Our house is a very, very, very fine house

Our house is a very, very, very fine house originally uploaded by anyjazz65. With two cats in the yard, Life used to be so hard, Now everything is easy 'cause of you. -(CSN)-

meagain625 says: A very, very fine house :) anyjazz65 says: Yes. Thanks meagain. When I found the picture I thought of the Crosby, Stills and Nash lyric right away but only saw the one cat and the dog. But I bought it anyway and when I enlarged he scan I spotted the other cat. I know where we (you and I) live, that a house in the middle of nowhere is an ordinary sight. But we have to remember how strange this is to some people in other areas of the planet, even our own continent. Texas and Oklahoma are the great undiscovered frontier of the exploding population. Stay tuned. XOZ says: Excellent photo. I love the clothes....(I hate that song!) :-) Definitely taken on a Sunday. I love going back in time. meagain625 says: Any idea if the boys are twins? They seem to be the same size, dressed alike, and look very much alike. For certain they are brothers, but just wondered... Yes, one expects to see a house setting off away from others, even away from the nearest paved road at times. I have wondered often about those that lived so far away from each other in the earlier part of the last century. What hardships they faced! Just moving to this area must have been disconcerting to someone that comes from a place where water is abundant, with trees so tall and shady. We have trees now, planted by those that dug this rock-filled earth, and probably had to carry water from the waterwell by the bucketfuls to ensure the survival of their trees and crops, as well as finding the right place to drill for water to supply the creatures they had to look after in order to put dinner on the table. I have wondered how disappointed the wives were to leave lovely homes and follow the dream of a better life, through cactus, mesquites, snakes, dry grass and blowing dust, over mesas and no real road to follow. We grow 'em tough here. If they didn't come from tough families or find that strength within themselves, they wouldn't last long here. But many families made it for generations and continue to survive. Old Clayton Williams was from here. That is one tough old boot. He's made his mark and remembers to come home to get with friends and family. West Texas is for survivors. That's one of the things I like about them. They didn't give up. Same goes with many families in all areas of the good ole US of A. Facing hardships and coming out the winner is a good part of being an American, and a Texan, Thank God. says: This is a great looking old house, says: @XOZ: Thanks! You are probably right, Sunday clothes. Hm. Odd about the song, I find that people have no ambivalence about it. One either loves it or hates it. Sort of like “McArthur Park” or “Society’s Child.” Or does that date me terribly? The photo has a post card back so dating it is a little easier. Using the Playle post card dating web page as reference, this one appears to be from the mid or west US about 1910 to 1918. All similar backs appear to come from northern central states, Minnesota and Montana. The horizon is very flat though. My guess would be western Kansas or Nebraska. @meagain625: No there is no other information on the people in this photo. But, I think you are bang-on about the two boys being twins. Yes, the hardships they faced are unimaginable now. My wife who spent most of her life on the east coast of England can readily describe the feeling. Absolutely everything is different. I always held the pioneering women in great respect and awe because of their bravery and resolution. But now, after seeing the culture shock up close, I just don’t know how they did it back then. It must have been miserable for them. No society, no friends or near neighbors, nothing that would break the day in day out hard work routine. It was grueling for the men but just terrible for the women. They had to be very special indeed. We visit the small towns on back roads a lot. My wife has often remarked how difficult it must have been for the settlers when there were NO roads or road signs to orient them. Planting trees and conserving the soil is something we learned a bit late in Oklahoma. The ‘30’s dust bowl was the wake up call here. Your mention of the water scarcity made me return to the photo again. Note that there are eave troughs across the front and back with down spouts on the left and right. The trough above the porch runs across the whole side, even in front of the window in the gable. That single stretch of trough allows the water run off both halves of the roof to one central point instead of a downspout on each corner. The downspouts showing, front and rear, do not go to the ground, they elbow and turn toward a common point at the rear. They are conserving the rain water. Maybe we are looking at western Kansas, Oklahoma or Texas here. The two story design is quite typical of rural Kansas houses except this one is a bit more ornate. There appears to be a screened in back porch. Does this mean a flying insect population? There is a small stained glass window near the rear. If it is a bathroom window it would mean indoor plumbing…possible but not likely. Windows like this also used at a landing of a stair well. That’s possible. The stair might approach the window, turn at the landing and go in the opposite direction to the second floor. A stretch, but it’s possible. Perhaps some architects can throw some light on this. Or perhaps someone has seen the inside of a house like this and can tell us the floor plan. There is a low rail around what would be a balcony on the front, as you might see in some of the southern mansions. But there is no door to it here. It seems to be just decorative. While I’m at it: There are dark clumps in the field beyond that are probably mesquite but could be an orchard or vineyard or maybe wheat or corn shocks. And there is some equipment sitting just at the left but I can’t quite identify it. There are no cables leading to the house. No electricity. There are no utility poles anywhere. There seems to be a well tended rose bush just behind the man on the left. And I say again: I think it is marvelous that these abandoned old photographs can take on a life of their own and stimulate imaginations and thought. @oh boy photos: Yes it is. I picked up the photo for the image of the house. It is quite a departure from some of the houses you see from 100 years ago in the mid west. It is much more decorated than some I have seen.

Jam night at the Ottawa Jazz Festival 2003

Jam night at the Ottawa Jazz Festival 2003, originally uploaded by anyjazz65. elhawk says: Great shot Jazz. I would have liked to have been there. I have also seen Hassan Hakmoun play live. That was in 1992 at the Reading, Rivermead WOMAD festival (World of Music Arts and Dance). Hassan is a Moroccan and his music is based on the trance music of the Gnawa musicians of his country. Not all sintirs have only one string, some have three. The one he was playing at WOMAD had three and it was amped up. He had a full band at that gig and was playing some crazy kind of dance music, which must have been related to Sufi dervish music. But he was also using feedback techniques with Hendrix style wails and screams. It was an amazing set. It was going on inside one of the big marquees so there was a lot of wild dancing going on. The drum in the picture I believe is a dumbek, an Arabian drum sometimes ceramic sometimes metallic. I used to have a ceramic one but my then small child knocked it off a table and smashed it sadly. Did you notice whether this one had a snare? Commonly they do. The first time I heard a sintir though was in Morocco itself in the Djma El Fna (the famous central square in Marrakech). It was being played there by a cross legged solo musician in traditional style. The sound was very drone like and hypnotic, almost unearthly in nature. anyjazz65 says: Thanks elhawk. I had a feeling you would connect. I attended those sessions 4 years in a row so in my memory they have begun to blur into one long session with too many musicians to remember. The side-men and sometimes the stars of many groups would show up and participate or sometimes just listen. I hosted the Hospitality Room during the day for the festival and got to chat with many of the musicians, and at night I absorbed the free-for-all music. The venue here was a small meeting room in the downtown Ramada Inn in Ottawa, Ontario. There was no stage. It was about 90 people sitting at tables in a semi-circle around the performers. Anyone who could stay up very late could see the musicians who had done their set on one of the three stages during the festival day, but now were just enjoying themselves. I attended every night. The musicians from various bands and groups wandered in and sat in, blending combinations that still make my head numb. Host John Geggie always started things with a trio of himself on bass, Nancy Walker piano and Nick Frazer drums. Then the day’s performers wandered in, some carrying instruments, some just a drink. A half dozen from Sandoval’s band, a couple from the Yellow Jackets or Maria Schneider’s band. Sometimes the room was half musicians. Those that wanted to played. Other years included the Basie band, Jane Bunnett, Lavay Smith, Cleo Lane, Lou Donaldson, Brad Mehldau, Nnenna Freelon, Masekela and heck, too many to remember. The regular concerts went on all day for eight or ten days. Then the jams went on most of the night. One set in particular that blew me away was John Pizzarelli. He was loose and inventive and displayed flawless technique. I was sitting almost knees to knees with him. I don’t remember which year now. I should dig out the pictures from that year I guess. And there was a local teen age girl who played tenor now and then. She was good with three “o’s”. I’ll think of her name eventually. 2007 update: Her name is Alison Young . Anyway, the picture here of Hakmoun is just how it looked. The small room made you feel as if you were IN the music. His music was so hypnotic and gripping I am not sure how I got home. There may have been three strings but I only remember one. I think the drum had a snare, I remember now remarking to someone about it, wondering if it was standard or just something he added. Sorry I don’t remember more right now. When I do, I will add it here.

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Gnat Trap

Wednesday, November 15, 2006 Gnat Trap (Simple, Nothing to buy, No waiting, Painless, Works every time!) We buy a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables. The onions and squash wait for tea in a small basket on the bottom shelf of the baker’s shelf/wine rack in the kitchen/dining area. The Bananas hang on a rung of the bottom level of that same rack. The fruit, pears and apples mostly, sit on an upper shelf in another basket. So, one day our kitchen was infested with gnats. The fruit probably brought a few in and then they nested and reproduced in our sole house plant, the African violet. They are not dangerous, just annoying. They cloud around the sink and the sponges there. While having our meal one evening, I noted that they took particular interest in my glass of wine, diving in and dying there. So I invented the Gnat Trap. On the counter near the sink, I left a small glass with about an inch of merlot in it. Next morning I had about 40 dead drunk gnats. I repeated nightly until the gnats were gone. It took more than a week because they probably got into their second life cycle before I caught on to them. edit 07/05/2007: Yes, it really works. I have used the trick twice since then. They are gone over night if you set it up when you first notice them. If you let them get a second generation going, it might take a week. Try it and let me know your results.

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Hidden beneath the paneling.

Hidden beneath the paneling.
Originally uploaded by anyjazz65.

This very odd mural was hidden beneath the paneling in a kind of rec-room (store room for me) all during the 30 years that I lived in that house.

When I sold the house, the fix-up-for-sale process uncovered it. It is eight foot by eight foot. It covered half of an end wall of the room. It is very strange.

At least it WAS very strange. I had the whole room torn down. This photograph is all that remains. My old Nikon 995 just couldn’t keep the fish-eye distortion under control. I had very limited space to catch the whole wall in one shot. You can see the studs of a divider wall at the sides of the frame.

There were stories about the house when I moved in back in the 70’s. I had heard that a drug dealer lived there before me. Indeed, just after moving in, some very odd looking characters came to the back door looking for “Ziggy” and Glen and Dale.

Unfortunately, there was no way to preserve it. It was on two sheets of sheetrock nailed and taped at the center, and could not be removed without destroying it. So I took several photographs.

Lower Left Corner Detail.
Originally uploaded by anyjazz65.

Believe me I thought of eBay also! There was a small signature in the corner but the thing was nailed to the house I purchased, so I think legally it BELONGED to me and not the artist.

I bought the house about 1975 so it was painted and covered before then. I never used the room much except for storage so it went unnoticed until I was fixing up the place to sell in 2003.

There was also a very amateurish nude on the reverse of a 2 foot by 3 foot chunk of paneling that I discovered several years earlier. It self-destructed because it got wet but I photographed it also. I may post it someday when I need a lot of trouble...

There was also a bullet hole in one of the kitchen cabinet doors. Hm.