Mr. Owl, The 7-Year Search Is Over.

I've heard about the big owl at White Rock for years. While people tried to describe where he was hanging out, I never saw anyone actually looking for him. In fact, those that tried to explain the area of trees where it was thought he lived, either could not or did not want to reveal the actual location. People sometimes show their own insecurity in such matters because they want a certain location as their own. Find a photographer with a 400 or 600 MM lens on their camera and observe! It's more interesting than watching the duck races at Eddie Gossage's little camp ground north of Dallas International this weekend (alright, I like Eddie, so his little camp ground is formally named Texas International Speedway and the office race is the Duck Commander 500).

Any who (pardon the owl pun), it has just been one of those weeks. I had three fires burning, so Monday was the day to work on putting them out. First, came the battle with Time Warner Cable. For weeks they have advertised that on April 7th that they would be going digital and you needed to pick up an adapter. I did that last week-end, standing in line for the better part of two hours. The adapter set on the  floor in front of my TV until the day before. I put on the adapter and called the number given to me by the TWC lady when I picked up the adapter. An activation number. It was then, that I found out that I was loosing channels. No where had the advertisement advertised that the change to digital would do that. The first call on Monday netted a goose egg. Cable 1, me nothing

By Tuesday, I had regained some strength and it was fire number 2 with Aetna insurance. It appears that Aetna, has a very messed up formulary for medications that they pay for under their coverage. The one drug that has worked better in treatment happens to be one that they have decided not to pay for. It was time to take on Aetna. I filed the appeal. My doctor didn't want to put his neck on the line but didn't like the fact that I was probably going to have to change up the med because Aetna didn't want to pay for it. 72-hours of e-mails and wait, e-mails and more info and wait, Bingo! Aetna called to say that they were going to pay for the drug anyway. Second call on Tuesday netted a win for me and the doc. Big Companies 1; me 1.

Wednesday, fire number 3 was a "life-time guarantee" on a 5.5 Qt glass-covered skillet purchased at Sam's Club 6-years ago.  Normally, I would not even fight something like this, but I know that the vendor had problems with this pan in the past and Sam's  Club, though reluctantly, honored the life-time guarantee. Now, as luck would have it, Sam's is letting their vendor duke it out with past customers. At this point in time, the vendor is sending me a pre-paid label to return the pan for inspection. This fire still smolders in the debate world currently.

Thursday, it was a battle with Walgreen's. I had two refills at the pharmacy. I go in to pick up the one refill that was a partial (Walgreen's didn't have enough stock to fill) The Aetna decision had come down and was now in the system so I submitted the refill on line.While at the pharmacy picking up the partial that was now filled and ready, the pharmacist said that I would have to come back tomorrow because the second refill would have to be a partial as well, since Walgreen's was out of stock to fill the second refill completely. (UPDATE:NBC5 10 April 2015)WALGREEN'S ANNOUNCED THAT IT WILL CLOSE 200 STORES BY 2017 (now we know why I have to make 4 trips for 2 scrips, don't we.)

It was time to clear the head and go look for an owl. After searching for 7-years, finally, I found the owl. He had been driven up higher in the canopy by a 600MM photographer, the sky was getting dark with building thunderstorms in the large grove of trees, but, trying to make lemonade out of lemons, I cranked up the 200MM and just started shooting into the canopy, then, I saw the big owl fly into another tree. The shot is terrible, out of focus and nearly to dark, but who cares...... I photographed the big owl that had, until today, evaded me, unlike the many times I have seen the two bald eagles when others had not. For my patience, Mr. Owl rewarded me with a red cardinal on a car mirror and a lesser hawk feeding on grubs.

Deep Ellum Arts Festival Underway

So cute!

This year, the annual Deep Ellum Arts Festival fell on Easter Weekend. It traditionally runs Fri evening, all day Saturday until late and the Sunday until early evening. Saturday, this year, was by far the best weather day of all. Easter Sunday, it rained and was gloomy and cold.

As usual, the festival is fun. The food is great. The entertainment is always traditionally Deep Ellum! The street performers were exceptionally hot (the sax player was jammin') and was quiet the show with one crowd watcher and a young lady really getting down to his music,especially. It was an awesome performance. One of the best that I have seen in years.

Then, there were the dogs that stole the day as well. I love Deep Ellum and the eclectic air. While Deep Ellum has been around for 100 years or more and people like Blind Lemon  were real, Deep Ellum is in a sort of revival and I like to see that. New Orleans is New Orleans. Beale Street is Memphis, Chicago and Detroit had their own as well, but Deep Ellum is Dallas and is growing new sounds all the time.

As some still say, "this is old-fashioned, cuttin' the rug."

Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel

At one time on this planet, there was a golden age of glamor. Today, we have none of it left. I've been reading a lot about those days and it always amazes me how there is always a common connection somehow. Such is with another one from that great generation of glamor. Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel.

I was stunned at her humanity. A couple of sources seem to verify her generous moods. In Coco & Igor, Chris Greenhalgh  and Karen Karbo in The Gospel According to Coco Chanel: Life Lessons from the World's Most Elegant Woman, the stories of her are amazing and yet, being human during a time of war almost cost her everything.

Igor Stravinsky, with his family, stayed with Coco. He was in the early stages of his "The Rite of 
Spring". It was Coco, who guaranteed financially the success of his production.  Later, she took care of yet another family and payed for the husband's funeral following his death. It just so happened that he was the head of the German SS which almost cost her everything. Coco, had had an earlier affair with the German.

Coco was once ask why she did not marry the Duke of Westminster. She had also had an affair with him. Her reply came, " There have been several Duchesses of Westminster. There is only one Chanel." This original account was first published in her Biography.

When she left Paris, she moved to Switzerland and remained there for years. She had designed and built her villa, La Pausa, on the French Riviera. It looks toward the Italian and French border on one side and overlooks Monaco on the other. It sits high above the village of Roquebrune. It was built in the 1930s during that golden era and of her own design.

In 1953 Coco sold her villa, La Pausa, to the Hungarian publisher and translator Emery Reves. He purchased the villa from Coco with his translations royalties of foreign languages for Winston Churchill's

Not the French Riviera but still a pretty awesome place.

books. Churchill lived there four months of each of the years 1956,1957 and 1958 while he worked on his book. After Emery's death, his wife Wendy continued to live there until her death, but in the early days after her husband's death, the Dallas Museum of Art approached Wendy about the master collection of fine art that was displayed in the house from both Coco Chanel and from the Reves. Fearing that she would sell the collection as a whole, the museum agreed to terms set down by Wendy. She wanted five (5) rooms replicated from La Pausa and to include pieces of furniture belonging to Chanel. The museum built  a 16,000 square foot addition to house Wendy's collection. Today, the Emery and Wendy Reves collection can be visited at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Chanel No. 5 has always had class. It was the woman who developed the concept as a fashion designer that lifted Chanel No. 5 to the top shelf. Coco Chanel is buried in Switzerland following her death in Paris. She had lived in Switzerland for 30 years after leaving Paris the first time.

What Do You Think?

Alright, I was editing images at the computer when a commercial came on the television. Something just caught my eye about the cow in the Aldi milk commercial. Then, wham! on came a Chic-A-Filet commercial featuring a cow in a reverse dunk tank, which turns out to be the same cow, I think. Markings almost confirm that. I need to watch the commercials  one more time. I never thought about it but hey, the black and white cow in two commercials is rather unusual. I've only know one other cow until now and that was Elsie, from Borden's! Elsie didn't look like the cow in question here.

Several years ago, I was out at South Fork standing at the pool when out of the hedge row that surrounds the pool came a  rabbit. Then several years later, I ran across a rabbit at White Rock Lake. Then, last fall I ran across one eating grass along the trail just north of Medical City Hospital. They all looked alike and I didn't think they were the same rabbit. After all, there is only one Easter Bunny.

Interesting .Now, I've got to find out who is that cow's agent !

The Perfect Backyard Weather Station

Everyone complains about the weather, even me. Although, I have a bit more tolerance than most for a couple of reasons: one, never complain or worry about things you cannot control; two, donot put all your eggs in one basket with the local weather guys. There is a better forecast from the National Weather Service, which the weathermen take their cue and add their spins. But the best forecaster that I have found is in a pole with a piece of tube or metal bolted to it. From the metal is hung a string with a stone suspended in a string sling. A sign near by list in one column the conditions and in the second column  the forecast. It is basically 99% accurate.

conditions                                                             forecast

stone is wet                                                                             rain

stone is dry                                                                     not raining

shadow on ground                                                                                sunny

white on top                                                                               snowing

can not see stone                                                                                       foggy

swinging stone                                                                                         windy

stone jumping up and down                                                                                   earth quake

stone gone                                                                                           tornado

This way, you know for sure! Happy Forecasting.

Balloons in a Tree

From The Ground Up

It was another beautiful spring day in Dallas. The temperature topped out at 81-degrees F and there was no wind or breeze. Flags hung limp on flagpoles on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. The grass was a beautiful green against a medium blue sky. Yet, for me, it was a tad warmer than I like when I am out with the camera. A camera crew five-strong, with all their heavy and well-padded cases, were heard complaining also. They said they were "shooting Dallas" on a positive note as they headed down between the levees.

I have been rather anxious for spring this year.  I wanted to try out a couple of things on my old and trusty cameras. Well, camera in this case because the big Nikon over the winter is still in the hospital with a bad case of software malfunction. Nikon wants me to up grade. Funny thing about that, though. Nikon does not want to kick in anything toward the upgrade.  Over the years, I have known several AP photographers that have used the same equipment for many more years than I have used the new digital, but we have one thing in common: they liked shooting with their equipment and I like shooting with the cameras that I have. I'm not totally sold that I need 24 mega pixels or sensors twice the size with no mirrors, either. The case to be made is that cameras are kind of like an Apple i phone series 5 or 6. Apple wants to sell phones so before you learn all the features on your 5, you just have to have that new series 6! As my grandfather would say,"hogwash". That is were I am now with the decision on cameras. I'm not so sure that upgrades are always the right choice. Never-the-less, I was able to test out the adjustments and the adjustments worked just fine.

A bee sits on a flower with his wings folded.

This tree has been flowering for ages. It has about a 60 foot circumference

See, there really is water below the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge!

Maggie 2 Update

The Margaret McDermott Bridge on I-30 crossing the Trinity River. This is the second Signature Bridge as part of the Trinity Corridor Project.

The construction of the Margaret McDermott (Maggie 2) is moving along about the same pace as when the Margaret Hunt Hill (Maggie 1) was under construction. Crews were working. The work field is mired in mud with all the rain that has been falling and the melting of the snow and ice. Also, I was rather taken aback when I finally realized that the final height of the center arch was a bit lower than I first thought. While the Maggie 1 risers to 400 feet above the Trinity, Maggie 2 will not be that tall. It is estimated to be 250 feet above the Trinity, some 150 feet less than the Maggie 1, but still a significant and respectable height.

With the weather being cold, blustery and damp, attending the St. Patrick's Day Parade on Greenville was passed up for the second year in a row. After lunch my prescriptions were ready for pick up. While out, I drove down to the bridge, which looks almost like it did last week. Then, I took Beckley to Zang Avenue to Bishop Street. The trolley lines are nearly ready. The station drop-off and pick-up points now have the weather and wind shield covers in place.

On the way over, I was wondering with the festive mood going on in Lower Greenville, if the Bishop Arts District would be rather down in attendance. Much to my surprise, the crowds were big, the lines were long and parking was just as bad as in Lower Greenville. It was encouraging for city growth to see both areas "going strong". It also occurred to me that the Dart Trolley would probably get used a lot.Current thinking is that the trolley would be full most of the time if not all the time. Lower Greenville doesn't have that service and it wouldn't take much to run the Trolley from City Place down Henderson to Greenville. Since Klyde Warren Deck Park was so successful, and with the extension of the trolley lines along both ends of the park the "M" is going to have more riders this summer than expected, I bet. Remember also, it isn't that far to the Perot Museum, either.

All-in-all, Dallas has it together and is showing signs that make economics fun. The amount of  construction going on is really amazing, especially in roadways, airports, public transportation. The Trinity Corridor was, without doubt, the development catalyst equal to what DFW was for the city.