This was taken in Round Rock, TX in the vicinity of I-35 and McNeil Road sometime around 1989-1990. I think it’s a church again these days, but I always thought the idea of a Church of Karate was kind of funny.
If they celebrate Festivus, it would certainly make the ‘feats of strength’ portion of the holiday especially interesting.
I mentioned Montezuma Castle in last week’s Old Photo Friday, and today we take a couple of looks at it from two different points in time.
Montezuma Castle National Monument is located in Cape Verde, Arizona and has nothing to do with Aztec emperor Moctezuma. The cliff dwelling was built by the Sinagua people, and according to Wikipedia Montezuma Castle was the last known dwelling place of the Sinagua. It was abandoned around 1425.
This first image was taken during the summer of 1982 when we were visiting family as we moved from the Philippines to Italy. I was 11, and it was the first time I’d ever seen a cliff dwelling or heard about the Anasazi people who built them (the Sinagua are considered a branch of the Anasazi group).
The second image was taken in 1996 when my wife and I were traveling through the four corners region looking at the ancient ruins.
Like me, the trees seem to have grown a bit in the intervening fourteen years.
In Italy, I would see the ruins of Pompeii and many other Roman sites, but none of it captured my imagination or sparked a sense of wonder comparable to what I saw in Arizona when I was a kid.
This was taken at Wupatki National Monument near Flagstaff, Arizona.
My dad’s side of the family came from Phoenix and so when I was growing up, we visited Arizona whenever we had the chance. I guess the desert air got to me because as an adult, I’ve gone back many times to what I think is probably the richest state in terms of natural beauty and pre-Columbian history.
I also really like driving through the desert, especially in a place like Arizona where so much of the land is public and a person can just pull off the road and explore.
In 1996, my wife and I took a trip to Arizona and New Mexico. We went without a plan and just zig-zagged around the northern part of the state, camping and visiting as many of the national parks as we could, including Wupatki where I took the above picture.
The structure was most likely built by the Sinagua people sometime around the 12th century, but was abandoned by 1250 AD.
Ever since I first heard of the Anasazi people and saw their cliff dwellings at Montezuma Castle, I’ve been fascinated by the history of the region. The great thing about deserts is that so much is preserved.
I don’t know what it is about ruins in the middle of the desert, but there’s something about them that captures my imagination. Perhaps it’s because in the desert you can really see and get a sense of things like time and the infinity of space. You can feel the Earth’s long slow processes, the geology happening all around. Seeing ruins reinforces that and reminds me of how short a time we’ve been here.
Deserts create perspective. At least for me. That’s probably why my book is set in the desert.
I’ve also posted other photos of more recent desert ruins from a trip in 1992.
They say the weather is supposed to start getting hot again after a few weeks of unusually mild and sometimes rainy weather. Mild for central Texas that is.
In the spirit of beating the heat, today’s Old Photo Friday takes us back to Springfield, Virginia sometime in the late seventies. I’m the kid on the right. My business partner, Georgie, is to the left of our little shop.
I don’t see many kids out selling lemonade anymore. Perhaps their parents give them all the coin they need or maybe it’s too dangerous for kids to be out on the street corner trying to attract strangers.
Or maybe it’s too dangerous for passers by to drink what strange kids are selling.
Still, selling lemonade was for many of us our first glimpse of American capitalism, our first effort at selling, marketing, customer service.
Our little stand didn’t make us rich, but we probably earned enough to get something from the ice cream man since our investors were pretty laid back about recouping their capital investments in our venture. Perhaps that’s the lesson that doesn’t translate to the real world.
I’ve read that blogs should include a photograph of the blogger. This is a picture of my wife and me taken at our old house a few years ago.
This Friday we enjoy (I hope) a glimpse of Austin, or at least a corner of it, back in the early ’90s…
This picture of the GM Steak House, which had been searing steers for thirty years, was taken in 1990 or 1991 while I was waiting for the bus on the Drag between MLK and 21st.
I set the picture up and waited for a car to come along. While doing that, one of the employees at the GM got on a PA system and started serving up some of the attitude and commentary for which they were famous.
Fortunately, I did not have to endure the insults for long as the bus came to whisk me away shortly after the picture was taken.
I think there’s only one GM Steak House left now, and I think it’s only open for breakfast and lunch.
In honor of the Football Soccer World Cup, I relive my own athletic glory days and present to you the terror of the 1978 Springfield, Virginia Spring Soccer League…
The Sabers. We were undefeated. We were the champeens.
I played soccer (spring, summer, fall, indoor, jv, you name it) every year from kindergarten up through my junior year of high school, but the Sabers was hands-down the best team I was ever on. In the fall, the team reformed with a few more players and became the Sabers II, but as with many other sequels did not fare as well.
So let’s hear it then: Two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate? THE SABERS! THE SABERS! YEAHHHHHHH!
By the way, that’s me to the left of the sign.
From 1979-1982 we were stationed at Subic Bay Naval Base in the Philippines. That was 3rd – 5th grade for me. It was always either hot and dry, or hot and rainy, so everyone’s favorite escape was Baguio City high in the mountains of Luzon. We usually stayed at Camp John Hay an old base that had been converted into a mountain resort.
I remember Baguio being a nice place where the air was relatively cool and the mountains were beautiful. Sometimes there was even frost on the ground.
This photo was taken in 1981 with my old Kodak 110 instamatic, which accounts for the bluriness. Looking back as an adult, I’m impressed with my composition considering I didn’t know about such things back then. It’s a wonder my thumb isn’t in this shot as it is in so many others.
One thing I like about National Geographic is the Flashback photo on the last page. It’s always something interesting from many years ago. Today, I hereby steal their idea and begin Old Photo Friday in which I will post an old photo from my collection.
This is from sometime in the late 1970s taken with a Kodak 110 Instamatic, my first camera. I was at a car show in Washington, DC where I saw Greased Lightning, the Batmobile, and several other famous cars. The icing on the cake was getting to meet Batman – the real Batman – Adam West.
You could meet either him or Robin (Burt Ward), but I joined the Batman line, got an autographed 8×10 (since lost) and shook the caped crusader’s hand.
This picture reminds me of a more innocent time in which Batman could get by with nothing more than a stylish set of pajamas unlike today where he must wear a bulletproof armored Batsuit.