Careless Whisper

George Michael's, "Careless Whisper," might be the "at bat" song for a major league baseball hero, but I can also tell ya that it was played a lot selling hot roll coils like these, long before it was the "at bat" favorite.

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.

 



 

 



Trinity Groves Brings Mom's to West Dallas

For an old trucking terminal with both side dock plates to seven  amazing and quality restaurants with extremely nice outdoor patios, Trinity Groves has transformed the first couple of blocks west of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge into another Lower Greenville and West End. It's only been about 24-months since I started following the project. It was slow to begin, but the end results made up for the slowness in time.  Mom's were dining in a very lovely setting, families were enjoying the vendor's tents as they left the restaurants and self-park and valet worked together like a well-oiled machine. The re-development out Singleton Avenue is expanding like a chain reaction. Let's all hope that the end results at least equal Trinity Groves growing success.

This vendor has some of the most unique hand-crafted items that would make very special gifts!

Talk about atmosphere making a restaurant nice, these seven restaurants have all kinds of atmosphere indoors and out on a veranda patio that would run a close third-scale  to  the Grand Hotel at Mackinac Island, Michigan
link:

http://www.grandhotel.com/

Fresh Farm vegetables are also available on some Sunday's during the month.

 

Here I Go Again

Henry! Gas up the jet coffee mug by sam6372
Customize your own coffee mug at zazzle.com.

Update to Previous Post

Update to the post of March 28th:
Went out to check on the beehive along the trail. With the warmer weather and the pollen sources getting better by the day, the hive was thriving. In fact, it was a bit difficult to get my camera into a position that would produce a better shot. The bees were coming in and out in numbers. With the heavy rain the past couple of days, the hive is secure unless disturbed by someone, something or a natural disaster like straight line winds or a tornado.



The hive is thriving and doing very well.

I don't want to disclose where the hive is located because it would threaten the hives survival. Over the years, I have discovered that the very nature of people is not always well intended. I have seen a  hiker, runner, biker that did not want to have their activity threatened and I have observed people that have come back later and try to destroy an item such as the hive rather than have it interfere with their activity.

The Farmer's Market Remaking Itself

The Dallas Farmer's Market is remaking itself. Yesterday, was the first time that I had been down to the market in sometime. I love the Ruben sandwich at the Chicago Sausage Company. Since 2001 when I participated in a market study about downtown living, I got to know several of the "long term" vendors at the Farmer's Market and some of the other businesses. Lots has change in the time since.  There has been a lot of discussion about the Farmer's Market going private for management. When things like that begin to fill the air, there is usually something more going on in a QT kind of way. Change has never been a stumbling block for me. You learn to go with the flow over time. Patience also helps with change, too. Just as in the old days of my grandparents and parents, you run across people you once knew and lost contact with. There are others that still serve up friendship and a good sandwich or bottle of wine with a good cut of meat. Chicago Sausage Company and Jimmy's Italian Grocery not far from the Farmer's Market does that well. Dallas doesn't have the big import stores and shops like in Chicago, Detroit or New York but over time, by word of mouth or the stumble upon technique, you find that import and specialty store and meet old friends again and have good food.

Almost immediately it was easy to see that Shed 2 was under mass movements of concrete and dirt and that all the vendors were in the roadway of Shed 3 with the Shed 3 vendors still in place. The old fish market between Shed 1 and the old Casa Blanca Restaurant was gone and all that remained was the smooth dirt where it stood surrounded by concrete walkways.

Also missing are the Welcome signs in seven languages replaced by a square banner that simply says: Dallas Farmer's Market. The second of two garden vendors and the retail vendor shop in the Administrative Building where vendors could buy bags and tags and the like. I suppose that the city's new plastic bag law has something to do with it, although that could not be confirmed.

After talking to one of the vendors that I have know for more than 10 years, it soon came to the surface that the finished product would be Shed 1 standing, Shed 2 redone, Shed 3 and 4 demolished. In the space of Shed 3 and 4, there would be new construction of apartments and condos like the one that have been going up for the past several years with a noticeable increase in the past year. So, as always, the reconfiguration seems to be based in the Almighty Dollar. I know that the blackberries were at their highest price I have ever seen and the one I tasted was not sweet at all. By the time I got to Kroger's, the sweetness was back in the blackberries and the price was less than half what the Farmer's Market wanted for a full pint.

The old fish market is gone

Shed 2 is gutted and being redone

The flower market is now gone leaving only the one on Cadiz Street between Harwood and Cesar Chavez with hanging baskets, flats of flowers and potted displays.



edited for a flat finger flub: took out "dirty" and replaced with "dirt".

Mother's Day 2014

Mother's Day 2014 is fast approaching. It will be on May 11th this year. When I was growing up, I remember my paternal grandmother had two rose bushes in her yard. One was red and one was white. We would go out to the farm on Saturday before Mother's Day to get our  roses that we would wear to church.

I did a little search on the web to see if I could find a meaning for what was  remembered of those two colors  we wore on Mother's Day. There were many charts. All had their own variation as to meaning. Then, it hit me. Those old meaning were a cultural thing for  specific regions. There were traditions for weddings and  funerals, but  Easter, Mother's Day and  Father's Day held their own special meanings.

On Mother's Day, the kids my age would all look to see who wore a white rose or a red rose. It was like a game, but one of respectfulness at the same time. It was a learning experience for a 7 or 8 year old. Our parents were passing down a tradition: If your mother was living, you wore red. If your mother was deceased, you wore white. We don't do things like that today on the whole as a society. We have lost those wonderful meanings of the past.  I'm all for bringing them back.

We wore red if our mother was living.

We wore white if our mother was deceased.

 My mom entered the church triumphant ten years ago this year. White roses are worn now on Mother's Day. The only reference that came up for white roses worn on mother's day was the word, "heavenly".  There  must be an old illustrator somewhere that looked for a red rose or a white rose when he was 7 or 8 on Mother's Day and who had parents based in that tradition like my parents.