There is always something happening in Downtown Garland. To me, it is just one of those quaint places that has an amazing history and while things continue to change and upgrade with the times, part of past history has been saved. Allbeit, by moving it from where it was made. That's okay in as much as it is still being preserved. Not so long ago that history became a hot potato in the political sense. Like most things in that bin, it usually blows over in time.
Today, I had a great opportunity to hear a little more history from a young 84 year old lifetime resident. Much of the downtown history I have known. But today, he filled me in where the downtown auto dealers had been located at one time. I did not know that. His friend was also helpful in refreshing some things that I was uncertain about.
I met a couple of guys making a video for a business on the south side of the square. One took me down to his shop and said that I could come into the shop anytime and shoot there. It will be fun to go back and after the construction is all done that has one side of the square all torn up.
Then, I always play the chines and look at the art on the walls. Some pretty amazing things turn up there. I noticed a little wooden rise with a couple of tables and chairs that was interesting because of the shadows that they cast in the late winter afternoon sun. While there, I see a lot of prayer cloths hanging on a back patio of one of the bordering businesses to the air space outside. Long story short I was invited in to the shop after I finished up some shots. I enjoyed my chat with the gentleman that was the husband of one of the women I met inside. When I walked into the shop, one of the two women at the table at the back ask if I was the one outside earlier. They were doing crafts and as we talked, I watched some beaded jewelry being made. The shop: the FROCKSY Vintage Vogue.
I had ask if they had heard the news today about the at-large black-banded cobra what had escaped from it's cage in Grand Prairie several weeks ago. As of this writing it had not been found. But, the troublesome report came from the arrest warrant of the guy who had the cobra in a makeshift cage where it got loose. It now appears that the cobra at large is a female. The more troublesome news from the report today was the fact that the guy also had a male black-banded in the same house. Now, it is most frightening to me in that no one in the latest report could say that the cobra's had mated or not.
Seeing a bunch of little black-banded cobras hatching in the wild some 40 miles from my house is something no one would want near them either. Look what happened to the python population in Florida from someone's dangerous attraction to snakes. Over the years, I have observed many people bring their little plastic cages to White Rock Lake and release, gold fish, turtles and lizards, etc. People, please don't do things like that.Invasive species disrupt the natural species of the area and that is dangerous, not to mention playing with fire from a black-banded cobra gaining a hold in this area. Just last week there was a report of a snake in an overhead bin of a flight that had to be returned to it's origin. Yes, I know the joke about the snake on a plane. That isn't funny, either.
So, go to downtown Garland and pay the featured shop a visit. They are nice people. They have a nice shop. They don't play with snakes!! In many ways, they made for an interesting afternoon in Downtown Garland, Texas. Every been to G_A_R_L_A_N_D, Texas. It's a nice place.
