Phoenix, Arizona.

This week, Ann-Christine asks us to share something weird and wonderful. She writes, “This week we all have the opportunity to share oull weird and wonderful images in the challenge! I am sure you have some in your archives that would fit the bill – or why not go chasing new ones?” You can read her entire challenge post here.

As I am writing this, I am sitting in my cabin on a cruise ship about 260 miles ( km) south of Los Angeles the second day out on our way to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. After 19 months without carrying passengers, the Norwegian Bliss is on its first cruise with paying passengers since the shutdown for the pandemic. Though that alone seems weird, it’s hard to put it in photos because since everyone on the cruise is vaccinated, only the crew are required to wear masks. It does seem a little weird in that the ship is sailing with a maximum of 60 percent capacity, so it appears relatively empty, and it is easy to find a deck chair or table open.

But I digress from the challenge. For this week, I am focusing on one weird but wonderful place, the Mystery Castle in Phoenix, Arizona. This residence was built by a man who contracted tuberculosis, left his wife and daughter in Washington and moved to Arizona without telling them. For years, he built this castle, and the dry desert air of Phoenix put his tuberculosis into remission. Yet he didn’t rejoin his family. He continued to build his castle, and only when he was dying, did he authorize an attorney to, after his passing, contact his wife and child to let them know of his whereabouts for the many years he was gone.

The mother and daughter eventually moved to the Phoenix area into the castle he built and eventually started doing tours of the interesting building. For this challenge response, I have used Adobe Lightroom and Silver Efex 2 to convert all of these images to monochrome. To me, it adds to the mystery.

Excuse the brevity of this week’s challenge-response. The Internet service on the ship is acceptable for blogging, but is decidedly not what I am used to, and uploading photos is quite slow. I don’t happen to have the images in Flickr already, but I do have them in my media file online. Next week, when I have a good connection, I’ll upload HD images and limk them to this post.

Though the cruise line offers streaming packages and unlimited minutes packages, I’m on a cruise. The ship’s basic service will suffice for my challenge response and for downloading and responding only to necessary emails. It’s great to be back on the ocean.

If you are in the Phoenix area, you might consider a stop at the Mystery Castle. It’s $10 well spent to hear the entire story.

John Steiner