A Needle In A Haystack Shines

Sometimes, you can search for that needle in the haystack until  you are blue in the face. Other times, it jumps out at you like a ghost in a fun house. Today, those odd things all came together thanks to a very creative graphic arts shop owner and  a lodge that has been keeping a eye on things since 1897. And, folk art turns the corner with the amazing hand-painted and decorated guitar.

The International Order of Odd Fellows lodge building with it's eye underneath the three chain links.

Thanks to the shop keeper that had this displayed in his shops window. I needed that outbusrst of laughter and I thank him for it.

Folk Art at its best on display in a shop window.The message on the frets gives hope.

As Time Goes Bye

Just off Mockingbird, for years, sat a small Baptist church. The last couple of years, the congregation  slowly disappeared. That is not to say that the congregation is no more, it simply means that the church began to appear empty. Then in the fall of last year the real estate "for sale" sign when up. One day in passing, I decided that it was time to get a picture of the belfry with the  foundry-cast bell visibly hanging in place. After a while, the image got deleted (as I do every six months).

In an urban setting, the location, setting and size of the building lended itself to my memory of a small country church  where I grew up and anchored our paternal family burial plots. Although, four other cemeteries hold my maternal immediate family and my son,that of and within itself could be another story.

During the past couple of weeks, there was visible activity that a new owner or the past congregation  of the property were beginning to make changes to the property, then last week, the bell in the belfry was gone. That was not a good sign. Yesterday, there was a city code violation sticker attached to the property. It is now obvious that the property is set for destruction, be it a new owner or the previous church congregation, although since it was listed by a real estate agent, the probability of the congregation rebuilding  would be a somewhat mute point at this site.

At any rate, a piece of history is changing architectu

History past and present

The belfry contained  a foundry-cast bell until a couple of weeks ago.

rally. Therefore, the property does fall within the mission statement of this site to photograph within guidelines "to enhance the mind,stir the emotions and quench a thirsty soul."  This is why I enjoy urban photography so much. Bitter sweet memories do enhance the mind, they do stir the emotions and they will quench a thirsty soul strolling down memory lane.

Down Under Arrives Top Side

It's been a while since visiting Founder's Plaza at DFW International Airport. The delay between visits would be more about the massive construction project called the DFW Connector than anything else. About half my visits are on the LBJ expressway and half are on the surface roads. Oddly enough, while the construction has been going on with the LBJ Expressway Project and the DFW Connector Construction, the expressways have been the road of choice. Actually, it kills two birds with one stone. Not only can one see two massive multi-billion dollar roadway projects going on at the same time, they occur end to  end with about a five mile section in the middle where the  President George Bush Turnpike crosses LBJ 635 coming up from I-30  before it bifurcates into state highway 121 that is know known as the Sam Rayburn Turnpike.

The Founder's Plaza is at the end of Texan Trail at Air Field West. Texas Trail crosses 121 and 114 (Carpenter Freeway) in Grapevine. But, from International Parkway, that runs right down the middle of the massive DFW property, Air Field  east and west is like a beltway. From 183 on the south to 121 on the north,the Southern Entrance or the Northern Entrance to the airport is so named.

There are several more facts about DFW to deal with. DFW has a total of seven (7) runways. As far a big airports go, that's a lot! Five (5) of those runways ( 17L,17C,17R,18L,18R)  run more-or less north and south. The next two are diagonal to the five parallel runways ( one on each side) and are cross-wind runways 13L and 13R. A few miles to the southeast on the same degree headings lies 13L and 13 R at Love Field. Thank goodness that the Regional Air Traffic Control Center handles all the incoming and outgoing flights from all the airports in Air Traffic Control (ATC). TRACON or terminal radar control all fits together in the control and safety issues before handing off to Ft. Worth Center, the high altitude control center that gets air traffic safely across this country. There are also, three (3) active control towers at DFW. No other airport has three active towers operating at the same time.

Eighteen (18) left and right runways and 13 right cross-wind runway lands in Tarrant County, Texas while Seventeen (17) left, center, right and crosswind 13 left  land in Dallas Country, Texas. And  the drawing board eighth runway will also land in Tarrant Country.Some passenger planes land on 18L and R and a lot of terminal traffic takes off on 18 L. The Heavies mostly land on the 18s but the smaller craft take off on the left 18s because it is close to the terminals and the International terminal.

It's much more than just watching planes land and take off. Learnng what's going on when you hear a plane overhead can tell you a lot about what's going on in the regions traffic routes and airports. Yes, even weather can be fortold by watching the high altitude flights as well as the low altitude flights.

[updated on 09/12/13 to correct bifocal blunders!]

Quantas Airlines International Flight Arriving Runway 18L



Founder's Plaza with city flags from Ft. Worth and Dallas, plus the Texas State Flag and the US Flag.

Boots On The Ground

Some cliche catch phrases are alright. Others, find me a bit uncomfortable because to me, they go against the grain of how I learned respect. Surprisingly, while I got a lot of learning from mom and dad, it was my maternal grandmother that kept me in check when mom and dad were working or being social at church functions etc. My maternal grandfather early on had worked in the oil fields. Later, he became a U.S. Marshall, but his greatest love was being a businessman. He had operated boarding houses and restaurants that served hourly workers to big industrial operations like the cabinet plant that made cabinets for the Singer Sewing Machine Company. He provided them with a room where the workers could sleep and also be feed three home - cooked meals for a weekly sum. His rooms were always filled. My grandmother was a good cook. He also carried basic grocery items that workers could buy for their days off or holidays. The passenger trains stopped just across from the boarding house and restaurant. My two older aunts worked there in their high school days.My mom being the youngest was only 4 and she was without doubt my grandfather's baby and favorite.

During the depression, they didn't have much, but they did have food. At 17, when the war broke out, my mom moved to Detroit to live with her older sister and to baby sit while my aunt worked. It wasn't long until my mom because one of the original Rosie the Riveters at the Willow Run Airport where a Ford factory began producing B-17 bombers. She riveted a set of bolts into the wing of the B-24 Liberator aircraft.

I remember going to Detroit in the early 1950s to visit my aunt and she took mom and dad and I and one of her younger sisters out to Willow Run to see the old hanger. For a 5-year old, it made a very big impression on me. To this day being an aviation geek is just something I still get goose-bumps from.

In 1998 my mom was visiting a very dear friend who lived just outside Columbus,Ohio. My son was living in Columbus, working and going to school at Ohio State University. There was  a B-24 Liberator on display at the Madison Country Airport near Rickenbacker Field. Mom was just like a child. She couldn't wait until she could go see that plane. After 50-years, she spotted the two bolts she riveted at Willow Run all those years ago. She bought a T-shirt and put it on right on the spot. She was happy or had fulfilled an item on her Bucket List if she had one. I think she did have one. She wanted to visit Vermont but would not fly and would not take long-over-the-road trips. I once ask here how did she think that she would get there. Her replay, through the eyes of Life and Look  Magazine photographers.

So when I hear the phrase: Boots on the Ground, it has a much more crystallized meaning to me that sending troops in to fight a country's civil war.

C-1928. Mom sits on the counter.The two older girls are mom's sisters. Her brother is not photographed. The man behind the counter is my grandfather W.S.

Traditional Boots of Military Issue in past Wars.
These may have been in the Pacific Theater


12/16/18 edited to clarify some meanings.

A Labor Day Image of Joy From The Heart

Yesterday afternoon, I sat along the western shores of White Rock Lake in triple digit heat drinking lots of water and would wipe sweat from my forehead on a frequent basis. The group at the "Free Advise Forum" that has been there for 16-years was interesting as it usually is for goers. It was sunset as I helped Roddie load up the folding chairs, the teddy bears from the tree, the all-familiar sign "Free Advise" and , of course, the American Flags. When home, even though I was in the shade and under my fedora, there was a deeper red glow to my face than the bronze tan that was there earlier. It came from the reflection of the water most likely.

In the course of the discussion, it came up about music from the heart. My best example was to relate an earlier statement that has been made in the past. That statement was in answer to a question proposed to me about what makes me happiest. My original statement was that what makes me the most happy is sitting at the bench of a 100-rank pipe organ playing Widor.People don't expect to hear that coming from me. So, when it comes up from time-to-time, it requires some explaining.

Yesterdays discussion created some interest as to how or what can you relate that to visually. Just so happens, several months ago, I discovered on You Tube  a video that completely adheres to the cliche: A picture is worth a thousand words. Plus, in this case, you get to hear some pretty good music performed on the instrument that it was written for. But most importantly, it also show a visual of how a human being feels from within the 'joy that comes from the heart'.

The video is of a young man, Laplacae, performing The Widor Toccata on the Cavaille-Coll Grand Organ  at Saint Sulpice Church, Paris. The instrument was where Charles-Marie Widor served as organist and composed his Toccata from Symphony Number 5. The organ is a tracker-action and in short, playing a tracker is total work because of the mechanical actions. Organs today operated by pneumatics and it is like power steering on a car. Tracker action is like no power steering. So, from the discussion yesterday and again by popular request, watch and listen but pay close attention to Msgr.Laplacae as he releases the keys after the final chord in his performance of  Charles-Marie Widor's Toccata from Symphony Number 5 on the Saint Sulpice Cavaille-Coll Grand Organ, in Paris.You will see Joy from the Heart. The link is below left.


http://youtu.be/TQaXh28tzyo

The Patriot Guard

Stories come from the most unusual of places and have much more meaning than anyone could guess. Yesterday, I heard such a story. Not only was it interesting, it stirred a well of emotions in a big burly guy with a braided white to grey pony tail . Yes, he rode a Harley. He also was a volunteer for The Patriot Guard.

When the government's executive-style jet flies into the closest small town airport with the casketed remains of a young military serviceman or woman returning home for the last time, or, to a busy airport in a major city like DFW or O'Hara or Atlanta, LA and others, the local chapter of the patriot guard will meet the plane with the funeral director and escort the remains back to the funeral home. They will also escort those remains to their final resting place be it a military cemetery or a local cemetery. In other words, it is a tribute to the fallen comrade that basically says, you are not alone. They will also honor a veteran in the same way. To see them in action is a big emotional stirring within itself.

A couple of years ago at the 71st Annual Memorial Day Dallas, last years 72nd and this years 73rd, the opportunity to speak with several of the men and their wives and/or girlfriends who ride as a group is always an honor for me. I have meet lawyers, doctors, business executives, airplane mechanics,construction workers, retirees and even military men and women on leave who give of their time to honor the fallen servicemen and women. Yes, I've even meet a judge who rode for the Patriot Guard once.

Yesterday, I spotted the flags at a local cemetery and drove to the grave site. The active duty officers from the Joint Reserve Base were ready and so were the Patriot Guards. The funeral was not due to arrive at the grave site for nearly an hour. There would be time to get a few pictures and chat briefly with the Patriot Guard that was there.

The big burly guy with the pony tail was eager to relate the story behind his pony tail when ask. He said that he rode with his young wife sitting in the Queen seat of his Harley. When he came back from Viet Nam, he let his hair grow long. When he and his wife went riding, his hair would blow into her face. He started to braid his hair into a pony tail so that it would not blow into his wife's face. He still has the pony tail neatly braided today.

Here are  the flags on a 102 *F Texas afternoon.

The Patriot Guard, The American and the Veteran Administration seal flags

The American Flags

Two Active Duty Navy Personnel Await Their Charge

Cleaning Up the Summer List

The summer list of "wanna-shoots" gets created as the regular list of weekend shoots get scratched or goes unfinished. Then, when the weather that is supposed to be getting better, doesn't, the list seems to grow instead of getting shorter.

Yesterday was a day that a couple of those items could finally be scratched off the list. The irony of such a list is that the list is never completed. Never. But, on the flip side of that is that there is always something to fall back on to shoot when there is extra time. One of the best selling images happened from  that list and the second best selling image also came from that  list. Now, would anyone toss such a list, I ask?

I didn't even chase the finish-up move of "the Big Boy" from Irving to Frisco after last weeks trek ended in Irving. While the twitter tweets said that the biggest crowd was in Carrollton (duh), it is about the only good place of any viewing size to watch. But,letting things go is a strong suite. Last weekend with the Big Boy move from Fair Park to Irving ended the chase that had been on-going for over a year.

 Already, the conversion of Fair Park for this years State Fair is underway. The Chinese Lantern Festival will return and some 20-odd artist from China are busy at work creating this years pieces. And, of course, the return of Big Tex on his new base. Plus, the tracks from the old museum are already being erased where the railroad museum sat for 50 years.

Before you can tie-up all the loose ends created by this year's list, it will be time for the annual Christmas Parade the first part of December. Then, the shoot cycle starts all over again with the new and unusual always headed to the top of the list.

Yes, Dallas traffic takes to the air, again. A billion dollars plus for the High 5, a billion plus more for the LBJ Express, a billion for the 121 -114 connector at DFW, a billion plus for the Horseshoe,the old Mix-master at the I-35E and I-30 interchange. Funny thing. all the HOV lanes will be or already are--the new tollroads. So what do you now call the Dallas North Tollway? Oh, failed to mention that it was just announced that from this project, the LBJ Express, I-35E, will undergo the same re-do all the way to Denton. It's the price we all pay for the increased growth to the Metroplex and it was never (in a Texas way) a small thing.

The LBJ Express Project. The redo of the I-35E and the LBJ 635 Interchange that extends 11 miles to the east at the finished High 5.

The Bell Tower at the University of Dallas. For some odd fact, the University is in Irving. In fact, it sits atop the hill on Tom Braniff Drive overlooking the old site of Texas Stadium that was demolished. The bells chine very loud on the quarter,half and hour marks.