Continental view

As the one-year anniversary of our time in the US approaches, I thought I'd try visually to sum up what I love most about the United States.

I love the people, their courtesy, their flamboyance and the 'upness' of their behaviour and the scale of American achievement, but I also love the look of the States, from a pond in the northeastern woodlands

to cedar swamps in South Carolina

to the slattern effect of leaves in woods behind Hastings-on-Hudson

to Inwood Hill Park in Manhattan and its glimpse of the New Jersey Palisades

to the sweep of California (this from above San Francisco Bay)

or this from LA, which gladdens my Central Australian heart;

to the Americanness of American street scenes (here, in Raton, New Mexico

or Montrose, Pennsylvania)

and the distinctive architecture. Not just the old historical sites, but the grand 1920s/30s statements, this being the inscription on the side of Berkeley High School

or the Berkeley Public Library

and the beautiful whimsy of 1950s/60s signage. (This from the San Fernando Valley

and this from Savannah.)
 

the beautiful mystery of Savannah

the beautiful civic-minded detail of design, say this from base of a street light on Vanowen Ave, Reseda

or a tree box in Pasadena

the entire grand variety, from sea (from Fort Clinch in Florida)

to shining sea.

(San Clemente from the train) - 'all over this broad land.'