Front porches!

If one is good, isn't a double one better?

Half-wrap.

And here, the granddaddy of them all, the full wrap:

Art deco love

Fire Department!

Office building

Elementary school. I want to give them an anonymous donation of art deco address numbers.

Two of the best things I've ever seen for sale at a flea market. (Florence, Italy).

Coolest fence ever?

I can't believe I wasted my time trolling around my neighborhood searching for cool fences, when possibly the coolest one ever was just across the river.

The homeowner caught me taking this picture and was proud to tell me that the fence is made out of the insides of pianos. How cool is that? (Answer: very)

Dear white picket fences,

A white picket fence done right! Love every cottage-y inche (<-- that's the English spelling) of you.

And another one done right!

And a third done right. If you are going to have a white picket fence, put colorful flowers in front of it, I say.

And one just kind of undone.

Centennial Park

A few weeks ago another town asked that we donate our submarine-launched Polaris missle to a park and museum that they are building. People were outraged, OUTRAGED, I say, by such an outrageous request. Anyway, I felt it was time to check out the missle in person. It's definitely an odd centerpiece for a park (although, I guess cannons are equally odd, now that I think about it). I wouldn't mind donating it to the other town, except for the fact that it would leave us defenseless against the Commie submarines lurking in the Kaw River.

Here it is, in all its phallic glory. Now I understand why all the men in town were so upset about the possibility of having this taken away.

I was pleased to see this skate park, because I had always wondered if Lawrence had one.

This park also hosts a disc (frisbee) golf course. I thought it was a joke and was surprised to see three different people (on a Thursday morning) out practicing. I even saw one guy stretching before he got to the first tee. I wonder if they have caddies? It probably wasn't cool to take my dog out in the middle of their frisbee course, but someone had to rid the park of squirrels, right?  Certified squirrel-free:

fence variety

Why did I start creeping around the alleys in my neighborhood, camera in hand? Well, I don't like my boring panels of fencing, and was looking for a different design. Man, did I hit the jackpot. Who knew that there could be such a variety in fences?

Now, all I want to do it see what is so worth blocking the view.

Do you have a favorite?

Corner view: October

When I was a kid -- 30 (or so) years ago -- decorating for Halloween meant carving a pumpkin a few days before the 31st and putting a candle in it. Now, it's a whole other world. A few samples from my corner of the world:

I saw the dad setting these up. I have to say, he seemed a lot more interested in it than his son did.

These decorations look more friendly than scary.

I hope these are Halloween decorations and not unwanted guests!

For a little less scary look at October throughout the world, visit Francesca's website for more corner views.

International Lawrence

We are a pretty quintessentially American small town, so it is difficult to find many things that look like they don't belong on the set for Bye, Bye Birdie, but here's my best shot...

Stonehenge?

Tahiti?

Southeast Asia? Southeast corner of Pier One?

The Netherlands? It was a long time ago, but I'm sure I saw these same signs in Amsterdam.

Japan? A tori gate with aluminum? (No, nothing like the real thing.)

A French farmhouse? I fear that the cars give this one away.



mid-century modern

Popped dog in the car and traveled two miles to a little pocket of town that has these beauts. There's only about three blocks of these, and the other side of the street has ranch after ranch after ranch after ranch.

But for the mid-century modern, I have to say: you are just swell.

This house was for sale when I moved to town. I might have bought it, except for the fact that I clearly was looking for something more expensive and that would take more time, money and effort to rehab.

Here's one that snuck into my neighborhood.

Here's a mid-century surprise found in the alley in my neighborhood.

Dear church-turned-house,

How could someone not love your sweet, sweet self?  It's a good thing I didn't buy this house--major lightning risk.

Dear President Obama,

Things aren't looking too promising for 2012.

And this is supposed to be your bastion of blue for the whole state.

All chopped off...

The roof is chopped off. The top of the tree is chopped off. I don't know, fellows, if I were you, I wouldn't walk around here with any appendages hanging out.

Hi, Mum!