Low Riders - 29 FEB 2008
When I returned to the hotel room last night I notice two Latino guys working on their cars. This morning I saw what they accomplished, changing the tires on a late model car. Putting Tinky Winky next to one of them you can see these tires are higher than yesterday’s stop sign. So I guess North Carolinas equivalent of California Low Riders is High Riders.
Short Stop - 28 FEB 2008
Found this faded stop sign outside a Sub-way drive-thur. My Tinky Winky isn’t very tall, about the size of a dollar bill and this sign is about 2½ TW’s high. Who’s going to see it? Low-riders in North Carolina?
Classroom Play - 27 FEB 2008
I made the mistake of leaving Tinky Winky alone in the class room when I went to lunch.
Hangin with a Rough Crowd - 26 FEB 2008
Back at Beaufort (ˈbō-fərt) Community College today. It was rainy and overcastted and Tinky Winky found some rough charters ridding around in a late model Chevy to hang out with.
I think they were a bad influence because later I caught TW smoking hobo cigs (butts that still have some tobacco left on them).
Party Animal - 24 FEB 2008
Today we took a tour of the Bellamy Mansion (Gone With the Wind from yesterday). They were having one of those designer showcases so I had to pay for the “Art of the Table” in order to see the inside of the mansion. I have no interest in elaborate table dressings most of which hold very little function and would cost the same as my mortgage payment. However, Tinky Winky found one that was fun and functional!
TW was ready to spend the afternoon playing with new friends but I had a cemetery to photograph.
Oscar Tribute - 23 FEB 2008
We spent the day around the historic port of Wilmington, NC. It seems every city in this state is historic and there are signs everywhere to let you know what happen, where. Take this lone stretch of road:
Tinky Winky decided to do a tribute to movies since the Oscars will be tomorrow night.
Tombstone Vendor - 22 FEB 2008
Today Tinky Winky created a new Southern game called, “Grampa Needs a Headstone.”
You visit the local grave stone dealer cause you buried Grampa in the front yard. (See blog entry 02/08/08) The first one to find a damaged headstone that you can purchase at discount, wins!
We took a detour to see Bath, the oldest town in NC, incorporated in 1705…and we found two more crabs.
No Cowboys & Indians - 21 FEB 2008
While I was at work, Tinky Winky was playing a politically correct game of “Ride Em Indigenous People Before Everyone is Herded to Small Enclosed Government Lands.”
DoA - 19 FEB 2008
Outside the lobby window there was a large patch of grass and then this view:
It seemed to fit, since I was teaching at the North Carolina Department of Agriculture.
I really liked the above sign which was by the flag pole.
New Family Member - 18 FEB 2008
Tinky Winky spent the day painting a sign for Riley who was born yesterday.
Mother and baby are doing well, Daddy may never recover…Girls Rule!!
Duke U - 17 FEB 2008
Today we went to check out the Duke University Chapel…one of the last great collegiate Neo-Gothic projects in the United States. I wanted to hear the 50-bell carillon that sounds before and after Sunday service. I found out there was going to be a free organ concert at five, by renowned artist, John Scott, so I went to a local museum and came back to hear the organ.
Not as impressive as Los Angeles First Congregational Church which is “one of the largest musical instruments ever built, and one of the largest and most complete organs in any church in the world.” (I once got to tour the inside of that organ.) The Duke Chapel is so large the sound sort of gets lost…at the end of the last song I walked down the isle to be facing the pipes and I didn’t notice the sound get any louder or more impressive the closer I got to the pipes. At the First Congregational Church you actually feel the sound. However, Duke’s pipes are the most impressive looking what with their gilded housing and Gothic arched ceiling. It's amazing what tobacco money can do.
Yes, Tinky Winky is irreverent…that’s why we have so much fun together.
Frogs - 16 FEB 2008
Today we were playing in Durham. At the Museum of Life and Science outside the Magic Wings Butterfly House they had some lovely bug sculptures.
Tinky Winky started playing 'Let's make bad Japanese monster movies'. This one was called “The Mosquito That Ate Minnesota. (I know it’s a dragon fly but TW has a vivid imagination.)
I was able to get some nice shots of butterflies and really enjoyed photographing the Poisonous Dart Frogs…they liked the flash and approached the camera.
Blind Curve - 15 FEB 2008
When I saw this crossing sign the humorous thought crossed me mind, "How do they know where the blind people are crossing?"
I assumed this sign was telling me around the blind curve there is a pedestrian crossing. But then I forgot I was in the South...when I turned the corner I saw what the blue flags on the building in the back ground said:
Historic Gate - 14 FEB 2008
There was a cold streak that dipped into NC last night leaving light snow as far south as Durham. Although we didn’t see any snow, my car doors were frozen shut this morning and made a tremendous noise when I pulled them open. Tinky Winky had to put on a sweater in order to play outside. All week I’ve been teaching in the Anderson building located on the Dorothea Dix (mental) Hospital Campus.
There are more than 120 separate buildings, many of which were constructed during 1910-1930, with this great iron gate at the entrance.
Feeder Swing - 13 FEB 2008
Today Tinky Winky found that playing with a bird feeder can be just as much fun as a bird house. This was one of those, "Look Mom, no hands!
Farmers Market - 12 FEB 2008
Working on the outskirts of town I ended up eating at a restaurant called “Farmers Market”.
The servers wore bib overalls and the daily specials were hand written on a piece of paper that looked like it had been copied on a mimeograph machine. The lunch specials came with two vegetables, the list starting with fried green tomatoes and ending with fried orca.
I choose the “real mashed potatoes” and “steamed cabbage”…hoping that steamed meant there was a shred of vitamins that hadn't been cooked out of them. I was wrong. I didn’t know you could steam cabbage in oil.
Oh well, TW enjoyed playing on the farm props.
Street Art - 11 FEB 2008
Oxymoron - a combination of contradictory or incongruous words. Most people joking give the example of military intelligence…I think Tinky Winky just found a better example:
Play House - 10 FEB 2008
We took back roads to return to Raleigh from the Coast…and in the middle of what seemed like nowhere, we found a Nature Center.
After riding the elephant, Tinky Winky wanted to play in the bird feeder.
As it turns out, bird houses and feeders are like a playhouse to a small Teletubbies. I love the back roads, you never know what you will see, like this mail box:
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