Hi,
Tomorrow is the anniversary of the American cruiser Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese torpedo after it dropped the atomic bombs off on Tinian Island (1945), Peter Jennings birth anniversary (1938), Benito Mussolini’s birth anniversary (1883) and NASA was established by President Eisenhower (1958).
Below are pictures of one of my nesting morning doves. There’s proud moma and her to RAPIDLY growing chicks. I swear they double in size over night.
I think I may have talked about this in the past, Fenton Art Glass, in Williamstown, WV, only has two more weeks until it closes it’s doors to retail business. Fenton Glass has been family owned since it opened in 1905. Current president, George Fenton say they are closing because demand has dried up for their novelty items (I don’t mean cheap souvenir store hula girls). The mom and pop gift shops and general stores have all closed, big box like Walmart only buy bulk imports for their novelties. Couple this with the recession and America’s obsession with all things electronic, Fenton has decided to call it quits. You have until August 6 to go down and pick up your piece of history. They may re-tool the plant and start making commercial products like industrial glass.
Fallingwater is again being newsworthy. They have had a huge educational program for years. On their 5,000 acre nature reserve, eight buildings have been converted into teaching and residency space for students. These buildings are tucked around and include 100 year old one room school house, old farm houses, a barn and garage. They are now doing a fund raising campaign for their latest endeavor, earth-sheltered “cottages. In the mind set of Frank Loyd Wright, they are trying to be as unobtrusive with nature as possible. Each “cottage” is expected to cost about $150,000 to build and they want to start with four. I believe they have raised 3/4 of the funds needed for this latest project. So far this year, 2,500 students and adults have come up there for day long and week long work shops and lectures. When they opened to the public, they optimistically expected maybe 25,000 people a year would visit. They quickly exceeded 70,000 and if my memory serves me correctly (a dangerous thing to do) :), they host over 160,000 guests a year on tours.
The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas purchased a number of Scarlett O’Hara’s costumes from film producer David O Selznick in the 1980’s. They are trying to restore them for the 75th anniversary of the release of Gone with the Wind. They can take off the extra feathers someone applied years ago, undo numerous alterations and other damages from over the years. But some of the gowns have faded over the years and that they won’t be able to change.
The highest profile movie to date moves into da ‘burg this week. The Dark Knight Rises staring Christian Bale is scheduled to film through the end of August. A lot of it is being filmed Downtown because the director likes the historic architecture buildings we have that remind him of what Gotham City should look like. They will be filming day an night, so expect road closures and other inconveniences. The mayor expects the impact to be in the millions. The old Mogul Studios in the Strip (now 31st Street Studios have been a buzz for over a week (they are right next to Restaurant Depot). Release of the movie is scheduled for July 20, 2012 The movie is also shooting in India, England, Scotland, New York and Los Angeles.
Great shot. Thanks for sharing your morning doves Ed!