Scene in the sun

 

Sitting at a siding

This 1952 vintage boxcar was originally with the New York Central and more recently known as BCLR 4001.  Now grey-painted, this 40-footer is seen at the Pier siding.  Here it is presented as a relaxed view 3d stereograph.

 

Stairing at a fence

 

... a stairway to ...

Sometimes, no longer used infrastructure is just left in place.  These barely noticeable stairs lead from the railroad tracks at the Piers signal mast up to a ... fence?  

 

Side sliced

 

View from the side

 

Slice, stain, and zoom in - nice.  An orthogonal view of a zone.

Sliced and stained

 

Green - orange - blue zones

 

The transition zones and migration layers are visible in this sliced, stained, and zoomed-in sample.  The colors were slightly tweaked on-post to enhance the visibility of the regions.

  

One hole cover

 

 

This old utility cover is a scene in the street beneath our feet.  Its original usage is now now known.  It may have been a gas shutoff, or a water shutoff, or maybe a fill for a below ground heating oil tank?  

 

 

A in the arrow

 

A is for arrow

 

  

This nicely patina-ed Bingham and Taylor GAS utility cover is seen in the street beneath our feet.  The cover is intended to be aligned so the arrow indicates the direction of the gas flow.

 

Louder than wetter

 

Looks ominous but not

Hot day clouds make a break as they approach cooler bay waters. They passed-by with sustained peals of thunder and heat lightning but very little rain.

 

Produce waste bins

 

Fill 'em up 'n' throw 'em out

At the back of a market, a row just installed and still clean bright orange-red bins stands ready to receive the wasted organic and produce food products.  The chain keeps scavengers from scrounging from the bins.

 

Hexy covers

Hexagon patterns on a manhole cover usually indicate that it is for a telecom or telephone utility.  Here are two:

 

 

Bell in hex

This cover features the bell symbol of a telephone company and various design elements - mostly hexagons - in circles of 12.

 

 

Six hexagon holes

This manhole cover features an outside ring of 12 "teeth" and six "erupting" hexagons, six free floating hexagons, six hexagons with aeration holes, and one central hexagon.

Both of these were seen in the street beneath our feet.

 

Rectangle in blue

 

Just the rectangle

 

A tribute to Mark Rothko concentrates on a blue rectangle with other colorata covering the wide brick canvas.  

 

Looks like a square

 

Not a square

The precise edges of this work foretells an exploration of Mark Rothko; the background re-assures the viewer that the painter's path has not strayed from too far.

 

Sunset at a siding

 

Railroad passenger car

A wooden passenger car sits at a siding at sunset.  The signal light shows red, indicating the switch position up ahead.

 

For stereogrammers, 

 

Railroad passenger car (in 3d)

 the scene is presented as a relaxed view 3d stereograph.

 

 

 

 

Square nines

 

9x9 square diamond with 23 teeth

This 9 x 9 square diamond manhole cover is seen in the street beneath our feet.  The rim features 23 normal sized "teeth" and a wide "tooth" in the upper left.

 

 

Yellow gas

 

Yellow gas cover

This yellow-painted PROV GAS CO gas utility cover is seen in the cracked sidewalk of the street beneath our feet.  

 

The Providence Gas Company was chartered in 1847 and began operations in 1848, making coal gas for lighting.  In the 2000s, it went through several corporate acquisitions; the original name is no longer used.

 

Two of its former buildings are listed in architecture guides of Providence:  the Providence Gas Company Purifier House (more here and here) on Allens Avenue and the Providence Gas Company Building (more here) on Weybosset Street. 

 

 

 

Double rainbow outside

 

Scene outside

A double rainbow is seen in this scene.  The secondary rainbow, seen outside the primary rainbow, is fainter but wider than the primary rainbow.  Its colors are reversed when compared to the order of colors in the primary rainbow.  The dark band between the two bows is called "Alexander's Band"; it is dark because the sunlight reflected by the raindrops in that area does not reach the viewer.  A supernumerary bow appears to be forming to the left of the primary bow, but does not form.

Building in water

 

Many ripples in the light

A long exposure at night of lights reflected in rippled water.

Call box

 

Call me?

This railroad call box stands ready for use at any time.  Here, at night.

 

These railway telephone boxes are used by the Dispatcher or the Maintenance of Way or the train crews to communicate with each other.  The striping provides additional visibility.  This box is not labeled; it is reminiscent of the train telephone boxes that had been installed on the Boston & Maine Railroad.  

Five ringers

Two manhole covers, both with five segmented rings and a center, were seen in the street beneath our feet.

 

8x8x8x8x8 with raised center

That manhole cover has 8 x 8 x 8 x 8 x 8 segments per ring, label with a raised center, and with vent holes in the second ring. 

 

 

12x12x12x6x6 and depressed center

 

This manhole cover has 12 x 12 x 12 x 6 x 6 segments per ring and a depressed center. 

The five rings make them look similar, but counting the segments per ring shows them to be different.

 

Grey on gray

 

Subtley Rothko

This "Gray on Grey" work takes the idea of Mark Rothko to another dimension with its strong and bold verticals and subtle horizontal repeating patterns.

 

 

 

 

Pea stone leak

 

Leaky wall

 

The wide spacing between the retaining wall blocks has allowed the pea stone gravel to spill through.

 

Pointy diamonds

 

Very pointy

This very pointy diamond pattern manhole cover was a scene in the street beneath our feet.  The ring is a 98 x 52 diamond pattern.  The cover is a 49 x 43 diamond pattern.  The rust pattern shows the direction of the water flow. 

 

 

Naturally rusted

 

31x29 cover

 

The late afternoon sun enhances the colors of the yellow street striping and the 31 x 29 diamond pattern on this sewer cover that was seen in the street beneath our feet.  This labeled SEWER cover is located in a marked off section of a parking lot and gets very little foot or vehicle traffic.  That has allowed it to attain a natural "rusty orange" color.

 

Spelling with numbers

 

7's and 3's make spelling easy

 

This side of the gas station sign uses 3's, 7's, and two different styles of "$" to say:  "PLEASE STOP STEALING R LETTERS".

 

The other side of this gas station sign had all the letters needed to advertise the gas station mart. 

 

 

 

Piled reflection

 

The deep blue sky

 

A reflection of a pier pile, presented as an alternate view.

 

Two hands

 

What big teeth you have, and gold, too!

These resting excavator buckets resemble two hands, folded.  or something like that?

 

Light at night

 

Back door of sports complex

This night scene of a light lit door is presented as a relaxed view 3d stereograph.

 

Tent and light

 

 

In the evening at the carnival, after sunset, one can enjoy the playful curves and shadows of light on the main tent.

 

 

Zipping around

 

...around and around and around...

The "Zipper" carnival ride , in action.  Not  only does the ride go around, but so do the passenger seats.  Whew!

 

n.b. there is some relaxed view 3d stereogram effect in these photos, but only with the stationary objects in the photos.

Zipping by

 

 

The "Zipper" ride in action attracts the attention of the carnival attendees.

 

 

Waiting for a player

Come on and play - roll a winner!

This "roll a ball" game at the carnival awaits the next round of competitors.

 

Lull in game

 

Step up and squirt

 

This carnival game, where players squirt water at a target for a chance to win a stuffed animal, gets a brief break between plays.

 

 

Skipper on clover

 

Sipping on clover, over and over

 

A skipper butterfly pauses on a clover flower for a refreshing sip of nectar. 

Endpaper wish

One hundred years ago, Aunt Annie wrote an inscription for the endpaper of a book:

 

 

   A. N. Acheson,

with Aunt Annie's dearest love.

                   Palm Sunday 1925.

                                      ===

 

 

Over the years, the endpapers experienced foxing:

and the pasted in inscription has imprinted itself onto the flyleaf.  The book:

 

 

 

"The Last Letters of Blessed Thomas More", is also heavily foxed.  

 

N.B., in 1925, Palm Sunday was on April 5th.

 

 

Flyleaf wishes

 

The calligraphic flourishes in the flyleaf of this book express hopes for everyone.

"With my very best wishes"

"With my very best wishes" are from Michael H. Pathe C. Ss. R., a priest of the Redemptorist Order who served parishes in the upper Midwest.  In 1931, he published "A Summer in Ireland".

Title page

In his book, he describes his visitations and observations of Ireland, his birth place.  He departed from New York City on June 1st, aboard the RMS "Baltic" of the White Star Line.  He returned via Galway, leaving there on September 4th.

The author does not provide the year of this vacation.  The book itself was copyright-ed in February, 1931, with a "Cum Permissu Superiorum".  We can speculate that the vacation was in 1930, or even earlier?  

 

Passenger lists and voyage logs from that time are not complete.  The RMS "Baltic" was launched on November 21, 1903 in Belfast.  Its maiden voyage was from Liverpool to New York on June 29, 1904.  Its primary routes (with returns to Liverpool) were:  Liverpool to New York; Liverpool, via Queenstown (now Cobh), to New York; and Liverpool, via Queenstown (now Cobh), to Boston and then New York.  She made roughly fifteen of these round trips per year.

On September 17, 1931, the ship began her last voyage of Liverpool to New York and a return to Liverpool.  On February 13, 1933, she left for Osaka to be scrapped.  RMS "Baltic" was one of four ships known as "The Big Liners", the others were RMS "Adriatic", RMS "Cedric", and RMS "Celtic". 

Thistle last

 

 

This arrangement of L's, raised buttons, and a topping of five dots makes for a sidewalk crossing plate that will last and is durable.

 

This Duralast branded product sporting the EJ company logo was seen in the street beneath our feet.

Just welds and washers

 

Washer weld

 

Shaped surfaces of stainless steel washers create patterns of patterns within patterns.   

 

This closeup is from the sculpture "Untitled (Big B and the Looking Glass)" - a.k.a. "The Bunny" - by artist and designer Peter Diepenbrock.  Here, he used stainless steel washers to create a very large bunny rabbit. 

 

"The Bunny" can be seen in action here:  https://www.instagram.com/peterdiepenbrock/reel/C872-rpPZhE/ 

Riffled city

 

Blue-blue skies

 

Riffles on the water transform the city seen.

Leave the stairs

 

Left in the corner

 

Left behind by the wind, the left over leaves are on the left side of the stairs.  

 

 

Electric shadows

 

31x31 diamond

 

This 31 x 31 diamond pattern ELECTRIC manhole was seen in the street beneath out feet.  Shadows of the bars on a nearby fence contrast with the diamond tread pattern.