Category ThursdayDoors

#ThursdayDoors: My Rap Sheet

JT Twissel 34 Comments

Warning!  ThursdayDooring leads to subversive and deviant crimes such as trespassing. You could wind up in the slammer with a long rap sheet.

MrToadVehicleJan: “But, but Officer.  You don’t understand. It’s an addiction. I really, really have to get a picture of a door and since all the public doors in town are so boring, well…”

Officer Gumbo: “Ma’am.  We keep getting complaints from your neighbors. We have no alternative other than to take you in for a 24F infraction. Just be happy they didn’t accuse you of being a Peeping Jan. That’s a sex crime!”

In my neighborhood, houses tend to be set back from the street, thus their gates are the doors to their kingdom. IMG_1295 These people really don't want to be bothered by door-to-door salespeople!

In my neighborhood, houses tend to be set back from the street, thus their gates are the doors to their kingdom.

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These people really don’t want to be bothered by door-to-door salespeople!

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“I wonder why we don’t get any Trick or Treaters!”

Thankfully I avoided arrest this time.

Check out other trespassers at Norm Frampton’s ThursdayDoors Event. 

ThursdayDoors: The Basilica

JT Twissel 43 Comments

HudsonDoorsGoing back in time again, this time to a wedding in an abandoned factory in Hudson New York. The Basilica – once a forge and foundry for steel railways, then briefly a glue factory – now spends its semi-retirement as an events venue.

Factory

 

 

Founded in 1662, the town of Hudson thrived as a whaling and then manufacturing town for well over a hundred years until the late 19th century.  Once the manufacturers disappeared the town slipped into “the unlikely setting for a world of prostitution, gambling, murder, and government corruption—with more than a touch of the Keystone Kops thrown in.” This according to Bruce Edwards Hall, the author of Diamond Street, The Story of the Little Town with the Big Red Light District.

Apparently he wasn’t exaggerating because in 1951 then Governor Dewey had to send in troops to run the varmints out of town or lock them up.  Old West shenanigans in an otherwise quaint dairyland – gotta love it!

Before

The inside of the factory the day before the wedding (trees had just been delivered)

After

The inside during the wedding – quite magical isn’t it?  During the reception a thunderstorm rumbled and flashed overhead and the roof leaked!

In the mid-eighties the town began to revive, thanks to an unlikely group of modern day pioneers.  Antiques dealers.  They were followed by artists and nouveau cuisine restaurant owners.  Today many urban couples have summer homes either in Hudson or the surrounding area which they rent via Airbnb. But we stayed outside of town on an organic farm.  I’ve always been a sucker for cows, chickens and pigs.

What’s the most unusual destination wedding you’ve been to?

This post was inspired by Norm Frampton’s #ThursdayDoors event.  Check out other doors here.

#ThursdayDoors: Wismar Germany

JT Twissel 35 Comments

This week I’m going back in time to 1995, the year we went to Wismar, Germany.

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The dotted red line between Schwerin and Wismar marks the autobahn Germany was building to connect the coastal towns to Berlin.

From the end of WWII until 1989, Wismar was behind the Iron Curtain, making travel there almost impossible. Even six years after the Berlin Wall had fallen, the rustic two lane road from Lubeck to Wismar catered more to donkey carts and tractors than cars and thus resulted in a frustrating three hour drive.  Before the war, the towns along the southern Baltic were popular vacation destinations and the thought is evidently to revive them. However, in 1995 Germany still had a long way to go.DoorWismar

Aside from the lack of easy access, many of the coastal towns were heavily bombed by the Allies in 1945. Instead of rebuilding them, the Soviets simply moved the residents to cheaply-built, concrete-block apartments outside the city walls leaving their centers to sit in ruins for decades. When we were there construction cranes hung over the town as buildings that could not be renovated were destroyed.

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Our bed and breakfast was one of the more modern buildings.

Another challenge for Germany, the locals seemed to think making money off tourism was a tawdry business indeed. Certainly anyone caught speaking English on the streets was given the evil eye.

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The town center – note the Hanseatic design of the building facades.

Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures.  We didn’t have the best camera and it rained the whole time we were there.Wismar1

I believe this is St. Nicholas Cathedral but, because it was under repair, we couldn’t get near.

In case you’re wondering why we made a difficult journey to an obscure town on the Baltic, well, here goes: In 1663 (or around that time) a Swedish general conquered this important trade route and until 1717 it remained under Swedish rule.  In return the general attained the noble title “Conqueror of Wismar.”  According to a bit of family lore spawned by a Mormon missionary’s trip to the Swedish History Museum, my husband is one of his descendants.  Didn’t know I was married to royalty, did you?

Check out other doors at Norm Frampton’s fun (and often challenging) #ThursdayDoors event.

#ThursdayDoors: Swami’s Beach

JT Twissel 29 Comments

Swamis

These are the “doors” to Swami’s Beach, an international surf spot near my daughter’s house in Southern California.  Beyond these doors is this view:

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It was cloudy the day we were there so I didn’t get the best shots of the sunset. The beach is named after Swami Paramahansa Yogananda whose ashram (the Self-Realization Fellowship) sits on a cliff high above.

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From Wikipedia – nice digs, hey?

There’s also a funky cafe serving only organic, sugar-free, gluten- free, non-GMO, locally grown, lacto-ovo-vegetarian meals. To my husband’s undisguised glee, we’ve never been able to get a table at Swami’s.

In my clamorous youth I dreamt of achieving inner peace but – unable to afford self-actualization classes, a personalized chant, or weekends at a retreat (like the one above) – I had to settle with sitting Indian-style on the basement floor and murmuring “Omm” while fingering chant beads which were actually lug nuts strung together by my fellow impoverished seekers of the light and truth. I guess that’s why my sense of inner peace is often rusty.

th-3 This bit of silliness was inspired by Norm Frampton’s always entertaining and educational #ThursdayDoors event.  Have you ever tried to accomplish inner peace on the cheap with rusty lug nuts?

 

#ThursdayDoors: Ely Nevada

JT Twissel 26 Comments

ElyDoors3This door leads to the Nevada Northern Museum and Historic Train Ride in Ely, a town of about 5,000 people in eastern Nevada. Ely got its start as a Stagecoach and Pony Express stop. Then copper was discovered nearby in the early 1900s and times were good. But, as with any mining boom, eventually it went bust and the town had to turn to other sources of revenue, the Old Ghost Train run by the Nevada Northern being one of them.

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The engine of the Ghost Train going out for a test drive.

This train runs during the summer and on certain holidays, such as Halloween and Christmas. The round trip to the Ruth mine covers about 14 miles and takes about 90 minutes (that’s not bad considering it’s the oldest still-running steam engine in America). We were there when no runs were planned but happily they were testing the engine.

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Back doors to the platform.

The Old Ghost Train is most famous for Halloween runs, when employees dress in Victorian garb and tell ghoulish tales from Nevada’s colorful past, however there are other themed rides, for example:

  • The Polar Express (with a real live Santa, caroling, etc.)
  • Rocking Rolling Geology
  • Wild Wild West (of course).
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Shack across from the train station. Not sure what it was used for.

Ely is famous for many other things:

  • The birthplace of Richard Nixon’s wife Pat
  • The eastern end of Route 50, the Loneliest Highway in the World (and it is lonely!)
  • The setting for the climatic scene in the movie, The Rat Race. 

And it’s famous for one more thing as well.  Let me think. What could that be?  Ah yes, it’s the setting for that wacky mystery Flipka! (okay, maybe not famous yet but a gal can always dream.)

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Another great thing to do in Ely! Cocktails and Cannons! Oh boy!

But before you get all excited about hopping on the Ghost Train or racing people in a bathtub, keep in mind Ely is a six hour drive from Reno and a four hour drive from Las Vegas. There are plenty of hotels nowadays but my favorite is the original Hotel Nevada and Gambling Hall.  They have a huge sign in front that reads “We love Bikers.”  To a hotel staff used to catering to the Hells Angels, Joel and me in our Prius were like visitors from another planet!

This post was inspired by Norm Frampton’s wonderful #ThursdayDoors prompt.  Check out other doors and their histories! 

#ThursdayDoors: I want out

JT Twissel 22 Comments

backdoorThis is my back door.  Those of you following this blog will  recognize this sunflower as my Pilgrim. A volunteer onto my shore like Pretty Kitty. We had to bring her inside because the temps have started to dip  below freezing and being inside is her only hope. But she wants out.

faceathedoorI understand because since the moment I first gained consciousness, I’ve felt the same way.  What?  This planet again.

swansongYes, she must release her seeds into the world and yes, their future is unclear.

I feel like her.  I want out of a world where mass shootings are the norm.

My Taj Mahal

JT Twissel 21 Comments
Inside1

Beyond the door I posted yesterday is my messy studio. Built by my husband, my father and my son over the space of about five years, it provided an ideal bonding experience for all three. There were some disagreements as the project expanded from a simple eight by eight structure to what it is today.  (My neighbor once joked that we were building the Taj Mahal!)

We call it The Teahouse.

Teahouse

Of course, traditional teahouses do not have aluminum roofs but this is California where a thatched roof and paper walls are not practical. There are four barn-style doors that open to allow cross ventilation – a necessity when you’re addicted to painting with oils.

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I don’t get down to my Taj Mahal as often as I should.  All of this editing, blogging, tweeting, and creating a presence on social media has greatly cut into my painting. The last time I went down there, I discovered that a mouse colony had taken up residence in my paint box. Sorry mice. I’m not Bob Ross! You’ve got to find new digs.

 

#ThursdayDoors: Carousel

JT Twissel 18 Comments

CarouselWhen I was a child these were my favorite doors!  Who doesn’t love a carousel? Last Saturday found this carousel during a Halloween celebration in Howarth Park (Santa Rosa) thus all the children (and many of the adults) were in costume.

Check out other Thursday Doors on Norm Frampton’s blog.

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This isn’t a very good picture but you can kind of see Minnie Mouse in her polka dot dress!

Here’s a link to some of the world’s “must see” carousels.  Which is your favorite? Mine, of course, is the one on Pier 39 in San Francisco.

IMG_0992Tomorrow, as promised, the conclusion of Brownie Fright Night!

#ThursdayDoors – Brooklyn Bridge

JT Twissel 27 Comments

BrooklynBridge

Arches of the Brooklyn Bridge – doors to Manhattan

Here’s my addition to Norm Frampton’s always fascinating  #ThursdayDoors challenge.  Check out other doors here 

You would think on a Monday afternoon in October this bridge would be an enjoyable walk. Unfortunately it was packed with tourists. The worst part (and I’ll probably get in hot water for saying this) were the bicyclists in a hurry to get somewhere.  Especially if some poor unsuspecting tourist from Slovenia inadvertently stepped into their sacred space to get a picture.

IMG_0847I thought this building was very interesting considering the current debate over illegal immigrants.  Harkens back to the time when we welcomed the poor and needy.