Sarah P Duke Gardens – Delighting Visitors since 1939

Durham, North Carolina.

In the early 1930’s, the love of horticulture brought the gardens named after the widow of one of the founders of Duke University to fruition. The gardens first came to life in 1935, but in 1939, the public gardens were reopened in their new location. It was a bit tricky to find using our GPS and we found ourselves going into parking areas that were for Duke University employees only before we came upon the correct turnoff. I don’t know if the issue was specifically with our Garmin GPS or if it’s just plain hard to find. In any case, the hassle was worth it. The gardens provide a great place to spend some quality time enjoying nature.

Cellpic Sunday – 27 January 2019

Cave Creek, Arizona.

Over the years, one of my favorite places to hike is the Spur Cross Ranch near the community of Cave Creek. Though it’s about an hour’s drive from our house in Buckeye, we find ourselves hiking there at least a couple of times each year. in wetter years, Cottonwood Creek flows freely through the park and even in dry years, there is always some flow from the spring-fed stream.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Cityscapes

For this week’s photo challenge, Patti Moed asks us to share images of cityscapes. She writes, “For this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #29, share a cityscape of one city or several cities with populations in the thousands or millions.” You can read her entire challenge post here. As it happens, one of my favorite black-and-white images features Honolulu from the upper decks of a cruise ship in the harbor. I chose that as my opening image.

Barrett-Jackson 2019 – A Scottsdale Tradition since 1971

Scottsdale, Arizona.

My first winter in Arizona brought me, with friends, to my first Barrett-Jackson Auto Auction. Since then, I haven’t missed spending at least a day during the 8 auction days each January. This year was no exception and along with my wife, my sister and her boyfriend, we arrived around 9 AM or so, and entered the main pavilion at West World. We usually head outside almost immediately and find the tents where there are four rows of classic cars sitting in the shade.

Cellpic Sunday – 20 January 2019

Maricopa, Arizona.

Meet Gene Tweedy and his dwarf car. The 1950’s era Chevrolet was hand-built to 11/16th scale by Gene in the workshop of the Dwarf Car Museum in Maricopa, Arizona. The vehicle is complete with engine and drive train systems and is street legal.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Curves

Scottsdale, Arizona.

This week, Tina Schell challenges us to “…pay some attention to curves  – in nature, in architecture, on our roads and in our lives … just about everywhere if you think about it.” You can read her entire challenge post here. It’s an opportune topic for me, with Barrett-Jackson’s Auto Auction in full swing this week in Scottsdale to capture some more curves, those curves of the classic automobile like this 1934 Duesenberg in the opening image. From the curvature of the green exhaust manifold to the long sweeping curve that runs from the front fender, along the running board to the rear fender, this classic car uses curves to accent it’s classic architecture.

The Murals of Siler City – Explore the Murals but Stay for the Burgers

Siler City, North Carolina.

A visit to North Carolina in 2015 prompted a trip to the largest town in Chatham County. Our visit to North Carolina in 2018 brought us back to this town of a bit over 8000 residents in the western part of the county. For more background on our 2015 visit to Siler City, you can check out my post and gallery of photos here, and a guest post from my son, Joshua, who provided a much more detailed story here. In the opening photo above, this post features one of the murals that since 2001 have proliferated throughout the city’s downtown area. This image depicts Siler City very early in the 20th century.