Happy Holidays from Southern California!

For this textured image, I started with a recent sunset photo from Ventura, California. In Hipstamatic, I used dancer film, Vincent lens, and red-eye gel flash. In Stackables, I used the Haven preset. I finished with a desert dunes border in Formulas.

Nov. 21, 2020: Six pelicans in flight are backlit by sunset at Surfers Point, Ventura.

Nov. 15, 2020: Lawn signs, one for every losing presidential candidate, fills the front yard of the home at 896 S. Oakwood St. in the City of Orange. I stopped by, and yes, the updated 59th sign been added. Artist Nina Katchadourian created the "Monument to the Unelected" installation. The Grand Central Art Center of Santa Ana presented the project. This display may be removed in the next couple of days.

Nov. 8, 2020: The "Tinhorn Saloon" in Randsburg, California. This fake building front is at the annual Western Days Celebration site held every September in Randsburg - but canceled this year because of the Covid-19 virus.

Before a July 1997 family vacation, I booked lodging in a rustic sounding motel in Wapiti's small community, Wyoming, just east of Yellowstone National Park. When we arrived in Wapiti, right above the motel sat a crazy unfinished structure - the Smith Mansion.

Francis Lee Smith, an architectural engineer, began construction in 1971. Working alone, he worked until 1992 - when he fell from the top level and died. The structure sat vacant for years, including our 1997 stop in Wapiti.

Since 1997, articles in newspapers from Casper Star-Tribune, and the New York Times, provide the Smith Mansion history. In 2010, Smith's daughter Sunny Smith Larsen began cleaning up the site. She hoped to set up a non-profit and open the building for tours. Feb. 1, 2020, Casper Star-Tribune reported the sale of the property.