Tornadoes

Back in Harrisburg, Nell Cox woke up during the tornado and glanced out her window with a flashlight to see her neighbor being blown out a window.

“She crawled back to the front of my house,” Cox said. She ventured outside to grab the woman, brought her indoors and summoned an ambulance.

Can you imagine?

I’ll be honest, I was hoping and praying the news wouldn’t get worse, but it keeps getting worse. Please keep the people of the South & Midwest where these storms hit in your prayers, especially Missouri—after what happened in Joplin, a great Route 66 city, last year, and the floods, this is just…It all seems like too much. What makes it worse is that I’ve spent a lot of time in this part of the country shooting, and the people are fantastic. It’s a place very dear to my heart.

Meteorologists are predicting similarly dangerous weather for this weekend as well, so stay safe.

Muller Brothers Car Wash

Definitely go take a look at this great collection of photos from 1951 (the same year our former home was built, by the way). Classic cars to ogle, but the cute gals in swimsuits, from Miss American Auto Club to Miss Tire & Battery are fun to see, too. There’s even some dancing going on, and a mysterious man with a movie-villain mustache! I wonder if any of those ladies are still alive today?

Hope it’s okay that I snagged one photo from the Retronaut folks in an attempt to whet your appetite (though the one of all the cars in line is my favourite for sure).

Amusing: the fact that most of the staff look like they’re not too thrilled about the whole promotional shebang (looks like Muller was about to serve its 3,000,000th car in the car wash).

New Collection

I have whipped up several (if you ask me) lovely collections on ArtFire, but in the past month I’ve gotten several sad little emails informing me that said collections have expired due to the sale of the featured items. Now they’re all gone, alas!

I’d gotten out of the habit of making collections to promote my fellow artisans, so it can’t hurt to get back to work. Here’s my latest, “Front Porch Dreaming”, inspired by my longing to go sit on the front porch with a good book again. We’re getting close to that time of year…Of course, now I’ve a new front porch to sit on, to say nothing of all the new neighbors (and missing the chatting and good-natured ribbing that went back and forth with our old neighbors!). It’s going to be weird for a while.

At any rate, do go take a look, and I hope you find something you like!

Also, don’t forget you have a few more days to enter this week’s “Pin it to Win it” contest from ArtFire—you can win one of my fine art photos! Read more in this post just below today’s.

Win one of my fine art prints in ArtFire’s “Pin It To Win It” contest!

You may have heard about ArtFire’s latest contest, which they’re calling “Pin It To Win It”. ArtFire selects and pins one item from each of five different artisans to their Pin it to Win it! board on Pinterest. All you have to do to win any of the five items is re-pin any (or all) of the items to your own Pinterest. It’s been fun to promote my work in an effort to be selected, see who gets picked as the featured artists the last couple of weeks, then re-pin items myself to win one of the great items from an Artfire artist. Well, I was on the receiving end of a delightful surprise this morning—one of my own fine art photographs has been selected! This dame was chuffed indeed!

I took this photo of Crossville, Tennessee’s Palace Theatre during a trip to visit a girlfriend in Nashville. I should note that when I travel, there are no interstates—it’s old US highways, state routes, and back roads for me! It’s the best way of all to see America. If you ever see a gal who looks like she stepped out of a 1940s movie racing around your town with a camera, her face lit up, it’s probably me! But that is how I stumbled across this beautiful 1938 movie theatre in Crossville. I rounded a corner, and this gorgeous theatre was just sitting there, sparkling away in the gathering dusk. I couldn’t get over its simple yet glamourous appeal.

Upon returning home, I learned that the Palace had been completely restored by the townspeople of Crossville and is a fully-functioning small town theatre once again—as it should be. Seeing little pieces of our nation’s history restored makes me so happy—and what a gift to the future such projects are, too!

To win my 8×10 of this handsome old Deco theatre marquee, all you need to do is go to ArtFire’s own pin page (is that even a phrase yet? I suppose it might be, as Pinterest has taken off like mad) and re-pin my print to your own Pinterest collection by March 2nd. And don’t forget to re-pin the five other items on the Pin it to Win it! board from this week, too, to give yourself more chances! There is a neat clock from Timely Impressions, a truly stunning sterling silver knit wire bracelet from Vermont Homespun, a rich-looking necklace from Maggie May, and a cute rainbow felt miniature top hat from Pirate Pixie Crew. Pin them all to give yourself five chances to win any one of the items you choose! It’s an exciting promotion, don’t you think?

Good luck, I very much hope one of you from amongst my small group of readers wins!

(And if you’d like to follow me on Pinterest, I’m right here.)

Helping the cats of the Oklahoma

Everyone likes a story about people doing good, kind things, don’t they? Especially these days—so much seems to be negative and/or controversial. I used to cover politics and current events, and it didn’t take long for me to start very actively seeking out good-news stories and passing them on. I’m happy to have the opportunity to do so again, and found a wonderful such item the other night while reading through favourite blogs—the story of a feral cat colony being cared for by volunteers, complete with squee-inducing photos of said felines.

Teresa of Brooklyn Backstretch has kindly given me permission to steal and share with you her video of some ferals being fed, but I’m really hoping it will convince you to go read her delightful post about the cats living at the Oklahoma racehorse training facility. Feral cats live there throughout the year, but when the horses leave, they become much more apparent—and during the winter, especially, need help. So Michele Jennings visits regularly, leaving food for the cats while keeping an eye on their health and doing her best to capture cats needing spaying or neutering and then bringing them back to the colony afterwards.

It’s a fascinating read full of wonderful photos featuring the ferals receiving all this needed care, sure to cast a Warm Fuzzies spell over you. I think knowing that there are people doing this sort of thing not only helps us see the good in an often-baffling world, but recognize that there may be similar opportunities for ourselves in our own towns—nothing, no act of kindness, is “small” or “unimportant”.

You can read more (and see those charming photos of the cats) at Brooklyn Backstretch, where you can also learn how to donate to the cause if you wish. But regardless, the post is truly delightful and heart-warming thanks to Teresa’s expressive writing and photos. I guarantee you’ll be smiling by the end!