YO TAXI

There is a Cab Company in my area that has some unique Taxi's.  I have tried to get a good photo of one of them for some time now.  Without actually calling for one to pick me up, the ones I have seen have either managed to catch me without my camera or my drive by shot was not good enough to use.  

One of the memes I have been playing the longest is Pink Saturday.  Now, I've admitted here more than once that pink is not one of my favorite colors. Perhaps that is why I seldom  find something pink worth sharing. Lately, I have been finding the color pink as elusive as those taxicab's I've been chasing.

A few days ago I scored on both counts.  I finally caught one of the taxi's parked waiting for its fare when I was on foot and carrying my camera.  I also captured my first pink shot in months.   

They both happen to be one and the same since those elusive
 taxicabs are painted a shocking pink.  

Heck, there was even a handsome driver,  

willing to smile for my camera

Linking to Pink Saturday 

Blank Signboard and Bored Husbands

My blogging buddy Lesley over at the blog "Southern Ontario, Discovered" is the host of the weekly meme "Signs,Signs".  Signs are not something that come my way every week but today I have one recent capture and several I discovered in my archives I had forgotten.  

Last month, I posted a picture on my photo blog of a herd of cows seeking shelter from the heat in a grove of trees.  You will find it here.  While standing at the fence snapping shots of the cows I noticed this signboard on a fencepost.  If you look closely at the bottom you'll see a strand of barbed wire. I'm guessing here but, I believe, this signboard, since it is blank, is used to post "No Trespassing" and other such notices.  Five small screws and a small circle of plastic are the only evidence the placard must have blown away.  

I found this chair and another like it outside a card shop in Santa Fe, New Mexico during out visit in the fall of 2009.  

While visiting Walt Disney's hometown of Marceline, Missouri this spring I found the above sign posted on an old pay telephone for sale in one of the shops.  The phone numbers  are a bit out of date, though.  I guess, that is expected for something being offered for sale at and antique shop. 

Linking to Signs, Signs

Downtown Skyline

Downtown St. Louis as seen from the Poplar Street Bridge in May 2012

 Linking to Thematic Photographic #210

This weeks theme is Parallelism 

Also Linking to:

Midweek Blues

Wordless Wednesday Again 

Wordless Wednesday 1 

Wordless Wednesday 2

Tina's Wordless Wednesday 

Parallelism and No Sugar Added

Parallelism is this week's challenge at Thematic Photographic hosted by Carmi at Written, Inc. 

Have to admit I had to look up the definition to be sure I was understanding the concept for this challenge.  Once I was sure I had the right idea I knew exactly what I wanted to share.  

 Plus, it gave me a good excuse , as the Old Salt would say, to "go on a raid" and bring home a couple of no sugar added sundaes from Paradise Frozen Custard. 

Paradise is one those places I have a love hate relationship with. When I lived on the west side of town I would pass here every day.  I loved that they give away free cones each day to the people who have the "name of the day" posted on their signboard.  I hated that most of the names chosen are often obscure to limit the number of free cones they actually serve.  I also hated that even though my name is rather rare, it was never one that showed up on the sign.   

I love their frozen custard but hate that the no sugar added only comes in pre-frozen sundae sizes so you can't get it in all the same selections as the regular custard.  I would love to be able to visit here more often but I hate what my visits do to my waistline and my blood sugar levels.  I love being able to sit out under the neon lights after dark and enjoy the crowds.  I hate that the Old Salt can't stand the heat of a summer evening and therefore rarely joins me.

 If my understanding of Parallelism is correct you should be able to find half a dozen examples (or more) in the photos I chose for this post. How many do you find?  

 Linking to Thematic Photographic #210

Inside Out or Outside In

Karen who host the Round Robin Photo Challenge has suggested for this weeks challenge that we photograph something that would normally be seen inside used outside,  or the reverse a outside item being used indoors.  

I knew instantly what I wanted to share because I did just that earlier this spring.  While walking with my cousin around his yard  I snapped some shots of his unusual yard art.  All items that would normally be used or found indoors.  

When was the last time you saw a badly tarnished silver plated

coffee server proudly displayed in a bed of ivy. 

Or a nicely rusted tin urn. 

Or perhaps, a brightly colored ceramic vase. 

Just goes to show that anything can be turned into colorful yard art. 

I suggest you hop on over to Karen's blog and check out what Inside out or outside in items others have found to share.  Perhaps you would even enjoy joining the fun.   Just click here.  

Friday Fragments 8-24

It's official.  This blog is now seven years old.  Back on August 9, 2005 when I made my first brief post (click here for that post)  this blog was entitled simply "Cashjocky."  The Old Salt was added after our marriage in 2007. As my profile page will tell you when I started this blog I had no identity of my own.  I had always been someone's child, sibling, wife, mother or employee.  Finding my own identity is why I stated this blog.  But, along the way I found so much more.  I've discovered a world full of interesting people and places.  I have made friends, fallen in love and even found later that he was my soulmate.  And you, my faithful readers, have been right there beside me sharing in my life.  Like Alice, you followed me down the rabbit hole into the world of online dating. You were there when I took my first plane ride. You were the first to see the wedding photos when the Old Salt and I married. You held my hand through my cancer treatments and you take the mediocre post in stride, along with the occasional good ones.  


Thank you all for sticking with me while I found myself and developed my blogging style.  A few of you have hung with me from the first post and on through the uncertain times when weeks and even months passed between entries.  I thank you all.  Grab a glass  and join me in a salute to our next seven years together.    


We had two severe storms in the last few weeks.  I posted about the first one here.  The other happened last Thursday. Not nearly enough rain but lots of wind, lightning and thunder.  A big old tree, unrooted by the wind, was not far from my house.  The next day I passed a group of three trees near my doctor's office that must have been hit by lightning.  It was as if they had exploded from the inside out.  Huge thick trunks were in jagged splinters.  You could see where one had be dragged from the roadway.  I missed getting the photo because I was alone and did not have time to pull over.  By the time I left the doctor's office and came back they had been cut up and hauled away.  Hate it when I can't make time for a terrific photo op.  

 Every time I enter a room I have to shut cabinet or closet doors.  I'm constantly turning off lights or fans left running in empty rooms.  Only two of us live here and we both are adamant that we aren't the guilty party.  So, this house must be haunted by some strange electricity wasting goblin. Can anyone tell me how to remedy this?  Is there a goblin repellent on the market? 

Eye doctors office yesterday 

Here we go again,  my next cataract surgery will be done on Wednesday.  So I will miss a day or two of posting. The last surgery (read about it here) went well and I was able to spend a short time on the computer the next day.  

Between the Old Salt and me, we spend a lot of time in doctor's offices these days.  It seems that no matter what time of day I make the appointment I find myself sitting in a small room staring at the walls for at least twenty minutes or more before being seen.  If, during my working days, I had kept customers waiting like this I would soon have found myself without a job.  Why can't doctors keep reasonable schedules?  Better yet, why can't I bill them if they keep me waiting more than some government mandated time? I can see the negotiations now.  There would probably be some compromise like a graduated discount based on the length of the wait, excluding emergencies of course.  Now that I see it in print, I think I have hit on a pretty good idea!  What do you think?  Should I write my congressman?


Wishing everyone a great weekend.  Mine is already shaping up to be  hectic as usual.  

Linking to Friday Fragments

Kiels Party Hole

There is a very small building on the corner of one of the main streets in my town that has been a Tavern as long as I have lived in town.    

Awhile back a new sign went up out front announcing a change of name. 

 This spring a chalkboard began appearing beside the entrance.  Every time I pass by there is some new message.  I've seen everything from famous quotes and funny expressions to a witty joke; but always with a punch line or message related to the bars product.  Yesterday, was our first day of school and the chalkboards message was for all the teachers in town.  

Not so sure I wouldn't be giving the owner a call if I were a local teacher. 

 How about you?   

Linking to Signs, Signs 

Hosted by Lesley

From Behind

Over at "Written, Inc."  Carmi who host the photo challenge "Thematic Photographic " has requested that we feature photos taken with the rear view in mind this week.  He has titled this challenge "From Behind." 

This is a week long challenge and the rules allow us to post a new entry each day if we so choose.  Yesterday I posted my first entry on my Photo Blog in two parts.  Those posts can be found here and here.   

Here are a few more of the "From Behind" shots I would like to share. 

Today was the first day of the new school year.  I happened to catch these young boys as they walked to school.  I got the feeling from the posture of the younger boy that he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.  But, it could just be that his backpack was to heavy.  Or, was he sad to see the summer end? 

 I snapped this shot of a Father and Daughter out for a Sunday ride a few weeks ago.  If you click to enlarge and look closely you will see reflections in both the helmets and the fathers face in the rearview mirror.  

I enjoy making the rounds of the antique and thrift stores in town on a regular bases. I took this shot of the back of a chest of drawers a while back when I realized it was covered with an old medal ceiling panel.  I liked the pattern and found it more interesting then the front of the chest.  

To check out what rear views others have found to share or to join the fun visit Carmi and his friends at the link below.  

Linking to Thematic Photographic #209

Carpet of Blooms

Every-time I go to Wal-Mart I pass a house with  gorgeous flower beds.  Every year they are a solid mass of petunias in different colors. This year they are white and shades of pink.   

Wanting to reproduce this carpet of color in my own yard I stopped one day last summer and asked the lady how she managed to get this result.  She told me what brand of petunias she purchased and gave me the name of the nursery where she bought her plants.  I couldn't wait for this spring so I could follow her directions and have my own variegated carpet of flowers around my Birch tree.  

I followed the notes I took to the letter.  I went out every night and watered and fertilized and talked to my pricy petunias.  I was not going to let this year's drought keep me from my goal of having a solid carpet of blooms circling my tree. 

Please note all of the above photos were taken several days ago. 

The photo below was taken the same day.  

This is my lovely (ever so disappointing) birch tree with its ring of petunias.  What did I do wrong? 

Yep, tomorrow I am going back to see the petunia lady.  Surely, I must have missed one of her key instructions.  No way could she have deliberately skipped the most important part in telling me how to copy her success.   

I swear that next year my tree ring will match the mound around her mailbox.  You will just have to come back for the next chapter in my "Carpet of Blooms" saga.  

Linking to:

 Pink Saturday

Flowers on Saturday 

Tibbe's House

I live in small rural riverfront town established in 1839.  Our population last census was about fourteen thousand.  If you could take a walking tour of my town you would be surprised by the number of homes and commercial buildings still in use, that are well over one hundred years of age.  There are a few that are quite grand even by today's standards.  

We have an entire section of our downtown area where these historic home are located that have been placed on the Historic Homes Registry.  The one I am featuring today is one of those homes.  I chose this house for today's post for several reasons but they all have to do with one thing, the fence.  

First, backyard fencing is common here but front yard fences are rather rare. Most of those that do exist have been grandfathered in.  By that I mean they were here before our current fencing laws were passed so they do not have to meet the current fencing standard.  As long as they are kept in good repair they are allowed.  Most of the front yard fences you will see in town are of the white picket variety.  This is one of the few iron fences I know about.  

  

This three story home is located on the corner of a wide avenue in a very busy part of the historic district.  I'm sure it was considered a mansion when it was built in 1878 and is still very grand today.  

I took this shot over the top of the fence.  It shows the side patio in front of the garage.  There is a lovely trellis like gazebo and lots of large old shade trees. 

This wrought iron fence surrounds the entire property.

As you can see by the sign in the yard this home is currently for sale.  I learned from the real estate listing this home was built by the Tibbe's family and was the first home in town with running water and electricity.  The home retains many of its original features but the most impressive one visible from the street is the wrought iron fence.   

 Linking to Friday Fences

Mystery "M" Word

Miss Jenny Matlock who Manages the classroom over at Alphabe Thursday has assigned her students the Letter "M" 

for this week's challenge.  

I am going to leave my "M" word a Mystery until the last Moment to see if you can figure out what these Many items have in common.  

Monarch butterfly sculpture located in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Magenta  beaked Mallard captured in my cousin's yard 

Pavilion roof Made of rebar located at the highway
reststop in New Madrid, Missouri 

I followed this purple Motorcar into a Mobile Home Park 

Moose sculpture located on a stone Mound in Branson, Missouri 

This Male sheep sculpture faces the Moose in Branson, Missouri 

Mated wheels located in my sister's yard 

Water tower located on a rooftop in Kansas City, Missouri 

This rooster calls my cousin's family in for Meals

This Mass of chain once anchored Massive riverboats on the dock
in Washington, Missouri 

So, have you got that "M" word yet?  I'm sure you already know that all of these Miscellaneous items are Made of "METAL."  Metals are usually Malleable Materials that are also ductile and shiny, that is, they reflect light.

Linking to:

Alphabe Thursday

This and That Thursday