Bones

Whose bones lie beneath this hallowed ground? How did they die? When? Why? Did anyone love them? Did friends and families weep? Does anyone still remember?

Someone Lived Here...

...Where did they go? Why did they abandon this perfectly good domicile? Why did they leave their furniture? Who were they? Where are they now?

Minimalism – Roma, TX

Weeds-n-Beads

Cleaning the sprayer with clear water left these dew-like beads on the weeds behind the trailer. While dramatic, they look somehow different than morning dew.

Los Ebanos Ferry

Even though south Texas has seen an unusual amount of rain in the past couple months, water levels on the Rio Grande River seem to be very low. Note the steep descent of the pickup truck as it approaches the ferry.
Passengers climbing the slope have just disembarked and are trudging toward the U.S. Customs and Immigration building at the top of the hill.

The ferry can carry up to three vehicles – cars, pickup trucks or SUVs – and as many passengers as will fit. Normally, the foot traffic consists of U.S. and Canadian citizens who have made purchases (liquor, beer or cigarettes) at the duty free store and are required to cross the border with their goods and then return to the U.S. where they pay appropriate taxes and duty.

The ferry operates most days from 9:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. unless the water level is too high to permit safe crossing. With a full load, it takes about 20 minutes to make a round trip including embarking and disembarking passengers and vehicles.

The ferry is billed as the last "hand-operated" ferry in the United States.

Texas Sunset

It's remarkably similar to other sunsets and sunrises I've captured, but this one happened in the Rio Grande Valley of deep south Texas, last night.

Visual Overload

Immediately after crossing the border, tourists visiting Nuevo Progreso in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico are bombarded with vendors hawking their services and wares.

At a glance in this photo you can see a stand bearing men's belts.  Right next to the belts is a large sign advertising the prices of dental surgery. Above that, part of an electric sign advertising contact lenses.

On the left side of the photo is a stand with windshield screens, really bad wall art and another stand full of garish women's purses.The high density of vendors, stalls, booths, sales reps and tourists makes navigating the sidewalk difficult. Sometimes you just have to stand and wait for foot traffic to clear.

In the middle of the photo a pharmacist rep meets and greets a dentist rep. They are apparently good friends. The two tourists in the photo have just spurned them. It's interesting to note the ways both tourists and sellers segregate themselves from the other.

Everywhere in town there are pharmacist and dentist reps carrying brochures and folders with which to accost every tourist, regardless of whether they will listen. Every seller, from taco vendor to boot polisher, jeweler, pharmacist and dentist has "good prices," "almost free." It's fun and exciting – the first time. After that it quickly becomes annoying.

Break Time

Children take a break from their chore of selling Chiclets on the streets of Nuevo Progreso, a border town in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico.

Minimalism in Harlingen

Pear Street Fog

The weather channel's web site reported fog in Harlingen with visibility near zero. Our Photography & Tour Group had planned a day-trip to that very city on this day.

Fortunately, by the time we arrived the fog had burned off to the point where visibility was similar to our own neighborhood.