Milo Butterfinger's Grill & Saloon

 With the weather somewhat better than the relentless 10 days of 98 with high humidity, getting out again has been a long-awaited event. Frankly, this has been one of those years where Summer was not nice. Never-the-less, the last two days have been like a hot and cold type. By that, it is meant that one day was good shooting while one day was not very good for shots. 

Today, this afternoon, was the first time in a while that I have been able to board a bus at SMU/Mockingbird Station and bring it completely home without getting off until my final stop. I have not been able to do that since the big schedule changes took place this past January 24th. Still, the schedules are a mess and DART seems to think that things are working well unless people call in. My share of letting DART know how bad it is for my stops that once upon a time were flawless. Now, the stops are not dependable for the two main buses I use from and to home. When I am out and about shooting on the wagon wheel schedule, it doesn't matter to me. But when I'm ready to head home, I expect to be able to get there without any problems. 

From SMU/Mockingbird station, I walked the street from the DART parking lot down to Yale past the City of University Park's facility. Over the years that part of Yale Blvd. has undergone a major change in a short 2-3 blocks to the Northbound Service Road of Central Expressway (US Highway 75) near President George Bush's Presidential Center. But, from there back to Greenville Avenue, it's restaurants and bars and saloons. Low rise apartments cover the area also. 

There were a couple of guys walking toward the bridge that crosses Central Expressway that I ask, "of all the selection of campus bars and restaurants would you say is the best of the bunch?" The one who spoke out said that," I'd forget about all the rest but up on the end [Greenville coming this way] is Milo's. It's a funky type sports bar that is the best of the bunch."

 (note that Yale Blvd. has now been made SMU Blvd. to reflect the growing presence of the East Campus of SMU across North Central Expessway (NCX; US 75; etc.etc.)

I had the best Hawaiian Chicken cutlet with scalloped potatoes, white sauce, green peas and a buttered flaky roll sliced lengthwise. The price was good and the menu changes every other week. They will be sending me a menu for the week. I have been looking for a place that had an ole style Friday Fish Fry like the American Legions did every Friday in the Great Lakes. There are plenty of fish fries here in Texas, but that type of fish fry is just different and I am curious to see if this one will meet the test of my taste buds and expectations. I'm tending to think that it probably will. 

Encyclopedias, Compendiums, Complete Compendiums and Manuals on Fat Tuesday

Even though it will vary from year-to-year, it still has a way of sneaking up on you. But I have discovered a way to "not be so surprised". It's a lunar thing, basically. Or, at the least, follows a lunar calendar. It's still got that little Pagenistic twang to it, left over from the Romans invading the Celts and tearing down their alters and having the Celts build Roman alters. Of course, the Celts were really smart and built the Roman alters over their old torn down alters and went on like nothing ever happened.The Romans being non-the-wiser. There has been encyclopedias, compendiums, complete compendiums and manuals written about Mardi Gras.

It seems that the church calendar year is really tied to lunar cycles more than we think, but the one that resonates with many throughout the Christian world seems to be the one I can never remember.
That would be, of course, Fat Tuesday, Shove Tuesday or as the French still say today, Mardi Gras, which literally means, "Fat Tuesday".  It is, in fact, a 47 day stretch before Easter Sunday and since Easter is determined by--you got it-- lunar cycles, that is why the date moves forward or backwards from year-to-year.  As another indication of lunar cycles, Epiphany is the earliest that Carnival, Mardi Gras can occur and it must end by midnight on Fat Tuesday as Ash Wednesday begins Lent, the period of fasting before Easter.

Of course, it is highly ordained as a cultural event because Mardi Gras is the period when all the fat things and crazy things are done before confession or Shovetide or Shove Tuesday. Therefore, in various regions, celebrations will vary and the traditional celebrations will most always include a "King's Cake".

A couple of days ago I was in my friendly K-roger store and as I walked past the bakery tables, there were stacks and stacks of big colorful boxes of iced and sparkled King Cakes. The cakes only come out this time of year. The little plastic baby Jesus if usually hidden in the cake, but in today's age of  what ever it is--- the little baby Jesus is on top in plain sight so as not to offend or to cause a chocking hazard. Frankly, it was better when you grew up and you parents talked to you from early on about finding the baby Jesus in the cake and to be careful. Of course, that common sense thing does not exist today in parenting, Which I find to be so sad.

Mardi Gras Beads thrown on February 17th in 2015. 2016 will be on February 9th and 2017 will be on February 28th

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.

 



 

 



Deep Ellum: From Painting the Tunnel Walls to This!

The 20th Annual Deep Ellum Arts Festival kicked off on Friday for it's three-day run. With so much going on in Dallas this weekend, it wasn't that hard to decide which event would be more fun. Before arriving at the Deep Ellum Arts Festival, I went by the "Party in the Park at Reunion Park". Sure, there was some big name entertainment names (Springsteen will close the event on Sunday).

The Anatole was loaded with tour buses for the final four teams. People were forming long lines to park and go inside just to slap the hands of the four teams players as they came out to board the buses to take them to Jerry's World aka AT & T Stadium in Arlington.  There was just to much basketball for me. I remember my college days and the NCAA hype. I guess that been there, done that, while exciting at the time,  moves a rung up or a  rung down the ladder depending which way you stack the events over time.

I have always liked Deep Ellum. It has undergone change, both good and bad, over the years. The days of the old school bus painting of  "California or Bust" as the film festival grew, are just memories now. So are the annual painting of the tunnels on Good Latimer. The tunnels are filled in  now, covered in Dart tracks for the Green Line and two Deep Ellum stations on it's way toward Fair Park and Mt. Pleasant. Some of the businesses that were there when Bonnie and Clyde hung out in Deep Ellum are still there today.  Rudolph's Meats and Sons of Herman come to mind for an example. Bars have come and gone and made comebacks even. So have some restaurants. But, artist, musicians, and film companies have been the glue that have held the canvas of Deep Ellum together.

So, I guess before I knew it, I already did know it that I would end up at the Deep Ellum Arts Festival. And that I did, going directly to my favorite little parking spot where it cost me fifty cents to park for 5-hours. The one thing about parking in Deep Ellum is that you most likely will end up with a parking ticket if you don't park in "controlled" parking  lots. And with the major capital improvements going on with street and water projects not due to be done until fall of 2014, meter parking is all but out on Elm or  Commerce Street or Canton. Main being out by default as the festival was on Main Street from Hall Street west to Good Latimer. One of the things that I like about the Deep Ellum Festival is that largely, it is an adult event except for being totally pet friendly. Sunday was on my agenda to attend but the 90% coverage of rain forecast will cut that out this year. As I was leaving on Saturday, vendors were already putting out their Rain Sale signs. Still, it was enjoyable to be absorbed in eclectic people, talent from the four live stages, street performers, chalk art and the like. Not to mention running into old friends that one sees but once a year at the Deep Ellum Arts Festival. Here are some images from Saturday.

My favorite Hat Vendor! I love the color. Some lady needs one of these for the up-coming Kentucky Derby! Really.

My thanks to these wonderful people (both here and below) who were all about what Deep Ellum really is--good people!

This is my favorite. When I ask if I could have a picture of her or the corn dogs, her laugh was like hearing my mom's laugh when she was truly happy.  

Looking Like The State Fair at Fair Park

State Fair Dates: September 28 -  October 21

Work is well underway at Fair Park putting up all those favorite fried food and refreshment stands. The old landmark Midway arches have been repaired from this past Springs expensive hail storm. And there is less rolling stock at the former Railroad Museum.  One of two security guards told me that the rolling stock was going out on the third shift because it wasn't happening on first or second shift, which confirms what one of the employees in Frisco has said to me more than a month ago. She had call me,infact. From that conversation it was easy to see that the exit from Fair Park was going to be a "under cover of darkness" move. It's turned out that way so far as the first cars rolled into the  Frisco's property from off-site storage with limited public information. The tweets,facebook post and website updates seem to be all "after - the- fact" which is not surprising.

This morning, one of the television stations had a sound bite about the move and the newspaper ran a story that basically said nothing. The route map published matched the hand-drawn one  that has been on top of my computer for over a month  Anyone with any train interest as an enthusiast already knows where the line junctions are located or can figure it out like doing math in you head.

 I hate to say it but I can remember when steam engines were running regular passenger service in the town were I grew up. It was second or third grade when I saw the first diesel that appeared on those tracks where the steam engines had been running regular service. Still, trains and planes hold my interest to this day. The physics of both are more interesting now than they were in my 8th grade geometry and 10th grade  physics. It was that knowledge gained, however, that cemented my interest in later life.

Colorful Tent Booths Go Up

The West Side of Admiral Nimitz Drive

Here is a little splash of color from Fair Park this afternoon. One thing for sure is that corny dogs and fried foods will be around longer  than some organizations. My dad expressed to me that everyone wants their jewel to be front and center on the crown and some just never ever will understand that it is all the jewels combined that make up the crown, not just a single jewel. Fair Park is a crown and all the little jewels make it what it is and will become. Loosing one or two here and there will be replaced with others that will shine just as bright and not worry about their placement on the crown. Next time you visit Fair Park look up at the two gate markers.The left one in engraved 1836 and the right one bears 1936. The art deco period for Fair Park blossomed in the 1930s.