Transplant, Don't Bury

Transplant, Don't Bury, Texas, 1997.

I think the bumpersticker on this probably relates to being an organ donor.

I like the idea of "transplanting" car parts rather than burying them. Of course, they usually get compacted and melted down as scrap metal, not buried, but you get the point.

This car was apparently bulldozed into a slope as a method of erosion control, somewhere in Texas. It may have had the double function of reinforcing the fence that it's next to. I don't remember exactly where I saw this, but it was adjacent to a tract of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. I wish I'd taken a shot of the overall scene, but alas.

Coast Buckwheat

Coast Buckwheat, Crissy Field, 2010.

Coast buckwheat (Eriogonum latifolium) is a crucial plant for many butterfly species. It's a member of the knotweed family. Butterflies in the Lycaenidae family, which includes the Acmon blue and green hairstreak (both residents of the Presidio of SF), rely on two plant familes: knotweed and pea. The relationship between these two plant families is not totally understood, but the formula works. 

There's satisfaction in learning about nature, but even more in learning about mysteries that still exist today.

Intersection

Choose wisely, motorist; someone worked hard on this sign.

Options, San Francisco, 2011.

Whatever you do, do not block the intersection while trying to figure out the sign. 

I have always liked these. I just took another picture of one today. I'll add it when I develop the roll. Here's one I took in Milwaukee (Canon Rebel) in about 2002. 

Clybourn Options, Milwaukee, circa 2002.

Beauty in Dark Corners

59th Street/Lexington Subway Stop, New York, 2010.

Subway art.

Subway music (watch).

Subway music (listen).

City art. 

City life.

In art is life.

Color in a sometimes bleak and lonely place.

In life is art.

59th Street/Lexington Subway Stop, New York, 2010.

Thank you, to some cities, for appreciating the human need for beauty.

These photos are part of a mural entitled "Blooming" by Elizabeth Murray. More here.


P.S. I changed the template back to its simpler design today... I think it was a bit too busy...