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Doz Cabezas, AZ, (est. 1879, pop. <25), elevation 5,082 ft. (1,549 m)
"The Dos Cabezasite is the only person on the globe who can sit serenely down and smile, and smile again, amid conditions and adversities which would madden a lowly follower of the lamb. When Gabriel blows his horn he will find some of these genial old fellows sitting on a rock telling each other of the promising future of the camp, or how rich the Juniper mine is." —“Tombstone Epitaph,” 28 Apr 1887
• Dos Cabezas, AZ is a "living" Sonoran Desert ghost town with few remaining residents • located in the Sulphur Springs Valley [photo] of Cochise County • lies beside the Dos Cabezas ("Two Heads") mountain range, named for its twin bald summits
• an historically significant spring with potable water, once known as Dos Cabezas Spring, stands about a half mi. southwest of the town by the old Southern Emigrant Trail, a principal artery of the westward movement • the trail descends to the valley from Apache Spring through Apache Pass
• on 4 Sep 1851, John Russell Bartlett & his Boundary Survey Commission were heading west through what was, for over 300 yrs., Spanish/Mexican territory • most of the land had been ceded to the U.S. in 1848, ending the controversial Mexican-American War, but much of southernmost Arizona & New Mexico remained under the Mexican flag • Bartlett's mission was to work with a Mexican survey team to formally define the post-war US-Mexico border
• the survey was a prelude to the 1853-54 Gadsden Purchase which, for $10MM, acquired 29,670 sq. mi. of Mexican territory south of the Gila River, Cochise County included • the deal was signed by President Franklin Pierce, a northern, anti-abolitionist ("doughface") Democrat • it was intended to facilitate development of a road, canal and/or New Orleans-LA railroad, & to open the southwest to Southern expansion, seemingly ignoring the fact that an economy based on slave-produced cotton was unlikely to flourish in the desert — “Cochise and his Times”
• with potable water a precious commodity for both 2- & 4- legged desert travelers, Apache Spring – like many watering holes – became the site of a stagecoach stop c. 1857 • was operated by the San Antonio-San Diego "San-San" Mail Line, commonly known as "Jackass Mail" • Chiricahua Apache attacks made Apache Pass the most perilous stop on the line's Birch Route [map], named for company owner James Birch (1827-1857) —“The West is Linked”
• the 1,476 mi. daylight-only journey — with daily stops for 2 meals (45 min. each) & team switches (5-10 min.) — typically took less than 30 days & could be as few as 22 • a one-way ticket cost $150, meals & 30 lb. baggage allowance included —“Deconstructing the Jackass Mail Route”
• the Jackass line had a fleet of celerity (mud) wagons, vehicles suited for travel in intense heat over rugged terrain • it also operated fifty 2,500 lb. Concord stagecoaches [photo] manufactured by the Abbot Downing Co. in Concord, NH
"To feel oneself bouncing—now on the hard seat, now against the roof, and now against the side of the wagon—was no joke. Strung beneath the passenger compartment, wide leather straps called 'thorough braces' cradled the coach, causing it to swing front to back. Motion sickness was a common complaint, and ginger root was the favored curative." —Historynet
• each stage could accommodate 9-12 passengers on three benches inside & up to 10 more on the roof • the coaches were drawn by four- & six-mule teams • the company maintained 200 head of mules in its western corrals
“The coach was fitted with three seats, and these were occupied by nine passengers. As occupants of the front and middle seats faced each other, it was necessary for these six people to interlock their knees; and there being room inside for only ten of the twelve legs, each side of the coach was graced by a foot, now dangling near the wheel, now trying in vain to find a place of support..." —”The History of Stagecoaches in Tucson, Arizona”, Bob Ring
• Tips For Stagecoach Travelers, “Cowboy Chronicles”
• The Passenger Experience, “Desert USA”
"The company recommended that each passenger:... should provide himself with a Sharp's rifle, (not carbine,) with accoutrements and one hundred cartridges, a navy sized Colts revolver and two pounds of balls, a belt and holster, knife and sheath..." —“San Diego Herald” 21 Nov 1857
• the line's stations were built 10-40 mi. apart • some provided rudimentary sleeping accommodations; all had water for passengers, drivers ("whips") & their teams • equipped with corrals, the depots served as relay stations where drivers & draft animals were changed • "swing stations" provided no meals, but larger "home stations," often operated by families, were "meal stops":
"…tough beef or pork fried in a grime-blackened skillet, coarse bread, mesquite beans, a mysterious concoction known as 'slumgullion,' lethally black coffee, and a 'nasty compound of dried apples' that masqueraded under the name of apple pie." —True West
• in Sept 1857 Jackass founder James Birch, sailing to California via Panama, was lost at sea along with 419 other passengers & 30K lbs. of gold, in the S.S. Central America disaster • that same month, the Butterfield-Overland Mail line [photos] began St. Louis to San Francisco service, gradually displacing the Jackass line & absorbing many of its stations
• by 1858 a new, fortified stone depot, Ewell's Stage Station [photo] , rose 4 mi. south of Dos Cabezas Spring • it's unclear which stage line erected the building, but around the time of its completion Jackass Mail quit the route, Butterfield-Overland later decided to bypass "Ewell's" & by 1861 it lay in ruins, destroyed by Apaches
• the Ewell name lived on at a tiny, hardscrabble settlement called Ewell Springs & at Dos Cabezas Spring, renamed Ewell's Spring when the original station was built • by 1879 the National Mail & Transportation Co. had established a new Ewell's Station
• Virginia-born Richard Stoddert "Baldy" Ewell (1817-1872) was a Captain in the First U. S. Dragoons, stationed in the Southwest in the 1850s • he resigned from the U.S. Army in 1861 to join the Confederacy • served in the Civil War as senior commander under Stonewall Jackson & Robert E. Lee • it has been argued that his decisions at the Battle of Gettysburg may have decided the outcome of that engagement
• during Ewell's service in the West, Gila Apache raids along the Southern Emigrant Route prompted a military response • he advocated unrestrained combat: "How the Devil can a soldier stop in the midst of battle and summon a jury of matrons to decide whether a redskin pouring bullets into the soldier is a woman or not." • the 1857 Bonneville Expedition, in which Ewell commanded about 300 men, engaged against Apaches at the Gila River
"…the June 27 fight... was short and sweet …Ewell walking away with the lion's share of the honors… Scarcely an Apache escaped. Nearly 40 warriors were killed or wounded and 45 women and children taken captive. … Ewell was freely acknowledged as the hero of the day; his unhesitating leap to action crushed the western Apaches and forced them to sue for peace." —“Robert E. Lee's Hesitant Commander”, Paul D. Casdorph
• From Lt. John Van Deusen Du Bois's account of the engagement: "An Indian was wounded and his wife carried him in her arms to the chaparral and was covering him with brush when the troops came upon them and killed them both... One fine looking Indian brave was captured and by Col. Bonneville's desire, or express command, was taken out with his hands tied and shot like a dog by a Pueblo Indian—not 30 yards from camp... May God grant that Indian fighting may never make me a brute or harden me so that I can act the coward in this way..." —“Journal of Arizona History”, Vo. 43, No. 2, Arizona Historical Society
• c. 1850, gold veins & a few gold nuggets were discovered around Ewell's Station • in the 1860s wildcatters found gold on both sides of the Dos Cabezas range • by 1862 claims were staked & worked near the mountains & in the Apache Pass area —“Index of Mining Properties”
• in 1866 Congress passed a mining act that proclaimed "mineral lands of the public domain... free and open to exploration and occupation" • in 1872 additional stimulus was provided to "promote mineral exploration and development… in the western United States" —“Congressional Research Service”
• in 1878 John Casey (c. 1834-1904), an immigrant from Ireland, staked the first important claim in the Dos Cabezas area • the Juniper, locally known as the "Casey Gold," was located just ~2 miles NE of Ewell's Spring • John & his brother Dan moved into a cabin at the site • by the end of the year a dozen employees were working the mine
• the news that Casey had struck pay dirt & word that a Southern Pacific RR station would soon be built at Willcox – just 14 mi. away – lured scores of prospectors, e.g., Simon Hansen (1852-1929), a recent immigrant from Denmark who filed 27 claims • with the arrival of the new settlers, a small school was erected • on 20 Oct, 1878, the Dos Cabezas Mining District was officially designated
• in 1879 the “Arizona Miner” reported rich silver & gold deposits & claimed a population at Ewell Springs of 2,000 • other accounts, however, suggest that prior to 1920 the local population probably never exceeded 300 —“The Persistence of Mining Settlements in the Arizona Landscape”, Jonathan Lay Harris, 1971
• amid the rapid growth of 1879, the Ewell Springs settlement gave way to Dos Cabezas, a town with its own post office located a bit uphill from Ewell • John Casey is generally considered its founder • Mississippi-born James Monroe Riggs (1835-1912), once a Lt. Col. in the Confederate Army, became Dos Cabezas' 1st postmaster & opened a store he named Traveler's Rest
• by 1880 the nascent town had ~30 adobe houses & 15 families • sixty-five voters were registered in 1882, the year the town's newspaper, the “Dos Cabezas Gold Note”, launched, then promptly closed • in 1884, 42 students enrolled in the town's school
• at its height, Dos Cabezas had ~50 buildings, 3 stores, 3 saloons, 2 dairies, carpenter shops, telegraphic facilities, a mercantile, barber shop, butcher, brewery, brickyard, hotel, dancehall, boarding house, blacksmith shop, 3 livery stables, 3 stamp mills for gold ore & about 300 residents though actually, the area's population was at least 1,500 counting prospectors, miners & other mining co. employees living in the nearby mountains & valleys —Books in Northport
• Dos Cabezas ("Two Heads") was often spelled & pronounced "Dos Cabezos" with an "o" replacing the 2nd "a" in "Cabezas" • the postmaster settled on both spellings, as seen in the town's postmarks • the English translation of Dos Cabezos is "Two Peaks," arguably a more accurate — if less poetic — description of the twin summits than the original • given that the erroneous version was only name registered at U.S. Post Office Department in Washington DC, the interchangeable spellings persisted well into the 20th c.
• in 1880 the railroad arrived in Arizona, a station was established at Willcox & a cranky Scotland-born miner, John Dare Emersley (1826-1899), arrived at Dos Cabezas to prospect for mineral deposits • J.D. was a grad of the U. of Edinburgh, a writer well-versed in science & a botanical collector with a drought-tolerant grass, muhlenbergia emersleyi (bull grass), named for him • was a correspondent for the Engineering & Mining Journal • several other magazines including Scientific American also published him
• according to a miner who knew him, Emersley was apparently a greedy – and unusually tall – claim jumper: "Every old settler in the Globe District remembers Emersley, a seven foot Scotchman who had more claims located than he could work, and jumped more than he could hold." -“Arizona Silver Belt” (Globe, AT), 06 Jan 1883
• the "Scotchman" soon found a gold deposit & staked about 20 claims • he built a cabin nearby at an elevation of ~6,000 ft., & lived a reclusive life • entered into a pact with God, vowing not to develop any of his claims unless he received a sign from above • nevertheless, the work legally required to retain title to his claims produced several tunnels, one, the Roberts, 160' long • the sign from God never materialized and while awaiting it, Emersley died of scurvy
• shortly thereafter “Starved Amid His Riches”, the story of J.D. Emersley, a religious recluse who lived & died on a "mountain of copper," appeared in newspapers throughout the country • Emersley willed his claims to the Lord to be used for the good of all mankind • though this final wish was never fulfilled, the "mountain of copper" story brought yet another wave of prospectors to the Mining District & sparked a local copper boom
• in 1899 a new town, Laub City, was being laid off at the mouth of Mascot Canyon, 2 mi. above Dos Cabezas • John A. Rockfellow (1858-1947) [photo], author of "The Log of an Arizona Trailblazer," performed the survey • Rockefeller's sister was Tucson architect Anne Graham Rockfellow (1866-1954), an MIT grad & designer of the landmark El Conquistador Hotel [photo]
• the townsite was near the Emersley claims, which had been acquired by Dos Cabezas Consolidated Mines • America's coast-to-coast electrification required countless miles of copper power lines, thus "copper camps" like Laub City proliferated & prospered • the town grew & by 1900 warranted its own post office
• Laub City was named for (and possibly by) Henry Laub (1858-1926), a Los Angeles investor born in Kentucky to German-Jewish immigrants • made his first fortune as a liquor merchandiser • later invested in mining, oil & Southeast Arizona real estate
"There is every reason to believe that Dos Cabezas will be one of the greatest mining districts of Arizona" —Henry Laub, 1902
• a worldwide surge in mining caused copper prices to fall as supply outstripped demand • several mining concerns colluded to restrict production in a failed attempt to stabilize the market • Consolidated Mines' financing subsequently dried up & by 1903 Laub City was a ghost town • Dos Cabezas also suffered from the mine closings but managed to hang on as some mines continued to operate
• in 1905 a Wales-born mining engineer, Capt. Benjamin W. Tibbey (1848-1935), arrived in town with a "Mr. Page" • Ben Tibbey's mining career began as a child in a Welch mine • Page was actually T.N. McCauley, a Chicagoan with a checkered career in investment & finance • the two surveyed the mining district • McCauley apparently remained, later claiming he had resided in Emersly's abandoned shack for 2 yrs. • he also quietly filed & acquired claims covering 600 acres
• in June, 1907 McCauley, organized the Mascot Copper Company with a capitalization of $10MM & began large scale development • euphoric reports of massive ore deposits appeared in the local press, e.g., "Many Thousands of Tons of Ore in Sight— Property Bids Fair to Become Arizona's Greatest Copper Producer"
• in 1909 Mascot acquired control of Dos Cabezas Consolidated Mines Co., the original Emersley claims that Laub's group had purchased • McCauley launched a campaign to sell Mascot stock at $3/share, later $4 & finally $5 • his extravagant promotions included investor & press junkets to the mine in private railroad cars, wining & dining at the property's Hospitality House & a lavish stockholders' banquet at the Fairmont Hotel In San Francisco, with the company logo, a swastika, prominently on display [photo]
"The management of the Mascot has to its credit a remarkable series of sensational ore discoveries and few, if any other copper mining companies can match their enviable record in point of actual tonnage when at the same stage of development." —Bisbee Daily Review, 10 Mar 1910
• though stock analysts familiar with McCauley's history as a con artist cautioned their clients, by August, 1910 reports had sales at $300,000 • shareholders owned 25% of the company, the remainder was retained by the promoters
• while actual mining & ore shipments were limited, the company announced that a store, a boarding house, sleeping quarters for employees, & a new office building had been completed • in 1912, as Mascot continued its costly build out & occasionally shipped ore, Arizona Territory gained statehood
• in 1914, the company launched the Mascot Townsite & Realty Co. to sell lots in a new town they were developing in Mascot Canyon:
"UNUSUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR PERSONAL PROFIT By the Purchase of a Lot In the MASCOT TOWNSITE This new town should have a population of 5000 within a few years." - May 1915
• by 1915 the town of Mascot had been established • homes accessed by winding paths rose one above another on terraces • residents pitched in to build a community hall in a single day • a band called the "Merry Miners" was organized to play at Saturday-night dances
"King Copper, the magic community builder, has once more raised his burnished scepter—and once more a tiny mining camp, a mere speck of Arizona landscape, has received the industrial stimulus which should shortly transform it into a factor to be reckoned with among the bustling little cities of the southwest… The tiny mining camp of the past was Dos Cabezas. The coming city is Mascot. —El Paso Herald, 25 Jun 1915
• within 10 yrs. the town would boast ~100 buildings & a population of ~800 • its children were educated at Mascot School & a second school, with 4 teachers between them • many of the town's boys "grew up panning gold to earn money" —Arizona Republic, 04 Mar 1971
• though most of the area's Mexican residents lived in Dos Cabezas, a few, like Esperanza Montoya Padilla (1915-2003), resided in Mascot:
"I was born in Mascot, Arizona, on August 28, 1915… In the early days, when I was a young child, Mascot was very built up; it was blooming. It was also a beautiful place. There were a lot of Cottonwood and oak trees on the road going up towards the mine and streams coming down the mountain. The school was on that road along with a grocery store and even a pool hall. There was a confectionery in the pool hall where they sold goodies like ice cream and candy. There was a community center on the hill where they showed movies. I remember silent movies with Rudolph Valentino. Even the people from Dos Cabezas came up to Mascot for the movies.
At Christmas they put up a tree in the community center, and all the children in town would get their Christmas presents. There was a road coming up from Dos Cabezas to Mascot and all kinds of houses along that road all the way up to the mine. Our house was on that road. I remember a time when everything was caballos – horses pulling wagons. The cars came later of course. —Songs My Mother Sang to Me
• on January 27, 1915, a celebration in Willcox marked the beginning of construction of the Mascot & Western Railroad • a large crowd watched a jubilant T. N. McCauley turn the first shovelful of dirt • the final spike - a copper one - was driven 15 June, 1915 at The Mascot townsite, followed by a "monstrous barbecue" for 4,000 guests [photos] • activities included a tour of a mine and the company's "2-mile" (10,6000') aerial tramway [photo]
"I feel that only great and lasting good can come of this project. It not only means that the Mascot, in itself, is established but it means that many people, who have known Arizona only a place in the desert before, may take home with them the idea of permanency which we enjoy in this great commonwealth." — H.A. Morgan, Bisbee Daily Review, 27 Jun 1915
• in 1916 a drought ravaged the mining district — wells dried up, cattle died & many mines shut down • on 1 July 1917, American Smelting & Refining took out a 20 yr. lease on the Mascot property only to relinquish it less than a yr. later, presumably because the operation was losing money
• with Mascot Copper facing insolvency, McCauley reorganized it via merger • the "new" Central Copper Co. began operations 15 Feb 1919 • McCauley devised a multi-level marketing scheme where stockholders became stock salesmen • the price was set at $0.50/share, purchases limited to $100/person with $10/mo. financing available • the salesmen, using portable hand-cranked projectors, screened movies of the property at small gatherings of prospective buyers
• reportedly 70,000 stockholders invested & were stunned as the price dropped 50% when the stock hit the market • lawsuits were filed • in a display ad published in several newspapers, McCauley denied each charge against the company
• by Jan, 1924, McCauley reported $4,500,000 spent on new construction • by 1926 400 employees were on the payroll, but output of the mines proved marginal • in 1927 stockholders were informed that falling copper & silver prices dictated that ore extraction be reduced to the minimum necessary to cover operating expenses
• the following year the enterprise was taken over by Southwestern Securities Corporation, a holding company • by late 1929 the payroll was down to 26 employees • on February 29, 1932, Southwestern Securities purchased the Mascot Company at public auction for $100,000 • McCauley promptly moved to Tucson, was implicated in a bank scandal, fled to California then disappeared without a trace —“A history of Willcox, Arizona, and Environs”, Vernon Burdette Schultz
• with the failure of Central Copper [photo] & exodus of miners, Dos Cabezas began its final descent, although not devoid of diversions • in spite of frequent mine closings & the onset of the Great Depression, the town fielded a team in the Sulphur Springs Valley Baseball League, which also included a squad representing a C.C.C. camp • Willcox had 2 teams in the league, the Mexicans & the Americans
• among the dwindling Dos Cabezas population was Jack Howard, the man who "sharpened the first tools that opened up the first gold discoveries of Dos Cabezas district" & spent his last 30 yrs. with Mary Katherine Cummings, history's "Big Nose Kate" [photo], memorialized in movies as Katie Elder —“Tombstone Daily Prospector”
• John Jessie “Jack” Howard (1845-1930) was born in Nottingham, England • as one of the first miners in the Dos Cabezas mining district, he is memorialized by Howard Peak & Howard Canyon • lived in the hills near Dos Cabezas • remembered as a crusty churl who hid in a manhole behind his shack to fire at intruders as they rode into range • on the other hand, some of his fellow Dos Cabezans considered him friendly • divorced his wife Mary who, according to court records, "displayed a vile and disagreeable disposition coupled with frequent outbursts of the most violent temper until she made his life a burden he could stand no longer.”
"…witnesses testified about Mary’s barrage of insults that included publicly calling Howard a white-livered son of a b—. She kept a filthy house, never washed dishes or clothing and even threatened to burn down his house and poison his stock." —“He Lived with Big Nose Kate”, True West
• Mary Katherine "Big Nose Kate" Horony (1850-1940) was born in Pest, Hungary, 2nd oldest daughter of Hungarian physician Miklós Horony • emigrated to the U.S. with her family in 1860 • placed in a foster home after her parents died • stowed away on a steamboat to St. Louis, where she became a prostitute • in 1874 was fined for working as a "sporting woman" (prostitute) in a "sporting house" (brothel) in Dodge City, KS, run by Nellie "Bessie" Ketchum, wife of James Earp [video (8:59)]
• moved to Fort Griffin, TX in 1876 • met dentist John "Doc" Holliday, who allegedly said he considered Kate his intellectual equal • Kate introduced Holliday to Wyatt Earp • Doc opened a dental practice but spent most of his time gambling & drinking
• the couple fought regularly, sometimes violently • according to Kate they married in Valdosta, Georgia • moved on to AZ Territory where Kate worked as a prostitute at The Palace Saloon in Prescott • they parted ways but she rejoined Holliday in Tombstone [photos] • claimed to have witnessed the 26 Oct 1881 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral from her window at C.S. Fly's Boarding House
• 19 years later Kate, nearly 50 [photo] & divorced from an abusive husband, was long past her romance with Doc & too old for prostitution • in June 1900, while employed at the Rath Hotel [photo] in Cochise, AT, she answered a want ad for a housekeeper at $20/mo. plus room & board • the ad had been placed by Jack Howard • Kate lived with him as his employee ("servant" according to the 1900 census) until 1930
• on 3 January, Kate walked 3 mi. to the home of Dos Cabezas Postmaster Edwin White.
“Jack died last night, and I stayed up with him all night.”
• Howard was buried in an unmarked grave in Dos Cabezas Cemetery • after living alone for 2 yrs. Kate sold the homestead for $535.30 • In 1931 she wrote Arizona Gov. George W.P. Hunt, requesting admission to the Arizona Pioneers Home at Prescott • although foreign born thus not eligible for admission, she claimed Davenport, Iowa as her birthplace & was accepted • she died 5 days shy of her 90th birthday • was buried under the name "Mary K. Cummings" in the Home's Cemetery—“Big Nose Kate, Independent Woman of the Wild West” —Kyla Cathey
• the Mascot Mine closed in 1930
• the Mascot & WesternRailroad discontinued operations in 1931 — the tracks were taken up four years later
• 1940s Dos Cabezas photos
• in 1949, the U.S. Postal Dept. corrected its spelling of the town's post office from Dos Cabezos to Dos Cabezas
• mid-20th c. Dos Cabezas family [photos]
• the Dos Cabezas's post office was discontinued in 1960
• in 1964 the town's population was down to 12
• McCauley's Mascot Hospitality House was repurposed as part of the Dos Cabezas Spirit & Nature Retreat Bed & Breakfast [photo]
• today, Dos Cabezas is considered a ghost town, its cemetery the town's main attraction
One of my favorite paintings by Max Liebermann entitled "Country house at Hilvershum." The ship is a souvenir from the island of Patmos and my books help prepare me for my trips overseas. **The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page - Augustine of Hippo
"Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself."
HDR Trees Series #2
* Pentax K20D + Samsung 50-200mm Lens - 3 Shot HDR
in Indonesian edition this book has 576 pages...
i recommend this one hehehe
from beginning... till the end i cry :P
(berlinang air mata... berlari ke arah matahari terbenam)
p.s: this saturday i start doing mentor 3 kids in a row... wish me luck hehe
~ Abraham Lincoln
If you are looking for some Christmas and New Year Reads, these are some really good books :)
I read Legacy right through today and it was a really intriguing and the book "Water for Elephants" is so much better than the movie :)
"The muffled tongue of Big Ben tolled nine by the clock as the cortege left the palace, but on history's clock it was sunset, and the sun of the old world was setting in a dying blaze of splendor never to be seen again."
— Barbara W. Tuchman (The Guns of August)
Postcards From London Series #1
*Samsung EX1 - 3 shot HDR (-1, 0, +1 EV)
More at A Raven Image
Three cheers for public libraries. Every year for I am not sure how long, maybe since I retired as a school librarian in 2013, I have been reviewing children's literature new in the year. Many of these books are vying for the title of Caldecott Gold and Silver - for the best illustrated book of the year. I belong to a Caldecott Study Group in GoodReads. We play a Mock Caldecott Award voting event in January of each year, a week before the Caldecott Committee votes and announces the winners at the American Library Association. Our choices are often very close to the real committee's choices.
I do enjoy reading and reviewing the new books. I am so fortunate to belong to the Des Moines Public Library System. Any book that I would like to read, it seems like one of their libraries in the system has the book or has it on order. The librarians wave to me when I come in. My books are waiting on a reserve shelf. We book talk the books. I am so happy to share ideas with them. I usually walk out of the library with a stack full of books.
As I picked up this first set to read and review for 2022 at GoodReads, the librarian told me that they are already hoping ONE of these will carry through to the award ceremony in January 2023 and win the coveted award! Time will tell!
A fangyi was a Chinese bronze vessel in the form of a small hut or granary, per the Brittanica. The little "hat" is a knob in the form of a hipped roof, to lift the cover. Archaeologists call this sort of thing a ceremonial object, meaning "we don't really know what those people used it for." Some people argue for a wine offering, others for food. They're found as grave goods, so it's reasonable to suppose the offering was to sustain the deceased in the afterlife.
The design is an animal mask, which likely means this was southern Shang, per the Met catalog.
Fangyi were made with ceramic piece molds. The simple square shape of the fangyi with its four corners has suggested to many observers that the flanges (ridges that rise above the surface of the vessel) mask the area where the ceramic piece molds were connected.
Refs: www.britannica.com/art/fangyi
www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/asian-art-museum/aam-...
A nice old Met museum catalog of a 1997 show, mostly PRC loan stuff. I reviewed it at Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/review/show/3048354171
"Love is like a tree: it shoots of itself; it strikes it's roots deeply into our whole being, and frequently continues to put forth green leaves over a heart in ruins. And there is this unaccountable circumstance attending it, that the blinder the passion the more tenacious it is. Never is it stronger than when it is most unreasonable."
— Victor Hugo (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame)
* Pentax K20D and Samsung D-Xenon 50-200mm Lens
"...denn ich war plötzlich den Vögeln ein Nachbar geworden, nicht indem ich sie einsperrte, sondern indem ich meinen Käfig in ihre Nähe versetzte."
H.D. Thoreau "Walden" Seite 93
© 1979 Diogenes Verlag AG, Zürich
"Walden: or, Life in the Woods", 1854.
"...for I found myself suddenly neighbor to the birds; not by having imprisoned one, but having caged myself near them.”
Rolleiflex 6008
Planar 80mm
AGFA Agfacolor Optima 100, exposed as 50 ASA,
exp. 08/2000
Induro AT 14
Novoflex ballhead
Sekonic L-758 D
Epson V 750
You can find Irene Astral (model/styling/editing) here: www.facebook.com/ireneastral
Accessories by: AstralWork Creations (www.facebook.com/AstralWorkCreations?fref=ts)
And many thanks to Jim Keith (www.facebook.com/JimKeithCosplay?fref=ts) for his assistance.
This series was featured in:
1.) Dark Beauty Magazine: www.darkbeautymag.com/2015/03/spirosk-photography-irene-a...
2.) Ladies of Steampunk Magazine (print, too): www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/901617
3.) The Greek book of Steampunk stories "Gods of Steam" (as illustrations and cover): www.goodreads.com/book/show/24293119---steampunk
Shot in an abandoned factory in Drapetsona, Greece.
"Down on the lake rosy reflections of celestial vapor appeared, and I said, "God, I love you" and looked to the sky and really meant it. "I have fallen in love with you, God. Take care of us all, one way or the other." To the children and the innocent it's all the same."
— Jack Kerouac (The Dharma Bums)
Another unposted shot from the archives... there are just so many :-) This one is from Airey's Inlet on Victoria's Surf Coast in July 2010.
Painkalac Creek is a salt lake separated from the sea by a thin strip of beach and the magnificent rocks of Split Point and Eagle Rock, an amazing place!
* Pentax K20D and Pentax SMC DA-18-55mm Lens - 2 shot HDR
The days aren't discarded or collected, they are bees
that burned with sweetness or maddened
the sting: the struggle continues,
the journeys go and come between honey and pain.
No, the net of years doesn't unweave: there is no net.
They don't fall drop by drop from a river: there is no river.
Sleep doesn't divide life into halves,
or action, or silence, or honor:
life is like a stone, a single motion,
a lonesome bonfire reflected on the leaves,
an arrow, only one, slow or swift, a metal
that climbs or descends burning in your bones."
— Pablo Neruda (Still Another Day (Kage-an Books))
* Pentax K20D and Samsung D-Xenon 50-200mm Lens
"You sit at the edge of the world,
I am in a crater that's no more.
Words without letters
Standing in the shadow of the door.
The moon shines down on a sleeping lizard,
Little fish rain from the sky.
Outside the window there are soldiers,
steeling themselves to die.
~
The drowning girl's fingers
Search for the entrance stone, and more.
Lifting the hem of her azure dress,
She gazes --
at Kafka on the shore"
— Haruki Murakami (Kafka on the Shore)
Nothing but endless blue sky and azure ocean...
Wide Open Series #2
A starlet comes to Reno to start a new life—and end her old one forever
Sylvia Shoreham’s Hollywood dreams came true long ago. Critically beloved for her beauty, talent, and style, she was on her way to international stardom when a bad contract committed her to seven years of trashy comedies and half-baked melodramas. Her marriage to her producer husband has become a rotten, loveless sham, so Sylvia’s silver screen life verges on a nightmare. To escape her celluloid hell, she’s got only one option: Forget Hollywood. It’s time for a Reno vacation.
She comes to Nevada hoping for a divorce from her husband, Vicki, and an end to her contract, but the ugly side of the business follows her. To protect herself from Vicki, she enlists Nevada’s biggest Sylvia Shoreham fan. He’s six feet tall, strong as a mule, and just happens to be Reno’s sheriff. When her divorce turns into a war, this Hollywood icon will be glad to have him on her side.
"In dreams you don't need to make any distinctions between things. Not at all. Boundaries don't exist. So in dreams there are hardly ever collisions. Even if there are, they don't hurt. Reality is different. Reality bites. Reality, reality."
— Haruki Murakami (Sputnik Sweetheart)
HDR Trees Series #1
* Pentax K20D + Samsung 50-200mm Lens - 3 Shot HDR
Ending
Each day is born with a sunrise and ends in a sunset, the same way we open our eyes to see the light and close them to hear the dark. You have no control over how your story begins or ends. But by now, you should know that all things have an ending. Every spark returns to darkness. Every sound returns to silence. And every flower returns to sleep with the earth. The journey of the sun and moon is predictable. But yours is your ultimate ART.” ― Suzy Kassem
=========
The photo was taken during June 2014 at Umhlanga Rocks, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Info source: www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/sunset
“Missiles and earth satellites command the attention of the world. Already seven pilots have been chosen to train for man’s first venture into space. Here are the stories of the Air Force today – of planes that fly at twice the speed of sound, missiles that can hit a target 5,000 miles away, and here are the Air Force technicians and space pioneers who will soon launch a manned satellite into orbit around the Earth!
“Frank Harvey is an aviation writer who knows this exciting new field in both its scientific and military aspects. He has visited the launching sites and Air Force laboratories where the conquests of tomorrow are made. And he writes with electric tension of the men whose complex skills are tested every day in the high cold frontiers of space.” [From the back cover]
“A series of exciting slice-of-life vignettes depicting the thrilling and dangerous exploits of test pilots and others on the cutting edge of the 1950s Air Force . . .” –Goodreads.com
There are eight stories in all, including three that describe unique challenges posed by the new frontier:
“Moon Shot” (from “The Saturday Evening Post,” 1958) – On the brink of one of history’s most fateful moments, something went terribly wrong . . .
“Destruct Button” (from “Argosy,” 1959) – It’s bad enough pushing a destruct button on two million dollars’ worth of Atlas missile. And now there was something even more precious in the nose cone – a living human being!
“100 Miles Up” (from “Argosy,” 1958) – An unforgettable story of a man who conquered space – and couldn’t find the way back.
it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperatrice_nuda
www.ilgiardinodeilibri.it/libri/__imperatrice_nuda.php#
www.goodreads.com/book/show/57222.Naked_Empress_Or_The_Gr...
Imperatrice Nuda, libro di Hans Ruesch del 1976, è la Scienza Medica, che chiede e ottiene dalla Politica soldi a profusione per la ricerca su animali: la vivisezione. Ricerche inutili, crudeli, ripetute più volte: la lettura di questo testo è una discesa all'inferno. Compii questa discesa, cioè lessi questo libro, che ero una adolescente, e cambiò la mia vita, il mio occhio sulla medicina, sui dottori, sull'avidità e il sadismo degli esseri umani.
Naked Empress, a 1976 book by Hans Ruesch, is medical science, which asks for and receives profuse money from politics for research on animals: vivisection. Useless, cruel searches, repeated several times: reading this text is a descent into hell. I made this descent, that is, I read this book, when I was a teenager, and it changed my life, my eye on medicine, on doctors, on the greed and sadism of human beings.
Sometimes bug eyed monsters love to read YA and that diversity is what we stand for here at the SL Book Club!!! Have you read "The Forever War"? NO? Get it now >>> www.goodreads.com/book/show/21611.The_Forever_War
It's so nice to see my book at 4.6/5 on goodreads! I'm glad people are enjoying it. Still no reviews on Amazon though! I know it's a weird book that is probably hard to review, but if you're enjoying it please consider throwing up a quick rating. It would be greatly appreciated! ❤️ amzn.to/1NTMGmq
Television is fine, but books are better.
Prima Dolly Cassis appears to have an extensive reading list. I love to read, too; in fact, on Goodreads.com I've challeneged myself to read 100 books in 2019. I've finished 34 of them so far.
Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) was a prolific British crime writer, journalist and playwright, who wrote 175 novels, 24 plays, and countless articles in newspapers and journals.
Over 160 films have been made of his novels, more than any other author.
In the 1920s, one of Wallace's publishers claimed that a quarter of all books read in England were written by him.
He is most famous today as the co-creator of "King Kong", writing the early screenplay and story for the movie, as well as a short story "King Kong" (1933) credited to him and Draycott Dell. He was known for the J. G. Reeder detective stories, The Four Just Men, the Ringer, and for creating the Green Archer character during his lifetime. [Source: the Goodreads website at www.goodreads.com/book/show/1363197.The_Traitor_s_Gate]
Otis Adelbert Kline is best known for a literary feud with Edgar Rice Burroughs for producing close imitations of Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars novels, though set on Venus. The Buccaneers of Venus concerns Robert Grandon, a man from Earth fighting a race of pirates and various monsters while dealing with political conflicts on a world gone mad. Kline’s Buccaneers prompted Burroughs to write his own stories set on Venus. In return, Kline wrote two novels set on Mars, as well as several jungle adventures reminiscent of Burroughs’ Tarzan.
[Source: www.goodreads.com/book/show/18866014-the-buccaneers-of-ve...]
Later, Kline became the literary agent for Robert E. Howard, creator and author of stories about Conan the Barbarian, stories written mainly for pulp magazines. That was long before Arnold Schwarzenegger had a chance to mangle the legend of Conan.
Just like the spacemen of Classic Space, the explorers of Mars Mission commissioned several vehicles from Llwyngwril Systems. A perfect example of Hegel's assertion that, “What experience and history teaches us is that people and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.”.
The rocky surface of Mars was causing severe tyre wear to 4x4 vehicles. Various design teams were asked to come up with a solution. Llwyngwril Systems simply removed a wheel, thereby reducing tyre wear by 25% (in theory). The MT-32 Trike was the result.