The Miniature Trains at The Living Desert

Posted by Imagery Photography on March 11, 2020

One of the great surprises of The Living Desert in Palm Springs was the extensive miniature railroad exhibit. I have always loved miniature railroads. I have a great set as a kid and have seen some amazing exhibits. The exhibits at the Barnum Museum in Sarasota, at The Science Center in Pittsburgh and The science and Industry Museum in Chicago are unbelievable However, the one at The Living Desert in Palm Desert California is truly unique.

The exhibit is outdoors and is almost an acre large It consists of more than 3,300 feet of track, six different loops and a variety of trains in different gauges. There are all sorts of surprises in this exhibit including Most Rushmore. I imagine the fact that it is outdoors creates all sorts of maintenance costs. Throughout the exhibits are miniature road signs of the corporate sponsors.

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Living Desert Rail Yards

Polo Final

Posted by Imagery Photography on March 3, 2020

This will be my last post about Polo. Well at least until I attend another match. We had a great time seeing a match at the Eldorado Polo Club in Indio California during our last visit to the Palm Desert. Here are some images from the match.

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Halftime at The Polo Club

Posted by Imagery Photography on February 28, 2020

During our trip to California we had an opportunity to do something we always wanted to do. We went to the Eldorado Polo Club in Indio California and saw a match.

At halftime in the match spectators are invited out to the field to replace the divots, stretch and walk their dogs. We refrained thinking of all the horse poop tat was probably also spread out over the field.

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Halftime at The Polo Club

Polo Umpire

Posted by Imagery Photography on February 27, 2020

During our trip to California we had an opportunity to do something we always wanted to do. We went to the Eldorado Polo Club in Indio California and saw a match.

The sport is a lot like hockey on horses and of course like any sport there are rules and umpires. The umpires are also excellent horseback riders. After learning a little about the sport we saw play periodically stop and a foul was called. These required resetting the ball or maybe a penalty shot. The umpires use this clever tool to pick up the ball and move it to a different spot so they don’t have to dismount to get the ball.

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Polo Umpire

Surf’s Up

Posted by Imagery Photography on February 26, 2020

We spent a morning in Manhattan Beach watching surfers from the pier. The swells were not huge but I am always amazed that anyone can do it at all. I tried it once in 1968 when I lived in California and escaped with my life. I did have fun lying on the board and belly surfing in and once managed it on my knees.

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Surf’s Up

The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore Part Two

Posted by Imagery Photography on February 24, 2020

The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore is a Papal major basilica and the largest Catholic Marian church in Rome, Italy. It is one of the Churches referred to as The Vatican Beyond the Walls. Eve though it is outside the Vatican it is part of The Papal See and guarded by the famous Swiss Guard instead of the roman police.

The inside is astonishing and has one of the most beautiful ceilings in existence. It is very large with many different areas for worship and truly one of the most beautiful and accessible churches in the world.

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The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore

Ball Hawk

Posted by Imagery Photography on February 22, 2020

During our trip to California we had an opportunity to do something we always wanted to do. We went to the Eldorado Polo Club in Indio California and saw a match. I love horses and my riding years are most likely behind me. I can no longer attend horse racing which is a cruel sport to the horses. I was amazed by polo and will undoubtedly be posting many pictures. The synergy between the horse and rider is truly amazing and magical to watch. After the first half I became aware why.

These horses are ball hawks. They are undoubtedly trained to follow the ball and when they turn the rider better be ready. If the rider falls off the horse they do not stop the match. If the horse falls the match is halted. Nobody fell and after two hours it was mind boggling that none did.

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Ball Hawk

Smokers

Posted by Imagery Photography on January 21, 2020

I started smoking when I was about 15 and quit when I was 45. When you are a kid you think smoking makes you look cool or tough. Everyone smoked. Even doctors smoked. Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant smoked. Women smoked and somehow it seemed sexy when they did.Tough guys smoked, bad guys smoked. Then the times changed at least in the USA. However when you go to Europe you see a lot more people smoking and I had some time to observe this on our last trip.

What used to look cool or tough now looked sad. People looked nervous while smoking or did they smoke because they were nervous?
Did smokers always look this unhappy and nervous? Did I hen I smoked? Do you if you still smoke?

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Smokers

Martin Luther King

Posted by Imagery Photography on January 20, 2020

I lived in Los Angeles when Martin Luther King was assassinated. In the weeks leading up to the assassination I was canvassing for Robert F. Kennedy in the Watts area of Los Angeles. People were very receptive to RFK in the African American communities of Los Angeles. We were very nervous after the assassination but oddly enough Los Angeles did not have riots. We watched on television as the rest of the country rioted. LA was still recovering from the Watts Riots on 1965.

Less than two months later Robert Kennedy was assassinated and the Civil Rights Movement lost two of its leaders within 60 days.
Last year we went to Memphis and paid our respects to Martin Luther King. A trip ever American should make.

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National Civil Rights Museum

Romans?

Posted by Imagery Photography on January 3, 2020

OK, admittedly I have no idea if these people are Romans or not. I do know that all the pictures were taken in a plaza near the Trevi Fountain in Rome. None had any tourist gear and they all look like they were once in a Fellini film.

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