This week, Tina gives us “carte blanche” to include those photos that don’t fit any particular category or are otherwise unique. She writes, “I don’t know about you, but there are images in my archives that will never fit into a challenge category. They don’t tie together in any cohesive way, but they keep calling to be included. This week, let’s embrace their differences and focus on our “Odds and Ends”. You can read her entire challenge post here.
I’ve already enjoyed reading about the earliest challenge responses (I am writing this on Sunday for publication on Thursday.) It is interesting to see the wide variety of images that people have included.
My own opening photo features a grave and a pickle story. Frances Bavier played Aunt Bee on the immensely popular Andy Griffith Show and its follow-up Mayberry R.F.D. from 1960 to 1970. After retirement, she moved to Siler City North Carolina. The story goes that she was annoyed to no end by people leaving jars of pickles on her porch. That fan trivia came from an episode where Barney and Andy substituted store-bought pickles for her own less tasty pickles. Even these many years after she passed, it is common to see one or two jars of pickles near or on her headstone in the Siler City cemetery.
In California’s Pinnacles National Park, we saw many vehicles parked in the lot with their hoods up. Letting in light keeps rodents from wanting to nest and from eating the delicious electrical wiring found in today’s modern vehicles. I didn’t know this… I had to ask at the information center why there were so many hoods up, mostly on vehicles of employees of the park, it turns out.
While visiting the Arizona Renaissance Festival a few years back, we walked by a monk who passed along the following advice, “Enjoy the cleavage today, I’ll hear your confession at church tomorrow.”
Goldfield Arizona is a tourist attraction at the foot of the Superstition Mountains. It features an old west theme town with those daily on-the-street gunfights and a mine tour. On the route toward the entrance to the mine tour, this ramshackle outhouse next to a box of explosives attracted my attention. For a time, I enjoyed making 3-D popouts, a Photoshop trick where the subject of the photo appears to pop out of the image. They are relatively simple to do once you learn the trick in either Photoshop or, as in my case, Photoshop Elements.
If you’ve used one of these, you’re probably advanced in years like me. They are still legal to use but are seldom seen except on classic cars, especially mid-20th century vehicles. The spinner knob allows one-hand steering, and it is especially useful when backing up. The driver puts his or her right arm on the top of the front bench seat and turns to look out the rear window. The driver’s left hand grasps the spinner wheel and rotates while backing. This allows for an easy one-handed backing turn out of a parking space, for example. Even before backup cameras, the move to individual seats and headrests made these accessories much less useful.
Near Allenspark Colorado in 1916, Monsignor Joseph Bosetti discovered a large flat rock formation. Recalling the biblical phrase, “…upon this rock, I will build my church,” the Monsignor did just that. It took Monsignor Bosetti 20 years to accomplish his goal, and it was completed in 1936. The Catholic church is still active and is a monument to God that was spared when a wildfire destroyed the nearby retreat center in 2011.
Clicking on any of the images above will allow you to view the images in HD or you can scroll through the album on my Flickr site here. Thanks to Tina for coming up with a very interesting challenge this week. Next week, Patti of Pilotfish Blog will host the Lens-Artists Challenge.
John Steiner
Flare Legend Adventures
This was my evening laugh John. With all those bonnets up, it would be hard not to get a free battery 😲Quite disappointed that despite the Monks greeting, you didn’t include any cleavage photos 😂
PS I liked the blog-up photo that has been circulating on other blogs 🙂
Indeed, but the owners might say, “Batteries are a lot less expensive than rewiring.” >grin<
Oops, I forgot to post those photos I keep in my private collection. 🙂
I'll search for that blog-up photo. I haven't seen it yet.
Oh, what interesting and fun stories, John! All those hoods – I agree with Brian about the batteries. Love the pickle story – remembering my walk at Highgate cemetary in London. There was a grave up on a hill with a jar of pencils in it – I had to walk up to see…and it belonged to Douglas Adams. I didn’t know he was buried here, and in that jar people put their pencils when visiting. Great idea. I’d love a recipe for those pop-ups of yours too!
Interesting story about Douglas Adams. I bet there are hundreds of similar stories about the graves of celebrities who have passed on yet they are still fondly remembered with gifts at their graves.
The quote on “Aunt Bee’s” grave is apropos. “To live in the hearts of those left behind is not to die.”
On your note about the recipe for pop-ups, I didn’t do a “how-to”, but when I posted my first one in 2014, I did give a couple of hints as to how to find instructions on YouTube. 🙂 https://photobyjohnbo.wordpress.com/2016/04/14/3d-thursday-ira-hayes/
What an eclectic mix of images! I loved the fact that they all had a story to accompany them 🙂
Thanks! After I wrote this post, I found out that a couple of these images would also have worked in an upcoming challenge. Oh well, I’ll just have to find some more. >grin<
Haha, what a dilemma!
A kangaroo rat nested in the air filter of our car while we were camping in Death Valley. That hood up technique might have worked then!
I suspect you are correct that is probably a good idea for parking in similar areas. I had never seen it done before.
Great odds and ends John. I’m chuckled and tickled about the pickles. Well done.
What a fun post John! From pop ups to Aunt Bee and then the Monk, it was simply great and enjoyable.
This is a fantastic post, John. I loved every image and the story behind it. The pickle jars are going to make me smile all day long. 😀
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Terrific as expected John. The hoods up was an interesting image. Here in SC if we left our hoods up the marsh rats would build a nest in the engine faster than you can say SHOO! Loved the church and all of your stories about your images this week.
Thanks, Tina. They seem to think that the light from the open hoods is a deterrent. They have their share of varmints in that park, evidently.
Around here hoods up would be an invitation for pigeons to nest inside. The area you photographed in has perhaps been cleared of pesky wildlife. Like that photo of the church on the rock.
The open hoods really are an unusual solution to the problem, and it doesn’t seem to have any unintended consequences. Interesting in any case.
Wow, these ods and ends are so great. That church is spectacular, and I love the knob on the steering wheel. I remember how hard steering wheels were to turn in the 50s. I remember my grandmother turning the wheel with her whole body almost, hand over hand slapping the wheel as she tried to turn quickly when parking.
I never had a steering wheel knob myself, and I was lucky in that I never had a car that didn’t have power steering. I guess I’m a wimp. >grin<
I’m definitely a wimp. I don’t think my 57 Chev had power steering. It got towed off by the city of Portland because it didn’t run and I didn’t get it fixed. What a wasteful but not mechanical girl I was.
Coincidentally, I had a ’57 Chevy that broke down in Minneapolis, in 1970. I sold it to the tow truck driver for a hundred bucks, and we were both happy. 🙂
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Hi John
Excellent topic this week, love it!
Aunt Bee’s grave? Oh my that pickle story! The Pinnacles is an excellent little-known park and it’s fascinating about the opened car hoods. Your photo and commentary about the Chapel of St. Malo brought goosebumps.
Apologies for being tardy in commenting on your great post. Usually I’m more timely!
Here’s my Lens Artists Odds and Ends topic offering.
Best,
Babsje
Thank you. St Malo Chapel is certainly beautiful. I plan to revisit Pinnacles for a closer view than on my first visit.
Loved the grave story with a beautiful quote. Interesting post.
Thank you. Frances Bavier was a talented actor who was a bit miscast in her later years, but she was a professional who did her job despite her differences with Andy Griffith. But that is a whole other story.
[…] I left Snooze and Blues Bloggers, This, that and the other thing, Wind Kisses, and Journeys by Johnbo., Vince and I saw this unusual building near our condo. I asked him to stop, and he kindly pulled […]
I apologize for being late here, John. I love your selections. Nice grave story and the quote. It took 20 year to build the chapel, wow…
Thanks, Amy. 20 years of saving and planning. It must have been a small congregation.