junk art

This house near the Public Market in Rochester is almost a destination in itself. 

It's a bit difficult to describe - and almost as difficult to photograph well. But we met the owner as we were walking around the corner lot and he invited us in and walked us around his filled to the brim yard telling us the stories of everything in it. And trust me, there was a lot of stuff in his yard. Glass, metal, wood, granite, stones, plastic... As he said: one pink flamingo is sad, two or three is just tacky, but a couple dozen pink flamingos - or bowling balls - or croquet bats - or gnomes - is a statement. The roof of his shed was made from two dozen shower doors. And there are enough granite slabs to make any number of benches, statues or inukshuks.

an original 'mailbox' for junk mail, which it seems the mail carrier uses!









The place is owned by artist Antoni Eckmair

 who has lived here for 30 years and is constantly working at it by using castoff bits of scrap.

These wavy shingles and the asymmetrical door appeal to me










There are collections of stuff, some of which has been put to use as garden features

too many shovels can an acorn make

these stacked papasan chairs were obviously liked by at least one other Rochester resident as we later found a similar sculpture in another garden







The property is on a corner lot and as you walk around it you see it's completely surrounded by fences and gates 













all of it hand crafted from bits and pieces of scrap (those are old roller skates, bottom right, not quite sure what that is on the left)

this portion of the fence is topped with a bowling ball track, which he demonstrated to us before we even had a chance to ask about it. Actually, he was very willing to talk about all his pieces of sculptural art. Apparently, he is so well known that people often come by to drop stuff off for him - whether he might want it or not, is another issue. But he will likely find some creative use for it. If you are ever in Rochester, find your way to Hayward Ave.  

Here is a video found on youtube that demonstrates the track.


a walk around a yard for Restless Jo
and a sign or two for Lesley

SundayStills - holiday lights and decorations

My city puts on an animated festival of lights every year.

So come sit by the fire a spell and keep warm.

and doesn't every town have one of these?

Someone who goes a little overboard on their lights?

This house gets scores of people wandering by to have a look and to enthrall. Even their small back yard is filled with inflatables and lighted trees. Fortunately, there is a conveniently located school directly across the street. (handy for parking, too!)

Now, back inside, for some cozy seasonal socks.

this is one of the 100 doors decorated for Christmas at the Botanical Gardens.

As for me, I am a simple decorator.

Check out more SundayStills photography

and you can see more of my holiday lights and decorations on Sightlines (also scroll down to here and here for last years with snow)

not quite decked out cont'd

ah, so here we have the tree as it appeared early this morning.
that's better looking.

a bit dull on the ornaments, though you can't quite get an appreciation for how big these ornaments are are on this very tall tree.

but, when I went back this evening to capture it lit up -

look what had appeared!

notice how it is all so boringly colour coded with red and gold.

and then my flash blanched out all the strings of white lights

but they're there, as is a view through the window of one of the lamp posts that line the driveway.

.

a little anti-climactic, isn't it?

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Friday
tried again this morning, with a different camera.

hmmmm, see the colour difference between the old camera and the new one?
the new camera has a wide angle lens, so I could turn it sideways and get the whole tree in the shot, but I still have to figure out the night photos by the looks of it! both of these were taken on "automatic" setting.

not quite decked out

Yesterday, in the corner of the lobby by the window,
sat a lonely chair.

Today, the beginnings of a tree.

Apparently, this decorating lark needs to be done s-l-o-w-l-y.

It doesn't look like much now, but I am certain it will grow into something beautiful. Or maybe not. Maybe this is just an ordinary sized tree on an very long pole?

And it's hard to see in this shot, because the ceiling is so very tall,
but the top branch is squished!
Now, how will they fit the star, or angel, on top?