Shadow Play on the Patio

Favorite Stop for Coffee - Arizona Sonora Desert Museum

Shadows on the Patio ©2013 Bo Mackison

Almost all my middle-aged and elderly acquaintances, including me, feel about 25, unless we haven’t had our coffee, in which case we feel 107. ~ Martha Beck

Now that I’ve completed the initial phase of my photo project on my Barriers series, I’ve returned to walking the desert trails. One of my favorite stops is the coffee shop at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. This desert discovery place in the midst of the Tucson Mountains, one of my favorite destinations for hiking, wandering, or just setting up my day office at a picnic site for hours of art, journal writing and photography. It’s also a grand way to either start or end my day – complimentary coffee or iced tea for members!

I can never sit on the patio overlooking the desert exhibits without getting at least temporarily distracted by the light and shadow contrasts from the slatted beams of the ramada offering protection from the elements.

And I always appreciate a good cup of coffee or a prickly pear iced tea as I consider the play of light and shadow. Oh, yes I do!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. And she always enjoys a good shadow photo opportunity!

Ice Cream Parlor

Ice Cream Parlor

Ice Cream Parlor ©2012 Bo Mackison

The first time I ever visited this ice cream parlor, I was newly married and Sherpa was giving me a highlight tour of Oak Park, Illinois. We were ready to leave the crowds of Lincoln Park for a little yard and a lot more quiet and our very own garage space, and Oak Park was one of our choices.

On my very first visit all those years ago, we both ordered apple pie with cinnamon ice cream. Oh, deliciousness! Once we moved to the area, we treated ourselves to pie ala mode at the beginning of every month. (My pay day.) No matter how stringent our student budget was, it couldn’t make us give up our monthly ice cream fix — though we’d have preferred a daily dose!

Recently we drove through Oak Park to see how the quarter of a house we had rented for a year was faring. It looked great. Then we drove past the ice cream parlor. It was no longer a restaurant, just a narrow shop with ice cream goodies on one side and a few tables and chairs on the other. It was nice to see the wall of old ribbons Petersen’s Ice Cream had won at over many years of State Fair participation. And the ice cream was as yummy as ever. No apple pie, though!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.