One Thousand Words

Scenes from a cemetery

2008-07-16T14:33:00.000-07:00

The Boy Martyr

2008-04-20T16:30:00.000-07:00

Scenes from the Gainesville, Texas, courthouse

2008-03-23T16:47:00.000-07:00

Early morning shoppers

2008-03-23T16:34:00.000-07:00

Here's the crowd outside of Best Buy at 2 a.m. on "Black Friday," the day after Thanksgiving. The first guy in line got there at 7 p.m. on the day before Thanksgiving.

Sonny Boy!

2007-09-30T10:13:00.000-07:00

Bust of blues legend Sonny Boy Williamson II

Granny Dee

2007-09-30T09:39:00.000-07:00

With her grandkids outside her restaurant.

Coke in ruins

2007-09-30T09:25:00.000-07:00

I wonder how long this Helena bottler has been closed?

A Coca-Cola ghost

2007-09-30T09:17:00.000-07:00

In Helena, Arkansas.

Buster Brown

2007-09-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

Downtown in its death throws

2007-09-30T09:05:00.000-07:00

What is this?

2007-09-30T08:53:00.000-07:00

Some kind of tree

Monument to tragedy

2007-09-30T08:34:00.000-07:00

Selz shoes sell

2007-09-30T08:30:00.000-07:00

I'm back!

2007-09-29T20:25:00.000-07:00

This is not me!

Duck march

2007-08-02T05:39:00.000-07:00

Holy!

2007-07-28T16:36:00.000-07:00

The World's Oldest Profession

2007-07-23T18:17:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's real.

One of my favorite places

2007-07-14T20:56:00.000-07:00

Written in iron

2007-07-12T19:15:00.000-07:00

Seal

2007-07-12T18:58:00.000-07:00

Stone Cold

2007-07-12T18:54:00.000-07:00

Gee whiz!

2007-07-12T18:44:00.000-07:00

It's a giraffe taking a leak.

Pink-ish flamingos

2007-07-12T18:40:00.000-07:00

This just seems wrong!

A Central detail

2007-07-09T03:57:00.000-07:00

It wasn't all fun at the zoo

2007-07-07T20:49:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we had to get back in the stroller, even if we didn't want to.

Big bird!

2007-07-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

Remember when gas was 22 cents a gallon?

2007-07-05T17:26:00.000-07:00

I'd be happier if gas was $2.22 per gallon again.

Magnolias

2007-07-04T22:07:00.000-07:00

He thinks I look like lunch

2007-07-03T05:59:00.000-07:00

Guess who went to the zoo?

2007-07-03T05:58:00.000-07:00

Bear necessities

2007-07-03T05:56:00.000-07:00

Moon Bear

Rock Ape

2007-07-03T05:52:00.000-07:00

A close friend

2007-07-01T09:50:00.000-07:00

She's a cutie!

Stone lion

2007-06-26T19:49:00.000-07:00

I'm back from a computer crash. Miss me?

Hot Springs hotel

2007-06-07T11:04:00.000-07:00

One of the twin towers from the Arlington in Hot Springs, Ark.

Star time at the JazzFest

2007-06-06T16:45:00.000-07:00

Paul Schaffer tickles the ivories with Marva Wright, the queen of the New Orleans blues!

The legendary Allen Toussaint pays tribute as well.

She's bringing ...

2007-06-03T18:26:00.000-07:00

sexy back.

Almost a good photo

2007-06-02T11:02:00.000-07:00

I like this even though it's not very good. It almost was a good photo!

Cute girl

2007-05-31T18:15:00.000-07:00

A JazzFest sculpture

2007-05-28T16:57:00.001-07:00

I don't know what this is supposed to be, but it looks cool.

Another JazzFest kid

2007-05-26T21:57:00.000-07:00

New Orleans at night

2007-05-25T18:36:00.000-07:00

The least blurry photo I shot from the boat.

A paddle-wheel study

2007-05-24T17:34:00.000-07:00

A paddle-wheel sunset

2007-05-23T18:21:00.000-07:00

Down the Mighty Mississippi River.

A New Orleans sunset

2007-05-22T19:48:00.000-07:00

The sun sets behind St. Louis Cathedral. Look closely in the foreground and you can see the Andrew Jackson statue in Jackson Square.

A blues legend

2007-05-21T18:04:00.000-07:00

Henry Gray

Hot baby!

2007-05-21T04:21:00.000-07:00

JazzFest can be too hot for the little ones.

Souvenirs!

2007-05-19T22:30:00.000-07:00

The big ones start at $85.

JazzFest dancer

2007-05-13T08:22:00.000-07:00

I returned from Jazz Fest to computer problems, which delayed me from posting new pics. I had a pretty good time, as always, but my enjoyment was diminished because I got sick and missed one day, the second Friday. On Saturday, I was well enough to attend, but not so well that I fell comfortable doing much more than just sitting in the Blues Tent. On top of that, most of my photos are horrible. So I won't be post many. It's very disappointing, but I just learned a hard, valuable lesson about shooting pics in low light. I wish I had learned it some other way, but what can you do?

(Google was acting funky, so this took me two days to post)

I'll be at the Blues tent!

2007-05-01T05:26:00.000-07:00

Hitting the road for the Big Easy today. Might post pics from the road if I can get to a computer! Otherwise, look for new pics on Monday.

More crowds

2007-05-01T05:23:00.000-07:00

Jazz hands

2007-05-01T05:21:00.000-07:00

Dancing boy

2007-05-01T05:20:00.000-07:00

Young man struts his stuff at the Jazzfest

Jazzfest crowd

2007-05-01T05:18:00.000-07:00

A study of Michael Ward

2007-04-30T20:30:00.000-07:00

This is my best photo of the talented Mr. Ward, meaning it's the closest to being in focus that I shot. The rest show his emotional musicianship, but for some reason, I couldn't get them into focus.

Marsha Ball

2007-04-30T20:19:00.000-07:00

The lovely and talented singer belts one out.

2nd best Buffett

2007-04-29T19:19:00.000-07:00

Jimmy Buffett

2007-04-29T19:10:00.000-07:00

My best shot of Jimmy Buffett from last year's Jazzfest - no thanks to the nimrod whose hand nearly ruined my shot. Buffett was scheduled to play this weekend. I'm a little sad that the Jazzfest is already halfway over, but looking forward to next weekend when I'll be there.

Tab Benoit

2007-04-28T20:51:00.000-07:00

One of my fav Jazzfest performers. He's playing this weekend, but I'll miss him this year because I'm only going to the second weekend.

Marva Wright

2007-04-27T19:52:00.000-07:00

Marva Wright, a New Orleans sensation. She's performing this weekend at the Jazzfest

Some more Sam Moore

2007-04-25T19:51:00.000-07:00

Travis Tritt and Sam Moore duet!

And Travis Tritt's incredibly hot wife!

Sam Moore

2007-04-24T20:47:00.000-07:00

Sam Moore, living legend, doing it to it at the JazzFest.

Three of a kind (plus one)

2007-04-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

Bekka Bramlett, daughter of music legends Delaney and Bonny, performs with Sam Moore (one of my all-time favs) at the JazzFest. As a special treat, I'm posting three of my photos of her.

This one is my favorite - even though it's out of focus.

Back to JazzFest

2007-04-22T22:05:00.000-07:00

We now return you to your regularly scheduled JazzFest retrospective with The Dancing Guy. He accompanied the Storyville Stompers, but I don't know if he was a member of the group or just an aficionado.

PostSecret speaker

2007-04-21T22:59:00.000-07:00

Blog King Frank Warren shows off a postcard secret on Saturday. PostSecret

More stompers

2007-04-20T22:23:00.000-07:00

Everybody dance

2007-04-20T22:20:00.000-07:00

Dancing at JazzFest

Brass Band at JazzFest

2007-04-19T21:27:00.000-07:00

He's in heaven now

2007-04-17T21:11:00.000-07:00

Ed Bradley makes his last appearance at JazzFest, introducing Marva Wright!

Deacon John

2007-04-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

One of my absolute favorite New Orleans performers, Deacon John, performs at the JazzFest Acura Stage last year. I'm looking forward to seeing him perform this year. Sadly, his son was shot to death earlier this year. Police have made an arrest.

Another hot Jazzfest girl

2007-04-15T09:52:00.000-07:00

Another pretty girl at the JazzFest

2007-04-13T17:43:00.000-07:00

I wish I knew her.

Hot chick dancing at JazzFest

2007-04-12T19:17:00.000-07:00

Anyone home?

2007-04-11T21:07:00.000-07:00

More Mardi Gras Indians

2007-04-10T17:51:00.000-07:00

From JazzFest

The parade begins

2007-04-09T04:31:00.000-07:00

New Orleans Indians strut their stuff at JazzFest

New Orleans Indian

2007-04-09T04:29:00.000-07:00

From a JazzFest Parade

The dancing girl of JazzFest

2007-04-07T19:10:00.000-07:00

This girl dances for hours on end - I see her every year at JazzFest.

Tom - up close and personal

2007-04-06T05:02:00.000-07:00

Statue of Thomas Jefferson on the steps of the Missouri Capitol

Words to live by

2007-04-06T04:58:00.000-07:00

An interesting monument

2007-04-04T17:27:00.000-07:00

Blue eyes

2007-04-02T22:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a story from a newspaper, probably from 1999. Don't know the paper.

Ghostly presence is rumored to haunt the halls of Ballinger’s Texas Grill

By BRIAN BETHEL
Staff Writer

BALLINGER -- The interior of the Texas Grill is snug and cozy, a
collection of countertops and straight-backed chairs as familiar to
any small town Texan as springtime bluebonnets or a long, hot summer
day.

There are innumerable examples of such spots lining the state’s
roadways, a beacon to travelers and a place for locals to sit and swap
tales both old and new while enjoying a chicken-fried steak or a hot
cup of coffee.

But within this restaurant’s walls lies a storied history, stretching
back to the untamed days of gunfighters and outlaws. And within its
interior hallways resides a mostly silent observer, a mysterious
presence who sometimes in the dead of night -- or even the bold light
of day -- makes his occupancy known and then returns to silence.

The Texas Grill, you see, is haunted. Its owners freely admit the
fact, acknowledging beyond a doubt that their restaurant is
"occupied," even in the early hours when the place is shut up tight
against the darkness outside.

"You can only have so many strange things happen to so many people
before you decide that there has to be something here," said Joyce
Sikes, who along with her husband, Larry, have owned the restaurant
since 1991. "I never really believed in ghosts. Now I don’t have much
of a choice."

Fortunately, Norton, as the mostly unseen shade is called, is a
friendly spirit, given to small pranks and only slightly unnerving
disturbances.

"He hasn’t ever hurt anyone, and I don’t anticipate that he ever
will," she said. "If we’re going to have a ghost here, I suppose he’s
a good one to have around."

Norton’s legacy

No one knows exactly who or what stalks the restaurant, although the
"Norton" name has stuck fairly fast. In some versions of the story, he
is called "Shorty" because of an alleged communication with a former
cook.

The name comes from the testimony of a self-proclaimed psychic who may
or may not have tapped into the essence of the spirit.

"She told us that was his name and that he had lived here in a little
shack or cabin around or before this place was built," Sikes said. It
is popularly believed that Norton may have been an outlaw who was
gunned down by Texas Rangers or other law enforcement officials.

Whether Norton is really the name of the entity, the description seems
logical.

In Texas’ frontier days, Ballinger served as a waypoint for many
travelers to neighboring cities and was seat of several prominent
range wars. It was a typically rough-and-tumble Texas town, and the
building that now houses the Texas Grill was a combination
saloon/brothel.

Remnants of that former role can be seen in the many upstairs rooms,
some with only an individual sink and little else, and on the first
floor in features such as a bar trough meant to catch discarded liquor
and send it running into the dusty streets.

Even though those days are long gone, archival evidence is available
to support the thesis that there was an outlaw who was indeed gunned
down on the premises. Whether or not the outlaw in question was
"Norton" is something that cannot be easily determined.

No matter who he is, though, the vast majority of the current staff
and many others who have worked at the Grill believe he exists.

"There comes a time when you just have to believe that something is
here," said Roger Killingsworth, the restaurant’s manager. "I’m not a
person to go looking for something like this, but I’ve seen and heard
enough to know that Norton is probably around."

Playing pranks

Most of Norton’s manifestations are small, although he has genuinely
unnerved some of the restaurant’s denizens and employees from time to
time.

He seems to exhibit common poltergeist behavior for the most part,
moving small objects here and there, opening and closing refrigerator
doors, passing by unseen with the cloying scent of sweet-smelling
men’s cologne to mark his passage and making strange noises such as
bumps and raps.

All of the cooks, though, have seen something, shadowy forms or
flashes that seem to take on a human shape and move almost faster than
the eye can track.

"We’ve only had one little boy say he actually saw a man," Sikes said.
"But you will catch shadowy movements out of the corner of your eye
from time to time that look like a human figure. I’ve learned to
ignore it, for the most part."

The manifestations seem to be more prominent in a back dining area and
in the kitchen area of the establishment, although sounds such as
footsteps have been heard echoing from the closed-off area that was
the brothel.

Chillingly, these auditory manifestations mostly occur very late at
night, when no one else is in the building but the Sikes or one of
their employees.

"There was one time I remember well, since it was the incident that
made me start to realize that something strange was really going on,"
Sikes said. "I went to the restroom, which is at the back of the
restaurant. It was about 5 a.m., and when I came out I clearly heard
footsteps above me. I knew I should be the only one anywhere in the
building. I was the only one who had a key."

A subsequent search turned up no intruders. It was then that Sikes
began taking the concept of a ghost seriously.

Friendly ghost?

Norton seems to be a non-violent sort, for the most part.

Popular consensus among the restaurant staff holds that he made
himself known because he took a dislike to a former cook.

"He was the only one who ever claimed to hear Norton speak," Sikes
said. "We honestly believe he didn’t like him very much for some
reason."

The closest Norton has ever come to hurting someone was an incident
with the aforementioned cook. Supposedly, a loose brick fell from the
upper building when he was standing outside one night and landed near
his feet. Norton was blamed.

One lone dishwasher may have been a casualty -- at least in terms of
employment -- of his antics.

"That one only stayed here for a couple of weeks," Killingsworth said.
"He had gone to the men’s restroom and was walking up the hall when he
claimed that something rose out of the floor right in front of him."

Whether his subsequent resignation stemmed from that presumed
visitation from the afterworld, Sikes and Killingsworth were unable to
say.

Norton confines the majority of his attention to the restaurant staff,
although he does on occasion interact with a customer or two. One
famous incident involves some levitating silverware, which flew out of
a glass in front of the quivering customer’s astonished eyes.

The waggish specter may have even led a local policeman on a merry
chase one strange, dark night.

"He was patrolling the area, and he found the door unlocked,"
Killingsworth said. "He looked around upstairs and kept hearing noises
that sounded like someone was up there, but he searched the whole area
and couldn’t find anyone. No one could have made it out of there, I
don’t think, without him seeing. He told us about it, and we explained
about the ghost. He wasn’t sure, but said that might be what it had
been."

The mystery remains

Popular explanations of Norton’s genesis aside, why exactly he chose
the Texas Grill as his home remains a mystery.

Although he hasn’t spoken to anyone other than the unfortunate cook,
the Sikes were given instructions on how to further communicate with
Norton by the San Angelo psychic who told them of his run-in with the
law. A quasi-elaborate ceremony to be performed on certain days with
candles was handed down.

"The problem was that she told us that it might agitate him or make
him even more active," Sikes said. "We decided against that. He’s just
fine the way he is."

Even though he plays the majority of his pranks in mute silence, the
legacy Norton has brought to the Texas Grill has assured his story has
and will be told over and over again. Newspapers and television shows
have brought curious seekers to the place.

And even though he stalks the halls, invisible, perhaps once in a fit
of uncharacteristic boldness, Norton decided to leave the Sikes with
one more, small testament to his presence.

The Christmas party that marked the event has long since passed, but
the images remain, encased in the photos’ slightly aging emulsion.

In four of the photographs taken at that party, a strange, misty form
seems to have appeared. In one of the photos. what may indeed be the
ghostly form of a old-time Texas cowboy, hat brim and mustache clearly
visible, can be seen.

Norton? Perhaps some displaced cigarette smoke?

Sikes and those on her staff who believe think they know the answer.

"He’s here," she said. "I really do believe that. Although we’ve
learned to ignore him pretty much over the years, I for one really
think he’s here. He’s a good ghost, though. He’s welcome to stay."

Fountain detail

2007-04-01T09:13:00.000-07:00

The Fountain of the Centaurs created by A.A. Weinman on the north grounds of the Missouri Capitol building

From my recent travels

2007-03-31T05:05:00.000-07:00

I have been to a faraway land!

Almost a good picture

2007-03-24T05:04:00.000-07:00

Hello perfect stranger!

Big man say Jazzfest is coming

2007-03-22T23:03:00.000-07:00

I love the smile on the big dude.

A view of the Virgin

2007-03-20T17:58:00.000-07:00

San Angelo sunset

2007-03-15T21:16:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to get the hang of shooting sunsets.

Feeding frenzy!

2007-03-08T20:25:00.000-08:00

The girls

2007-03-07T21:43:00.000-08:00

Spider-man

2007-03-06T20:19:00.000-08:00

Running

2007-03-05T19:49:00.000-08:00

First love!

2007-03-04T22:53:00.000-08:00

This is the son of a buddy of mine, taken at his seventh birthday party. He's watching his first girlfriend leave with her mom.
He chased after them as they walked off, then turned around and ran back - then turned around again to watch them leave. I wish I could have seen the expression on his face.
It was so sweet, seeing how much he likes this little girl. He just about ignored all the little boys to play with her. Seeing them together was my favorite part of the weekend.

Cute kid

2007-03-04T22:10:00.000-08:00

Fort Worth Angel

2007-03-01T21:52:00.000-08:00

Last baby doll pic!

2007-02-28T19:26:00.000-08:00

Creepy

2007-02-27T19:26:00.000-08:00

Doll!

2007-02-26T20:49:00.000-08:00

Lullo

2007-02-25T21:30:00.000-08:00

Good neighbor?

2007-02-24T20:02:00.000-08:00