A Three Year Old Question Answered

Yesterday, following a checkup with my cardiologist, I drove out Forest Lane toward the Tollway. There is a MC Castle being built that I have watched take shape for a while now. What amazes me the most about all that is the fact that in Dallas, beautiful seasoned ranch homes are being bought up, and bulldozed down. What  I call MC Mansions and MC Castles are are being built on already wide lots by Dallas standards. Reclaiming of well established neighborhoods in one of the most desirable areas of Dallas is part of the driving force. The other: the Dallas economy, not to be confused with the National economy. There is a difference! That's why I could  understand why K. Kardashian never liked Dallas. In her circles, she was the underdog here.

After viewing the progress on the MC Castle and in the process discovering at least two more within a couple of miles of MC Castle that were in construction, the thought occurred to me that I have been puzzled for three years about the four tall spirals I have been observing in an area well familiar to me. Now would be the time to check it out. Much to my amazement, I found an architectural wonder: Dallas Temple Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. So, I pulled into the gated driveway and stopped at the security office. The gentleman was very cordial and listened as I explained that I had observed the spirals for three years and had to admit that I didn't know what it was. He explained to me about the facility, since it was not one of their worship centers. He said that I could take pictures of the outside only and that I was welcome to drive around to the front and the far side and see the layout before I shot any images. I did as he instructed and came back to the gate,parked and got out to shoot from the lawn and walkways. The stonework and design interest me about the architectural element of a building. This gave shadows,tone changes and was well blended into the overall design. The setting was peaceful and sacred  One could feel the peace and sacredness. There aren't to many places today where that feeling in a perimeter area permeates the air penetrating everything like a beam of radar. But, I could feel it there.

As I left the compound, I was satisfied that I had finally answered  an outstanding question of the past three years. The area is within a couple of miles of  the Bush's; the Ross Perot's, the Jerry Jone's, Mark Cuban's, Tom Hick's, T. Boone Pickins.........well, now you know why everyone wants to destroy a sprawling ranch home and build a MC Mansion or a MC Castle,but that's just Dallas.

Atop the South Spiral

The Eastern Front Half

The South Eastern  Portals near side and the South West Portals on the far side

The Fire Boat Was Back !

The Annual Dragon Boat and Kite Festival kicked off this morning on the canals of Las Colinas and Lake Carolyn. This was my fourth year to attend. The first year, the Irving Fire Department had just gotten their fire boat and were having fun shooting streams of water in the water with a few mis-directed that sprayed a few on-lookers. It reminds me of a mis-fired seltzer bottle in the hands of a circus clown. It brightened the day of many people. Then, for the past two years, I've ask," where is the fire boat?" and with grim looks, a fireman would say, "it's not here this year."
Today, walking along the vendors and food vendors row of tents I ran into a group of water rescue firemen. The first thing I ask was: "Is the fire boat here this year?" Laughing , the reply came. "Yes".

So, I set off to find the boat. Nothing else was in focus. There it was. That little boat with a canon  that can shoot a powerful stream of water 75 to 80 feet.  Wow! She was beautiful resting there in the water along the brick and concrete wharf. There was only one fireman sitting at the wheel. He said he was working overtime today and didn't know that the boat had not been at the festival the past two years. In fact, there were a lot of people who didn't know that the boat had been missed by a few more than just myself.

Then, out of the blue came this young Asian girl and her tag along "friend". Before the fireman and I had completed our conversation,she butted in telling the fireman she had been "hired" by one of the event planners to take pictures and informed the fireman that she had also been told that they would take her and her "friend" out on the water. They exchanged cell phone numbers and were still talking as I walked away toward the Marshal's tent to find the team  I had photographed a couple of weeks ago practicing at White Rock Lake, the Dallas De lite Team.

The Crew of Irving Firemen



Welcome Home little fireboat

I found the team, shook hands with one of the members that I had meet at White Rock and like a bad penny, there is this rude little girl and her "friend" and that whinny little voice. With that, I headed toward the wharf on the other side of the even ropes where the teams came down to board their boats and run their scheduled heats. Finding some amazing kites being flown, I walked the entire wharf  around the kite field and headed toward the car stopping here and there to photograph as I made my way closer to the car. The last look I had of the festival was of the fire boat heading out for their water-shooting playtime. I took a quick shot  only for the honor of the boat and the  crew of Irving Firemen who are a class act.

Come Fly With Me,Come Walk With Me

The old song,"Come Fly With Me" got into my head yesterday and I couldn't get it out. It started with a statement that I heard on one of the talk shows by one of their guest. The guest said,
" Rejection is God's way of protection." First, I thought about that all day. Personally, I think that the statement is more true than not. The title to the old song was always one of my favorite answers when someone ask how work had been. It meant that I had just come back from a trip or was about to embark on another one. In those days, I wracked up a lot of air miles and rewards programs were not even a thought by some smart marketing director. Oh, to have those miles today!

A Southwest flight arriving at Love Field

A young couple out for a walk  near Love Field

Second, I want to fly again, but ,I just don't have the same since of urgency any more. While I do hold  an interest in air travel, I like the trains today. Photographing planes are fun to this day and trains are just as much fun ,too.   Today, with technology being what it is, you don't have to do much at all to say, come fly with me. So I choose not to fly (as much) rather than feeling rejected because I don't (as much).  It's still a thought to ponder the statement: "Rejection is God's way of protection". For me, I just say, "Step back and let the Lord step in."

Third, Now, come fly with me!

After Voting This Morning

Morning errand: early voting . Between the house and the voting location, one American flag was at half-staff. When turning into the voting facility, their flag was at half-staff. When I see a  flag at half-staff, I want to know for whom it has been lowered. After voting, I inquired until I found out that the half-staff flags were for the fallen police as this was national police week.

Outside the polling location, I pulled out of the rather long lot onto a neighborhood service road which I like to drive because it is tree lined and a peaceful dive on to the lake.I noticed this guy walking his bike and bending over trying to catch something. In my mirror I watched as he was holding this turtle.

Since I submit data sheets to Texas Department of Wildlife on killed box turtles or other sitings, I turned around and drove back to the polling location. Putting down the passenger window and calling out to the guy,"Is that dead or alive?". The guy replied that it was," alive." I ask him if I could take a picture of it. He said that I could. I parked and jumped out of the car. He hardly wanted to stop; explaining that he was taking it to the stream behind the voting location and that it was an Alligator Snapping Turtle,  an endangered species. I shot the picture and away the guy took off on his mission again.  At least, I did get a picture. Getting back in my car, I took out again on my original journey to have breakfast at the lake.

Alligator Snapping Turtle (Loggerhead)

It was then, that I knew that the day was going to be a bit out of socket but not a total loss. The voting machine was slow to cast my vote. The flags were at half-staff, the turtle guy was on a mission  and being somewhat grumpy, But hey, I had already cast my ballot in the primary this year! Something had been accomplished this morning.
As the day moved into lunch time and then early afternoon, I had run into four photographers at the lake. On the way home, I calculated that the combined total of MM of lenses I had seen  was 1785MM! That's what was visible, not including lenses in backsacks and cases. In fact, I had in backpac two 55's and a 40. That raised the total to 1930.  That's a lot of lense power, brother!

Dragonfly

                                         A dragonfly in all its complexities yet simply beauty.

Never Judge An Event By The Color of the Portapotties!

Here's the scoop: There were only about a hand full of protesters at the Arboretum this morning. By 1 P.M. only one lone man was out in front with his sign.The city begins cutting grass and destroying the wildflowers on Monday after the judge's ruling on Friday.

The porta- potties had arrived for the European and Classic Car Show at Dreyfull Point tomorrow late morning and early to a little after mid afternoon. A group of 12  bright orange porta-potties were at Winfrey Point but I would imagine that there was a big rental of the facility for tonight as several large stage speakers were already on the circle grass. The porta-potties at Dreyfuss Point were blue and grey,hence: you can't judge an event by the color of the porta-potties, but if there's 12 bright orange ones in a row......you are NOT at the European and Classic Car Show --most likely!

The surprise of the day was to find the Dallas Delite Professional Dragon Boaters working out on the lake at the Filter Building docks. Two weeks from tomorrow the 2012 Dragon Boat and Kite Festival will kick off at Lake Carolyn in Las Colinas. I understand that the Delite have already won a medal in Austin this year! Congratulations! and because of the metal......well, here's a view of the Delite crew! Good Luck at the Red River and at Sugarland later on this season.

As Much As I Love the Arboretum, Build Your Garage on Your New Lot!

The City of Dallas wants to cut (and destroy) the fields of Wildflowers at Winfrey Point,White Rock Lake,especially with the Dale Chihuly Exhibit about to open at the Arboretum The first hint of trouble came earlier when parking was allowed at the ball diamonds and a shuttle ran trips from the lot to the arboretum.  Last year,  a lot was used on Gaston Avenue with tour buses running shuttles every 15 minutes. The kicker: Parking at the big lot on the grounds of the Arboretum went up from $7.00 to $10.00 this year and when you park off grounds, the Arboretum looses the parking fees. This year, a new lot across SR78 (Garland Road) opened but now city hall is talking about a garage! A 15-17 million dollar garage.

One of the areas in the background where the city wants to destroy the wildflowers and build a garage or establish parking. Note the local CBS affiliate trucks in the lower right of the sign. Another TV crew was off to the left filming.

The wild flowers are one of the unique things about Texas springs. This is when we really need Lady Bird Johnson, again!