Lums Chapel Inspiration

There's more inspiration photos on our main website... http://www.whatdubhghalldoes.org/movie_photos.htm

Click on this link, to read about the inspiration for my radio drama, "Driven to Abstraction".

See also an edited version of a letter to my sister detailing the motivation and more inspiration for the story, "To Them That's Left" (aka. "Driven to Abstraction")

Most of these photos were taken in either Olney, or Archer City, Texas. I will label them if it is relevant. Some of these just remind me of "home". Some of them have specific reasons why I took them.

These are raw photos. You can click on them to view huge versions.

Most of these were taken on a Texas trip in the summer of 2009.

Beautiful sunset Olney, Texas summer 2009

Oak Street, Olney, Texas summer 2009. The Model for Oak Street in "my" Lums Chapel. The one in Olney is a residential street. The one in "my" Lums Chapel is the "main street" or "high street".

Last parking meter in Olney, near the fire station.

"Ancient" phone booths in Olney. If they are still operational, they are some of the last of a breed.

Prickly pear cactus near Graham, Texas summer 2009.

[On a side note... My grandfather told me that the red "pears" on these cactus are edible. When I lived in Ft. Worth, Tx. a friend and I were walking along a street when we saw these cactus in a yard. I picked two of the fruit off the cactus. Yes, it was stealing, but I don't think "they" noticed. My grandfather had said that you burn off the thorns and you cook (boil?) the fruit. We burned off the spines by stabbing the fruit with a fork, and holding them over the flames on a gas stove. I remember boiling the fruit to cook them, yet I'm not sure that's what really happened. (as my grandfather would say, "I've slept since then") One tiny taste was enough for a life time. Horrible, horrible, terrible, terrible. Bitter, bitter, bitter. Yuck! When I told my grandfather what we had done, he explained that only desperate people eat prickly pear. And he said if you do eat them they require lots of sugar. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I seem to remember hearing about a "prickly pear jelly". Don't know if I'm dreaming that one. Nope not dreaming it. You can buy it in jars from places like Amazon.com. And here is a list of various things one can make with prickly pear. http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,prickly_pear,FF.html I guess they are edible, if prepared correctly. My grandfather and I were discussing eating them in the context of being a cowboy and cooking things on a camp fire. One other thing... I stuck those "pears" in the pockets of the jacket I was wearing. It took many washes before I could stick my hands in the pockets. Every time I did that, I got the fine prickles in my hands.]

Mesquite trees. I forget where they were taken. Probably around Olney or somewhere.

Hardware store in Olney. I think this is across from the old telephone booths.

I believe this is in Archer, City. It is the remains of an old gas station. (petrol / fuel)

Remains of an old gas station in Olney. They do have modern ones there.

Former restaurant in Olney. This was once the No-D-Lay (if I spelled it correctly).

Different view of same phone booths.

This is the view across from the funeral parlor in Olney. The trees and the flowers brought back a strong emotion. I cannot communicate it to you as I don't have the words. Of course to look at this now, it is almost meaningless. It might be a, "I guess you had to be there" situation.

This is a photo of the old "ice house" in Olney. I remember people getting ice for parties or family gatherings at this place. I think that was before I was in school, so that would be the mid to late 1960's maybe. I have no idea if this is still in business or not. The reason I stuck it on here... I had this dream once (or maybe more than once?). It was where a building similar to this ice house was located on Main Street in Olney. It was a train station. Dreams are a good deal of the time illogical. In this dream they routed the street around this "train station". Main street split in half to go around this train station as if it were an island in the middle of the street. But where were the tracks? I don't remember. It wasn't a very logical dream.

Find below three photos that came to me via E-mail from the Olney Enterprise. The photos are of some of their printing presses. My adoptive father once owned the Olney Enterprise.