"Ghosts of the Past." A composite of several photos overlaid together creates a ghostly view of main street in Bodie State Historic Park. The church sits prominently surrounded by a barn, stable, homes, plus the ubiquitious outhouse.

"The fall." Yes, that's yellow aspens on the distant hill looking down at Bodie. And yes, that's the town that fell. Imagine the times this land has seen: dreams of glory; back-breaking, crippling work; and the rough trip down the rocky road to San Francisco for supplies. If you were taking your last trip out of town with whatever you could carry, would your new journey be bittersweet? Dreams crushed or made?

"Here's the church steeple. But where's all the people?" A side look of Green Street where the structures congregate near the Methodist Church, the big red barn, and yes, another outhouse.

"Crushing it." A side view of the Standard Mill where rock was crushed to extract gold. For many years, the mines produced millions. They crushed it until they didn't. Boom to bust. Some things don't seem to change, do they?

"Slice of Time." On the hillside, Standard Mill is joined by various structures including the schoolhouse at the far left of the scene. Houses were built in the 1870s, the mill in the 1890s, and the school house was used up until 1942. The books, a world globe, and lessons on the chalkboard are all preserved. But everyone took recess seriously. They skedaddled.

"Gopher Problem?" With supposedly 60-miles of mining tunnels under Bodie, the tailings from digging had to go somewhere. All that digging for gold created a giant gopher-like infestation.

"The aftermath." Here are the ghosts of what's left after years of mining followed by abandonment.

"The door to understanding." Everything is about perception. As Aldous Huxley said, there are things known and unknown. Exploring, whether that's physically or metaphorically, we open the door to some of our "truths." We discover some of those truths aren't as solid as we believed.

"She's a Brick Vault." She's might, mighty; not letting even one dollar out. This vault is all that remains of Bodie's bank after the fire of 1932. And despite all the lawlessness in Bodie, there never was a robbery. A burglary, yes. But no robbery. Upscale from Tombstone, I guess.

"It's your turn to do the dishes." Someone forgot their chores. Doing the dishes was a chore then and a chore now. When the last people left Bodie, they decided it wasn't worth it to pack up the dirty dishes. Many of the buildings still contain clothing, boots, furniture, and mattresses. Sometimes you let things go and start over.

"Flickering Flame." How many nights did this lamp burn bright? This lamp is one of many artifacts left behind in arrested decay.

"You only live once." Or is that appropriate to say in a ghost town? I'm in a pickle over that one.

"Stadium Seating." No, no, no. It's a dusty typewriter. For you youngsters, that's like a keyboard except the keys mangle your fingers as you push them down. It took a lot of strength!

"Beyond the Veil." A proper house in Bodie had the finishing touch of lace curtains. But time and wear took over, and the place became a ghost town. The mystery of who lived here with dreams of a good life remains. I half expected to see someone peeking out.

"Window Dressing." As I realized after walking around a bit that there weren't many interiors to photograph, I wondered what else could I find? My eye caught a vision in the antique wavy glass windows. I started to wonder if some of Bodie's residents saw these reflections? Maybe the kids? I'd have liked to have known what that was like growing up in a remote world like this.

"Delusional." Been down to the saloon again? Well, there were 60 of them back in the day, along with opium dens. Yes, these do feel a little tipsy. But I had a lot of fun finding these abstracts.

"Crumpled." Each time I moved around, the mill became a new form in the old glass panes. This vantage seems like an earthquake is shaking the mill back and forth, and the shacks below are about to bend and buckle.

"Cloud Illusions." Another window, another angle at the mill and the surrounding building, optically-altered by antique glass. I will never think of Bodie as some dusty old town. The reflections made me feel like I was somehow connected to the memories of the past.

"Below the line." You see the line on the right side of the pane? That's adhesive holding the glass together. Close up, there are amazing patterns that emerge. But first, let's sigh at the lovely, puffy clouds.

"What a pane." The more time I spent with this vintage glass, the more I saw. The adhesive used between panes seeps and creates amazing patterns like this close up.

"Deep Ocean." A stream of bioluminescenct organisms swim in a current deep below the surface of the vast ocean. Or at least they do in my imagination. Yes, window adhesive again.

"Seen many moons?" I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise, but I was sort of shocked how many outhouses Bodie possessed. And when I asked the ranger if there was only one public restroom for the park, he said, "you are more than welcome to use any of the outhouses." No thanks, I'm not into splinters!

"WALL-E and the toiletpaper roll." I see another face, and he is one of my favorites. I love WALL-E and his eclectic collection.I couldn't unsee him when I spied this add-on of electrical connections on the side of a historic tin-covered shack in Bodie Ghost Town. "EVA, EVA!" Where are you?

"The Ten Commandments." Many of the original structures were destroyed in Bodie due to fires. A 2 1/2 year old boy named Bill started a fire in 1932 that leveled the Catholic Church and much of town. Later, this Methodist church was built. Then in 1962, Bodie was saved from the ruin of time and vandals by a ruling called "preservation in place." Nothing was to be removed. Only basic precautions could be taken like roofing repairs to prevent deterioration. However, an oilcloth behind the pulpit that contained the Ten Commandments was eventually stolen. Someone didn't pay attention in Sunday school. Commandment 8: "thou shall not steal."

"Resting Place." Bodie was considered one of the most lawless and violent towns in the old west. Although I had read this, when I passed by one of the mortuaries (they needed two of them), there were still a number of caskets ready and waiting. Point taken.

"Life got easier." Or did it? Once the automobile and electricity came to Bodie, it wasn't too much longer when the gold ore ran dry and the town came to a screeching halt.

"Wilderness." Bodie is a remote location with stunning views of the Sierras in the distance. I can imagine the wind howling in winter, the snow drifting. And I reminisce of the irony for Mr. W. Bodey to have found the gold, started mining, yet one winter, lost his way to shelter in a blinding snowstorm. He froze to death. And as a final blow, they botched the spelling of his name.

"Mixed Up Media." In this version of the glass reflection, a bit of the wallpaper and water stains from the inside of the house showed up in the image. Ghostly enough for you?

"Not-so-standard." I was mesmerized by the reflection of the Standard Mill across from this window. My mood went from perplexed with what to photograph, then eager to check out every window in town. The old glass created lots of abstract bends and twists to this old structure.

"California Quake?" Nah, it's just antique glass. And back when they formed these windows, they manually spun molten glass on a blow pipe which made them collaborators in my abstract world.

"Double Exposure." The real world and the imagined can live together. At least in Bodie Ghost Town. The antique glass let just enough of the room behind this window to show. Look closely at the left side and you'll see patterns of wallpaper. You aren't seeing things!