Stratford, Dumas, and Abernathy, Texas, USA

Arrows like these are all over the Texas panhandle. They are part of the Quanah Parker Trail and call attention to the heritage of the Comanche, the "lords of the plains" before the Anglo ranchers arrived. The arrow maker was Charles Smith, and his sculptures are sometimes the most artistic element of a town's landscape. [2017, 2017, 2016]

Leeuwarden. Netherlands

You can see the utter joy on these boys' faces as they milk their favorite cow. The people of Leeuwarden call her "Our Mother." She is one of Friesland's gifts to the world, a representative of the Frisian breed that, crossed with the Holstein, gives us our most productive milk cows. They are the big black-and-white ones you see all over. [1984]

Manchester, England, UK

One-hundred and fifty cows paraded into Manchester in 2004. In fact, they populated other city streets around the world as well. Their main tasks were to entertain visitors and make the locals feel proud. Place-promoters they were, always calling attention to their home city: "Mr. Rolls and Mr. Royce held their initial meeting in Manchester in 1904." [2004]

Solar Salt Works, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

The House of Orange staged the Dutch revolt against Spanish occupation, so you might have guessed that the fourth obelisk would be orange. These were the huts in which African slaves would live. They were needed to load the ships anchored offshore, as seen below. Note all four obelisks. [2017]

Solar Salt Works, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

Red, white, and blue: They are the colors of the Dutch flag and of three of the four salt-pan obelisks on the island of Bonaire. The coastline itself constitutes shallow water and sharp corals. That is why ships had to anchor offshore. From Africa came the human labor needed to load the salt, making Bonaire part of the Triangular Trade. [2017]

Solar Salt Works, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

In addition to blue, there were also white and red obelisks: the colors of the Dutch flag. Once the Netherlands rebelled against the Spanish crown, it was cut off from salt, of which the Mediterranean coast of Spain was the largest supplier. It turned to the tropical island of Bonaire to fill the void. The Dutch required salt for preserving herring. [2017]

Solar Salt Works, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

There is no ship in the dock now, but, when there is, hopper cars will carry salt from the piles to the holds using the track seen here. The blue obelisk is a visual reminder of the past. It marked the site of one of the salt pans so ships would know where to anchor offshore. There were four color-coded obelisks, each associated with a different grade of salt. [2017]

Solar Salt Works, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

On Bonaire, salt in 50-foot-high piles waits patiently until it is loaded on bulk cargo carriers anchored just offshore. Small hopper cars like these do the work of getting the salt to the ships. Today, transportation is mechanized, but human beings, mostly slaves, did the work in the past. The industry began in the 1600s. [2017]

Solar Salt Works, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

Bonaire's economy depends on more than just coral-reef tourism. The island also produces salt on a massive scale. Salt pyramids ring the holding ponds where the tropical sun and easterly winds effectuate the evaporation that leaves behind almost pure sea salt. Today, the operation is under the umbrella of the Cargill conglomerate. [2017]

Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK

Cities around the world have become known for their murals. Belfast is one of them. Before everybody got used to posting comments on their Facebook wall, people used real walls for the same purpose. In this case, mural art is being used to mark territory. Other cities that have used wall space to enhance their sense of place include Brussels and London. [2009]

Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

America's 50th state celebrates the 61st anniversary of its admission to the union today. Happy birthday, Hawaii! You are our only tropical state, and your statehouse shows it. See how the palm trees out front are also built into the architecture? If not, focus on the pillars that hold up the roof. [2011]

Meridian, Mississippi, USA

There is only "one way" to combat this novel coronavirus: Wear a mask! That applies even to Meridian's merry menagerie of merry-go-round mares that dot the downtown. [2020]

Gadsden, Alabama, USA

There is not much left of Noccalula Falls. Too dry this year. But, princess Noccalula remains vigilant, frozen in time at the moment before taking the leap that ended her life. She was not about to enter into an arranged marriage with someone she didn't love! The irony: The building perched above the falls is a wedding chapel. [2020]

Ocoee, Tennessee, USA

What's wrong with this picture? They are not wearing masks, they are not social distancing, and they are not staying home. But they are keeping their numbers under 10! How would you gauge the risk? Have you heard of any Covid clusters caused by whitewater rafting? [2020]

Nantahala, North Carolina, USA

You can get away from the city, but you can't get away from pizza. It's ubiquitous. If you find yourself hankering for a slice or two here in the Great Smoky Mountains, you can either drive in or float in. And, what a rush it is to eat it on the deck above the raging river. [2020]

Bryson City, North Carolina, USA

"Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great [smoky] mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick." Whoever wrote that must have had two middle names or been to Toms Branch Falls. Let's all be a little Tookish! [2020]

Claremont, North Carolina, USA

The Bunker Hill Covered Bridge is one of the last two remaining covered bridges in North Carolina. It dates back to the 1890s. Any community with a covered bridge has a unique treasure, but Catawba County has a double-unique treasure. The weight of its bridge is supported by the one and only remaining Haupt truss in the world. Impressed? [2020]

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA

Greek Islands: Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes, Chios, Kefalonia, Corfu, Lemnos, Samos, Naxos, Zakynthos, Thassos, Andros, Lefkada, Karpathos, Kos, Kythira, Icaria, Skyros, Paros, Tinos, Samothrace, Milos, Kea, Amorgos, Kalymnos, Ios, Kythnos, Astypalaia, Ithaca. Any look familiar? [2005]

Biglerville, Pennsylvania, USA

Depending on immigrant farm labor is nothing new. For decades, someone has had to pick the peaches. Native-born younglings find that there are too many other ways to make a living in the American economy. So, thank you to the immigrants who keep our palates pleased and our prices low (thanks to their paltry hourly wages). [1993]

Half Moon Bay, California, USA

For World Elephant Day, let's consider their proboscidean cousins, mastodons and mammoths, both of which are extinct. Elephants may face the same fate. Their numbers "have dropped by 62% over the last decade, and they could be mostly extinct by the end of the next decade." That's what World Elephant Day sponsors want you to know. [2010]

Rapid City, South Dakota, USA

Are you sure it wasn't a virus that killed off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago? Are you sure there aren't a few left? Are you sure the human race will be around 65 million years from now? Do you think some species of the future will have effigies of us humans by the sides of their roads, and our bones on display in their museums? [2019]

Liberal, Kansas, USA

Half the beef cattle in the United States are raised on the Great Plains. The meat from these, in fact, has already passed through someone's alimentary canal. America's most common breed of beef cattle is the Black Angus, seen here at their favorite Scottish pub. They are from Scotland, you know! [2018]

Princeton, New Jersey, USA

Wonder what that man is reading? Check it out below. Forty-six years ago today, Richard Nixon resigned: "He urges a time of healing." How the world has changed since then! The printed newspaper has almost become a thing of the past, and Presidents now defy the rules of law and ethics with impunity. [2018]

Sonora, Kentucky, USA

If it were in their front yard, it would be a yard sale. If it were on the driveway in front of their garage, it would be a garage sale. If it were from the trunk of their car, it would be a boot sale. If it  were nothing but junk, it would be a junk sale. As you can see, though, fleas are for sale here, so we can call it a flea sale! [2019]

Navarre, Florida, USA

Here is an urban skyline that sits like a crown on top of a narrow ribbon of sand, a barrier island between sound and sea. The island is regularly bombarded by storm waves, coastal currents, hurricane-force winds, heavy rains, the outflow from Santa Rosa Sound, and rising sea levels. Is all that urban development in this particular place a good investment? [2018]

Strong City, Oklahoma, USA

Strong City is a city in name (see it?) only. It offers strong proof that a city can be rural. Why rural? Because it does not meet the 2,500 population minimum set by the U.S. Census Bureau. In fact, its population never reached even half of that, not even in 1900 when it peaked. Today, only a few more than 400 souls keep the "city" alive. [2018]

Cape Charles, Virginia, USA

What color is summer? Here are the answers. Summer is the color of your garden and your closest farmers' market. How many types of peppers can you identify here and who is their purple friend? [2018]

Harrisburg and the West Shore, Pennsylvania, USA

Today is the 10th anniversary of Geographically Yours. At one picture per day, that amounts to over 3,600 photographs, all taken by me. To celebrate, I am posting a few favorite pictures from high school: pictures that I thought captured each moment well, pictures taken as slides on a Kodak Instammatic. [1968 and 1969]

THE BACKSTORY ~ Posted on the 10^th Anniversary of Geographically Yours, 4 August 2020: By the time I got to high school, cameras were cheap enough to be affordable, and I was old enough to be responsible. Some of my first photos are posted here. They reflect the advantages of growing up in Central Pennsylvania. East of where I lived was the state capitol which offered performance art on a regular basis. West of where I lived were the great outdoors, which offered places to walk, to camp, and to hike, places where you might find a hillside spring proffering a cool drink. The performance art at the capitol was usually political. It was good theater whether or not you liked the politics (and I didn’t); I just enjoyed the idea that I could get close enough to a political candidate to take his picture, right there on the front steps of the capitol, right near the spot where my grandfather and I used to feed the squirrels on the capitol grounds. In the other direction were the woods in Rossmoyne, the meadows along the Yellow Breeches Creek, and, yes, those springs. Where this one was, I have long forgotten! Whether alone (which I was in two of the pictures) or with friends, I discovered how much fun it was to document the people and places of my world, a world that would gradually expand from Central Pennsylvania to six of the seven continents and four of the five oceans. You can see my world, as documented in Geographically Yours on the map below. D.J.Z.

Santa Clara, California, USA

What can you carry around with you in a purloined shopping cart? Lots of things recreational. Yet, it seems as if recreation is not his primary objective. If ever a photo deserved a short story, this is it. You've already got the title: The Purloined Shopping Cart. So, start writing and make Poe proud. [2020]

Baker, Montana, USA

Although nature has provided an exclamation point or two, few punctuation marks interrupt the cultural flatscapes that are the Great Plains. Here is one that does, however. Think of it as a comma used to break-up the run-on sentences which make up the Plains. Pumpjacks as commas? They invite only a short pause, not a full stop, or an appreciative exclamation. [2019]

Chimney Rock, Nebraska, USA

Chimney Rock became an exclamation point (!) along the Oregon Trail for westward-ho pioneers following the North Platte River. Its iconic status is affirmed by its visual reproduction in lots of places, including cemeteries, such as this one in nearby Gering. [2019]