More Color Shots

The past two days have been absolutely delightful. The comfort index when you add the humidity and the dew point together and the number is below 115, then you are in absolute delight territory. Yesterday, the total was 102. I went out yesterday because I thought that I had heard the weather service say rain today, but after checking again, the next two days will be good before the killing wind and cold rain take down a lot of the leaves this weekend.

So, probably, if I feel well enough to get out before my trip to the vampire on Thursday so that the cardio plumber can have his lab reports on time and the cardio electrician can check my battery while there, I just might go looking for some holiday decorations, too. The guys who hang lights have been working for a month or more already in the Park Cities and North Dallas. Personally, I'm happy with TXU telling me that I am 56% more economical than the average home of like characteristics. I have long known that Edison bills are a scam anyway. I carefully watch my useage and compete with TXU for prize money at the end of the month. The prize, a lower electric bill and I keep the money!!  It comes to mind that my billing cycle this December is for 34 days. Five days longer than the past two months. Why on earth do the electric utilities extend their billing cycle in the one month when people with families are trying to live, put food on the table and buy their kids Christmas gifts? It makes no logical sense at all. You cannot even justify that regardless of how you try. It's just plain greed and arrogance. The Public Utilities Commission will generally site with the utility in a case like that.

I recall in the primary elections someone asking me how I would vote this year. Frankly, I let them know that if you are an incumbent, you would not be getting my vote. Then, in early voting, I'm coming out of the polling place and a young candidate walks up to me right at the polling limit that is designed for separation of candidates and voters going into the polling place and says, "Hi, wanna take a picture with me?" I said, "NO". The young candidate then said, "Why not?"  I replied, "Because I don't like you." It must have been the first time that the guy ever got a direct answer to anything because it was obvious that my answer had shook him to the core. Quickly, he regained some equalizing sense long enough to put his foot in his mouth more solid by saying to me, "Don't you like my brown skin?" For him to go there with me was not only a validation of why I didn't like him, but a clear view of where his arrogance and center of perception was focused for me to not like him in the first place. Long ago, my parents taught me that when you make a little incision on the skin, we all look alike inside and the only thing that separates us generally, is what we do with our brains and how we treat our fellow humans and animals. It is really a simple thing to master. Hate is an evil tool and far to many people have used that tool in the past and are using that same tool today.

So, some of you are wondering how I went from comfort zone readings to utility scams to a young political candidate who immediately sees people by race rather than as human beings. It really is not that far off base. Weather comes and goes. It changes when seasons change because of the sun's angle on our planet and holidays are when the scam artist come out. The elections come spring and fall for the most part if some special election does not gets slid into the works along the way. But, all-in-all, we are like an old 8-track that just keeps playing over and over. I've come to realize that there is probably a few more dimensions in the universe than the know about and that a parallel universe is not so far fetched when you stop to really examine nature close up. Photography does that in a way. It allows you to see things, but it also allows you to see things differently in a different light (pardon the pun).

Thinking as I walk sometimes, I wonder how I got so old so fast. It seems like just yesterday that I was sitting in a senior history class in high school when the news started coming in over the PA system in the class rooms without comment about the JFK's death. That was 53 years ago last week.

 I  also remember Neville, the most exciting college professor that I ever had. He had made a career out of doing translations on the works of Shelley. When he went back to his London flat during the summers, he would write to me. He had the most amazing cards that he used. They were copies of actual paintings that hung in his families country estates. I had a collect of them that I cherished. They were lost to a divorce. But, most of all, they taught me, like my parents, about people and that made a very successful life for me. So in my mind when I am out creating imagery, there will be more than one vision going on in my head. Neville's cards, mom and dad, a more youthful me and then I spot an image that for me, will bring all those things together. There has actually been a more subtle change in my work this past year and overall, I am very happy with what has been produced.

Those who follow my work from a artist viewpoint notice. What more can I ever wish for than for someone to admire my imagery and actually "get it". Now, that is a WOW factor. Here are a few more WOW factors from yesterday and the day before.

Don't forget to click on the image to enlarge all three.

What must he be thinking?

Reminds me of a sandy beach along the Grand Strand.

Iraj is a photographer from Houston. I could not resist. We all had a good laugh later.

 There will be more posted yet, today.

Bonnie Parker

At least once a year, I try to visit the graves of the down-trodden and forgotten. Call it what you will. In fact, the Good Book says that we should visit the graves of the dearly departed. The term dearly could mean family. It could mean friends. It could also mean the down-trodden and forgotten. There are a couple of graves that I visit at the National Cemetery, too. It takes some effort, sure. But, people turn out by the tens of hundreds to visit Elvis' grave at Graceland, or JFK's grave at Arlington. Jim Tipton of Find-A-Grave fame, made a hobby of visiting celebrated individuals at their graves. Ancerstry.com had been linking to his site for years before finally buying the site. In Dallas, there are several that fall into two groups. Those on the Shady side of the street and those on the Sunny side of the street. I visit both because I do not judge anyone. True, I might express displeasure with their viewpoints, but as a person, to judge is not in my cupboard. So going to the grave of Lee Harvey Oswald, or Bonnie Parker or any other is a way to spend an afternoon in the summer. I have a personal connection through mom as to why I visit the grave of movie star, Greer Garson and while in that cemetery, I go see Mickey. To me growing up, he was Mr. Baseball. He still is.  

Yesterday, I was  checking up on the progress of the US Geological Surveys Ft. Worth Field Office's installation progress of radar measuring devices over waterways. I had taken pictures earlier in the summer of one of their new devices and had talked with their Public Information person in Austin. After looking at the pictures, the PI person ask if I would withhold  one image until such time as the Field Office had completed the installation. Naturally, I'm going to comply with her wishes.She explained to me what they were waiting on to complete the installation and in my original image, there was a bare wire that had not and could not be completed at the time the unit was placed. Once that wire is connected, then I am free to release the images as stock.

 That also means going back and retaking the image again. So, since there are two more units in the works, I'll wait until they are all complete and then go  out and shoot all three. There are no stock images of these new devices anywhere. Therefore, not only do I not want to reveal the locations at the request of the USGS office, I don't want the competition shooting them either! So, I go on a faux-shoot and just observe the progress. But, on the way back from any shoot, I try to fulfill my penitence and visit a few graves of forgotten and down-trodden souls.

 Yesterday, it was the grave of Bonnie Parker of Bonnie and Clyde fame. Clyde's grave was a bit closer to where I was  but you can't get into the cemetery because it is posted and locked. There are those that have done so but my images go untouched by the devil of soft wear that is called photo shop, I don't shoot images on posted property either.

If I am invited, that's one thing and I carry releases with me. Or, if on common property that can be shot from a street or public place, I shoot until the cows come home. While trying to respect the fact that graves are family related and sensitive, weighing those images in the general public interest in a good way is permitted. It's only when in the name of "news" that  you try to put someone down in bad light using the media, that colors the waters of photo journalism and related forms. That's why the tabloids have so much trouble.

Bonnie Parker was a girl that had a good heart. She lived in a time when the Wild had not totally been removed from the "Wild West" by time. It was the first modern era of the Wild West with Prohibition and real gangsters like Thomas "Lonnie" Licavoli, and Al Capone. It was a time when making a name for yourself was recorded with the old flash-type cameras, daily newspapers running headlines with one and two inch block type; the bigger the type, the bigger the story. And the villains made their fame with the clothes still on. My, how things have changed. And it's still as political today as it was then; even more today, I would say.

Since my last visit there, the care at Crown Hill has gone down. The mausoleum is showing its age on the outside. The grass had not been cut. The grounds were dry and cracked and Bonnie's grave was without grass. Still, the grave echoed a message through the inscription on the headstone that rang of an inter- character. Bonnie Parker was a good person at heart.

Bonnie Parker 1910-1934
"As the flowers are all made sweeter by the sunshine and the dew, 
So this old world is made brighter by the lives of folks like you."

Dallas Prepares for the 50th Anniversary of the Assination of President John F. Kennedy

Originally, I had wanted to attend the 50th Anniversary ceremonies to be held on Friday, November 22. Of course, the city limited who can attend. Never-the-less, in this day and age, I understand the city's concerns I just don't understand why they stop people from remembering someone that changed this country. Especially on such a historical day. Jackie's dress won't be released to the public for viewing until 2116 or some date I won't live to see. I could have seen this one, however.

So yesterday, I tried to stay away from downtown but my car just kept steering me to go take a look at Dealey Plaza, although I have seen it hundreds of times before. I was surprised to see empty parking meters within a block on Houston Street. When I started to drop quarters, I was even more surprised. Twenty-five cents gets you 12-minutes of time on the meter. Now I know why the meter spaces were empty. One hour of time was a big $1.20 for up to two hours (if I dropped another $1.20 behind the first). It's not bad overall. Some of the garages get more as do some of the lots for all day parking. The Sixth Floor Museum was charging $5.00 at their lot.

It was a good thing. There was a group of Asian businessmen touring with their American host. People were thick. Some guy coming down Elm Street near where the "X" is marked on the street was blowing his horn at the tourist. My mother would say, "there is always one in the crowd to put a bad image on all the good." People did look up from their conversations and I did see a few shake their heads.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, the fences and barriers start to go up. The extended weather forecast for Friday doesn't look good, either. Cold, windy with gust to 25 Mph, rainy. If you believe in Karma, then Mayor Mike Rawlings has got some bad Karma for limiting who can come to the ceremony! I have only met him once. Tom Lepert , was a more likable  figure. As a former CEO of Turner Construction, the man knew how to plan, budget, build and lead. While Mayor Rawlings  is okay as a person, the best way to describe him is that the former CEO of Pizza Hut left off the peperoni on his pizzas.

Yes, I said earlier that I understood why the ceremony had to be limited to some degree. But to me, it's like putting the cart before the horse.

Looking at The Texas Book Depository from Commerce Street

50 years ago, the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge wasn't there.

 

600 Months After JFK

Downtown Dallas was abuzz with people from all over the globe yesterday. While the larger crowds seemed to be at Dealey Plaza,naturally, the crowds are only going to increase over the next several weeks. City Hall drew people from LA taking pictures of the flags on the plaza. Five different  Quinceaneras  and their Court of Honor filled the area of Pioneer Plaza where the cattle drive bronzes cross the stream. It was a mix of tourist and locals all intermingled in the way it is supposed to be.

The tour business was active, too. Three stretch limos were unloading and reloading. An entertainment bus did the same. Then came the escorted tour of segways  followed by the little red trolley that advertised "see Dallas in 75 minutes". The heart beat of Dallas on Saturday was, without doubt, in downtown.

The  couple from LA said that they had been on a tour of AT&T Stadium (Cowboys) in Arlington earlier. They ask about restaurants. While I usually don't recommend , I mentioned a couple from high end down to just good cooking. Others had also recommended the good cooking and they reached their decision right there on City Hall plaza under the flag poles and headed out to have their dinner at Sonny Bryant's. The traveling were also traveling while visiting Dallas but they were eating, as well. That translates into tourist dollars and I don't know a Chamber of Commerce anywhere that doesn't like that concept.

Traffic on North Central Expressway ( NCX, 75, Central Expressway) was at a crawl from the High 5 south to North Park. 635 LBJ was a mess because of the final paving occurring on the new re-do from Coit to Preston Road. It will be the first stretch of the 11 mile project to be complete. Is it going to help? Most likely not. I don't think traffic in Dallas will ever catch-up with the growth. And imagine if the DART Rail wasn't at the stage it is currently. The only think keeping pace with the traffic is DART Rail and TRE to Ft. Worth and A-Train connects to Denton. In the perfect world, DART would already be running out of DFW (although this time next year they will be about to turn the key) and neither the TRE or DART would have a line running in Arlington where both cities could ride to a Rangers, Cowboys, Six Flags day and leave the parking where the car is--at home!  But, I suspect that the parking vendors and others don't want that. It is a capitalistic society that we live in today. The political arms still pull the strings and pulls them when  they want them pulled.

From an observation point, Dallas is ready for the 50th Anniversary of JFK's death here in Dallas. I would have liked to have attended the ceremony, but I didn't have the luck in the drawing for tickets. There have been only three events that I can recall where I was at the exact moment the event occurred. JFK's shooting, Neil Armstrong's landing on the moon and the attack on the World Trade Center buildings.  JFK: I was in my high school history class 1200 miles away when the CBS report came across the intercom; the moon landing: I was crossing the Ohio River at Cincinnati and the attack on the World Trade Center: I was at the mail box on my way to work when one of my neighbors ask if I had been watching the reports on television. But, it is the JFK weekend that found me glued to the television and actually seeing Lee Harvey Oswald being shot on television by Jack Ruby. Today, when I pass any of those buildings, Parkland, the old police station on  Harwood, or Dealey Plaza, it still brings back that entire time frame of mourning and disbelief and the stunning and shocking fact that our President had been killed.

I ask this question two years to late!

All this leads to one simple question of though. We all have seen the spot where Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in on board the president's plane and I wondered if that spot was ever actually reported on  a map or some historic sign that LBJ became President on this spot? Realizing, of course, that it is inside the secure area of Love Field, I've never heard a report of where that plane was parked while the president was in his motorcade. I know where Air Force One parks at Love Field in modern time, but where did they hanger the plane at Love Field on that fateful day in November 50 years ago this month? It appears now that someone did ask that very question but not until two years ago for the first time since that deadly day.

 I'm just two years late on this one, but that is still enough to keep me in the running for asking "historical" questions! I'll settle for that. Staff Writer David Flick of the Dallas News did an article on 21 November 2011. According  to that, I was just under two years, then. Some 48-years passed without anyone asking the question. Ironically, it was a photograph that led to the actual spot at Love Field being located in gps coordinates for history sake.

One of many limos arriving and departing Pioneer Plaza for quinceaneras and their court of honor

Tourist were arriving and departing the area in large numbers

A Rose from the Rose Garden of Perkins Chapel  at the Joe & Lois Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University in memory of JFK