The Photography of Dr. Jeff Harper

I have lived in a great many houses in my lifetime (42++) .  It was a very nostalgic journey searching GoogleMaps Street View to find all those houses.  My Father was a career military officer, so I spent the first 12 years of my life moving often. Then, after high school, I embarked on an international career that took me around the world.  This entry is not my life story, but rather only an accountning of the houses I have lived in throoughout my life.

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[1] October 10, 1950 to November 1950 - Fort Ord, California, USA

I was born on October 10, 1950 at the U.S. Army base hospital at Fort Ord, California while my father was a Russian Language instructor at the U.S. Military Language School. My father gave the address at that time as "Government Base Housing", although he did not specify the exact base housing address.  I believe this is the type of housing we lived in, but not necessarily this particular one.  I cannot ask my mother or father as they are both now deceased.

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[2] November 1950 - January 1953 - Monterey, California, USA

In November 1950 we moved off base to this house on 39 Portola Ave., Monterey, California.  Of course I do not have any memories of this house.  It's nice to see that the house still stands after 74 years.

My mother, Amy, my brother, Allen, and me as a little baby in front of the Portola Avenue house around 1954.

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[3] January 1953 to June 1953 - Phoenix, Arizona, USA

2317 North 13th Street, Phoenix, Arizona.  A beautiful Mexican hacienda-style  bungalow.  This was only a brief six month residency.  The house still stands.

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[4] June 1953 - February 1956 - Frankfurt A/M, West Germany

14 Frauenstein Straße, Frankfurt A/M, West Germany.  We made a big move overseas, stopping along the way to visit my mother's family in Detroit, Michigan and Cleveland, Ohio.  This may not be a photo of the house (on right), but possibly a remodeling of that grand house divided into several units.  I could not find a photo of the house as it was when we lived there.  But I remember it as a fabulous four story mansion commandeered by the U.S. Army from wealthy NAZIs after the war. We had a staff of maids, cooks, and firemen for stoking the coal-fired furnace in the cellar, where the staff lived. My first memories are in that house.

My brother Allen and I with our maid and fireman, Lydia and Jonney Bossi in front of the Frankfurt mansion around 1955.  My father helped them set up a business importing fruits and vegetables to the US Military in Germany.  They became very prosperous as a result.

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[5] February 1956 to June 1956 - Frankfurt A/M, West Germany

The US Army decided to move us to new, purpose built military family housing across Frankfurt A/M. That is the building behind my brothers and I.  I use this photo because this building no longer exists on GoogleMaps.  It is now part of a park.  The building was a mess:  Frozen water pipes had broken and flooded the top two floors, rendering the wooden floors a twisted mess.  The address was Apt. C-2, 2206 Platten Straße, Frankfurt A/M, West Germany. My brothers and I in 1956.

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[6] June 1956 - October 1956 - Phoenix, Arizona, USA

We moved back to The States in June of 1956 to this house at 2527 [N.] Evergreen Street, Phoenix, Arizona.  I remember this house well.  We built forts in the back yard and ran around in the water when the city still flooded the front yard in the summer.  This house is still standing.

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[7] October 1956 to August 1957 - Tempe, Arizona, USA

We moved from a Phoenix suburb to a Tempe suburb just a few miles away and changed schools . . . for reasons I never understood.  This house is at 504 W. 16th Street, Tempe, Arizona.  It still stands.

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[8] August 1957 to December 1957 - Lawton, Oklahoma, USA

 Next came 2158 Lincoln Ave, Lawton, Oklahoma. We lived here for only four months in late 1957.  I have strong memories of Halloween trick-or-treating through the streets of Lawton with my brothers late into the night, long after the other kids had gone home.  My older brother Dennis, thought it a good idea to get as much candy as possible.  We ended up with HUGE bags of candy!

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[9] December 1957 to August 1959 - Leesville, Lousiana, USA

This yard, between two upscale ranch houses, is where the large, 2-story old wooden duplex house I lived in at 922-B Vernon Terrace, Leesville, Lousiana used to be.  I visited there again in October 2021 to find a hospital and medical center had been built across the street and large, what I assumed were doctor's houses built where I had once lived.  Time changes all. My favorite childhood memories are from the Leesville house.  Behind the house were miles and miles of nature - mostly forrested swamps full of snakes and wild pigs. We played for hours in those woods.  The swamps  are mostly gone now - there are suburban developments where we used to play.

I learned to ride a bicycle in Leesville.  One of my most cherished memories was as the designated Burger Fetcher for the family. When my mother didn't feel like cooking my father would write down the family burger order and I would ride my bike a mile or so to this very burger stand to make the order and bring it home as fast as I could so it would all still be hot.  I took this photo in 2021 and was surprised it was still there. Such a moving experience for me to see it again almost exactly as it was.  I looked on GoogleMaps recently and discovered that it had been razed.  Times change all.

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[10] August 1959 to November 1960 - Calimesa, California, USA

Our magical time in Leesville, Lousiana ended when the US Army reassigned my father to 13 months of duty in South Korea . . . with no family.  This was common at the time.  So, where were was he going to leave the family?  My father bought this house on 924 'B' Street, Calimesa, California, the town his mother and step-father lived.  It was a nice house in walking distance from the "main drag" of Calimesa, a sleepy little place in a desert pass.  He left for Korea and we all went on with our lives.  I don't think my mother liked this very much.  I had a good year in 4th grade.

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[11] December 1960 to March 1962 - Pleasant Hill, California, USA

When my father returned from his South Korea duty he was reassigned to a Nike missile base high above the Berkeley hills. He rented this house on 337 Belva Lane, Pleasant Hill, California.  I never understood us living here.  My father had to commute about 40 miles every day up and down a mountain.  Still, it was a good house and a very good school experience for me.  I was somehow immediately popular at school. This photo shows our house after some remodeling: that second story over the garage and the front porch treatment was not there when we lived there.

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[12] March 1962 to June 1962 - San Pablo Ridge, California, USA

I searched GoogleMaps for my next home and discovered that it was no longer there . . . literally. The whole neighborhood, all the houses, military buildings, and missile launch silos were all gone.  My father gave this address as "Quarters Number 321, Army Nike Missile Site, San Pablo Ridge, California." Nike missiles were nuclear tipped anti-missile missiles.  There is only a plaque there now . . . which I could not get a GoogleMaps close-up of.

Yes, I lived at a nuclear missile site above Berkeley, California.  This GoogleMaps view shows where a neighborhood of 20-25 houses used to be (my highlighted rectangle).   They were very nice houses too!  My brothers, neighbor kids, and I roamed these hills day and night. The streams were full of salamanders.  It was a beautiful place to live with views over San Francisco bay.  Often the bay was shrouded in fog and we could look over the tops - a beautiful memory. I took an army bus down a winding mountain road to El Sobrante to school every day.

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[13] July 1962 to March 1963 - Castro Valley, California, USA

18376 Wyndale Court, Castro Valley, California was the next stop for our little family of five.  My father had been given the position of Base Commander of another Nike missle base at Lake Chabot, just outside Castro Valley.  I don't know if my father bought or rented this house.  It was brand new and we were the first occupants.  I had a great experience at my first middle school.  Sock hops, sports, and very good teachers.  And girls . . . the girls discovered me before I discovered girls.

GoogleMaps has the address wrong of our house.  Apparently the current owners/occupants did not want the house shown on Street View.  Good to see that it is still there.

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[14] March 1963 to June 1963 - Yucaipa, California, USA

I am not sure what was happening with my father's military career, or my parents marriage for that matter, but my mother, brothers and I moved in with to my grandmother's house.  Where my father was, I do not know.  Probably on some super secret military operation, as he had been promoted to working with the Defence Intelligence Agency Office of the Inspector General.

34556 Yucaipa Blvd, Yucaipa, California. as it is today on GoogleMaps.  Too bad, I really liked that old house.  It was so homey . . . and across the boulevard from a shopping center, and 3 doors away from a good Mexican restaurant!

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[15] June 1963 to September 1968 - Calimesa, California, USA

My father returned from who-knows-where and bought this house at 159 East Ave. 'L', Calimesa California, just up the street from where his mother and step-father lived.  It was a nice house with an exta "guest house" in the back for my older brother, Dennis and . . . . SURPRISE! It had a swimming pool! My brothers and I couldn't believe it!  We felt RICH!  We all had our own bedrooms for once!  It looked very different then: nice lawn with a big tree and a giant, old rose tree.  There was only a carport when we lived there.  I parked my first car there, a 1957 Chevy wagon.  My father retired a year after we moved there and went to work for Lockheed Corporation.

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[16] September 1968 to July 1969 - Redlands, California, USA

My memory is a little shaky here on the exact location of this house (it looked like this one in a Redlands orange grove) , but I moved out of my family home in Calimesa to a hippy household with 4 roommates somewhere in an orange grove near Citrus Avenue in Redlands, California and commuted to my college in San Bernardino. It was a wild time.  Our house hosted a "Wednesday Night Wine-In" party that got totally out of hand every week.  People came from all over the area for these crazy hippy parties with live music from the Zdunisch Brothers Blues Band.  It was not uncommon for hundreds of people we didn't know to show up . . . and often the police too, although we had no nearby neighbors to complain.  It was the best of times and it was the worst of times for me.

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[17] July 1969 to September 1969 - Frankfurt AM, West Germany

After the crazy year in the Redlands orange hippie house, and a disastrous first year in university, I bought a charter air flight to London, England from July to September. Therapeutic travel.  I reconnected with Lydia and Jonney Bossi, my childhood maid and fireman, in Frankfurt A/M, Germany.  They were kind enough to let me stay with them that summer (This may or may not be where I stayed, but I am sure it was this neighborhood near the Frankfurt Zoo.). They also took me on a road trip to northern Italy to meet their extended family on Lago Maggiore.  I cleared my head and began to read copious numbers of good books.  It was here that I discovered my love of serious literature. 

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[**] September 1969 to June 1970 - Calimesa, California, USA

When I returned from Europe, I moved back in with my parents at 159 East Ave. 'L', Calimesa, California. l returned too late to register for college that term, so I commuted to work as a warehouseman at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino.  I bought a cool big block 1967 Mustang that I often street raced.  My love for drag racing began during this time.

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[18] July 1970 to December 1970 - Loma Linda, California, USA

I reconnected with my old high school buddy, Marty Stewart, and we moved into a sweet clapboard house in an orange grove in Loma Linda, Calaifornia.  We rented from the California State Highway Department for $45.oo a month.  We both worked at the warehouse on Norton Air Force Base which had many latinos working there.  When the oranges and giant avocado trees ripened we invited our latino coworkers out to pick all they wanted for free.  We made lots of friends and received lots of tamales and tortillas from happy families.  The Highway Department was suppose to give us one month notice before eviction, the start of a road and bridge construction project over an adjacent railroad track.  However, we woke one morning to the sound of a bulldozer tearing into the living room!  We came running out and frightened the dozer operator.  We had to find a new place to live that very day. This photo is of where the grove and our house used to be (the small rectangle).

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[19] January 1970 to March 1970 - San Bernardino, California, USA

The most bizarre housing situation followed after the bulldozed last house - 255 East 11th Street, San Bernardino, California. We were in a rush to find a rental, one maybe closer to where we worked.  We consulted a "Weekly Trader" newspaper and found a fixer-upper for only $110.oo a month. We met the cigar chomping "realtor" and paid first and last month rent and a deposit of &100.oo.  The owner said if we fixed it up he would reimburse our expenses.  Well, it had no water or electricity . . . in fact, no wiring!  It was just a shell.  We looked around and found it did not have a water or electric meter.  We asked the neighbors, two elderly sisters (house on left above) who told us the house had been condemned by the city!!!!  Oh well, the old ladies said we could use an extension cord and a hose from their property . . . and that's what we did!  We lived in a gutted house for three months!!!  Crazy kids we were!  The "owner" of the property was a travelling con man who rented condemned houses and moved on to the next city.  Oh well.  You live and learn.  The blotted out house is the property we "rented", but I can see that it is not the same structure we lived in.  I was let go from the warehouse, but fortunately for my future career, one of the elderly ladies next door was a psychiatric nurse at the county hospital and introduced me to a psychiatrist she worked for . . . . who found me a job at the San Bernardino County Hospital Mental Health Ward.  My career in mental health had begun.

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[20] March 1970 to October 1970 - Mountain Home Village, California, USA

My buddy Marty and I must have been doing something right because our next house was an idyllic mountain cabin at 36942 Mountain Home Village, California.  It was a fantastic place right on a gushing mountain river with wooden decks all along the river.  Fantastic.  I had a 45 minute commute to the mental hospital where  I was working, but I didn't mind.  I was in paradise. The house became a hub for friends to meet and hang out.

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[21] October 1970 to January 1971 - Yucaipa, California, USA

I do not remember why I needed to move out from the beautiful mountain cabin now, but I had recently reconnected with another old high school buddy, Larry Kilday, who had just been discharged from the U.S. Navy and was looking for a place to live.  He and I found a nice little house directly across the street from the high school he and I had attended.  Weird.  Well, Larry was a church goer and he quickly found a sweet young woman and they decided to get married as soon as she finished high school.  Needless to say, I was the third wheel!  Every time his betrothed came over to the house, the house they would live in after marriage, she looked at me like, "What are you doing in my marriage love nest?" So I moved out.

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[22] January 1971 to May 1971 - San Bernardino, California, USA

So, I went looking for a place to live, hopefully near where I was now working, the Methadone Clinic of San Bernardino County Hospital.  It all looked so expensive until I saw an add for "Room and Boarding House. $95.oo per month. No drinkers."  That sounded good.  It was not that far from the hospital, so I called and got the address.  It turned out to be in the middle of the Mount Vernon area of San Bernardino: the large African American neighborhood.  I met the friendly 300+ pound African American owner (she owned three adjacent houses converted to rooming houses) who offered me a nice large room with a sink and large windows, but toilet and shower down the hall.  I took it and moved in.  It was such a good deal.  The price included breakfast and dinner 6 days a week (none on Sunday).  The meals were HUGE . . . soul food mostly ham hocks, chitlins, corn bread, chili . . . the best food of my life!  I must have eaten $10.oo a day in bacon and sausages for breakfast every day.  I still cannot figure out how she made any money.  I was a super star in that black neighborhood.  I had very long hippie hair, but I worked at the Methadone Clinic.  Neighborhood folk would stop me on the street and say, "Thank you for the work you do."  When I moved in there were only 4 boarders.  One evening I came over for dinner and the table was filled with ten additional boarders - all off-season African American carnival workers (carneys). The mealtime stories were fantastic.  I had such a great experience there. I felt very accepted.

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[23] June 1971 to February 1972 - San Bernardino, California

Prior to working at the Methadone Clinic, I worked in a program called Project Awareness in the Mental Health Hospital.  There I met Bill Gene, a recovering alcoholic and former jazz musician (clarinet) in his late 60s.  He had been clean for many years and after lunch with him one day he mentioned that he needed a roommate to share rent in his apartment (I did not keep the address, but an extensive GoogleMaps search based on my worn out memories led me to this apartment - it looks right.).  I took him up on the offer.  It would be interesting to hear his stories of being on the road in the 1920s and 1930s as a jazz musician with some of the biggest Big Bands of the era ("Yes," he once said, "I spent my 16th birthday playing in a whorehouse in Rio De Janeiro," without batting an eye!)  He even had his own Big band at one time.  Now I must point out here that I had a regular and very serious girlfriend where I often spent the night at her house or with her at her brother's bungalow in Hollywood when he was on the road with a show.  Unfortunately, one day I woke up at 3:00 in the morning to go to the toilet and found Bill sitting at the kitchen table drinking gin straight from the bottle in big gulps and tears streaming down his cheeks as he rocked back and forth listening to old Big Band music on the radio.  He had fallen off the wagon.  It was so sad.  I had him committed to the alcoholism ward where I had previously worked.  It seemed he could not accept the fact that his emphysema did not allow him to play his jazz clarinet ever again.  My girlfriend and I decided it was a good time to leave Southern California for greener pastures.

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[24] February 1972 to June 1973 - Corvallis, Oregon, USA

Greener pastures turned out to be 7th Street, Corvallis, Oregon.  My lady friend and I lived in a dilapidated tarpaper roofing-sided, wood-heated "tiny house" in the back yard of a scientist.  The red box with the "X" is where that house once sat.  The house on the far left, across the street was where my high school buddy, Marty Stewart lived.  It was a real wonderful adventure there.  I worked in a Chinese restaurant and was foreman of a lumber mill in Philomath before enrolling in Linn-Benton Community College to continue my higher education. Throughout this time I was a volunteer at Sunflower House Free Clinic in Corvallis (now demolished) as a telephone crisis counselor, trainer, and member of a "Bummer Squad" (crisis intervention counseling) where we responded in person to people suffering psychiatric emergencies and bad drug experience. I had many fantastic life experiences throughout my time in and around Corvallis.

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[25] July 1974 to May 1975 - Benton County, Oregon, USA

Our house karma got considerably better when , through friends (my girlfriend's nursing school fellow student) we were able to rent this marvelous farm house in the countryside along Highway 20 between Corvallis and Albany, Oregon (I do not have the exact address).  It was idyllic.  It sat above a bluff overlooking the Willamette River flood plane in the back of the house.  Fantastic.  We commuted from here to community college everyday in my big old NAPCO '59 Chevy Suburban.

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[26] June 1975 to August 1975 - Abany, Oregon, USA

My girlfriend and I split up and I was headig off back to University in the Fall, but needed a place to stay in the meantime.  As I had a College Work Study job in the CC Art Department, I knew the artist Jim Brick.  He had a basement apartment (arrow above) on 1st Avenue in Albany, Oregon.  He left some blank canvasses and paints and insisted I make a couple of paintings over the summer.  Interestingly, the apartment was next door to the Adult Book Store and Theatre (now a real movie house playing Disney films!). A college friend of mine was the projectionist there.  I would go over there and have beer and dinner with him when I got home from my job in the cabinet shop of a mobile home factory.  Good times.

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[27] September 1975 to November 1975 - Peedee, Oregon, USA

I enrolled in Oregon College of Education (now Western Oregon University), in Monmouth, Oregon and went looking or a place to live.  I found this wonderful old house on a very rural road out in the Oregon coast range at $90.oo a month.  Beautiful!  However, it was just too far (15 miles) from college and I couldn't afford the gas in my guzzler V8 Chevy Suburban, so I only lived there for three months.  I am not sure if this is the exact house I lived in, since I did not save the address, but my memory says it is.

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[28] November 1975 to May 1976 - Monmouth, Oregon, USA

I answered a call for a roommate posted at the college and shared the rent on this upstairs flat.  That's my room (circled) in the front.  My share of the rent was $45.oo a month + about $15.00 in utilities.  I could afford it and tuition easily on my Work Study job and several grants.  My roommate was a wild guy who graduated in December (Parole/Corrections), so I had to recruit another roommate.  A freshman and his high school girlfriend answered my ad . . . . they were not really mature enough to be living out in the world on their own.  I had lots of "issues" with them and their immature friends.

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[29] May 1976 to December 1977 - Monmouth, Oregon, USA

I met a new woman and we became partners.  She owned this small house near the university and I moved in.  It was the best of times.  I made many good friends and we had wonderful parties.  I did not finish my college degree but instead took a very good job as an administrator at a three-county alcohol services organization and trainer in Crisis Counseling for the State of Oregon . . . . my girlfriend (who became my first wife) left for Zaïre, Africa in August 1977, and I lived there after she left.

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[30 & 31] December 1977 to June 1986 - Kinshasa, Zaïre (now Congo DRC)

I proposed by telegram to the Congo and she accepted.  We met up at her family farm in Denmark and we were married there before we all went off to live in faculty housing at The American School of Kinshasa (TASOK). The first six months we (her son lived with us now) lived in a "singles" apartment (#1 above). I did my student teaching here and finished my Bachelors Degree by correspondence.  Later I attended summer school at Oregon State University and received my Masters Degree in School Counseling.

Thereafter we lived in a large three bedroom duplex surrounded by tropical gardens . . . and had a wonderful Angolan maid/nanny after the birth of our daughter.  It was a fabulously wonder-filled nine years living in The Congo. I went on an 11 day river boat adventure up the Congo River and many other incredible experiences here, covered in other blog entries.  This was a life changing experience for me.

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[32] August 1986 to June 1987 - London, England, UK

Yes, we moved from Kinshasa to London.  I like to say that I noticed some differences almost right away.  What a change!  We rented the top floor of this art gallery from a Mr. Granville.  26 Wellington Road, St. Johns Wood, NW8. A very nice part of town.  London was a great city with so much to see and do. We stayed only one year here because there were workmen in the apartment all the time conducting a renovation.  Too bad, I liked that place.

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[33] June 1987 to June 1988 - London, England, UK

We moved just up the street to a 7th floor flat on 40 Wellington Road, St. Johns Wood, NW8.  It was only a one year lease while the owners were visiting their children in Australia.  We didn't mind because we were trying to buy our own property in London for a long stay . . . . unfortunately that didn't work out.

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[34] August 1988 to June 1989 - Singapore

We moved to a Singapore West Coast Road upstairs apartment.  Singapore was a great experience, but my employment was a bad experience.  In addition, in the "safest city in the world," we were burgled - robbed of all our valuables.  I wish we could have stayed longer, as we loved living there, but after one year it was time for a change of scenery . . . and a change of life.

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[35] June 1989 to October 1989 - Chiang Mai, Thailand

It seemed like a good time of life to further my education, so we moved to The Black House on the Ping River in San Phi Suea District of Chang Mai, Thailand and I apply to Ph.D. programs in the States.  Our house (circled above) was in a family court yard with a thatched deck right over the Ping River.  It was a very primitive house made of black stained teakwood.  It was a magical experience. My then wife went in to a Buddhist temple to practice Vipassana meditation while I taught English at a International School in Exchange for tuition for my daughter.  I was also cast in a big Hollywood movie production taking place in Thailand, Air America. I got to Meet Mel Gibson and Michael Downey, Jr.  An interesting time.

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[36] October 1989 to January 1990, Ejby, Fyn, Denmark

We moved to a pig farm on rural Gremmeløkkevej Road near the town of Ejby on the central Danish island of Fyn.  It was the home of my then wife's sister and family.  We spent part of many summers here during our time in Zaïre and London. I loved that place and all the old customs the family kept. We spent a magical Christmas and New Years there. I helped on the farm while I waited to hear the decisions on my Ph.D. applications.

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[37] January 1990 to June 1992 - Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

The University of Virginia (among others) accepted me into their Ph.D. program and I accepted.  We had funds from savings and investments to purchase a home, but because we had not lived in the States and did not have a credit rating (we had never borrowed money), we were unable to purchase a home.  The bank said we should get credit cards and use them for everything (and pay off each month) to get a credit score, for two years.  That is what we did while living in this rental at 1917 Swanson Drive, Charlottesville, Virginia.

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[38] July 1992 to August 1996 - Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

We were finally able to purchase this fine two story home on 305 Bennington Road in a wooded suburb of Charlottesville. My then wife bought and developed a nice used book store, and I received the largest fellowship available from the US Government (I was a FLAS Fellow). I loved my time and studies at the University of Virginia. I finished my Ph.D. while living there and embarked on an academic career in higher education at the University of Virginia, Yale University, and the U.S. Department of Education.  This GoogleMaps photos the current owner refurbishing the exterior.  But all things must sometimes end.

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[39] August 1996 to June 2000 - Pakkret (Bangkok), Thailand

One thing led to another and my first marriage ended.  I felt a bit marooned in the USA after having lived so many years abroad.  After a quick search I landed a plum of a position in Thailand and moved into the International School Bangkok faculty housing in the northern Bangkok suburb of Pakkret in the gated community of Nichada Thani.  It was a good move.  I love Thailand deeply and now consider myself an immigrant here.

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[40] July 2000 to August 2013 - Pakkret (Bangkok) Thailand

I met the love of my life, we married, and we built this house in Baan Sailom in the Chaengwattana Road area of Bangkok. We have lived there since, with a brief four period abroad. This is our home and we love living here.

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[41] August 2013 to June 2014 - Aberdeen, Scotland

My wife is a seriously good golfer and I promised her when we married that it might be fun if I took a position abroad for a few years before I retired.  She said now was the time, so I found a post in Aberdeen, Scotland . . . the home of golf!  She was excited.  It was difficult to find a rental in Aberdeen, an oil boom town at the time, but this one (red door on right) at 54 Ashley Road was available.  I loved this little place, but the owner lived upstairs with two noisy children. Oh well.

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[42] July 2014 to June 2016 - Aberdeen, Scotland

25 Rubislaw Park Crescent in Aberdeen was our next house.  It was a very nice place to live in a very nice area, near a park, and backed up on a creek (a burn). We greatly enjoyed Scotland, travelled all over the country, and my wife played many golf tournaments, winning some.

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[43] June 2026 to June 2017 - Peterculter, Scotland

One of my colleagues took a position in China and was leaving his wonderful rental house empty.  We jumped at the chance to live in the old Victorian-era stone house with a huge garden overlooking the River Dee in the village of Peterculter on 43 North Deeside Road.  There was a bicycle path that I rode the five miles to my job every day along the river.  Fantastic!

The Peterculter house was not much to look at from North Deeside Road, but the back yard was an incredible Victorian-era garden.  The house was beautifully restored with an added glass sun room at the rear.  It was an idyllic life in a Scottish village.  Lucky, lucky, lucky.

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[**] July 2017 to Present - Pakkret (Bangkok), Thailand

Back to house my #40 in Pakkret, Thailand where I have lived ever since.  I am retired now, but my wife and I still travel a lot.

During the summer of 2023 I visited my daughter and her family on her forest farm in southwestern Maine from my home in Bangkok, Thailand.  It was wonderful to be in the cool, fresh air of the northeast USA.  My good Bangkok friend John has a cabin up the coast near the Canadian boarder.  We planned, while still in Thailand, to take a road trip from his cabin up through the Canadian Maritimes, a region neither of us had been.   We took only the very small farm roads from the southwest to the northern coast.  Along these wonderful New England roads I saw the most amazing old houses and farms.

An old Maine feed store. I love these old places with the weathered surfaces.

My friend John's cabin sits in deep primordial forest a stones throw from the Atlantic ocean.

John's magical forest.

John's land had so many different kinds of mosses and lichens.  Astonishing beauty.

A short walk through a state park lead to this rocky shore.  Fantastic!

We spent hours clamoring around and over these huge stones.

A wild and wonderful natural seashore.

The cabin is not that far from Milbridge, Maine.  We drove around the area visiting interesting places and scenes.  This collection of buoys and floats was interesting.

A lovely rural farmhouse near Milbridge, Maine.

Milbridge, Maine sits aside the Narraguagus River estuary.

Milbridge Bay is as idyllic a Maine scene as you can get.

A panorama of the view dockside at the community bandstand . . . where we would join the community for a nostalgia rock band concert.

Milbridge, Maine has a public community garden; if you put in time and labor then you can take flowers and vegetables out of it.  I love it.

John and I decided on a general route.  I made a couple online cheap motel/dorm bookings (it was the tourist busy season), and we saw a couple of "points of interest" on the GoogleMaps that we used to point us in a general direction.  Lighthouses seemed the common denominator.

Early one morning we loaded our stuff up and headed up the highway to see what we could see . . . and photograph, of course.  We more-or-less hugged the beautiful Maine coast, discovering these quaint fishing ports.

The West Quoddy Head Lighthouse was one of our first destinations.  We were not disappointed.

West Quoddy Head is the easternmost point in the contiguous United States.  Now you know.  It is also the point closest to the African continent in the United States.  Interesting.

We crossed over into New Brunswick, Canada near the small town of St. Stephen with it's lovely old church.

St. Stephen sits on the Saint Croix River directly across from Calais, Maine, USA.  Both of these towns were major industrial centers in the last century, due to their access to the Atlantic Ocean and short sailing to England and Europe. Evidence of their past manufacturing glory can still be seen, as in this old river power generating station and adjacent mills.

A commemorative riverside statue recognizing the mill workers in the factories of Calais and St. Stephen.

A beautiful street mural in St. Stephen with a view across the Saint Croix River to Calais, Maine.

Calias, Maine from across the Saint Croix River.

At one time St. Stephen rivaled Hershey, Pennsylvania as the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America, but eventually lost out.  In 2000, St. Stephen was given the title of "Canada's Chocolate Town." Who knew?  We did not tour the Chocolate Museum, but we did hit the gift shop for some tasty (and expensive) chocolate.

A short walk off of the downtown Main Street found us in neighborhoods of old "carpenter Gothic" Victorian houses, testament to the wealth this town once had.

We let GoogleMaps guide us to a very beautiful spot after an off limits nuclear power plant road thwarted our attempts to get to another lighthouse.  This is Dipper Harbour, New Brunswick near sunset.

A Dipper Harbour fishing boat.

Visually fascinating woven old tires for boat pier rub-rails at Dipper Harbour.

Dipper Harbour sunset.

A final Dipper Harbour sunset photo before returning to our little motel cabin.

A lovely seaside home on the back roads to St. John.

We moved on . . . to where the street photography in St. John, Newfoundland was very rewarding.

Lovely old row houses in St. John.

I am a big fan of old doors . . . . 

There were some lovely tree-lined lanes in St. John.

Classic red brick wall with old faded painted signage.

In addition to the red brick row houses, downtown St. John had some lovely old carpenter Gothic grand homes.

The St. John City Market (est. 1855) was one of the highlights of our visit there.  Did I buy a St. John t-shirt here?  You bet I did!

Not all of St. John is quaint and charming.

The downtown St. John cross streets all lead down a steep hill to the Bay of Funday.

We continued along the coast of the Bay of Funday in search of more photogenic lighthouses.  We followed the maps to Cape Enrage Lighthouse, New Brunswick, out on a promontory.  We paid an entrance fee only to then discover that access to the lighthouse was closed due to high winds.  Oh well.  This is as close as I got to use a long lens.

A fishing port along the road.  This shows just how big the tidal differences are in the Bay of Funday.  

The drive along the Newfoundland coast was fantastically beautiful.

The Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Funday are described as a "must see" attraction in Newfoundland.  Indeed it was an extraordinary scene.  It was also a must see for several thousand other tourists on the day we were there.  We had to wait quite a while for our turn to access the photo vantage point.  Worth it . . . but very crowded.

The truly marvelous Hopewell Rocks.  We marveled.

No matter where in the world you go there will always be that one roadside house with the yard full of "collectables." Everywhere!  Newfoundland roadside wonders.

After having dinner in a nice restaurant in Moncton, we drove on and spent the night in a dorm room at a technical college in Springhill, Nova Scotia.  I must have been pretty tired because I didn't take any photos at these stops.  The next morning we ate in the college cafeteria before we drove in to Halifax, Nova Scotia for a walkabout.  I parked the truck in front of a cemetery across from a park, and fed the meter.

We found this headstone humorous: like what else would you find under there?

The Halifax city park was in full bloom!

The Halifax waterfront is beautifully developed.

The Halifax quay side display of old Canadian Navy ships was interesting.

There were many displays of public art in Halifax.  I loved this sailor statue (reminded me of my Uncle Ernie!).

Old downtown Halifax was clean and neat.

Our next stop was across Nova Scotia at the historic town of Fort Anne . . . the birthplace of Canada, settled in 1629.

The old fashioned interior of the Fort Anne Cafe was very sweet.

Fort Anne is, of course, a major tourist destination for Canadians.  

Beautiful old colonial architecture abounds in Fort Anne.

A rainbow crosswalk in Fort Anne, Nova Scotia.

A typical old house in Fort Anne.

Restored harbour light house at Fort Anne.

At the end of a long day, we caught the East Ferry to Long Island, Nova Scotia, then on to Brier Island.  This is a very remote place in Canada!

The view from the East Ferry along the rugged coast of Long Island, Nova Scotia.

Brier Island is on the far Northwestern tip of Nova Scotia and takes two ferry trips to get there.  It is an old fishing/whaling area full of delightful old cedar-sided dock houses.

Beached lobster boats, Brier Island, Nova Scotia.

Such a beautiful and moody place . . .  and very photogenic.  Brier Island.  We caught the big drive-on ferry across the Bay of Funday from Digby, Nova Scotia back to St. John, Newfoundland before driving back to John's cabin in Milbridge, Maine.  I don't know why I do not have photos of the 3-hour big ferry trip, oh well.

After returning to John's cabin in Milbridge, Maine, we took to the small roads to explore some of the small towns nearby.  Cherryfield, Maine, ironically known as the "Blueberry Capital of the World" was the perfect New England picturesque village.

We had good coffee and cakes at this sweet Cherryfield riveride café.

A beautiful old turreted Victorian home in Cherryfield.

Like a lot of small villages in New England, Cherryfield had its share of antique shops.

Nice yard art in Cherryfield.

Caddywampus old store in Cherryfield.  Looks like it was just moved there and puton a new foundation  . . . . unsuccessfully.

What you always hope you will find on a road trip: the perfect roadside diner . . . .

 . . . with the perfect lemon meringue pie!

One of the highlights of my visit was attending the Milbridge Days parade and lobster feed at the firehouse.

Milbridge, Maine is more multicultural than you might expect.  This was nice to see.

As Milbridge is a lobstering village, the parade had a lobster theme.  Sweet.

Oh! To be a lobster in the town parade! Memories are made of this!

I love a parade.  Yes, the Shriners showed up with their "street boats."

The highlight of the day was the lobster and mussel feed in the firehouse. 

John and I had a great time rambling around Maine and the Canadian Maritimes for a week.  Thanks John.

The unforgettable beauty of the Maine coast.

CLICK HERE for the full story of the build-up and dyno testing of my wild 600 horsepower street beast: A Whipple supercharged, Lexus 3UZ V8 powered 2004 Toyota Hilux Tiger Pick-up.  

THE LINK IS HERE

The Minburi Market is actually a collection of three very large open markets in the northern suburb of Bangkok.  My friend John and I drove there from his house.

My photographer friend, John and I love to skulk the old back alleys in and around the Minburi Market for textures and patterns.

I'm always rewarded here with finding one of my favorite photographic subjects: aged and rusting corrugation.

Pealing paint, rust, dilapidated corrugation . . . all the things I love to photograph.

This old neighborhood is just outside the actual Minburi Market wet market area . . . on the way from where we parked.  

Narrow elevated walkways suspended above a flooded field. So much to see.

Patterns on top of patterns on top of dilapidation covered by corrugation.  It doesn't get any better!!!

What the heck?  It seems we stumbled upon a Thai movie set.  The authenticity of this sold 1940s neighborhood played perfectly into a setting of wartime Japanese occupation.

A perfect period setting for a WWII movie.  At this point a young production assistant came over and said we would have to leave the set and not to take any photos.  Oops! Too late!

If you look closely you see many small details that reflect the spiritual interests of the people living in these old neighborhoods.  These votive items seem to have been there for a very long time and have acquired a patina of age.

A rudimentary, and seemingly abandoned, spirit house platform and beer offering.

We walked into the old wet market and discovered it abandoned for the day.  Very interesting to be in here with nobody around.

We walked over a bridge to get to the markets and saw this image:  a solar-powered khlong boat  "bus" and the new Pink Line Sky Train.

The Minburi Market is framed by several canals (khlongs). This boatman is waiting for a fare.

Life along the Minburi Khlong.

An old canal rice barge tied along the Khlong.  A lovely scene.

Shed houses on stilts in the canal . . . so fascinating.

Idyllic Thai canal life.

It was a very, very hot afternoon, so we walked quickly through several markets in search of the air-conditioned coffee shop. I have many entries elsewhere on this blog inside the wonderful Thai markets.

We did stop now and again when an amazing image presented itself.  Fresh fish with accouterments.

Marvelous patterns everywhere.

After a pleasant day spent in the Minburi Market, I took the recently opened Pink Line Sly Train home.

On the morning of April 14, 2024 a friend sent us an e-mail with an attachment about a kite festival not far away.  Sure, why not, and we can find a sweet place to eat too after beach combing.

We saw some amazing kites that afternoon . . . but we couldn't stay all day.

We learned that there is a big kiting community who travel from festival/event to event to fly and show off their kites. Most participants had several kites.

The event organizers were first to put up a kite with the locale banner.

The first decorative kite to go up was this amazing stingray kite.  Some kiters told us this kite was made in Germany and was very expensive, several thousand dollars.  It was 40 metres long!

So beautiful flying above the blue sea and sky!

The detail on these kites was remarkable.

Launching one of these amazing kites took considerable technical skill.

I thought launching one octopus kite was quite a feat, but two!

Two octopus kites up and flying.

I thought launching two octopus kites was quite a feat, but three!

All three up and flying . . . but wait!

WOW! These guys put up four octopus kites tethered on a common rigging with an auxiliary kite to keep it all airborne.  WOW!

It was an oppressively hot and humid afternoon . . . so we stayed under the trees . . . and left early for lunch.

A memorable afternoon of flying octopus and stingray kites!

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We went on for lunch and a shore drive.

We had a  fantastic Thai lunch at this old wooden hole-in-the-wall restaurant.  Food photos were posted on-line (of course!).

On our way back to the car, we passed these squid drying on the sidewalk . . . with amazing shadow patterns!

These are going to be tasty!

We drove south on a small rural road that hugged the seaside and arrived at Khao Kalok Beach.  Beautiful.

Such a sublimely beautiful place.

We will come back to this place . . . .

We bought water at this beach side eatery . . . it was just too hot and humid to beach comb much.  We went back.  It was a good day.