Norfolk & Western Steam Memories

The Norfolk & Western was known for their large coaling towers. This concrete twin track tower still stands in Bluefield, West Virginia.

They will hopefully last a long time as it is too expensive to remove them.



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Sunbeam Bread - It's Batter Whipped!

Here is some historic Sunbeam advertising from a General Store in Norway, South Carolina. The store which was moved to the location (I believe) is covered in Nostalgia.




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Cockshutt Tractors - Old Iron in Aiken

I'd never heard of Cockshutt tractors before seeing these in front of the new Aiken Depot in Aiken, SC in October 2010.

I did find a couple of books about them on Amazon if you are interested.

Silo Storm

Today's photograph.. "Silo Storm" was shot in Augusta, Georgia in Summer 2010.  It was shot using a Canon 7d and the 50mm 1.8 EF lens. Click on the photo too see a larger version.

Silos such as these are a quickly fading reminder of the history of farming and agriculture in Georgia. On many farms they are abandoned or are being torn-down to make room for additional crops.

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My images of Mabry Mill on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Mabry Mill on the Blue Ridge Parkway has always been a favorite destination of mine. No matter what the season, there is always something interesting to photograph.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from Mabry Mill.




Here are a few suggested books if you want to visit or learn more about the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Welcome Back

After taking some time off, I've decided to restart the Gene's Lens Blog to discuss photography.

I hope you'll visit often as I share some favorite photos and my thoughts as I learn more about photography.

My website http://genebowker.com/ is hosted by Zenfolio - elegant photo hosting who provides a great service for a reasonable price.

@Twaintoday Special Edition: Gene's Top 5 Twain Books

Most of you know that I'm a fan of Mark Twain.

I write a column on the Examiner.com about Mark Twain and I also love to tweet my favorite Twain quotes @Twaintoday on Twitter.

I'm asked what some of my favorite works by Mark Twain are so I've compiled a list of my TOP 10 Twain Books available at this moment in time.

First on the list: Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1

I just received a preview copy of the book to start reading. It is the "Bible" of Mark Twain at 750+ pages and chock full of great Mark Twain references for fans and lots of unknown quotes.

It will be nice that they are offering the book in a kindle version too, it will be much easier to carry when you are not at home

Second on the List: The Complete Mark Twain Collection (Over 300 works, with active table of contents) 

This is the Kindle Version which contains over 300 works and is easy to navigate. The search functions are nice making it easy to look up a reference when I'm travelling. There is enough Twain on here to keep you occupied for days :)

Third: Life on the Mississippi

Life on the Mississippi is a great book about Twain's career as a River Pilot on the Mississippi river during the golden age of steam.

Twain's ability to psycho-analyze (before the term was invented) the variety of characters he meets is wonderful. I'm not sure how much of the book written years later was fact or fiction, but it is a great travel/history book.



Fourth: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is often regarded as only a sequel to Tom Sawyer since it continues on with some of the main characters from the first book.

Huck Finn was one of Twain's favorite books and was one of the first books to try and tell a story in the speech of the participants without being mocking. The narrator's semi-literate speech and the deep treatment of the question of slavery in the Pre-civil war South give this book a place on any bookshelf.

Huck Finn has the notoriety of being banned from numerous libraries (starting with Concord, Mass) as being vulgar. However in the century since it's publication it has found it's way back into most of them.

Fifth: Mark Twain: Man in White: The Grand Adventure of His Final Years

Many Twain fans seem to believe that Mark Twain always wore his famous white suit that he is most famous in. However, as the Man in White shares with us, it was a late-life invention of Twain's.

The book details the last few years of his life and how Twain prepared to go from living legend to immortality.

The story of his autobiography is told along with the authorized biography by Paine.

You see his interaction with his remaining daughters Clara and Jean after the death of his wife Livy.  

As well as how he dealt with his admiring fans and few true friends such as William Dean Howell's (Author of My Mark Twain)

There are plenty of more great Twain books out there that I didn't have time to touch on in this article. Be sure to catch part 2 for 5 more favorites soon.

 

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