“Stories of imagination tend to upset those without one.” Terry Pratchett
“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it. ” J.M. Barrie
“Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.” Jonathan Swift
“Use your imagination only on the future, never on the present or the past.” Adam Johnson
I have been intrigued by Salvation Mountain for a photographic experience for quite a few years. After several trips to the region over the years, I have yet to make it there. It would have been most interesting to be there while the creator of the site was alive. But, Leonard Knight passed on this past month. There are so many unique photography opportunities near the Salton Sea. We may yet make it to this area for exploration and bunch of ‘OMG’ exclamations.
“If somebody gave me $100,000 a week to move somewhere and live in a mansion and be a big shot, I’d refuse it,” he said. “I want to be right here. It’s amazing, isn’t it?”
Leonard seemed to have his spiritual self dialed in and I am sure his spiritual self is still wafting about Salvation Mountain.
L.A. Times Photo Archive
Salvation Mountain/Slab City on the map
I was watching this video off the south coast of Ireland and about half way through I noticed I was feeling a bit nauseus. I do not do well with rolling seas. In Alaska, I would have to practice mind control during mild swells while fishing out of Sitka. You can move forward to about 3:30 in the video to capture the best of the little windshield wiper doing its best in big seas and 100 mph winds.
Home on the Range
“Oh, give me a home, where the buffalo roam
Where the deer and the antelope play
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day.”
There is a plan to relocate Bison from Yellowstone Park to Indian Reservations where they will subsequently be slaughtered. This well thought out effort by man to control habitat smacks up against my head and addles the mind. So much for wildlife management and the oft vaunted Native American sensitivities to nature and the interconnectedness to of man to earth. I really don’t care about the science here…man/science keeps screwing up….seems there would be more available habitat transfers in U.S./Canada (public/private) before slaughter. I don’t want Bison Burgers either. Bison Slaughter Underway
I saw this technique several years ago at the Fly Tying Expo in Albany, Oregon. Here is a how to video on using Gorilla glue to form fly pattern bodies that float. I have yet to try this. I think about it, then forget to buy the glue when I am grabbing other items in a hardware store. How To-Step by Step
FORBIDDEN-FRUIT-TREE
“The Trunk, Leaves, and Flowers of this Tree, very much resemble
those of the Orange-tree.
The Fruit, when ripe, is something longer and larger than the largest
Orange; and exceeds, in the Delicacy of its Taste, the Fruit of every
Tree in this or any of our neighbouring Islands.
It hath somewhat of the Taste of a Shaddock (Pomelo); but far exceeds that, as
well as the best Orange, in its delicious Taste and Flavour.”
On a recent hike along Reed Lake (Portland, Oregon), I had occasion to walk up out of the ‘Canyon’ onto Reed College campus. I took a quick shot of a building and moved on across the Blue Bridge to the other side of the lake. Today, I was looking at the image and decided to use it here and a little research was in order (style, name, etc.) Well, as a result, I learned a few interesting things.
Eloit Hall at Reed College. Designed by A.E. Dooley in 1920. Gothic-Tudor style.
I learned that A.E. Dooley was a varied and prolific architect/designer in Oregon. He died at a young age of 53 (1928) of Bright’s Disease (Acute Kidney Stones). I also learned that Dooley was the architect behind two varied buildings I have fond memories of as a very young boy.
Forestry Building-Portland, Oregon-Lewis & Clark Expo, 1905
As a very little guy, there are pictures of me standing in front of this large log structure in 1951. We lived a few blocks away from this building and I can recall walking about inside in later years as a young boy. It burned to the ground years later from workman’s carelessness.
In the old days, as well as today, one always took out-of-town guests for a drive up the ‘Gorge’ (Columbia River Gorge). In the day, it was up the Scenic Highway, a narrow winding country road. The freeway (Interstate 84) was built later and then there was a quicker way East to the ‘Fall’s’ exit. Multnomah Falls and the Lodge were always a must see stop. Years later the Falls froze and an ice flow developed to such an extent that the left side of the Lodge was crushed necessitating reconstruction. This photo from 1925, shows the Lodge from my younger years (no not the cars).
So A.E. Dooley was quite the diverse designer until his untimely death…I guess they are often ‘untimely’. A little jaunt, a reflexive snap and followup research yielded a nice discovery today.
