Winterized

One of the Rescue boats used when the rowing teams are on the lake practicing.

Across the lake from the last shot is the marina for one of the sailing clubs. I love sailboats.

The day before this shot, high winds blew through the area disrupting cell phone towers, breaking branches and limbs off trees. Later, the temps shattered records from a few to several degrees. There was a guy walking the docks at the marina for a sailing club to make sure the tie-downs were still secure. That's a nice volunteer service at any marina.

A Great Redo to a Multi-Screen Complex

The Feature
The Studio Movie Grill Chain has taken over the old multi-screen movie theater at 75 and Spring Valley. What a great remake to a remarkable building. In fact, several  sources are telling me that US75 (North Central Expressway) properties are part of a remake along 75 itself. This facility will be the chain's second along North Central Expressway. One is just south of the High 5 and this one is just north of the High 5 as seen here..

The Area
The old Valley View mall property is up for a remake. That makes the Tollway to 75 and Spring Valley to LBJ 635 a very active redo for North Dallas. I'm so glad to see this happening. As for me personally, I always would rather see a structure remade than to demolish it and start all over. It has always seemed to be such a waste from my viewpoint. Yes, I am a romantic at heart. There are some structures that need to come down. I can appreciate the argument.

The redo will be a great addition.

New life to an old multi-screen  theater

 

                         Dallas as a resource pool.

Just one project can spark so much more development. Especially when people are using the creative juices more than the jingling money bags to drive a project. If the juices flow from far enough back to attach the area into a mosaic of the community, the money bags will fill and refill for years to come. Dallas is lucky to have such a creative pot of developers.



 

Hauling de Boats

Click on image to enlarge

Boats arrive for another rowing club at White Rock.These boats are 60 feet in length.

Rowing clubs are outgrowing all their facilities in Dallas. Backman Lake is full, the Filter House Barn is full and this club has been transporting boats for a while. Their dock is on the road to the sailing clubs boat houses.

 It's nice to see an elite sport that competes with teams from Boston and Rhode Island and East Coast Schools  that are based in Dallas, Texas.

New on the Geo.Bush Turnpike.

Went out to an insurance agents office today because of a change in medical plans this year. Two years ago, the stretch along the George Bush Turnpike was open fields. Today, it is development  and money and development and more money as fast as the pneumatic hammers can spit nails. The sad part is that its close to my brothers and I liked at one time driving out there. Truth be known, I still like going out to see my brother, it's just not as fun getting there today! Some guy passed me on the service road going faster than the traffic on the turnpike. A block the other way sat two Plano motorcycle cops enjoying this 75* weather a week before Christmas. It all goes with growth and development.Or so I'm told.

New Construction now is  filling in the open fields in Plano.

Along the Coit to Alma Section of the Geo. Bush Turnpike.

 

Grief Process Takes Time

Many switches are flipped on and off,day in and day out. In the course of a year, reflecting back, one certainly hopes that all the right ones have been turned on or off for this one little individual relay that plays its part in the portion of the universe that we all live. It goes without saying that technology has made life better (for the most part) and it has helped to make work easier (sometimes). For the most part, I try my darnest to enjoy nature, love my family (including my cat) and live out the rest of my life trying to correct all the little short falls that have caused me to stumble. In short, I still want to leave this world better than it was when I arrived.

I still like (in a humorous way) to push a few buttons just to see the reaction. I did that  a couple of the last trips to the cardiologist (sometimes, you have to set the stage first). It must have worked. Not only did I find out he was human,too, but that he had a bit of humor as well. The biggest surprise was that he is a BIG Notre Dame fan and alumni. It was an experiment. It went well. It was a switch that was flipped and helped me as a person in a small way. Sometimes in life, we have to flip our own switch if we expect to make progress. Forward progress is essential Sometimes, as well, forward progress can also be painful and cause us to grieve.

I just read an essay about pain and grief. Although, my agreement with the entire essay isn't in line with the author from start to finish. On the whole, the author made some very good points. The points that he failed to make or from my view  somewhat missed the mark is inexperience in his career. In time, he will either make the points or modify his viewpoints like a jet's contrail in the sky making course adjustments on its route. I can deal with that and not disagree to a point that it starts an argument (like some I have meet along this life's journey).

My photography has been a grief switch for me. I flip it when I have periods of heavy grief about the loss of my son. Heavy grief is when you cry out in pain (why?) (Why did this happen?) Sometimes those creep back into my thoughts. I flip the switch and go to Light Grief Mode. That's how grief should be dealt with. It should be memories of all the fun things,happy things,humorous things that were celebrated.

One example that I rewind and replay a lot is a beautiful October morning in New England. It was a fall when the  fall colors were at their best in many, many years. It was a grief trip that was made to help my mother-in-law through the grieving process in the loss of my father-in-law  a couple of months prior. My son was 5. We loved the Ogunquit rocky shores with waves from the North Atlantic battering those rocks after many many miles of travel. My son would burst into laughter when one of the rocks was smashed by a wave and it sprayed water up and over the rocks in an array of artful beauty in the morning sunlight. The car was packed and my son and I stood on the bluff above the waves looking down at the rocks while the women did a double check that everything had been packed and that nothing was being left behind.

 My son wanted to go down to the beach level below and  put his hand in the ocean one last time. I took him down the sandy wooden stairs from the cottage to beach level. He was so happy. After splashing his hands in the soft beach waves for a few minutes I looked up just in time to see about a three foot wave rolling toward the beach a bit faster than the others. Soon, I realized that this wave would require me picking up my son and lifting him about the wave line on the beach. The wave grew and grew. With my son in my arms, I quickly backed up and ducked behind a rock that was about 8 to 10 feet high at sea level. The thinking was that a few water sprays would be quicker to dry out than being totally wet.

The wave had been misjudged. The wave hit another rock from a slightly different angle.It sent a heavy spray of water at such an angle, it doused my son and myself to a point that complete changes of cloths would be a must topside. I remember the cold shock of the water hitting us both. I remember my son shaking from the shock of it and then looking at me for reassurance that we had both gotten wet and it was fine and okay, but most of all funny, as he broke out in a laugh that I can still hear in my head today. That is the kind of grief that helps one heal, although, the pain never fully goes away.

There is no rushing the grief process. Every one has their own speed in which they heal. Don't worry that a year has come and gone and you are  still grieving. It's been a dozen plus years for me. I'm still grieving. It's a better understanding today. Sure, I was angry at first. Most everyone is. Striking out is a part of the process also. Coming on down the line eventually comes acceptance. That's a hard one to deal with. Guilt comes into play and even drives a rekindle of the anger sometimes. Working your way though it will bring a resolution eventually. I wrote a poem to my son. It was a part of the acceptance. It got published several years ago.

Looking back to that morning again and again, I seldom see the unpacking of the car, getting dry cloths and delaying the start of our homeward-bound journey. It's the laughs that are recalled most clearly.It's that extra little time in a moment of time that was captured for a reason at that moment, unrevealed. It all fits into an image that was inscribed on my brain for a reason. That reason lights up every time I flip the switch and  it brings peace and comfort and love in never-ending quantem theory little packets of energy and light.

Today, I look for images that "speak out to me" in some way that continues to push the grieving process forward with a lesser degree of pain. Sometimes, I just pass on the shot.even putting the camera down and wrap the memory of the shot around my heart. I've heard many  more angles singing on those days for some reason. I leave that switch alone.

The dedication of the new Budah temple

Stacks of Beauty

 

OOPS! Updates and Leftovers

This image is exactly why business insurance is through the roof!

Thanks to the good friends at Talk Airlines.com( this image is copyrighted by its original owner. Any information can be provided by Talk Airlines.Com ) Seldom, do I use someone else's image. However,there are times when an image like this is one of those images that fills the old adage: A picture is worth a thousand words.

A Little Humor

A husband and wife go into this restaurant to be served dinner. After being seated, the waiter comes around and ask,"are you ready to order?" The wife replied that they were and that she would have  the T-bone steak. The waiter said,"vegetable?" The wife looked up at the waiter and said,"He'll have the same!"

New Hospitals

One of the two new hospitals going up in the Medical District. This one is now half complete. It is the new Parkland Hospital across Harry Hines Blvd. from the historic Parkland.
 
The other one is about a mile down  Harry Hines across from the Southwestern Medical School Complex campus. It will be the new teaching hospital for Southwestern. They use the old Parkland and related structures as their teaching hospital currently.

The New Parkland Hospital as seen from the DART Orange Line .

 

American Airlines
American's press package has released a couple of images of what the new look for the airlines could be like. In my previous post I had written that I was hoping for  bright but not white. Well, there is a lot of white paint in the first images! I  certainly hope that this is not the their "final answer" to a fantastic opportunity to be the king of paint!! But, it's starting out the gate to look like American, too, will miss the mark and join United as the second missed mark for new paint!  Tom Braniff was way ahead of his time....now that was  a man who knew how to paint a tail of an aircraft!




 

Next Stop: Terminal A DFW International

Today, as a strong cold front was passing overhead, but before the temperatures dropped the 40 degrees the weather boys were advertising, I boarded the Red/Orange Line at the Central/LBJ station in North Dallas and headed to the new Belt Line Station that opened December 3rd. This summer saw the orange line open from Bachman Lake to the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas. Now, another 4 miles of extension is added  and reaches a critical mass area.

On December 03, the North Lake Station Opened at Cottonwood. Golfers would recognize the area as the Four Seasons Resort. And...the Belt Line Station, while Westward sounds rather conservative, the actual surprise,grand trump, what ever adjective one would use, that makes this different for the largest light rail system in the whole of the United States, is  this: it's sitting on airport property at DFW International. That's inside the fence. That's different rules and regulation for building. But, it's the final leg that will end at Terminal A at DFW in December 2014 with the last extension. There are few airports in this nation that have  a direct rail link into a terminal. That means that in 2014, you will be able to deplane,get your luggage, use the airport system to transport you to terminal A from any terminal  and ride to downtown Ft. Worth,Denton,Dallas,Garland,Rowlett, and Plano, or get off in Addison or Carrollton and take a cab to those area hotels. The details will come forth, most likely as the time nears the completion date, but the point being made here is that the connections from DFW International to area cities in the metroplex will be most unique for  transportation connections. That's a big deal.

It took just over an hour each way.

The New Belt Line Station on DFW Property.Overnight parking,
750 car lot.

Belt Line Name Placard

Westward to Terminal A at DFW.Note that the tracks are laid but the overhead power lines need to be placed, but 24 months is not a long time to wait for this transportation  link.