gothic

198:365

-----> photo by Elaine A. Russell


I am taking it slow today... a lack of sleep and what is probably bronchitis has reared it's wheezing ugly head. But it's been a wonderful day...organizing, donating, and throwing stuff out... we even sold a couple of things.
Progress is being made on what will be the hubby's new office space... we had lunch at Flying Star... some friends came over to the house for a short visit..... all is good.

I am trying to envision what my new workspace will look like when I am done with it. This is going to be my next project, and I have been giving it some thought. I have been re-reading "Creative Time and Space" by Rice Freeman-Zachery... and it has given me lots of inspiration. While it will still (obviously) be a garage studio... hopefully, I can get it organized... and cleaned up... and full of charm and motivation in the on-coming week. I have a major photo shoot next weekend... and at the end of the month my father will be discharged to home and will need round-the-clock hospice care. I am not sure when I will be needed to potentially help out... so I am trying hard to get things sorta caught up before then...

About the photo for today's blog post: This is actually a pretty clean and crisp photo of a coffee cup (with steaming goodness) taken at the Flying Star Cafe. Today I altered it by decreasing the saturation of the colors, adding some grit and grime... adding some "noise" or texture to the main part of the picture, and adding the vignetting of an old time camera shot. Once the "feel" of the photo was properly goth... I added a tattoo design to the cup by way of making it a new layer on top of the original photo.
With coffee holding me together for most of today.... it seemed appropriate to fashion a cuppa into some kind of deadly brew...

91:365


** all photos by Elaine A. Russell


I had a friend ask me about the architecture here in Coudersport.
Alot of it is victorian in style; having been built in the 1880's after a big fire wiped alot of the town out.
I don't know much at all about architecture in general; so I can't elaborate on specifics at all. I know what I like... but that's about it. In any case... I thought that I would focus today's and tomorrow's posts on some of the houses around town. Let me know what you think ...










80:365

-----------------------------------a collage of photos taken at Charles Cole Memorial Hospital today



Today was one of those weirdly busy days... I ended up driving alot of people different places... to the store... to get groceries... to get movies.... out for dinner.....to the hospital and back... just different things. Kind of a "hurry up and wait" kind of thing at times.....
The hospital that dad is getting his rehab at is Charles Cole Memorial Hospital. It is the closest... and basically.. only ... hospital in the area. The next closest is about an hour away. And the one that dad had his surgery at is about 3hrs away.
CCMH is a good hospital. It has undergone sooooooooo many changes since I last worked there in 1990. But then, that is to be expected.
Dad had a bad day today. Alot of pain... still alot of swelling.... poor appetite... and generally not feeling well. He promised to take some pain meds tonight and try to rest......



........................................................................... a couple photos from one of the few alleyways in Coudersport. The mural was painted on the back of this building when I was in high school, by some fellow high school students. I think it still looks pretty cool.
I also love the brickwork on the buildings here. Alot of the downtown area features buildings built around 1880... so they are all brick... with Gothic and Victorian touches here and there. This is the backside of one of the buildings... and I just love the old iron staircase....



For dinner.... Kristin and I went down to Fox's Pizza... (formerly the Tastee Freeze when I was a kid). It still looks exactly the same as it did in the 1970's.... only the food has changed ever so slightly. You can still get pizza, burgers, fries, and soft serve ice cream and sundaes... but now they also offer Gyros and sub sandwiches, mozzarella sticks and other "fast food" items.
When I was a kid... they actually had a brown bear in a pen out back for "tourists" to gawk at... fortunately... they do not do that anymore. It's one of the few places for people to hang out at.... and the ice cream is still pretty good.....PLUS... ya gotta love that they still have gumball machines with cheesy toys in them.....



And then there was this guy... just taunting me from his perch on a porch in town. Nothing screams EASTER... like a plastic light-up bunny . My mother-in-law would've loved it... so in her honor, it became my photo for the day.....
---------------------------------------------------> all photos by Elaine A. Russell


Links:
Charles Cole Memorial Hospital: here
Fox's Pizza: here
Info on Coudersport, PA: here

gothic visions


feeling a bit goth today.. .. probably from the onslaught of promos for "New Moon" and anything vampire..... But it's ok... I really do love the look. Years ago... long before it was cool... I was a huge collector of anything Victorian and Gothic. Lots of lace, lots of candles, old dark wood furniture... but alas, married and changed everything to be more comfortable for the tastes of a family lifestyle. Not complaining.... everything comes back around in it's own sweet time. I actually like a variety of styles... so.. my house is a happy mix most of the time.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to see Cynthia Cook at an artist's salon at the Mariposa Gallery. She is charming, intelligent, funny.. and irreverent... just the way I like my artists :)
Her artwork is simply stunning. It is something you would perhaps chance to see at the home of a scientist/ collector/ eccentric in the Victorian times. Tucked away in an old castle-like fortress, hanging on the walls along with those stark portraits of olde....wine goblets by the fireplace, weird violin music in the offing...I don't know.. maybe that is just my take on it.... but I love her work. It evokes a mood.... a reverence... a look into a world that is just a little more fragile, a little more delicate... a little bit more awe-inspiring than most of us tend to see. Or perhaps.. it is the way the world really is... we just don't see it through our bill-laden, foggy from work ...need another espresso just to function --mentality.
Either way.... it was fabulous.

To see more of Cynthia's work:

*photos by Elaine A. Russell


---and on a completely different note... here is a cool video called "Pipe Dreams."
This video is featured on: http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/musicmachine.asp -- as it was mailed around as some kind of "urban legend."
All I know is that it's pretty damn cool.

it may not be what it seems...


-------------------------photos by Elaine A. Russell

Some things are like that. Pretty on the outside ... but not so much on the inside; and visa versa.

Yesterday was kind of like a study in contrasts. We drove by Gertrude Zachary's home on 2nd street. It is a gothic castle-like structure... beautiful... yet seemingly very out of place in it's location. Only 2 blocks away is a meth clinic and a homeless shelter. So.. you've got this gothic beauty... and starvation across the street. But all may not be what it appears. The longer you look at the house, the more it seemed empty and cold... and 2 homeless men -- who seemingly had nothing....started talking to me; and were extremely nice and warm and friendly.. and had all the substance in the world.

Life is like that sometimes. The seemingly worst situations turn out to be a blessing in disguise.