Lovely Old Place in Edinburgh, Scotland

at risk edinburgh

Such nice work on this building. I found it with Google Street View for a better look. There are birds on the sides of the building. I hope someone takes care of this place. On Google someone had garbage leaning against one of the main doorways. Tried to get some nice images with Google to show it off. As always, wish I could be there to see it and photograph it myself.

This building also has images of the original owners. I wonder if the families still own the building and know who the faces on it are. Continue reading →

An Urban Exploration Directory is Too Much Work

I had wanted (and tried!) to build an urban exploration directory of sites. I have experience building and maintaining a web directory, for years. But, I’m finding the project is too big and too vast to take on and build to my own standards of over-perfection. So, I am just working on a directory for Canadian urban exploration groups, photographers and resources.

I am still adding other links but I’m not going to focus on them. I may turn some of the links into pages sorted by location. But, that is down the road somewhere.

White Towers Motel

It’s interesting how much you can and can not see using Google Street View. This is the White Towers Motel. I can’t say that it was the White Tower’s Motel because it is still standing, so far. There is some kind of plan in action for it. Likely it was sold to new owners as the name has been changed. Now it is the Barrie Motel Hotel (or something like that). There is one of the old white signs still up but the rest have been changed.

One whold section of the motel is all boarded up and will likely be demolished. It wasn’t a fancy place and now it really looks ratty. Too bad to see another of the old motels downslide and likely disappear at some point.

My plan is to get there for some photos of my own. But, I did like the step back in time to see it in 2012 when Google got these photos. One odd thing, the side of the building which is now boarded up is different now. In this view the building has a new surface but when I went by on the bus today it was the old stuff. Likely a board (which was painted fresh) has fallen off. Anyway, will get the photos of the motel as it is now, soon.

Kasteel Van Mesen

Kasteel Van Mesen (aka Castle Mesen)
Belgium

Now demolished. These images are from Google, taken a few years ago. Looks like a really great place to have seen. I especially like the side building with columns. Google Earth is really great but I wish I could focus closer in on the details and get the image to fall exactly where I want to see. Of course, Google isn’t making this as a map for urban explorers.
Continue reading →

Ruins Meets Modern

My favorite style of design is when the very old meets the new. It’s like the industrial lofts in Downtown LA that still maintain some of the classical building elements.

Organica Arquitectura in Lisbon took a ruined stone house in Portugal and integrated a brand new modern house. The combination of the old and new couldn’t be more perfect.

I feel that it’s important to maintain older beautiful structures and restore them when possible. It maintains the history and gives a new building so much personality. This is my idea of perfect design.

via Ruins Meets Modern «.

Blogging 101: Say “Hi!” to the Neighbors

Capture

Today’s challenge is one I am skipping for now. I’ve got a lot of blogs I follow, years and years worth of blogs I follow and I almost never read them. I would like to take time to weed through my list to find which are link rot, moved and can have a fresh link and find new sites which I would love to add to the list. That all takes quite a lot of time though, more than one day for sure.

So this day three of the WordPress Blogging 101 will have to be on the list of extra things to do later. I’d like to do the same for all of my sites. Actually, links I have on the two main sites need to be sorted into relevant topics which would fit on the niche sites too.

Lots of work to be done!

Blogging is a communal experience; if you didn’t want anyone to read your posts, you’d keep a private diary. Today, begin engaging with the blogging community, the first step in building an audience.

Today’s assignment: follow five new topics in the Reader and five new blogs.
Why spend time reading other blogs?

Publishing posts is only half of blogging — engaging with the community is the other.
Considering what other bloggers write will inspire you and sharpen your thoughts.
Part of what makes blogging such a rich experience are the relationships we develop with people from around the world. Those relationships only happen when we engage with one another — just look at The Commons. Plus, reaching out to other bloggers is the best way to have them return the favor.

The first step is finding the people you want to connect with. By following topics you care about in the Reader, you’ll discover a world of blogs. Some of them will become favorite reads, and some of their authors will become your fans.

Want to share your great finds? Visit The Commons.
To get you started, review our tips on using the Reader to find and follow blogs that speak to you. A few of our editors have also shared their favorite Reader topics. Add five topics, so you can access them quickly whenever you feel like doing some reading. As you browse the topics, follow five new blogs, too.

The Blogroll on The Commons is another great place to explore. There are over 1200 of you participating — you’re bound to find some new favorite reads. Scroll through the list, and click on titles that intrigue you, seem up your alley, or make you laugh. (Adding the “blogging101″ topic to your Reader is also a great way to keep up with your co-bloggers.)

If you don’t blog on WordPress.com, you can still use the Reader if you have a WordPress.com username. If not, there are other ways to explore — your blogging platform may allow you to browse, or you can visit blogs you love and check out their blogrolls and commenters’ blogs.

Feel free to publish a post in addition to completing today’s task if you’d like! Write the post that was on your mind when you decided to start a blog, or take a look at our prompts and challenges for more inspiration.