« April 2009 | Main | June 2009 »
Last Monday, we had the good fortune to attend the Memorial Day Service at Friendly Center. Each year, promptly at 8am, veterans began the ceremony of putting up the flags. (The flags remain at half mast until after 12 noon). The event is sponsored by the Marine Corps League of Greater Greensboro. Here we see attending veterans lined up and saluting as three marines raised the flag on the main flagpole. In the back left, Major Gregory A. Wynn can be seen participating in his final ceremony in Greensboro. He has been promoted to lieutenant colonel and will relocate to New York with his family.
Painting brick is extremely popular throughout the older neighborhoods of Greensboro. Mostly, brick is painted white or lighter colors. This house caught our eye because it is so close in color to the nearby Lustron home. When the azaleas were in bloom last month and the trees were just starting to green out, this house looked as elegant as a peacock! It is located on Fernwood Avenue, just down the street from Guilford Park Presbyterian Church, in the Kirkwood neighborhood. We love this color but don't know if we have the flair to carry it off as an exterior paint color!
Faithful readers: Our main computer is in the shop with a possible hard drive problem. Hopefully we can find an alternate way to upload pictures to the blog. In the meantime, we're glad we were a little ahead on posting! Stay tuned and keep reading!!
This bouquet of roses was picked from our yard. We are enjoying our roses now before the june beetles descend and start devouring them. Roses like the nutrients in Greensboro's clay, as long as it is augmented with other types of soil. We just purchased another rose bush and have vowed to learn more about keeping them healthy.
In Greensboro, we are lucky to have NCA&T University to help with our horticultural needs. Nearby, we have Sandhills Community College and NC State University. These institutions can provide as much advice as you need on growing roses. If you are local and your knowledge of roses is limited, you might want to read this short article, Roses for North Carolina.
Wouldn't that make a great book title?
Maxie B's, according to their website, "is a locally-owned bakery and dessert cafe in Greensboro, NC." They have fabulous cakes, cupcakes, coffee, and frozen yogurt. Robin, the proprietor has been so generous with the community, donating cakes to great causes. We love to go there for a late afternoon coffee, a great pick-me-up after a busy day!
This picture has a muted sea-side appearance in color; however, once in a while we like to offer a sepia and this one just screamed "early 20th century Paris" and sepia just fit.
Sorry this text got posted a day late but we have been away. We finally re-found the monochrome meme, now called, "Monochrome Weekly Theme" where you can see some fabulous non-color photos. Absence of color makes us focus on theme, composition, and range from dark to light (hopefully, like above).
St. Paul's Catholic Church is the visual version of surround sound. Technicolor abounds. Here, is an example of four of the many stained glass windows on the rounded exterior walls. People may question the architect when viewing the exterior of the church. However, on the inside, the sanctuary is breathtaking. As you can see from the above windows, the one on the left is more washed out, indicating that the sun is beaming directly through that window and it has already passed the other three all of which seem darker.
Here is a slice of the sky near our house on Saturday, May 9, 2009. At first glance, Greensboro is not a particularly colorful city. However, the more we photograph our city, the more color we find. For Skywatch Friday, we wanted to capture a silhouette in combination with something other than the bold blue that permeates our sky shots. On this day, we found just what we were looking for. The color range became even more intense when we decreased the exposure a stop or two. We are struck by how unattractive the tree on the upper left is by day and how fabulous it looks as a silhouette.
If you are regular readers, you know we at GDP love our local library system. Here we see people of all ages hanging out at the Reading Railroad, Greensboro Public Library's bookmobile. Unfortunately, in the current financial crisis, the Reading Railroad is at risk of being parked. For over six years, this bookmobile has served many local daycares and centers, serving children who might not able to visit a branch library. We tend to take close ups which "flatten" objects; however, the linked shot gives you a better idea of the appearance of this Thomas built bus (a local company). Look how cute the "coal" car looks in the photo above, overflowing with letters of the alphabet. From the neatly arranged shelves, the fabulous engineer and conductor of the bus, Carolyn Powell and Geneva Headen, to the brightly colored exterior, the Reading Railroad is a treasure that deserves to keep on delivering. Do you have any memories of using a bookmobile? Do they have one in your city?
Here we are at the corner of Friendly Avenue and Elm Street. This photo could serve as an introduction to our city. From it, we learn the Greensboro is at least 200 years old (201 to be exact). The banner is thanks to nearby VF Corporation, a company that "blends the art and science of apparel." To the left is Center Point which bills itself as "sophisticated living entwined in an urban lifestyle." It shows that Greensboro has some tall buildings-- a shock to fellow daily blogger cieldequemper the first time we published an urban shot!
From a photographer's perspective, we like the cool colors (blue, purple, gray, white, black) and the Cubists' repeating rectangles motif. We like the fact that Friendly "one way" Avenue is visible. This road leads us through the city, past Friendly Center, past Guilford College, to the airport, and beyond. Perhaps our city's motto should read, "One way, Friendly!" We took three pictures of this view. One with the light green, yellow, and red on the traffic light. It wasn't until the pictures were all in front of us that we realized red and yellow were way too warm for this cool-colored photo. So, there you have it, a little bit of scientific, artistic and geometric thinking behind the photograph for all to ponder.
Finally, the photo was taken on a cold, rainy Sunday morning when nobody was walking around downtown.
If you know the location of Downtown Hounds, you really know our city well. The business, located at 308 Church Court behind the Wrangler Bldg., bills itself as "the canine social club that cool dogs dig." The grooming and daycare facility takes care of canines while owners work. The building is hard to miss with its lime green and royal blue facade. When is the last time you've seen a building painted this color?
On this Mother's Day Sunday, we reflect on Mary, Mother of Jesus, the most widely portrayed mother in history. The above Madonna and child was painted by Mario Skori and comes from the private collection of renown portrait painter Marcus Blahove (b. 1928). Blahove, originally from Ukraine via Argentina, lived in Greensboro for several years with his Spanish-teacher wife, Maria Raisa and their family.
We like the intensity of the eyes painted in the above picture. The baby's eyes are blue and the mother's eyes are dark brown. Both are pensive; neither is looking directly at the painter. We wonder just what they are seeing, pondering... The baby appears to be incomplete, a work in progress-- perhaps a metaphor for motherhood in general. Our understanding of the word mother changes as we move from infant to toddler to adolescent to adult to parent. At this point in your life, what does the word "mother" mean to you? How will you remember your mother on this Mother's Day?
(Note: The above painting remains in a private collection in Greensboro. The owner would love to know more about the history of the painting and the artist. If you are in contact with the Blahove family, please direct them to this blog).
Happy May Day, International Workers' Day/Labor Day. This picture shows spring in Greensboro, a little over a week ago. Today, the tulips are long gone, the azaleas are past peak. The trees have greened. Today happens to be Skywatch Friday and Theme Day for the City Daily Photo group. The theme this month is shadows. Ironic as we try very hard to take shadowless pictures. The above picture shows the harshness of the mid-day sun and the SMALL shadows cast by the petals of the yellow tulips back onto the petals to the right.The original intent of the photograph was to document spring in our front yard, showing the layers of color. If you lived nearby, we would pick you a bouquet!