Nesting in Houston

One morning recently on my morning walk I found this plant on the sidewalk where it had fallen from a big old oak tree. I've seen it before both here in Houston and in San Miguel. I looked through pages and pages of tree parasite images but never saw it although I think it is a common one like mistletoe. I love the color and look of this plant. It reminds me of bird nests. So I picked it up and brought it home. Now it is sitting on the counter between the kitchen sink and the dining room.

I didn't really need a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment but that was what was available when I needed a place. It is roomy, with lots of storage, light and close to grocery and drug stores. My furniture is rented except for the dining room table and chairs. which belonged to my mother. Seeing it all day helps to ground me since I am surrounded by so much that is temporary. 

The bedroom is really big with two large walk-in closets but minimal furniture.

The kitchen is well arranged and with adequate storage but I hate the flat-top electric stove. I've cooked on electric stoves for many years but I don't like this one at all.

And, here is the office/gym. 

So now you have seen my temporary nest. If I have to hunker down in Houston, this is a comfortable place.

Wearing a Mask

I left San Miguel four weeks ago and I never thought I would be wearing a mask four weeks later but a lot of things have happened in those four weeks that are beyond anything I could have imagined. Looking back, how naive I was.

I understood that the coronavirus was going to affect many people and that medical systems would be  stressed but I thought that the United States could handle the virus better than Mexico. So I could go to Houston, get an apartment for six months. The complex where Ned and I had lived for two years was next door to an HEB, Krogers and Walgreens were across the street. When I arrived I was renting a car for a week to gather up what I needed for an apartment and then I wouldn't need a car. I could walk and if I wanted to go somewhere too far to walk, I'd get an Uber. Within about one day after arriving in Houston it dawned on me that "staying in place," or isolation, or quarantine, or whatever you want to call it was happening NOW. There was no time to settle-in. There was no time to see most of my family. So, I look forward to talking with them and long to hug them.

Services like Instacart, Curbside pickup, Whole Foods, Krogers, and HEB delivery all sound great but the demand is so huge that the delivery times are out about 10 days and they are so overloaded that the 20 items you ordered may be down to 10 items available when they are delivered. Although if I walk to the grocery store I can find the things I ordered except for cleaning supplies, toilet paper and paper towels.  Toilet paper can sometimes be found but I have not seen paper towels since the day after I arrived. Thank God, there is no shortage of food.

Naive? Yes! A few months in Houston. The emergency would be over. I'd go home but everyday brings more knowledge about this disease. To get it fully under control, we need a vaccine and that is probably 18 months down the road.

Although this is a rather stylish one that a friend brought to me, I hope that wearing a mask doesn't become the new normal.

Refugio en el Norte - Day 5

I am not sure of how to start this post. It has been a long time since I wrote anything for this blog but I feel the need to write and I have the time so I’ll see how it goes. I am writing from an apartment in Houston which right now is my refuge from a dangerous world because of Covid-19. Hence, the term, Refugio en el Norte, which is a play on the name of the street I live on in San Miguel de Allende.

A planned trip to Texas to visit family, go to FotoFest, and SXSW became more than a 10 day trip because of my concern about being in Mexico alone should I become ill with Covid-19. When I had to put my sweet Carly who had been going downhill for about nine months, to sleep two days before I was scheduled to leave, I made the decision that when I arrived in Houston I would stay in Houston until I could figure out what I needed to do.

Ned and I liked the apartment we rented in Houston 10 years ago while he was sick so the first thing I did after getting the rental car was head to that complex. It is next door to an HEB/Pharmacy and across the street from a Kroger and Walgreen drug store. Also, close to a number of restaurants that I could walk to. Of course, now that the restaurants have been closed except for takeout, that doesn’t count for much. I rented one that was immediately available and took possession of the keys last Tuesday. Wednesday the furniture I rented was delivered and I moved in. I’ll be writing from my Refuge in the North. What I’ll write about I’m not sure but I do feel I need to write. It may be too personal for some or boring as hell for others but that is okay if you decide not to read it at all.

PS: I wanted to send a photograph of the sala of my apartment but for some reason something has changed since the last time I wrote on the blog. I can’t figure it out tonight but I’ll work on it tomorrow. Busy day tomorrow. LOL

Rockport is not Port Aransas

While working on my book Common Tide; Port Aransas, Texas, I had a list of things from the Mercer Logs that I wanted to photograph and I was having trouble finding some of those things on today's Mustang Island. Things like gardens, chickens, cattle, horses, and pigs. So I thought that I could spread out my search to the mainland just across the bay from Port Aransas. Contact with county Farm Bureaus gave me the names of some farmers and that is how I found Four String Farm, an organic farm in Rockport, Texas, owned by Justin and Kayla Butts.

I made some photographs that I really liked on the farm of chickens and pigs and the garden and I thought I could slip them into the book but when I started putting the book together I could not include them. The book is about Port Aransas and Mustang Island and Rockport is not on the island. How could I explain a connection to a reader if they asked who has pigs like this or where did you find these chickens?

As much as the questions that I might be asked, the image above told me I could not use the images from Four String Farm. The landscape is different. I have not seen any area of the island that has vegetation like this image. It would not be true to the Mercer Logs from 1866 to 1877. But, I do like this image; the way the light filters through the canopy and you can see back into the tangle of the trees.

What I Learned in 2018

Well, here it is, the book that you have heard about many times over the last eight years.

COMMON TIDE

Port Aransas, Texas

Photographs Inspired by the Mercer Logs 1866 to 1877

Billie Mercer

It is a large book, 12 by 12, 166 pages. Perfect bound with a linen cover and printed dust jacket. 

How did it come to be? It started as an idea of things to do while Ned was going through treatment for cancer. I wanted to keep him busy with fun things. Ned's family were the first settlers on the northern end of Mustang Island in about 1855 and that settlement eventually became known as Port Aransas. We had vacationed there many times when our boys were young, so we loved the island. I told Ned that I wanted to work on a photography book about the island and use the logs or daily diaries that his family had written as a guide in making those photographs. Ned was always willing to go anywhere with me when I pulled out my camera so, April 2011, was the first trip. The trips continued even after Ned passed away. In fact, making this book became more important to me.

Starting in early 2015, I uploaded to Blurb different versions of the book, even had some of them printed as a proof. I wasn't satisfied with any of them. At the same time, I was looking for other publishers, graphic designers, getting estimates, and learning more and more about self-publishing. I was looking for the perfect book and I was looking for approval. Needless to say, I became discouraged and dropped the project for months.

Fears about artmaking fall into two families: fears about yourself, and fears about your reception by others. In a general, fears about yourself prevent you from doing your best work, while fears about your reception by others prevent you from doing your own work.

                                         Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland

In January 2018, I wrote out what I really wanted, a book for my family. I put aside all my concerns about the cost or marketing the book; or what a designer or publisher might want. 

Everything I had done earlier was dumped and I started over. I learned more about Adobe InDesign and fonts. Almost every day, I spent time on the book and in late October I uploaded the book to get a proof print. My sons received copies of the book for Christmas. I have to tell you that I'm pleased that I pushed this big project though but now I am excited about the responses I've gotten from photographers and book people. Who knows what might happen in 2019. Maybe it will get published for a wider audience. 

What I learned in 2018, and should have already known, is follow my heart and my vision. Just do it!

Construction Zone

I'm in Port Aransas and since I was last here in October it seems like construction has doubled. The first thing I noticed is that across the street from my hotel has been paved. The construction sign says that soon there will be 100 RV parking places. Last October it looked like it was part of the salt marsh. Maybe a bit higher than the land around it but not much.

As I have driven around Mustang Island I'm really shocked at all of the home construction. The picture above is a development of beautiful houses. They must be building at least 10 more with construction trucks parked on both sides of a new street. Just like you would see in any subdivision that is going up.  Most of the houses you can see in the distance are occupied with lovely landscaping and window treatments already in place. People are living there.

This isn't the only change that is happening but the thing that really hit me today is how fast the Island is changing. I am really glad that I started photographing for the book I'm working on in conjunction with the Mercer Logs some time ago. It is going to be harder and harder to find landscapes and things that connect me with excerpts from the logs.

I know I'll sound like an old Fogey because I hate seeing these changes but the lyrics from Big Yellow Taxi came to mind.

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got til its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

The Rio Grande

 



This is the Rio Grande as it snakes between Mexico and Texas in Big Bend Texas State Park. The thin line that divides two countries. Everytime we stopped at some vantage point to look at the river, I wondered; "Where are they going to build The Wall in this rugged country?"  "What will it cost?" And don't tell me that Mexico is going to pay for it.

Today, Sunday Morning News on CBS ran a segment on the United States/Mexico border at the small village of Boquillas which is on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande but it had long been an informal crossing point between the two countries. Many Americans liked to visit Boquillas to say they had been to Mexico. After 9/11 the United States stopped anyone from crossing. Now there is a formal Port of Entry for checking in and out with a passport and people can once again cross back and forth. But the informality of going between the two countries hasn't totally disappeared. This crossing is just about a mile South of the Port of Entry and the guys on horses went back and forth several times while we were making pictures from a ridge above the Rio Grande. It felt very old west.



This is facing East from Boquillas toward the Gulf of Mexico.

The Sunday Morning News showed the reporter wading in this area at the entrance to Santa Elena Canyon. I doubt it is more than knee deep. I almost felt like they had stood in my foot prints to make their video for the show. But this natural wall between the two countries is a favorite of photographers. With the right light and from the right place I've seen fabulous images.

 



I was surprised at the emotional response I had in seeing the Rio Grande from these vantage points. I almost wanted to weep. Maybe it is because I live in Mexico but the United States is still my country. Maybe it was because of the vitriol that is being generated against immigrants during the Presidential campaign. While I was looking at the River I thought that I would write something very political on the blog. I'm not going to do that except to say I hope The Wall does not ever happen.

 





Free Range

Mustang Island earned its name from all of the Spanish horses that bred and roamed freely on the island. The settlers brought cattle. They too, roamed freely and when it was time to take them to market they were corralled and driven across to the mainland at wherever the best crossings were at that time. There are pictures of herds of 100's of cows swimming across to the mainland. At some point the residents got tired of stampedes through the town so the free range disappeared. And gradually so have the most of the cattle.

I've been looking for cattle on the island for a while because there are so many Mercer Log entries about cattle. One time I saw some off in the distance but couldn't get close enough to photograph them on private property. But the wonderful people at the Port Aransas Preservation and Historic Association gave me a contact and he arranged to have the cattle brought to the fence line for me to photograph.

So far I have not found a horse or a pig on Mustang Island although I have heard that there are wild pigs on the bay side. If you know of a domestic pig or a horse on Mustang Island, let me know. I really do not want to have to go looking for a wild pig to photograph.

Fire in the Sky

Last night we ate at Snoopy's Pier. Snoopy's sits on a little spit of land, almost under the Intercoastal Bridge by the Corpus Christi ship channel. It isn't up-scale dining by any means. Instead you order at the counter and within a few minutes they call your name. Your gulf-coast fried oysters or shrimp along with french fries are ready. They serve wine in the little airplane-portion size bottles and beer. Texas gulf coast fast food and it is okay. The main attraction in the evening is watching the sunset. Although we had wind and clouds all day the photo god blessed us with a beautiful sunset. The sun had already dropped behind the horizon but it left us this a fire in the sky.

Mercer Logs, 3

Saturday Jan 8, 1876

This day begins with the wind SSE moderate. Finished the garden fence. John went to the ? got her as far as Cat Fish bend. ???? Harnessed ? in the plow, plowed furrows for the potatoes and melons. Ned and Tom planted potatoes and melons. John Reynolds planted seeds. All hands done a good day’s work. The women folks all busy sewing. Frank farming in his garden. Day ends wind SE pleasant.

Back to working on the Mercer Log project. One of the issues that I have to decide on is how to handle the words and phrases in the log that can not be read. As you see here question marks have been substituted for words that were un-readable. Which boat did John go to? Who did the harnessing and what was the animal's name that was harnessed. Is there a standard way to handle issues like this?

Mercer Logs, 1

 

March 30, 1866
This day begins with the wind SSE. Pened a cow and calf. Tried to catch some red fish but failed to do so. The fish won't bite. Henry caught some Crabbs. Hauled some bricks for McMullen. The sloop Lucretia arrived from Corpus. Castnets still underway. So ends the day with the wind SSE. Not played out yet.

The moon went blind tonight. Some people call it an Eclipse. It is an awful sight now mind I tell you. It is getting worse. 5 minutes later little worser. 5 minutes later little more worser. 5 minutes later the Moon is pretty near played out. At 12 oclock it went blind.

 1866....not a typo. The quote above is from the Mercer Logs in 1866. The Mercer's were among the first settlers in what is now called Port Aransas, Texas on Mustand Island. The Logs that have been preserved cover a period of some ten years.

Since 2011, I've made several trips to Port Aransas to photograph. My intent was to use some of th entries from the Logs and connect them with my photographs in a book. The last two days I have spent long hours just going through the 1000 or so images I have already made and editing them. As I try to connect passages and images, I realize that the amount of work still to be done is almost overwhelming.

Now that I have some images to test my idea and format, I think it is time to really focus on the Logs and pick out the entries that I'd like to include and identify any additional images that I need to make.

This project is going to take more work than I ever anticipated when I started it. But nothing ventured, nothing gained.