Saturday, May 03, 2008

Round Robin: Spring Cleaning the Sphinx

Hi, everybody! In this week's Round Robin Photo Challenge, Steven has given us the topic Spring Cleaning. Now, I did actually take a "before" picture of my desk two weeks ago, but since then I haven't gotten around to much of what you might call "cleaning." (Let's give John two minutes here to expound on this subject, and me a further minute in which to promise some action in this area.)

But that's boring anyway. I've got a much better clean-up project to show you. And it didn't require any work on my part. Remember my three recent trips out to Magic Carpet Golf? (You can see all of the entries here.) Well, I've got shots of volunteers sprucing up a few of the sculptures out there, and before-and-after shots of several others. Let's take a look!

When I first photographed the monkey on April 4th, he was in sad shape.


When I returned on Thursday, April 24th, two days before the One Last Round benefit, he had received at least one coat of paint, most likely during a volunteer paint-a-thon the previous Saturday.


Unfortunately the paint didn't quite manage to cover everything evenly in one matching color, and camera flashes on the night of the benefit picked out imperfections on this and other figures. Even so, he looked much better than before.


When I pulled up to Magic Carpet on the 24th, one of the first things I noticed was that volunteers were painting this sort of hut thing.

A few feet away, Stoneface was looking much, much better.

Here's how he looked before the work started. Remember?



He looked even more dramatic the night of the benefit, although this is not his best angle.


On the Thursday visit, around to the side, I saw this fellow hard at work on one of the largest figures of all.

I wasn't sure the Sphinx needed as much work as some of the other figures. Certainly it looked good as the kid was working on it.


But again, night shots and flash later revealed imperfections in the paint matching and coverage. On the other had, this sphinx still had its entire nose, so score one for Tucson!


Perhaps the most startling paint job was the one that rendered this change in this snake. On the night of One Last Round, he was quite the colorful fellow - and with glowing eyes, too!

Also on the night, I saw a volunteer replacing a lid on the crocodile after some quick adjustment or repair.

I don't mean to criticize the quality of the painting. It was wonderful of the volunteers to put in the time and effort, all for one final day of miniature golf. Some of these figures, in whole or in part, will now be moved elsewhere. Others, including, I suspect, the sphinx, will be destroyed to make room for a car dealership at the site. You see, these huge cement structures weren't designed to be moved, ever.

But at least people took the time to give them a spring cleaning before their last hurrah.

The other part of this RR topic is supposed to be 3 suggestions for future topics. As it is, I wrack my brains weekly for the Monday Photo Shoot assignments, but here are a few, based on tonight's entry:

Statues - photograph a statue of some sort. It can be as large as the Sphinx in Egypt, or as small as a bowling trophy.

Fresh Paint - photograph something before and after it's painted. It can be a bedroom, a bridge, a piece of canvas...anything!

Volunteers - photograph volunteers helping out in your community - collecting litter, giving blood, helping the homeless, tutoring kids...whatever!

Karen

Now go see everyone else's spring cleaning!

Linking List

Steven - Posted
(sometimes)photoblog
http://www.sometimesphotoblog.com/

Carly - Posted
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com

Karen - Posted
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com

Momma - Posted
Sandcastle Momma
http://sandcastlemomma.blogspot.com

Gattina - Posted
Keyhole Pictures
http://gattina-keyholepictures.blogspot.com/

Wammy - Posted
The Ellis Family Cincinnati
http://theellisfamilycincinnati.blogspot.com

Martha - Posted
Perception
http://journals.aol.com/lifes2odd/perception/

Lisa - Posted
Lisa's Chaos
http://lisaschaos.blog-city.com

Sarah - Posted
Charish Me
http://Charish-me.blogspot.com

Vicki - Posted
Maraca
http://mymaracas.blogspot.com/

Angela - Posted
Chocolate Syrup for the Soul
http://www.angelas-craziness.blogspot.com

Marie
Photographs & Memories
http://journals.aol.com/mariebm56/PhotographsAndMemories

Robin
Robinella's
http://notastepfordwife.blogspot.com/

Kiva - Posted
Eclectic Granny
http://eclecticgranny.blogspot.com

Kim - Posted
Nekked Lizard Adventures
http://nekkedlizardadventures.typepad.com/

Julie - Posted
Julie's Web Journal
http://www.barrettmanor.com/julie/journal.aspx

Teena - Posted
It's all about me!
http://purple4mee.blogspot.com/

Jennifer Robin - Posted
Robin's Woods
http://robinswoods.blogspot.com/

12 comments:

Teena in Toronto said...

Wow! What a difference!

Mine's up too :)

Wendy said...

That has got to be a lot of work to keep up with. Talk about a spring cleaning project. Hope you can visit mine too!

Gattina said...

That's a nice spring cleaning ! at least interesting and not boring household things !

Carly said...

It never occurred to me how much maintainance goes into those little places at a pee wee golf course. The big Easter Island guy looks a whole lot happier.

Steven said...

Nice look at the mini golf course. They don't make'm like that anymore. Too bad it's not to remain. Nice ideas!

Unknown said...

Wow people went to so much work and now they will all be moved or destroyed? That's really sad. :(

I love the changes in the snake!

MyMaracas said...

What fun photos! It's a shame the figures can't stay. I like your ideas, too.

Kiva said...

It is really hard to match paint, especially if you don't have the original paint and even then the chemicals degrade. Those volunteers did a great job with what they had. I'm glad you recorded it all. It's been a fun "serial" to follow in your blog.

Sandcastle Momma said...

I love this post! How cool that they cleaned it all up for the last hoorah. I really miss the Goofy Golf park of my childhood. It will be nice to show these pics to my kids who think I'm nuts when I tell them about mini golf when I was a kid. Great job!

Jan AKA Wammy said...

That was fun to watch the transformation. My favorite the big monkey. I wanna go there to play!

barrettmanor said...

That's a very cool golf course. And like you, I won't comment on the state of my own desk.

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