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Friday, July 04, 2008

Alpine Texas, Sunday Morning



"Listen to this silence

It is an anchored silence..."

From "Three Songs of Solitude" by Eunice Odio
Translated by Keith Ekiss

7 comments:

Squirrel said...

It's hard to see boarded up buildings... very sad .

Upstate NY is filled with little dying towns but the nasty huge malls and the gambling casino parking lots are filled up. it's life seeing the death of an old way of life, where you were part of a community.

lowenkopf said...

If they had a decent espresso machine, I think I could do this. I know there's one in Marfa.

More to the point, this shot is a keeper. Really defines the territory.

Any chance you getting to Archer City?

Dale said...

Lori, bonjour!

The Site Administrator said...

An interesting, moody shot.

Granny J said...

It looks as though the Rapture had arrived early in Alpine TX! BTW, what is the elevation of Alpine? I didn't know that Any Place in TX could rate the name Alpine -- or grow ponderosas, for that matter.

Lori Witzel said...

Hey all y'all! Glad you could see a little bit of Alpine through my eyes.

Squirrel: It's hard to see towns fade, but Alpine's not in that category. It seems to have found a balance, and I'm sure that's in part due to the presence of a small state university and a small medical center and the resulting jobs these organizations provide.

Shelly: They do. It's at my favorite breakfast joint there, Bread and Breakfast. It's not foo-foo either -- plain and funky, with a leaking roof and great whole wheat pancakes. Marfa has espresso machines, but it's a little too hot for me. Re: Archer City...when are those bookstore hours again? :-)

Dale: Heh!!! :-)

Richard: Thanks much. It would have been a lot moodier if someone hadn't slowed before turning the corner, giving me a chance to get out of the road...

Granny J: Well, I guess my personal version of the rapture lowered a less-than-dense population density. :-) I am not positive about ponderosa, but the air near some pine had that butterscotchy smell, and they sure looked like ponderosa.
http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/pinpons/all.html
The pollen count also points towards pine:
http://www.weather.com/outlook/
health/allergies/weather/USTX0023
Altitude is about 4500 feet.
http://www.alpinetexas.com/highmts.html
It does get some nice snow in the winter...not Colorado densities, but more than a dusting.

Anonymous said...

I think I hear a whistle.