Birth of Maggie 2 Has Occured

This is the third day in a row that I have gotten  multi-mile walks done. My strength seems to be coming back as well and I am happy about that. It's been a long journey getting back to as normal as I can remember. My primary care physician and my cardiologist are to thank for most of my good health return.

So, with spring-like temperatures back in north Texas, and two previous days of successful walks, I set out on the longest of the walks.  I drove out Mockingbird to Singleton Blvd. to the base of the Maggie 1 (Margaret Hunt Hill) Bridge to the plaza parking lot. I dreaded going down the steep ramps because the last time I tried to walk it, the grade was a bit of a strain on my cardio system. But, deciding that I would worry about that on the return trip, down the ramp I went. It took me about one-half hour to walk under the Maggie 1, the Union Pacific railroad bridge, the Commerce Street bridge and finally arriving at the I-30 bridge construction site. I felt pretty good too. One of the project engineers was on site with his family and we talked about the project for a bit before they headed out and I started to shoot the site. It was a perfect day with great sun angles and blue sky and most of all--a very light breeze.The flags flapped in the breeze in slow motion. Perfect!

It is amazing how what you learned from shooting Maggie 1 and can now be seen talking shape on nearly the same time table as before. I had estimated that the first arch piece was due to be fitted somewhere around this weekend and sure enough, as I got closer and could see the abutment transition base, it was obvious that the first piece was in place. The engineer said that the next four pieces were on site. This bridge, while totally different than Maggie 1, is still a massive construction project and the arches are as massive as the arches on the Maggie 1. The excitement could be felt building the longer that I was on site because I have always enjoyed big construction projects like these from a very early age. There is just something about how things come together and in a prescribed amount of time, bingo! you have a finished project and move on to the next one.

There were several photographers at the site on and off, This bridge will get more attention more quickly because it was easier seen from present day I-30 whereas on Maggie 1, the extension of the Woodall Rodgers had to be built and tied into Singleton Blvd that wasn't near as built up as it is today. And, people have had time to learn about the projects and build their own kind of curiousness. The opening of the Trinity Skyline Trail and the Santa Fe Trestle Trail have added much awareness to the project.

Therefore, Maggie 2 is born and can only grow out of the Terra firma  taking its bends from the abutment transition base skyward as it eventually will draw to completion in another  landmark architecture in the form of another bridge. Dallas is a bridge building city without question. By TxDot counts there are some 5000 plus bridges in the Dallas area. It is no wonder that Dallas now will have two remarkable landmarks as bridges. From the early days of the first Dallas TV series when the aerial shot came over downtown and headed out over all the bridges going away from downtown into historic archives, It's going to be interesting to see where the Maggie 1 and the Maggie 2 turn up in future television episodes of any kind.

The birth of the bridge as the first arch piece rises from the abutment transition base.

This is the third abutment transition base, Number 2 is curing at present having been poured already.

More Scenes from Mother's Day

On Saturday, my niece graduated from Texas A&M. Now, there is an Aggie in the family besides a few Hogs and  a Buckeye.  On Sundays, after editing  images, a portion of my images are submitted to the live news feed,  This Sunday, however, I withheld those images.

 Reaching for the traditional announcement card that my niece had sent me, my thoughts turned to how fortunate this family had been, although.... we have had our rough times like everyone else. The bottom of the announcement concluded with this:

 

God Almighty has brought me;

 

the love of family has supported me;

 

the joy of friendship has uplifted me,

 

and with the guidance given by Jesus Christ,

 

I have arrived!

 

 

 

 

A sample of those images withheld are shown here.

To Protect and to Serve

Another place to celebrate Mother's Day out. The many restaurants at Trinity Groves.

Dallas Fire and Rescue at work.

 



 

 



Trinity Groves Brings Mom's to West Dallas

For an old trucking terminal with both side dock plates to seven  amazing and quality restaurants with extremely nice outdoor patios, Trinity Groves has transformed the first couple of blocks west of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge into another Lower Greenville and West End. It's only been about 24-months since I started following the project. It was slow to begin, but the end results made up for the slowness in time.  Mom's were dining in a very lovely setting, families were enjoying the vendor's tents as they left the restaurants and self-park and valet worked together like a well-oiled machine. The re-development out Singleton Avenue is expanding like a chain reaction. Let's all hope that the end results at least equal Trinity Groves growing success.

This vendor has some of the most unique hand-crafted items that would make very special gifts!

Talk about atmosphere making a restaurant nice, these seven restaurants have all kinds of atmosphere indoors and out on a veranda patio that would run a close third-scale  to  the Grand Hotel at Mackinac Island, Michigan
link:

http://www.grandhotel.com/

Fresh Farm vegetables are also available on some Sunday's during the month.