Latest nostalgia funk takes me back to Butler University basketball

Yesterday's post on P.E. MacAllister might have made you wonder if I have been in another of my periodic nostalgic funks of late.

I don't think I'm in a very serious funk, but yes, I did feel a bit of nostalgia while composing that post. And I suppose it's fair to say that today's post is a continuation of that funk.

I hadn't worn my navy blue 2008 Butler University men's basketball Horizon League Conference Champions T-shirt in probably two or three months (possibly even longer), but something (um, nostalgia, perhaps?) nudged me to slip it on yesterday. Maybe what was on the brain was the wave of preseason college basketball stories I've been reading in the past week ... and my fond memories of following the Bulldogs exploits (including attending a dozen or so games at Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse and yes, photographing a few of them) during their halcyon years of the early 2000s and 2010s.

My eyes came upon the T-shirt when I scanned my closet yesterday to dress for the day. I then paused to contemplate how I came about acquiring the shirt, and I reflected back to March 11, 2008, when the Bulldogs defeated Cleveland State to win the Horizon League postseason tournament, thereby qualifying for an automatic berth in the upcoming NCAA Basketball Tournament. Within a few days after that, I hopped into my car and drove to the Butler campus to shop for memorabilia in the campus spirit shop, walking out after purchasing that shirt.

After my brief flashback, I walked to the kitchen and asked Lee Ann to take a picture of the shirt's front design, which is what you see in the lead-off photo. Several hours later -- it was an absolutely gorgeous day here in Raleigh -- Lee Ann and I worked a couple hours installing the first seven pavers that will serve as a walkway from the detached garage to the back patio and deck.

While we were working, and while I was unawares, Lee Ann used her iPhone X to snap the photo of me above. I was using my foot to push and smooth sand between the cracks of the latest paver we had placed in the pathway. As you can see, I'm wearing the Butler T-shirt.

Lee Ann didn't show me the picture until this morning, after which ... I decided to do this post because I figured that everything that happened yesterday was a sign of some kind -- the combination of recognizing I was in a nostalgia funk, the fact that I asked Lee Ann to photograph the T-shirt graphic (I didn't tell her why I wanted the photo), and the coincidence of her taking the candid photograph of me working on the sidewalk ... while wearing the T-shirt.

The Butler Bulldogs men's basketball team has had a few down years, and I haven't made the effort to hunt around on the Internet on a regular basis to stay plugged in to what is happening with the team since I moved to Raleigh. So I really don't have a clue what to expect with the 2019-20 team. But I will look in on the Bulldogs from time to time when their games appear on national television (Fox Sports has been telecasting a lot of their games in recent years after purchasing rights to broadcast games in the Big East, of which Butler has been a member for several years now).

Go Bulldogs!

Remembering P.E. MacAllister, friend of Indy's Garfield Park

For me, it's always sad when it takes the reading of an obituary to learn something interesting and fascinating about a person you've known about for years ... but didn't really know personally.

Such is the case of businessman and philanthropist P.E. MacAllister, who died Wednesday in Indianapolis, where he grew and for many years operated MacAllister Machinery Co. from headquarters on the Eastside of the city. He was 101.

I know of MacAllister because of his generosity to Garfield Park, a Southside of Indy landmark near where I lived for 35+ years until 2017. One of MacAllister's many acts of philanthropy went toward a much-needed renovation of Garfield Park's amphitheater, and after that work was completed in 1997 as part of a major park improvement project, the city renamed the amphitheater in his honor.

It was at MacAllister Amphitheater that the Garfield Shakespeare Company community theater troupe has performed its summer/fall productions each year since 2008. Those of you who follow this blog know that I did the archival photography for all 13 of GSC's producutions from fall 2010 to summer 2016, so I spent a lot of time at the amphitheater doing just that work.

I saw P.E. MacAllister himself on several occasions at the amphitheater. He was a regular speaker at the annual "America, We Remember" observances. Those events initially were held in conjunction with the Fourth of July holiday, but in later years they were moved to the Labor Day holiday weekend. I took the photograph you see of him in this post during his remarks at the 2006 observance of "America, We Remember." That was back in the days when the observance was held in conjunction with the Fourth of July.

One of the things I learned about MacAllister while reading the lengthy obituary at his business' website was that he was born in Oconto, Wis., and attended and graduated Carroll College in Waukesha, Wis. I am not a Wisconsin native, but I was raised in that state -- in a suburb of Milwaukee, which is not too far from Waukesha. I think if I'd known about his Wisconsin roots, I might have been motivated to introduce myself to him at one of the "America, We Remember" events and chat him up about common Wisconsin roots.

I also learned that the P.E. in his name stood for Pershing Edwin, and he was named "Pershing" in honor of World War I General John J. Pershing. The obit says that as a young boy, MacAllister did not like the name Pershing, so he eventually went by "Persh," "Mac" or P.E., which is what I'd always seen his name displayed as.

After seeing him at the "America, We Remember" events, I surmised that he was up in years. I didn't realize he was that close to becoming a centenarian, though. I hope the park decides to do something to remember him by sometime next year. I think if I were still living in my home near the park, I'd attend.

Return to Big Mike's Soul Food

Lee Ann and I had been to Big Mike's Soul Food twice on our several visits to Myrtle Beach. On our brief getaway there this month, we had Lee Ann's daughter Mindy and Mindy's 3-year-old son Jaxson with us, we decided to introduce them to Big Mike's for dinner on our one full day there.

Everyone seemed to enjoy their meal; I had the eatery's signature fried chicken on my previous visits, so I opted for a fried fish special with green beans and mashed potato sides. Lee Ann went with fried gizzards and chicken livers (liver is a favorite of hers), Mindy had shrimp and grits and fried okra, and Jaxson dined on a corn dog and fries.

We also had an appetizer of hush puppies. I'm not a hush puppies fan, so I had one and left the remainder for Lee Ann and Mindy to enjoy (Jaxson might have nibbled on one, too).

As always, to view a larger, sharper version of a photo, simply click on the image. This is particularly helpful when accessing the blog from a mobile device. All of the photos were taken with the camera on my iPhone X. 

The eatery's interior (above) and door entrance (below). 

Our server for the night (above) chatting with a couple of customers, and our hush puppies appetizer (below). 

My meal (above) of fish, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans and some cornbread. Below is Lee Ann's gizzards and livers. For her sides, she had mac and cheese and green beans (on the plate) and field peas (not in the picture). 
  

Mindy's shrimp and grits and fried okra (above); below is Jaxson's corn dog and french fries.
 

A brief respite at Myrtle Beach

It would be understandable to posit that the more a photographer returns to a place or locale, the less likely he or she would find something new and interesting to photograph.

In recent years, I've visited -- and returned -- to several favorite places on the East Coast where I've enjoyed getaway time in recent years. If you follow this blog regularly, you probably can cite them for me. The top five on my list right now (and not necessarily in this order) are Wrightsville Beach, N.C.; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Savannah, Ga.;  Charleston, S.C.; and the Florida Keys.

For a couple days last week, I returned to Myrtle Beach. I've probably gone there the most because it's the second closest of the five I listed above (technically, Wrightsville Beach is closer, but it doesn't have the accommodations for the affordable cost as do the others).

I didn't really go many places on this trip; I stuck close to the beach, where there was beautiful weather, and Lee Ann's grandson Jaxson wanted to frolic in the sand and salt water as much as he could.

So my pictures were limited to family shots for the vacation album ... and some compositions I came across along the beach and from the elevated vantage point of our resort room's balcony. On the day we arrived, I had the view you see in the photo leading off the post, taken from the balcony in our room. The polarizing filter did great justice to the varying sea colors and clouds, I felt.

I managed to arise early the following morning, and got some sunrise shots with which I was very pleased (three photos below), including the one of Lee Ann's daughter Mindy and grandson Jaxson watching the sunrise from a chair on our balcony. It turns out that my shots of the latter turned out better on the iPhone (and the one in this post is that shot) than they did on the 6D.

As always, to view a larger, sharper image, simply click on the photo. This is particularly helpful for visitors accessing the blog from a mobile device. To view a full gallery of my two days' worth of shots, follow the link in this sentence.

Photo geek stuff: I shot most of the images with my Canon 6D and Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD lens, most of the time equipped with a B+W polarizing filter. When sunlight disappeared, I removed the polarizing filter. I took a few shots with my iPhone X. With the 6D, I bracketed my shots for three exposures for later blending into one frame using Photomatix high-dynamic range (HDR) software. The three exposures were the normal metering, and 3/4 of a full stop above and below the normal metering. I set my aperture at f/8 for most shots and used ISOs of 100 to 500, depending on sunlight and/or shade. My shutter speed was the variable in the bracketed exposures. For sunrise shots after the full sun appeared above the horizon, I stopped down to about f/18 or f/20 to better control the high-volume of key lighting from the sunlight. I wasn't able to control the aperture for the iPhone shot of Mindy and Jaxson in this post.

The beach was populated by shoreline fishing poles like the ones you see in the photo above and first two below. In the second photo below, a fishing boat and the curving coastline showing downtown skyscrapers appear in the background.   

I got the relaxing gentleman (above and below) from both sides of the beach. Elsewhere, I came across the woman you see in the second photo below. 

A brief montage of beach walkers (above and below), a runner (second below) and two women whose dogs had a less than friendly encounter when they crossed paths (third below). 

While on a walk away from the beach toward Kings Highway (U.S. 17), which spans the length of Myrtle Beach along its main commercial corridor, I came across the scene depicted above and below. Above, I passed the spot heading toward the highway. The sun caught these articles on a concrete block wall just enough to spotlight them. But on the way back (below), the spotlight was gone. 
 

Above: I'd never seen this home, self-named Tree House, on that walk to the highway, so I stopped to get a photo.  

Above: This shot -- with the sun lighting up the ocean with sparkles in the background -- I made a monochrome because even high-dynamic range treatment couldn't bring out sufficient detail to support a color version. After converting it to color, I boosted the shadow detail to extraordinary high levels in Photoshop Elements.

Stores keep pushing start of Christmas shopping season earlier and earlier

Early last September, right before Hurricane Florence hammered the coastal area of North Carolina, Lee Ann and I did some shopping to deal with autumn home improvement projects, and we stopped into Home Depot and Lowe's as part of our usual comparison shopping and deal-hunting.

In both stores, I was surprised to see the stores already decorated for Halloween, which was still six to seven weeks away. So I did a post about it.

We were at it again last week (shopping for various household projects), so we found ourselves back in a couple of big-box stores. This time, it was Costco and Home Depot. And each was already dressed up for the Christmas shopping season, and most of the Halloween stuff had been bumped to the upper level shelves. You read that correctly; we're still almost three weeks away from Halloween.

I guess I shouldn't be shocked anymore, but nevertheless ... I still am. It still doesn't feel right to be looking at yuletide decorations in early October. Well, as the photos in this photos show, I stopped to take photos with my iPhone X at each store.

I'll start with the shots from Home Depot, the last of which is the closeup of Santa. Costco pictures begin with the Christmas tree and box display right below Santa ... except for the last shot. I'm back at Home Depot for the skeleton pirate head shot. I figured I owed Halloween at least something.

As always, if you would like to view a larger and sharper version of a photo, simply click on the image. This is particularly helpful when accessing the blog from a mobile device. If you'd like to see the full gallery of photos from each visit to Costco and Home Depot, click on the link over the store names in this sentence.

Wegmans big-box grocer comes to Raleigh

There had been a weird buzz of anticipation in Raleigh for a few months. Then two weeks ago, a front-page story on the Raleigh News-Observer warned readers of an expected daylong traffic snarl near the junction of Wake Forest Road and the I-440 exit ramps to that street.

Why?

The grand opening of Wegmans, a store I would describe as a big-box grocery -- on steroids. Think Costco, only more decorative ... and loaded with attractions and amenities, all revolving around groceries, prepared food and beverages.

I first heard of Wegmans a few years ago when I was still living in Indiana, but there were no such stores there, so I didn't pay much attention or think much of it. And ... there were any Wegmans in North Carolina when we moved here.

Then a year ago, the local news media reported that the franchise was planning to open its first store in the state sometime in 2019. They spoke in such superlative terms, that I'm sure it piqued the interest of anyone who was paying attention. Wegmans has its origins in the state of New York, and all of its stores are in the East. The overwhelming majority are located in New York, with 46. Next highest are Pennsylvania (18) and Virginia (12). There are also Wegmans in Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

At the same time Wegmans announced plans to open the Raleigh store, it said it would eventually open several others in the Triangle area -- two in Cary (Raleigh's largest and most affluent suburb), one in Durham and one in the far-north suburb of Wake Forest. Of all these stores, the one that just opened is probably the closest to where Lee Ann and I live, which is on the southside of Raleigh.

The day after the store opening here (adding to the notoriety was that the Raleigh store was Wegmans 100th), the local newspaper, the Raleigh News and Observer, confirmed there was quite a hub at the store site. This week, a couple weeks after the official opening, Lee Ann and I decided to give it a look-see after a stop at Costco (one of which is about a city block and a half away from the new Wegmans). There was still heavy traffic into and out of the store, but fortunately, not nearly what I saw described in the newspaper article after the first day.

As for my impression of the store? Ohhhhh my.

I have never been in a grocery quite like this. It's hard to figure out how to explain it. Yes, there are groceries. Tons of them. And there are prepared food bars galore -- salads, Mediterranean fare, vegetarian offerings, and there was even an extensive Asian fare bar. Along a nearby wall, there were shops with more prepared foods -- one for subs and sandwiches, another for pizza and still another for burgers, where visitors also could grab beer (both bottled and on tap) and wine if they wanted to sit in the dining area and eat there.

There were separate "markets" (essentially, set aside areas where store workers helped customers) for meat, seafood, cheese, baked goods, and even one for charcuterie.

Wegmans has extensive organic options for many of its groceries, and organic offerings are clearly labeled. It also has vast displays of bottled wine and bottled and canned beer, traditional domestic, imports and -- my favorite -- craft brews. The day we were there, a store employee was offering samples of a Belgium amber ale and an IPA made by different North Carolina breweries.

Both Lee Ann and I decided to dine there, and we also both hit the Asian bars hard, veering only to sample nearby friend chicken. Lee Ann drank water with her meal; I had a draft IPA. And, yeah ... we may have bought a few things (groceries) to take home.

I still marvel at all I saw inside a "grocery" stores. I'm sure in the not too distant future, some linguist will come up with a new term to attach to stores like this ... is many more chains move in the same direction.

As always, if you want to view a larger, sharper version of a photo, simply click on the image. This is particularly helpful if you access the blog using a mobile device. To see a full gallery of images from my visit to Raleigh's first Wegmans, click on the link in this sentence.

Above is first view of one of the open areas of Wegmans after walking in. Looking at the ceiling, you can understand it when people describe this as a big box grocery. The first two photos below are from the coffee station area (think Starbucks in a Target store).     

Very near the front of the store, the sundry prepared food bars begin, including the vegetarian bar (above),  and a closeup (below) of one of the pans in the Asian fare bar.

Against the wall are a string of counter-service prepared food speciality "shops. Above, the subs and sandwich shop is in the foreground. Further down is the pizza shop on the same side of the aisle as the sub shop and the burger bar (below), on the opposite side of the aisle. Somewhere in between there was a refrigerator case of a lot of sushi offerings (second below). 

 

Above and below: Different shots of some of the full-fish offerings in the seafood market, including lionfish (above) and snapper (below). 

The bakery market (above) included a selection of the zebra-striped yummies stuffed with a buttercream filling that you see below. I admit that I was lured by the zebra string and had to buy one. It was pretty good. 

I wrote above that there was a charcuterie market at Wegmans, and I include the photo above to prove it. The two photos below are closeups from the display windows there. It includes a sign indicating the store does not add nitrates to the prosciutto seen in its display windows. 
 

The produce section includes a large display (above) of organic salads and greens, mostly kale, spinach and mixed greens. If you want Mediterranean fare but don't want it from the prepared food bars, you can also select from the small "grab-n-go" case (first photo below) or ask a server to help you select what you want from the larger offerings (second photo below).  

Perspective (above) and closeup (below) shots of the store's floral shop. 

Closeups of an autumn squash (above) and fresh broccoli florets (below). 
 

As recent as a year ago or so, it was difficult to find organic coffees in grocery stores. That has change in such a short amount of time. The above is just a small section of Wegmans' organic coffee (beans and/or ground) offerings. 

Lee Ann has been looking for organic San Marzano peeled tomatoes for a sauce recipe, and was dazzled when she saw this at Wegmans. 

Above: Just a slice of the wine offerings at Wegmans. An employee told us that the store was waiting for shipments of several hundred other wines, and if you notice the storage space from halfway up to the ceiling, it has quite a bit of room to display it. These shelves give yet another example of the "big box" description of the store. 

Above, Wegmans gives customers an idea of the various North Carolina breweries represented in its craft beer bottle and can displays. A closeup of some of the offerings is shown in the first image below. The second image below shows that Wegmans carries Tuffy, a lager affiliated with the North Carolina State University athletics teams. A growing number of Division I schools are gravitating toward stamping their name and logo on beers like this. 

Above: Organic citrus that Wegmans organizes in an aisle. 

Above and below are shots from display sections of the fresh-cut meats department, including the one above -- another industry "trend" in which "meat" made from plants is packed like ground beef.

Back to the bakery market, I came across the pretzel bites (above) and a sampling of a sourdough bread (below). 

Above: I saw a couple of these kinds of signs near the checkout aisles, where (you can probably guess) there was an assortment of snack goods available to grab and toss into the car while waiting in line.