Photographed from an F-150 at 8:21 yesterday, in Terre Haute, Indiana.It may express delight or despair. I won't impose the photographer's intent on you.
April 9, 2024
This American streetscape is a mood test.
Photographed from an F-150 at 8:21 yesterday, in Terre Haute, Indiana.
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52 comments:
If you’re familiar with Breaking Bad, you know exactly what goes on at that store.
It looks like a bar.
Terre Haute is known for three things.
1. Indiana State Prison.
2. Indiana State University Sycamores.
3. Sweeper World.
A new vacuum cleaner makes a great birthday present for the little lady, Meade.
Delightful despair? Desperate delight?
Very Hopper in a busy way.
The handle follows the path of totality.
Are we to make something about the Ford 150. Not a CRV or Audi TT. Making America great, again? American first? It isn’t the EV version, because you would have called it a Lightning just the take credit.
My mother was a graduate of St. Mary-of-the Woods College in Terre Haute. Very small school, but she loved it her whole life.
It's America...an America many never see...
Sweeper World?
I'm not 100% sure, but are Christmas lights still strung on that roof, top and bottom? If so, I vote for delight.
I vote that the family that owns Sweeper World one day reached out to an unknown local graphic designer and asked for a logo -- decades ago, and this is the logo they got back. They were thrilled because it expresses a depth of intensity and feeling about the business far beyond what your graphic designer usually hands over which would just be some cliche thing.
Then they decided that even though the part of town they are in is not pretty, their little corner of the universe could be, including with the Christmas lights.
I'd prefer a wider sidewalk next to the store. Looks like it's too easy to get splashed by passing vehicles in wet weather.
The Real Andrew said...
If you’re familiar with Breaking Bad, you know exactly what goes on at that store.
"If you believe that you can pull on people’s heartstrings, you should take your chances with the police. From where I sit, you made your own luck. As did your former partner. As did your lawyer. You said it yourself, a deal’s a deal."― Ed Galbraith [Owner, Quality Vacuum] to Jesse Pinkman.
Known as the Disappearer . . . . he also offers the clandestine service of taking people (mostly criminals) and giving them new lives and identities. Ed offered his services to Walter White, Saul Goodman, and Jesse Pinkman.
That is a very clean planet!
TribStar.com headline
Totality Awesome!
Solar eclipse provides a spectacular view, thrills Hauteans and visitors alike
Meanwhile, at Indiana State University, students attended a campus viewing event hosted by the College of Arts and Sciences.
The university canceled classes between noon and 5 p.m. Monday.
The viewing event, which took place at the old Lincoln Quadrangle site, included live entertainment, music, activities, and 10,000 pairs of viewing glasses. Some of the free food included Moonpies, Milky Way bars, and Starburst candy.
So where was the Byrd-man when we needed him most?
$3.79 for gas.
Bye bye, Joey.
Lonely little boarded-up place on a triangular lot. It wa open last May, but there was a sticker on the door. The sign listed 21 vacuum brands, but not Roomba or Roboroc.
Did anybody make a blue state/red state eclipse bracket?
Someone must’ve thought of it.
Bueller?
Delightful logo. I hope they've transitioned to robot vac servicing.
There’s an episode of How To with John Wilson that shows people who collect vacuum cleaners. It’s incredibly brilliant, and the people who collect vacuum cleaners are far more deeply sympathized with than you could possibly imagine.
I like that we were traveling to see the total eclipse of the sun, which involved two orbs, the sun in the moon, and here was a sign nicely based on the orb that is earth. And the sign has another little circle in it, too, which seemed touching.
Did they sell vacuum cleaners or non-electric sweepers? There's a difference, and with the cost of electricity going up, the sweepers could be the up-and-coming thing.
OK, I see the image of a vacuum cleaner on the sign, and the brands are of the powered variety. Still, sweepers could be the future...
Back in the 60's a friend was into photography and his pics had a great feel and I asked how he got that vibe and he said he worked to be sure there was a none of his ego in them. Your saying "I won't impose the photographer's intent" reminds me of that. It's really stuck with me over the years as a way of thinking about art/music.
Does Larry still live there?
Terre Haute is also the home of the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. To prospective students they used to send out posters of a guy on skis, but the picture was tilted sideways to make it look like he was going downhill.
https://bookstore.rose-hulman.edu/MerchDetail.aspx?MerchID=246095
A new vacuum cleaner makes a great birthday present for the little lady, Meade.
If that unboxing is videoed, I will pay to watch it!
Delight. That someone can evoke joy and wonder through the medium of the lowly vacuum cleaner. In Terre Haute.
If the weather had been crappy, maybe not. The F-150 is a nice touch.
I'm curious to know how you liked a long distance drive in the F-150? I've done the drive from St. Paul to Fargo to Bismarck in a truck and liked it. My wife and I are thinking of driving (in a truck) from DC to St. Paul to move our daughter. That's a much longer drive...
Are you taking side streets the whole way home?
"If you’re familiar with Breaking Bad, you know exactly what goes on at that store."
First thing that occurred to me. In Amazon/Shark Navigator world, a vacuum cleaner shop seems like an unusually quaint exercise in nostalgia. And yet, our town has one. Whether or not the owner makes a living from it is unknown.
Just Sweepers.
From before he became a bitter old man.
In the old days, late Forties, early Fifties, going on summer vacations up to New England from DC, you drove through cities and towns that all looked like that and ate at diners and hamburger joints where they moulded the patties as you sat there, cooked them and served them with Coke in splintered ice. Then came superhighways and HoJos. Then came McDonald's and I went to college. So, I guess I half feel nostalgia looking at that street but I wholly know how long and hot those drives were. The car broke down, tires went flat. Waiting for the car to be fixed, you sat on a street like that, looking around, learning the world. But then that world disappeared and you swooped along concrete with sides of green. There were more than three flavors of ice cream at HoJos. The hamburgers were excellent but somehow different [They had been frozen, I suppose.] Learning change is part of learning the world. I love McDonald's hamburgers and I love GPS because it enables me to avoid streets like that.
"...than you could possibly imagine."
With every passing day, I find my journey to the Dark Side easier and easier. Perhaps it is my increasingly enfeebled imagination. Or maybe it's this itchy, black armor...(wheeze)
I'm not gay or female enough to be an iPhone owner but that iPhone 14 pro camera does an amazing job with depth of field and focus. Some of those signs are a long way down the road.
In that image it's simulating the focal length of a 144mm lens and doing it very well. All automatically.
The photog's pretty talented too. I imagine her hanging out of the truck like a Mongol horseman and firing on the move. Or stopped at Terre Haute's red light. Could be either.
Actually, Terre Haute is in much better condition than I anticipated after Field Marshal Wilfried von Kluck dissolved it with the most destructive cheese mold ever conceived.
Actually, Terre Haute is in much better condition than I anticipated after Field Marshal Wilfried von Kluck dissolved it with the most destructive cheese mold ever conceived.
'$3.79 for gas.'
Cheapest gas within 10 miles of me is over $5/gallon.
But idiot Californians will keep voting D until they die.
Just heard in a YouTube: “Matter is frozen light”. Or, stuff hides in plain sight.
Václav Patrik Šulik said...
I'm curious to know how you liked a long distance drive in the F-150?
I owned an F150 (extended cab with suicide doors) in the early 2000s. It was awesome for long distance drives. Did Eastern Iowa to Columbus OH and Minneapolis MN a number of times. Plenty of room to stretch and sufficient heft to ride well, though you do pay for that in gas mileage. Depending on what cab configuration you buy I'd plan on a topper or Tonneau cover to provide storage space, though you could probably make tool boxes work.
Orbs .? Was that a Roy Orbison memory from her unconscious mind?
Monde Aspirateur for the cultured
There are all kinds of specialty stores that start up because someone, somewhere, thinks they can make a living at selling things. Sometimes- specialty things. Somewhere nearby we have a sewing machine store that specializes in selling AND repairing any type of sewing machines. And vacuum- not sweeper- stores used to be common.
Used to be there were camera stores that sold, pretty much, only cameras and accessories If there are any of those left, they are few and far between.
Stopping at a model railroad store that was listed in Model Railroader was once a treat. Now, apparently, most of those hobby sales are online. True of most any hobby. Hobby Lobby is not, as far as I'm concerned, a serious hobby shop.
Around here we a Trailer World- not all those RV trailers, but work trailers of all kinds. And at least two shed stores- on advertising Amish made, and the other Mennonite owned that are Amish made, but they don't advertise it...
We've had a variety of cupcake and/or cookie stores open. Average lifetime- 18-24 months. Everyone who bakes and gets compliments on their skills (well, not EVERYONE..) thinks they can turn into a storefront business. If you can operate from home, under the radar of regulators and the taxman you can probably have a good sideline income. Commercial baking regulations are onerous. Had regular customer at Home Depot one time who trusted me to find things special order. His wife had caught the attention of regulators from her home based baking company. He need a commercial range hood.. because the regulators said so, not because he needed one. With fire suppression and the works. None of our suppliers had one- and those I could find were in the thousands of dollars range. I can guarantee that none of the roadside Amish or Mennonite stands that advertise "Homemade baked goods" have one of those hoods. As an aside- the baked goods at most are usually available one day a week. Different days for the different stands. That regulation can apparently only be enforced in middle class areas, usually inhabited by people of the Caucasian persuasion.
Nice photo. I don't see anything special about it as far as intent. To me, it shows that some people are inventive as to how to make a living. A similar photo could be taken almost anywhere, albeit no likely to be with sweepers.
“ I'm curious to know how you liked a long distance drive in the F-150?”.
I don’t drive it, so no sharing of the work of driving.
It feels solid and safe.
You have to climb up into it, but that is something I can do.
It has a camper with a king size bed, so we can just stop a a rest stop and get some sleep. No need to go through the business of getting a hotel.
https://www.sweeperworld.biz/shop/c/p/Purell-Hand-Sanitizer-1-ounce-x50700402.htm
Purell Hand Sanitizer 1 ounce
SALE: $0.69
Quantity:
1
COVID must be over.
Rabel said...
$3.79 for gas.
Bye-bye, Joey.
Rabel-rousing for sure!
I bought gas in Indiana for $3.20 yesterday. How low can you go?
Gas-Buddy says that the lowest price in Terre Haute is now $3.49.
Thank you Christopher B and Ann.
Rabel said...
$3.79 for gas.
Bye-bye, Joey.
The average is 4.17 around here. I think Woodmans is still under $4.00.
Fun sight.
1. Not the homogenized and typical sight of chain and box stores and restaurants.
2. Man, I love a well functioning vacuum cleaner. What a grand invention!
3. Bonus: love my f-150! My brown truck, a 2015, has 181+k miles and she’s going strong!
Quaestor said...
Actually, Terre Haute is in much better condition than I anticipated after Field Marshal Wilfried von Kluck dissolved it with the most destructive cheese mold ever conceived.
Bwaahahahahaha.
I checked their web site and they sell Kirby. Had one for years, awesome machine (1977ish), got rid of it in favor of a nearly-new Kenmore canister, then got another one a few months ago after the Kenmore broke, and briefly entered the world of vacuum cleaner collectors. Fascinating. I dwell amongst typewriter collectors and it's all very similar: "Picked up this Tradition over the weekend for $25! Will post some more pics after I clean it up."
Got rid of the Kirby shortly thereafter because it needed a few hundred $$$ in work and was too powerful for my little rugs anyway.
When I see Terre Haute, I usually think of Palo Alto, even though Palo means stick (I think), not land. High Land, High Stick. Almost the same.
Nice catch, Quaestor--I had forgotten that bit completely.
"Rabel-rousing for sure!"
FWIW, the $3.79 is in the photo.
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