Dial "Pooh" For Murder

This photo was created for "Film Noir" week on DPS. It was great fun working on this project. Pooh was a good sports too.

No stuffed animals were harmed during the shoot.

Special thanks to Gretchen for modeling and inspiration.

The Thinker

On the Streets of Houston

Houston Statistics
• 10,000 homeless individuals are on the streets of Houston on any given night
• more than 3,000 are considered chronically homeless.
• 25% of these homeless individuals are youth
• more than 50% of these individuals have been diagnosed with mental illness
• more than 50% have complicated legal issues that prevent them from accessing services and employment
• 50% report having a substance abuse problem

Common causes of homelessness are:
• Poverty (impacted by declining work opportunities, decreased public assistance, financial crisis, mounting debt)
• Lack of affordable housing (impacted by increasing rents, decreasing SRO housing and excessive waiting lists for public housing, eviction, etc.)
• Lack of affordable health care -Mental illness and disability
• Substance abuse issues -Prison release and reentry into society
• Natural disaster
• Foster care background
• Family crisis (e.g.: death, relationship breakdown, etc.)

A national study on homelessness found that most cities estimate that the number of homeless individuals greatly exceeds the number of emergency shelter and transitional housing available.

Reference: Cathedral Health & Outreach Ministries

Garage Sale

Out of the Past

These photos are taken in Barrington Farm, a living museum farm in Washington On The Brazos State Park near Houston, TX.

The farm represents the mid-1800s farm founded by Dr. Anson Jones, the last President of the Republic of Texas. The residents are costumed interpreters who live their lives as in the 1800. They raise cotton, corn, cattle and hogs using period techniques. The recreated outbuildings include two slave cabins, a kitchen building, a smokehouse, a cotton house and a barn. The farmstead opened in 2000, and is operated by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

An interesting place to visit if you were ever in the area.

Lonely Table...

On a Rainy Sunday Morning

"The April rain, the April rain,
Comes slanting down in fitful showers,
Then from the furrow shoots the grain,
And banks are fledged with nestling flowers;
And in grey shawl and woodland bowers
The cuckoo through the April rain
Calls once again."
- 
                                                                 "Mathilde Blind, April Rain"