.

I miss going there.

Something On A Sunday

The Iris at Grassmere

Something On A Sunday

Lakeside Chapel

Lake Junaluska, NC 08.14.10

Something On A Sunday

Miss Patti's 1880's Settlement

Grand Rivers, Kentucky 12.17.09

Editor's Note: The house specialty at Miss Patti's is the 2" Charbroiled Pork Chop. It was more than I could eat in a single setting, but the leftovers made for a great sandwich the next day. Highly recommended.

Something On A Sunday

Manitou Springs, Colorado 02.10.10

My quest for interesting neon continues.