While driving around for Featherfest we saw the Railroad Museum and decided to visit it. Debbie and I had visited it a couple years ago, but her friend’s husband was really interested in it.
These area couple of milk cans on an old cart. The contrast of the textures makes for an interesting image. The cornerstone of the museum is a restored diesel locomotive.
There is a “festival” in Galveston to celebrate the spring bird migration. A friend of Debbie’s from Wisconsin is into birds, and she and her husband came to Galveston for the weekend to attend the festival. On Saturday, we drove all over the island looking for birds. We went to one spot, and didn’t really find much, but I saw this rather cool cats that was in the process of setting buds of a blossom.
We did find birds in the place where I go to look for Sandhill Cranes. One of the things I have always wanted was a good picture of a bird flying. I finally got one. This is a white Ibis that had just taken off.
One of the places in Galveston that I have wanted to get good pictures of is Star Drug Store. This is one of the oldest drug stores int he state of Texas, but, there are always cars parked in front of it making it a hard place to get good pictures of. I went downtown on a Monday morning, hoping there would not be cars parked in front of it, but I was wrong. So, I just worked around the cars.
Since I could not get a picture straight on, I decided to get one from each side.
And this was from the other side. While doing Art Walk the Saturday before, I noticed how cool the old windows on O’Malley’s Pub looked and I walked up Post office street to get a good picture of them. The glass looks like it was really old and it is impossible to count the number of coats of paint that must have been applied to those windows.
As always, we went to Galveston for Mardi Gras weekend. I spent Saturday morning on the West Side looking for birds. Here is a group of Sandhill Canes I found.
Out there, I noticed a small creek and saw there was a skeleton in it. It looked to be too small to be a cow, so I think it might have been a coyote. You can see it on the bottom right of this picture.
We did go to Mardi Gras, and I kind of liked the way this picture of one of the participants on a float turned out.
Last Weekend was Dickens on The Strand. As before, since we are members of the Galveston Historical Society, we were able to use the VIP room they have. This allowed us to view the parade from a balcony, and I could get some better pictures of the parade. The “Queen’s Parade” is always Saturday afternoon, and, of course, features “The Queen.” I am not sure who this woman really is, but she portray’s Queen Elizabeth every year.
They encourage people to come in costumes, and there are always lots of steampunk costumes and lots of pirates. This was a nice street image I got of one of the pirates meeting a small boy.
As always, we were in Galveston for Mardi Gras. The parades out on Seawall do not have the character the ones on the Strand had. But, they were still fun.
Can’t get more decked out than that.
Always pirates, even with beads.
The bead truck.
As always, we went to Dickens on The Strand. It has been interesting watching things change. Although there were no major changes this year, there were a few things that have changed some. There has been an increase in Steampunk related costumes (although how they relate to Victorian England I am not quite sure) and a decrease in Pirate related costumes. Here are a couple pics of the two
We joined the Galveston Historic Foundation. That allowed us access to view the parades from a balcony on The Strand. So, the pics of the parade were a little different this year.
We went to Galveston last weekend for the Lone Star Rally. We went to a new area along Seawall first and spent quite a bit of time there. They have moved one of the stages there and that is the location for the custom bike sown. As in the past, there is a serious obsession with skulls.
It tried to sprinkle a little, and the result was a pretty good rainbow.
We then went downtown. By the time we got there, the crowds were overwhelming, but we walked around. I could not get as many shots of people as I have gotten in past years. We were there late enough that the Triumph was leaving, and I got a nice shot of it.
And a nice shot of Mechanic St. with the sun going down.
I enjoy “event” photography. It is a way of taking candid pictures of people. The expressions on their faces are spontaneous and relevant to the moment. Last night was the Fourth of July Parade in Galveston. The parade was on Seawall. It started at 59th St. and went in to 25th. We walked down to about 57th and got a good spot on the curb. Once the parade started it was a general melee and people crowded into the street, mainly because most of those marching in the parade were throwing beads or candy. In spite of the crowd, I was able to get some good shots of the people in the parade.
This was a little boy who was “dancing” to the music provided prior to the parade.
The expression of concentration on this woman’s face was great.
This woman was on the Yaga’s float. She had a variety of small stuffed animals, and she would reach out with one and shake it back and forth. she would then toss it to one of the children.
I Pirate relegated to driving a golf cart in a parade.
Steampunk is an alternative world conceptually akin to Jules Vern. Lots of gadgets and alternative technologies. A few years ago, steampunk costumes were scarce at Dickens on the Strand, but over the past couple of years, they have really caught on. Now, it seems like there were probably more steampunk themed costumes than any of the others.
Lots of leather and strange accessories adorn these costumes.
This couple was dressed all up. Too bad they didn’t have anything for the child.
This guy was demonstrating his own flying machine.
And, sometimes, steampunk and pirates co-mingled.