going down the line

Late this afternoon, before it began to snow, I snapped a picture of the old train station in Bend, Oregon. It is now the home to an art collective called Art Station, which offers community sponsored art classes to children and adults. I looked carefully along the roadway to see the vestige of old railroad tracks, but could find none and know, if I go by the historical museum, I'll probably find old photos and learn its history. In an earlier post I related how I became infatuated with trains as a child and this thrill has never left me. I went to a railroad museum in San Diego recently and bought caps of the now defunct Southern Line and the Southern Pacific. I don't think I'll ever wear these odd-looking engineer's caps nor hang them on hooks. I am still puzzled by my impulse. The emblems on them were beautifully embroidered and reminded me how exciting it was to see these lines' colorful freight cars whizzing by.


Yesterday I mentioned that I will be taking a hiatus from Bend Daily Photo starting in January and will be starting a new blog. Briefly, through strange circumstances, I decided to volunteer for what was to be a short while with an international service organization called Amizade. Upon learning of my blogging experience and liking my writing skills, the director asked me almost jokingly if I would be interested in doing a blog and a cohesive narrative of a number of their sites. Anyway, I am leaving first for northern Brazil to take pictures, write and help out at a medical facility and school in a small city on the Amazon. After that I fly to Cochabamba, Bolivia and do the same at an orphanage. After several weeks I leave for Tanzania via England where I will be in the "bush" near the Uganda and Rwanda border where volunteers are putting in water systems for villagers. I then cross Tanzania on my own and will be able to go on a safari through the Serenghetti. I then fly East through Hong Kong and New York to Jamaica and spend two weeks at a school up in the mountains. Finally I return to America and go to Arizona to the Navajo Nation for two weeks and help at an Indian school. At the end of April, I'll be back in Oregon and wonder whether it was all a dream or whether it was real. That's it. How does it feel? without a home .....like a complete unknown...like a rolling stone! Thanks Bob D.