For the last week it has felt like the plants of the State of Maryland have been getting together to ruin my life. I’ve sneezed more in the last week than I did in the entire first half of the year. If you’ve seen the movie, “The Happening,” though I wouldn’t expect you to or tell you to, you will make the connection that I feel like I’m running from the plants as if I were right there with them. So here they are. They look innocent enough….
I was looking for interesting photo opportunities near my office. One site that I wanted to visit was Centennial Park. The large Howard county park that surrounds a lake. I had never been there before so I didn’t know exactly what to expect. It was a nice park and the lake, while not huge, is large enough for a canoe or kayak trip.
It’s also a very green park. It’s green everywhere and even the mid-day water takes on a green hue. Surely it would be a great place to go in the fall as I’m sure it looks amazing when the leaves change. So while I promise you that will go back in October, in the mean time I have this picture of these geese.
I found this abandoned Lone Star restaraunt site the other day and I really liked how it looked without any of its signage or its customers. It just sort of sat there peacefully in the middle of a busy retail area. Of course, abandoned restaraunt sites are more and more common these days. This one was almost refreshing becasue it was a rare instance when I like the space better when its not being used.
You might be thinking that I’ve posted too much about the National Park Seminary, but I disargree!!
Here’s a picture of the gymnasium, from a distance, which allows the viewer to still enjoy some of its grandeur. However, I’ve included another picture, which zooms in on the portico. As you can see, damage to the roof has allowed leaking water to turn these balusters to mush!
Looking for something to photograph yesterday, I came up with a few good ideas. However, none of them came out right. The golf course I visited had too many people. The park I had found on a map ended up being nothing more than a swingset. Then my hopes of driving around and finding something else were in vain. So I went to an old favorite, the National Park Seminary. The seminary is now in its third year of reconstruction. There has been some progress, but fortunately for me, there is enough of the campus that hasn’t chaged to keep it interesting for pictures.
Signs of construction are everywhere. Even in this picture, if you look inside the columns, you’ll see loads of construction equiptment stored. Just off the shot to the right, there is a newly finished apartment where I saw someone actually moving in.
I like this photo for two reasons. First, I like how the sky was so brilliantly blue that it makes the lighter blue water tower really look strange. Second, I like the subject.
This tower is located in Columbia. Since I began working in Howard County I’ve been trying to understand how this tower fits into the Columbia asthetic. Like the color of the tower against the sky, the dirty tower standing over a town where every public service is purposefully hidden from view, is just a little bit off. Of course, I’m not against the town, but I’m not a 100% believer the concept of Columbia as the suburban utopia. You could say that I haven’t drank the Howard County Kool Aid. So I kind of like it when a reminder of normal life like this pops up.
At many schools the teams mascot is related to the name of the team. That would include Testudo of the Terrapins, or the Hopkins Blue Jay. Though players on Naval Academy teams are known as Midshipmen, the academy’s mascot is not a sailor. The mascot is Bill the Goat, a live goat who is immortalized here in bronze.
From its paint scheme alone, one could almost confuse this ship with the Pride of Baltimore. However, this is the figurehead to the Schooner Sultana, based in Chestertown, in Kent County. The 97′ schooner was built in 2001, as a replica of “the smallest schooner ever in the British Royal Navy.
You can go to Schooner Sultana for more info on its educational mission.
You can also go to Flickr for pictures of its construction.
This is a bit of a throwback to last week’s flag posts. The (Fifteen Star) American flag in the foreground and the banner at the top are flying from the Pride of Baltimore. In the background we have the world’s tallest pentagonal building: The World Trade Center in Baltimore.
Over the weekend, a friend brought a bottle of Almond Smash to the Maryland Daily Photoquarters. This is one of those local items from the past that is still gasping for air in a few supermarket aisles across the state (or the central part of the state). The Suburban company was once a popular Baltimore based beverage company. Their two best sellers were the Almond Smash and Golden Ginger Ale. Though the brands belong (according to the internet) to a division of Pepsi, their presence is a throw back to the times when independent manufacurers held the hearts of local consumers.
Having only tasted the Almond smash I can tell you that it is thicker and more intensely sugared than most sodas today. It has a very strong cherry flavor, which I’ve seen likened to cherry Coke or cherry Dr. Pepper, and a subtle almond aroma. If you are looking for it, there are some Mars stores that still carry it. Go out and get a bottle and taste a little living history.