Etnies Skatepark vs. Garland's new park

 Etnies is the largest free skate park in California. It stands now at 62000 square feet. Garland's new park while still under construction is a 40000 square foot park. For comparison, one acre is 43500 square feet. 

Record Fuel Prices for North Texas---

 and other light tidbits.  While the weather has also been in the news with near record breaking heat, it was time to get out and walk. It seems to fit me best when I do at least three good walks in the 4-6 mile range. Plus, relearning all the changes that DART has made in bus routes has brought on so new discovery missions that has generated a lot of editing of images and listing with agents. 

There are some good side effects---like yesterday when I ended up at Jimmy's Burgers next to the DPS Mega Center in Garland after my stop across the street at Garland Camera. I could spent the better part of a day there, just checking out all the new technology in cameras. Jimmy's makes a big burger almost like the old Holland House up in the Great Lakes. That burger was as large as a dinner plate! No joke! Jimmy's isn't that big (about half of that) but the taste of Hickory BBQ is sooooo good. 

I went past the new skateboard park that Garland is building. It's doubled the size since I was last there and they are still building the thing! Prepare for traffic jams when it opens! Even the kids, their dads and even some grandpa's are chomping at the bit to get in there and try it out.  Etnies Skate Park in Lake Forest, California is this parks equal. or this one in Garland is based on Etnies park. Cannot wait to check it out in action. 

Before that, I had started out on the Red line going back up to City Line to check out the construction of the new Silver Line. Last week I was checking out Addison's Silver Line station and it appears that Addison is running a bit ahead of City Line although City Line 

 

has more bridge work to carry the train across US75 Central Expressway after it leaves the station on its way to DFW. The other note was all the apartment construction along the rail lines, be it the new Silver Line or Dart light rail in Richardson, Plano, Garland and Dallas. The projects are just amazing and mind blowing so-to-speak.

The Four Factor In Play.

 Normally, I shoot 90 percent of my images from a hand-held position. Sure, I use a tripod. That's the other 10 percent. Having said that---this afternoon after shooting all afternoon at Addison Circle, I took the next bus that rounded the circle and ended up at Downtown Plano station. This was alright. Hop the red line or orange line to Spring Valley and catch one more bus home. As they say in the 'ole dugout at the ball park, " reposition". I like the Midtown Manhattan version, though, "You'll have that from time to time. Yes you will".

Never-the-less, I did what I normally don't do, I shot images on a bouncing and bumpy bus. So  to the four young men that were super sports, trying to compress four live humans into a space with an isle and bouncing and rocking back and fourth, my hat goes off to you guys for being the part  that really made the shot... starry eyes and closed ones too. It was a fun encounter and I thank you all.  The flowers are for you to give you mothers on Mother's Day with your compliments.

Yesterday in Downtown

I rode the new #3 bus from Mockingbird Station downtown yesterday. I don't always like using the train underground from Mockingbird to City Place and finally end up on Pacific Avenue  as the train comes topside again.

It gave me a chance to see Ross Avenue developments that has totally transformed it from a decade ago. At the West End Station, I go off and hit the street heading toward Fountain Place. Then, it was just a meandering tour of all the changes from the west end of Ross avenue eastward through the Arts District when I meet a couple from India that were touring Dallas. As it turned out, the wife was a doodle artist and showed me a couple of here drawings that were absolutely amazing. I did give them my last business card that I had in my camera bag and I do hope that she sends me an email and how I can use a couple of her drawings. I can already see a couple of projects that would fit right in. I don't have any vectors and would like a show a couple.

From there it was to Cathedral Guadalupe where I timed it perfectly as  the bells peeled for 15 minutes. As they wound down, the space between the bells as they tolled elongated and because somber and fading. It's been a long time since I have heard Cathedral bells peal like that. Got some interesting shots of all the new construction and how things have become more dense.

 

A First to See This

 Over the years, I have seen a lot of things that are unusual. Some were a bit scary. Others were rather comical. Even enough rarity to bust out laughing. In those events, there has been times when I stumbled upon a guy playing his trumpet under a bridge to get the reverbs off the concrete. Just a couple of weeks ago I photographed a professional violinist on the cultural state at the Deep Ellum  Arts Festival. I ran across a Mexican Mariachi band playing under the west ramp of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge; a high school marching band when a Parliament Member from Italy was being honored on the Ron Kirk Pedestrian Bridge and Felix Lozada Gateway (Continental Avenue Bridge c.1929) but never, until today have I seen this! It was not only unusual. It was inspiring to see a young man practicing his violin while rollerblading around a school and adjacent park. Because the young man was a minor and had no adult parent with him, I could only photograph him with his back to the camera under editorial photos published guidelines. I did tell him how to find his image later tonight for his parents or his friends. With that said, I give you a talented student that was pretty good at both rollerblading and playing the violin, albeit all at the same time.

Braum's Ice Cream is more than just a Dairy Store! It's a place where great people hang out!

 Two great sports at Bruam's Ice Cream this morning doing the breakfast thing. Alright, I had a biscuit and sausage patty with a cup of coffee! Hey, I had to do something nice  for these two!  Hope they had a great day! BTY---Thanks for being a great sport.

I really was working.:

A red shouldered hawk flew past me at shoulder high and landed in his diversion tree before flying into his nesting tree. Totally caught me off guard.

Six Months Ago if You Told Me That...

 I'm now dangerously close to being a Vegan. A year ago I would have declared---No Way. It's all because of Karma. And---if I can hate brussel sprouts all my life and now can't get enough of them, I'm at the point of no return. What a surprise! Karma has struck home!

Karma is a strange animal. Be careful. The rules are simple. Never say Never. Always be true to your self. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Don't say, I won't do that. (street sign: Betty Wood.) Life isn't simple. It's very complex. You don't have to be a Rocket Scientist to figure that out. You don't have to be a scientist at all.  All the signs are all around us. All we need to do is to Listen and be aware. 

Now, I've noticed since I cut the cable that over-the-air television isn't that bad. Having the television on while I edit pictures or write e-mails when I hear something interesting, I look up from the my computer to the television, then return back to the what ever I was doing. 

Keeping better detailed records has now over run from the filing the paperwork from my IRS taxes in my big plastic bin to the long-standing recording of my picture sales. I have been watching my energy dashboard to such a degree that this month, the old Edison Company stopped giving me daily reports. It could be because I was so dedicated to lower my highest light bill in 55 years. I am using 5 Kilo Watts per day and they don't record that low amount because empty houses and apartments and condos use 5 or less per month if they don't run the heat or the AC or all the energy saving tricks. It's rather amazing, This month, and the months billing cycle ends on the 25th, I have shaved off a c-note ($100.00). I've been comfortable, still run the dishwasher daily or every other day, draw the shades to block the afternoon sun that beats down on my porch,and run the ceiling fan on the reverse to draw the heat down to mix with the 18-inch floor fan near my desk. Some days when I come in from being out all afternoon, it's rather chilly in the house and I do not  turn the floor fan on.  Imagine that!

Now the streaming services are loosing customers and things associated to cable-like money grabs and I have noted how the over-the-air programing has begun to change already. I have also noted that there will be those that will sing to the stars that they are glad that they cut the cable. The problem is, they have three or more streaming services and won't out of that too, but don't know how the save face! 

The answer is already here in this post. Always be true to yourself. 

Now--the secret is out of the bag as to how we have ended up with another Gate. This one is called Bunny Gate at the White House.  It's like a black cat in a coal mine.  You just have to admit that Hope---is not a strategic defense.

In the meanwhile, somehow, despite the fact that the  process had been started, but got interrupted because of Covid, as of tonight, the old gas station where Clyde Burrow and Bonnie Parker planned their robberies etc.,etc. got demolished by a developer's bulldozer. It's a part of history, just as much a Al Capone and others. A city councilman will try to find out how this could happened. As he should. Let's hope he is better than the last tear down waiting for the same status that happened. The area is under development for multi-family apartments along the same area where a few years ago was cleared and three story apartments now stand there.  Letting developers wipe out a part of history should be a crime. No excuse. Lawmakers need to stop this. This is not the first time it has happened. The history of a city is important to its grown--good or bad--regardless if the historic place was a hide out for a couple of gangsters or not.It's history. It's who we are. Stop trying to rewrite history as the Egyptians did to one of their Pharaohs.

 

This is the general area where the old gas station was to obtain  National Historic Landmark status. Take the developer who is developing the old Valley View Mall in North Dallas. That project has incorporated many items of the old mall into the development and even more for the city as well as the residences and businesses that will become home---a part of history.

I've seen this same situation in Detroit, years ago and the loss hurt the city as will something like historic bank robbers from Dallas will hurt Dallas in the long run. My dad had a saying about such things. " when something happens that can't be reversed, you might as well eat the meat from the lamb, because that dead lamb isn't going to be any good, other than lamb  for dinner, any more."