Today Is....

My favorite  leaf, the Sycamore. I measured one today that was 15-inches by 11-inches.These are at the very top of the tree but I have a feeling that they are about that same size as the ones that I measured.

National Look at the Leaves Day and National Butterfly and Hummingbird Day. Just happen to have a few shots today of such things.

WRR Radio, the classical station  here in Dallas, has a weekly program at 8 P.M. our time (CT) featuring a Symphony Orchestra  each night. Tonight's broadcast is from the New York Phil and the program is once again playing Mahler's Requiem, in memory of those that were lost in the Las Vegas Shooting. It seems that they, NY Phil, plays this when there has been a major national tragedy. The chorus and the orchestra together have a very deep meaning for me. Gustav Mahler and I would have made good friends in our musical thinking.

So, the rain has finally made its way up from the Gulf as this post is being written. Eagerly, I am waiting for the 50 degree nights due next week when the day time temps will be in the 70s finally. It really has been a long hot summer. It hasn't been that Texas Sizzle that drains your energy completely, but it''s been hot non-the-less.

Sorry that I didn't come across a hummingbird. So, I'll sub in for the hummingbird, the place where the mallards have been hanging out this summer to stay cool. The tires and the ducks kind of blend in. Click on any of these pictures to enlarge and see the details closer.

Under the training sail boats are 10 mallards in the shade.

A butterfly recharging it's energy with some nectar for the milkweed and others that draws butterflies like honey to a bee.

Museum of Tomorrow

While Dallas does have some noted buildings built by world famous architects, our latest architect with his second structure still under construction at present Santiago Calatrava has a masterpiece in Rio de Janiero. The Dallas City Hall and The Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center were designed by I.M. Pei. Santiago Calatrava designed the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and did redesign his original design work on the Margaret McDermott Bridge currently  under construction. But this week, was the opening of Calatrava's  Magnum Opus in my opinion. It is the new Museu do Amanha (Museum of Tomorrow) in Rio de Janeiro on December 19th. The site is in the old port section of Rio and is part of a major redevelopment program in the area. I have seen the area personally on my first trip to Brazil many years ago. It is an amazing work of design and while I am proud to talk about the Arts District in Dallas and what it has to offer, I did a bit of work figuring out just how big this new Museu is. By loose calculations, the entire arts district could be placed in one third of this structure. The transformation from the old site to this new structure raises the bar for other cities in this old world if they want to compete for tomorrow because tomorrow has arrived on yet another continent of the Americas.

For those of you that want to see an image of the structure, you can search for the Museu do Amanha in Rio. Or, you can go to Alamy and enter in the search box FA1AG5 to bring up the image. I just tried it and it worked. Alamy.com  and enter FA1AG5 (That is FAone AGfive) to be clear.

For those of you who do not want to see Calatrava's non-bridge work, I have some pelicans,geese and ducks for you.

The angle is a duck having just had a drink tilting his head upward.

The pelicans can be so funny to watch.

Two migratory geese fighting. It lasted a pretty long time.

Unofficially Love Field Hit 100 Today

A Red-Winged Black Bird on the fly

Just working the reed shoots

It has been one of those odd things that makes little or no sense, but the Weather Service has one official reporting station for both Dallas and Ft. Worth. It's rather frustrating to have it pour down rain near Love Field  and not rain a drop  at DFW. Frustrating to learn the official rain for the day is zero because Love doesn't count and DFW got nothing,not a single drop.

So, today, it was 100 at Love and only 97 at DFW. The official high for Dallas today,therefore,was 97 and not 100 degrees. So,it was 100 in Dallas but not officially the first 100-degree day of the season. What is even more frustrating is that on the Weather Service web site, they list hour by hour the temps and rain and all that stuff for Love on one page and for DFW and other airports in the area, on another page,but officially, for the two major cities in the Metroplex, its DFW or nothing that counts.It's been that way for years and the weather men must have some kind of fun with keeping statistics that are official but count as unofficial but can be official if what they are officially recording  happens at DFW International. Kind of makes the head spin doesn't it?

That's why I perked up when I saw a Game Warden sitting at a picnic table writting a ticket for one of the fishermen not having a license.That was unusual, but times are tuff for revenue! Or,seeing a second  Dallas Morning News photographer. It seems they use the lake like I do. When nothing else is happening, there is always something unusual at the lake. Boats,be they rowing or sail;bicycles,unicycles;roller-bladers,skate boarders;paddle boarders;cute and unusual dogs,bobcats,coyotes,bald eagles,snakes,monk parots,pelicans,egrets,blue herons,woodpeckers. There is always something out of the ordinary somewhere around the lake.

Even that brings slim pickings some days but one finds some spectacular things like this red-winged blackbird on the fly and two ducks that know that a camera is focused on them. Maybe these two ducks know it was 100 degrees today, even if the 100 degrees at Love Field didn't count as the first 100-degree day of the year,officially.



 

A New Look for a New Year

Sung to the tune of Stars and Stripes Forever: Be kind to your web footed friends, 'cause that duck may be some body's mother!

Two American Bald Eagles at White Rock  with the former H.L. Hunt's  Mt. Vernon in the background.The mansion is a duplicate of Thomas Jefferson's, Mr. Vernon.

Deep Ellum, Texas aka East Main Street,Dallas Eclectic art,song and much more. It was also the home for a while of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. Another interesting fact: The Belo Mansion on Ross Avenue in the downtown art's district was a funeral home and held the funeral service of Clyde Barrow.

We are pleased to introduce you to our new official look on our website. Work on the blog has yet to begin but it is scheduled to be updated also.

 

Turtles on a Log and a Goose on a Nest

The turtles have been scarce of late but today, I found the old crew hanging out in a new place. While trying to get the shot before they piled off the log into the water, I found a goose setting on her nest. By the time I got back to the turtles, a park survey was heading toward the turtles.......luckily, the guy saw me and sat down on a picnic table until I got my shot. As I started for the car, all I could hear was the plunk,plunk, of turtles diving off the log into the water. The park guy was going the other way with his clipboard under his arm. Here is the goose and a bunch of big turtles.

A goose on her nest

The Senior Citizens of the Turtle Community

Pigeons on a Limb ,a Flotilla of Ducks and a Pelican Directing His Choir.

Pigeons

Flotilla of Ducks



Pelican Directing His Choir
on a Bog.