600 Months After JFK

Downtown Dallas was abuzz with people from all over the globe yesterday. While the larger crowds seemed to be at Dealey Plaza,naturally, the crowds are only going to increase over the next several weeks. City Hall drew people from LA taking pictures of the flags on the plaza. Five different  Quinceaneras  and their Court of Honor filled the area of Pioneer Plaza where the cattle drive bronzes cross the stream. It was a mix of tourist and locals all intermingled in the way it is supposed to be.

The tour business was active, too. Three stretch limos were unloading and reloading. An entertainment bus did the same. Then came the escorted tour of segways  followed by the little red trolley that advertised "see Dallas in 75 minutes". The heart beat of Dallas on Saturday was, without doubt, in downtown.

The  couple from LA said that they had been on a tour of AT&T Stadium (Cowboys) in Arlington earlier. They ask about restaurants. While I usually don't recommend , I mentioned a couple from high end down to just good cooking. Others had also recommended the good cooking and they reached their decision right there on City Hall plaza under the flag poles and headed out to have their dinner at Sonny Bryant's. The traveling were also traveling while visiting Dallas but they were eating, as well. That translates into tourist dollars and I don't know a Chamber of Commerce anywhere that doesn't like that concept.

Traffic on North Central Expressway ( NCX, 75, Central Expressway) was at a crawl from the High 5 south to North Park. 635 LBJ was a mess because of the final paving occurring on the new re-do from Coit to Preston Road. It will be the first stretch of the 11 mile project to be complete. Is it going to help? Most likely not. I don't think traffic in Dallas will ever catch-up with the growth. And imagine if the DART Rail wasn't at the stage it is currently. The only think keeping pace with the traffic is DART Rail and TRE to Ft. Worth and A-Train connects to Denton. In the perfect world, DART would already be running out of DFW (although this time next year they will be about to turn the key) and neither the TRE or DART would have a line running in Arlington where both cities could ride to a Rangers, Cowboys, Six Flags day and leave the parking where the car is--at home!  But, I suspect that the parking vendors and others don't want that. It is a capitalistic society that we live in today. The political arms still pull the strings and pulls them when  they want them pulled.

From an observation point, Dallas is ready for the 50th Anniversary of JFK's death here in Dallas. I would have liked to have attended the ceremony, but I didn't have the luck in the drawing for tickets. There have been only three events that I can recall where I was at the exact moment the event occurred. JFK's shooting, Neil Armstrong's landing on the moon and the attack on the World Trade Center buildings.  JFK: I was in my high school history class 1200 miles away when the CBS report came across the intercom; the moon landing: I was crossing the Ohio River at Cincinnati and the attack on the World Trade Center: I was at the mail box on my way to work when one of my neighbors ask if I had been watching the reports on television. But, it is the JFK weekend that found me glued to the television and actually seeing Lee Harvey Oswald being shot on television by Jack Ruby. Today, when I pass any of those buildings, Parkland, the old police station on  Harwood, or Dealey Plaza, it still brings back that entire time frame of mourning and disbelief and the stunning and shocking fact that our President had been killed.

I ask this question two years to late!

All this leads to one simple question of though. We all have seen the spot where Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in on board the president's plane and I wondered if that spot was ever actually reported on  a map or some historic sign that LBJ became President on this spot? Realizing, of course, that it is inside the secure area of Love Field, I've never heard a report of where that plane was parked while the president was in his motorcade. I know where Air Force One parks at Love Field in modern time, but where did they hanger the plane at Love Field on that fateful day in November 50 years ago this month? It appears now that someone did ask that very question but not until two years ago for the first time since that deadly day.

 I'm just two years late on this one, but that is still enough to keep me in the running for asking "historical" questions! I'll settle for that. Staff Writer David Flick of the Dallas News did an article on 21 November 2011. According  to that, I was just under two years, then. Some 48-years passed without anyone asking the question. Ironically, it was a photograph that led to the actual spot at Love Field being located in gps coordinates for history sake.

One of many limos arriving and departing Pioneer Plaza for quinceaneras and their court of honor

Tourist were arriving and departing the area in large numbers

A Rose from the Rose Garden of Perkins Chapel  at the Joe & Lois Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University in memory of JFK

Two Magazine Covers

 At one time, on my office wall, hung two Time Magazine Covers that had been well framed. They were on the wall facing my desk and the one to my left faced inward as did the one on the right. They provided inspiration and  helped fuel that "go get  'em " drive that you have when in your younger years.  The two men. On the left was Lee Iacocca after bringing Chrysler out of bankruptcy. On the right was T. Boone Pickens. Oil man.

To this day, I hold both in high esteem. I liked what they stood for and what they accomplished in their business careers. At times, I would drive by Ford's World Headquarters in Southfield, Michigan, and think about the mustang and Lee Iacocca. It was years later that I also realized that he had also created the Pinto that had a faulty gas tank. Today, here in Dallas, I drive by the many places that have T. Boone Pickens'   name on the outside of the buildings.

Yesterday, while getting in my cardiac walk, I walked around an area that is hard to photograph because of parking. What to my surprise did I discover but yet, another building about to go up that will carry the name of T. Boone Pickens. I'd have to declare T. Boone the Ever Ready  Bunny of those two magazine covers forty years hence.


It is a Hospice  Care Center

Happy 43rd KP

RIP



Discovered on the Way to the Doctor's.

Another one of those discoveries made on the way to a doctor's appointment happened today. It just kind of grew into a confusing matter the farther I went. On the way home, it got even worse. During the course of this little trip, I learned something new and dispelled some old rumors at the same time.

There even seems to be a lot of different protocols being put into play by companies that  think they are doing the right thing by their actions but only  make the matter more confusing. On one stretch of Coit Road it was not an even split. It was more like a 30/70 kind of thing. That's way to much of a difference.

Earlier, while drinking my coffee and watching Good Morning America, Sam, the weather man was in Lakewood, Colorado at Lakewood High School where Katy Perry was performing "Roar" among other things. I remember thinking at the time, "why aren't these kids learning the 'three R's' instead of attending something that should be held  on a weekend away from the school?" After the trip to the doctor's, a basic history lesson in school has long been omitted and/or forgotten. I guess I answered that question for the most part. It also made me feel sad in a way, especially after all the deaths during the past decade, and the snafu with the guy who ordered  19 caskets of firefighters prematurely draped and was even supported by the Governor of Arizona without asking-- or knowing-- the correct procedures.

What difference does it make? It makes a lot of difference. Its the flag of this country. It's the thing that goes with the Star Spangled Banner which somehow has been made into a show of mistakes and off-key rock and roller who should be made to attend a history class about the correct version rather than some individual twisted version they make up on their own. But that is another post by itself.

If you haven't figured out yet what this post is about, it's about properly and consistently flying the American flag at half staff.

In one small stretch of Coit Road, I found one bank brand that within two-miles flew the flag at half staff at one of its branches. In that stretch was a high school that flew at full staff; a post office branch that flew at full staff and a very large shopping center complex flew an even bigger scaled flag at half staff within sight of a bank and a post office branch which later was discovered was flying it correctly. Obviously, even neighbors didn't ask the question, "which one is correct?"

After stopping at one bank, a  branch manager stated to me that his orders come from the home office, but at some of his branches, the property that holds the flag pole is owned by the realty firm. The Realty firm  controls whether it is half or full staff, not the bank. But it was fairly obvious, that Wells Fargo Bank had a better procedure for flying the American flag than did the one bank brand that flew the flag up at full  and at half staff within 10,000 feet of their two branches on Coit Road.

Wells Fargo seems to have a handle on the proper procedure as a company

The post office in the foreground was correct, but look at the shopping mall in the background with the extra large flag at half staff.

Here is a link to help you decide your business
www.va.gov/opa/publications/celebrate/halfstaff.pdf

Where have all the bees gone?

The afternoon started out in search for migrating Monarch butterflies on their way to their winter home in the mountains of Mexico. I've seen a few high altitude ones already but nothing where they have settled on a milkweed patch. However, there was an up side to the hunt. This is about a few honeybees that have been missing.

This is where the bees have gone; at least one hive, anyway. I like where they moved in. Being in a little white box was never my ideal of keeping bees. Maybe, the bees like wild more than controlled little white boxes.  In fact, they have just arrived in the area .Well, within the past couple of weeks. Actually, I found their food source first. Then, I discovered their new home. I'd say that they might be there for awhile. There is plenty of room for expansion. I might go back later on and take the micro lens camera since the hive is rather open. But, drawing a crowd of spectators would not be a good thing, either. It's just enjoyable to find them in the wild and spend a little time watching them work and construct and keep house and serve the queen bee. Nature in the middle of 4 million humans. Getting along is essential.

Carnac at Luxor

No, there will not be pictures of trips to Carnac. This is about being able to wrap one's mind around the equation of 3200 BC + 2000 AD = 5200 at a time when modern man is just now able to have the technology in machines and tools to do what the Egyptians did 5200 years ago by hand.

At a time when social media is being used in not the best ways and the world is so focused on teen idols that lives the life their teen followers wish they could, while at the same time pouring their money into the products of these stars that allow the stars to have what they have at such a young age blows my mind. One example is that of Justin Beiber, with a reported $100 million in the bank and still a teenager. Carnac seems so constant.

Having said that, the fortunes these teen idols have amassed still does not blow my mind like the way Carnac has in the past, or still does today.

Every art student should tour Carnac before beginning their careers. Did I just say that? Indeed. It's more about the time element of when Carnac was begun than what it is; more  inspiration than awe. Mix it all together and what can be poured out  will be a billet of life. One with a focus on forging a relationship between man and his creator and how short this life really is in terms of years. That is the great motivator. The focus. The object d'art. The canvas for life's work.

Another thing that blows my mind is how light can make or break an image.

It seems to me that more residents at White Rock decorate more during the seasons

Seeing horseback riders at the lake are still a joy in this fast-paced world.

 

Halloween. All Saints Eve. Goolish. Ghost. Gobblins. For a Kelt, it's just the first day of winter.

Some people don't seem to understand that the end of October in Texas is not the same as the end of October above the Mason-Dixon Line. The biggest reason there is such a difference lies in where the sun's rays hit the earth this time of year. Basically, Texas is about 30  ( more or less) latitude degrees closer to the Equator than those above that other line--the Tropic of Cancer and yes, even the Mason-Dixon Line ( which is nothing more than the southern boundary of Pennsylvania drawn by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Davis in 1767.

The angle makes the difference in temperature and hence, weather!

Here's the best kind of lawn pumpkins you can have. They are colorful, too! It can be cold, it can be warm.



Lawn Gifts





Some color beginning to show

The Pelicans are back!