Lost bird

I came across this lost cemetery decoration on the edge of a cemetery in northern Linn county, Missouri.  I was looking for a rural church that used to stand next to the cemetery, but the church was gone and only a belfry and some tombstones remained.

New Boston Garage -N- Weld Shop, Highway 129

I think the sign says it all...this is the New Boston Garage and Weld Shop.  On the venerable Highway 129 in downtown New Boston, Missouri.  During my short visit, I spoke to someone entering the post office, saw someone mowing a lawn on an early model riding lawn mower, and took a couple photos.  If it hadn't been so hot, I might have stayed a little while longer.

Purdin Mercantile Company

I took a day off work and drove 125 miles to reach this building.  I remember first seeing it during a photography trip in 2010, and I have been enchanted by the prospect of coming back to photograph it ever since then.  The painted signs, advertising groceries, hardware, furnishings, clothing, shoes, and other miscellaneous goods, still stand in strong, easily-legible relief against the brick front of the building, preserved by the fact that the front of the building faces north and is therefore perpetually in shadow.  Purdin, Missouri is north of Linneus, a misspelled attribution to the notable botanist and father of binomial nomenclature Carl Linnaeus.  Linneus is north of Laclede, and Laclede is just north of Highway 36.  And yes, I'd like to go back and photograph this structure again. 

Mercantile, Purdin

The Purdin Mercantile store, Purdin, Missouri.  Up in Linn County.  I photographed the side of this building on a shooting trip last spring.  My primary purpose was to photograph the rural churches of northern Missouri, but  photographing small towns and brick signage was an ulterior motive.  The front of this building was even more elaborately painted, but was in shadow when I visited.