A Duel on the Sidewalks of St.Paul

 Well, this is the old West, don't you see. This one didn't start with the two men standing back to back and taking 20 paces where they turned around and shot at each other. This was a modern era duel. A duel of cameras between a Canon owner and mine---An Olympus!!

After de-training at the St. Paul Station, I walked back to Thanksgiving Square. My initial image of the spiral of stained glass needed to be updated. The reason: the lighting of the center focal point of the spiral is a ring of lights. They have now been updated to LED and the difference from the old is amazing. Maybe a bit to bright, but the electrician said to me that they are on rheostats and can be turned down. 

After leaving Thanksgiving Square Chapel, I walked up the street from the train station and got some images of the old US Post Office and Court House building. The old images that I had from years ago needed to be updated too. The building is an amazing building of architecture and detail. On Federal, going toward Federal plaza, the row of postal delivery trucks are lined up for nearly the entire length of Federal. Rather impressive display, too. 

If, at the light I turned left, I would pass right by the massive fountain at the beautiful plaza at the New First Baptist Church addition beside and behind the old downtown church. One of the larger Main Stream Churches in the US. The senior pastor at First Baptist is  Dr. Robert Jeffress. He is an authors and also a Fox News Contributor. 

Since I had photographed the fountain before, I was going to cross the street and  turn back toward the train station so that I could get a clear shot of the that side of the US Post Office and Court House. The far side had the power lines for the trains and it would have messed up the image. When the light turned and I started crossing the street, I see a family of  several people walking toward me. I noticed as they walked past me that one had a Canon camera. I said to him, "when you gonna trade in the thing and get a real camera?" He stopped, his father seeing what was going on with a smile from ear to ear, someone ask me." what kind of camera do you have?". "Olympus, I replied." The next thing I knew, his camera came up to his eye as he focused. I had to do the same. The duel occurred, we laughed, the family continued on and I went into the Trolley Stop Cafe and had fantastic late morning breakfast.

 

                                                                                                                                       After the duel it was breakfast

                                                                    The Duel

                                                     Mail Trucks at the old PO

                                                The new light ring of LED lights

Downtown is Changing by the day. And The Trolley Stop Cafe is part of that change.

 Well, despite the threat of triple digit heat ( like a thunderstorm, that threat is now here)  it was up and out the door with only a sausage patty and English muffin to fuel my trip down town. By nine-thirty, it was revisiting Thanksgiving Square. My, how that place has changed. 

The gardens are beautiful, the fountains were clean, the lightening that hit the trio of bells that were cast in the same foundry where the Liberty Bell was cast, has long been a known fact but I had never paid as much to detail until today. The electrician was working on the mechanisms and hopefully, they will soon sound again. I love the echos of big bells bounding off the buildings. There is just something about hearing them that sends chills up my spine and I have heard some amazing bells toll in a few places in this old word. About a month ago I was outside Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Gaudalupe not many blocks from where I visited these bells when they went into an amazing peeling that lasted nearly 25-minutes. I have a whole 2-seconds on my phone before I shut down the phone to save power. But I still listen to it from time to time to remind me I need to record the entire peel from start to finish. Somehow, the amount of time in the day seems to grow more shore each day. 

Then, while walking toward the old Post Office and US Court House for a history lesson cut in stone, I was waiting at the light on Federal Street when I spotted this cafe that I had never seen there before. It looked interesting and I was ready for my first cup of coffee since I had missed it to get out the door by 7:30 this morning. The light changed and I crossed the street and stopped outside to door where I could read a menu posted. Walking through the door, I missed a step that was clearly marked, " Watch your Step". A lady, came from around the corner.  "I just dropped in", I said to her. Immediately she ask if I was Okay. Which, I was and walked behind her to the counter to order. 

The breakfast platter was delivered to my table in great time and long story short, the toast was super (yes, there is a quality were super falls on toast. The eggs were over light just like I like them, the hash browns where supper hot---again, just like I like them and the sausage patty was quality and cooked very well. When it came time to order a drink, I passed on coffee. To hot outside. A prime dehydrator not needed for the rest of my trip. So, like I have done in the past when I visited Toluca, Mexico I also ordered a Coke. So with the bells and architecture I had photographed this morning, I felt like I had been traveling again and therefore, that's my story on the coffee vs. the Coke with breakfast and historically, that's my excuse for a coke for late morning breakfast and I'm sticking to it! 

Now, a picture is work a thousand words and this picture is worth every bit of that and probably more because the food was super, the service was outstanding and I will make an effort to return to this place again and here is a few pictures as proof that the Trolley Stop Cafe has a real live M Line that passes their door.

                                           Taken from my table point of view

                          Outside the canvas awning tells it all at St. Paul and Federal

Where at Federal Street

                        The line up of Postal Delivery Trucks in on Federal to the right.

The Annual Saharan Air Layer (SAL- millions of tons of dust) has arrived in Dallas this year

 It's a far flung annual event in Dallas. Millions of tons of Saharan dust from the third largest desert on earth is casting the sky over Dallas in that  orange haze in the upper atmosphere and Texas Heat.

Credit: NOAA/NESDis/STARGOES EastAir Mass. 

 

 Which brings to mind a return to a previous trip to and from Baltimore, down to National Airport in Washington. About 6-12 miles Southwest on the BW Parkway I passed the Goddard Space Flight Center that sits on the right just off the BW Parkway. It's actually on Greenbelt Road in Greenbelt, MD, but when in the Baltimore and Washington Area, it is pretty much the same as driving cross town in large cities.The Visitor Center, at 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt,Md.20771 can be reached at 1-301-286-3979. A great place to take the kiddos if you are planning to tour D.C. this summer.

It's been years since I was there. I have several business friends in the BW area. One, took me down to Annapolis to a great restaurant that set across the Potomac from the US Naval Academy. Seeing the Naval Acadamy lit up at night was amazing. The restaurant was known then as just The Wharf. Today, I think it is McGarvey's Saloon and Oyster Bar. It was on that trip that I drove back to Washington National to catch my flight the next morning. 

 

It was also on that trip inbound on an Eastern Airlines from Atlanta (that shows how long ago that was) that the Captain of the flight came back to the guy sitting in the seat ahead of mine and ask the passenger if he lived in Severna Park. The Captain then ask if he could not reach his wife on the company radio if he could hitch a ride back to Severna. I recall at the time, "who's flying this bird?"  As I looked out of the window, Andrews Air Force  Base was off the wing tip. Today, it's Joint Base Andrews. And that points out just how close we were to B.W. International Airport. To close to have the Captain of the ship back in the compartment talking to a passenger, even if his first office had nearly as much experience flying as he did. I still shiver and laugh over that incident all these years later. As I walked out of the Terminal at BWI, that captain was getting into a Mercedes convertible driven by a young blond haired woman. I guess the Captain was able to reach his wife on the company frequency on board the cockpit.

Coming down the BW Parkway to J Street and then into Pennsylvania Avenue, I rounded the White House, crossed over to the Mall and the Washington Monument, saw the Capital in the distance, crossed the bridge and turned in my car at the airport rental and checked in for my flight. It was all of Washington that I wanted to see and only a few places have peeked by interest since. But, The Goddard Space Flight Center is on my bucket list, even if I never fulfill that check mark because if you are interested in space and astronomy as I am, then that is the place to visit. 

Second 100°F Day This Season

 This afternoon, I actually burned my hand on my house door knob. It only took a few minutes for the sun beating down on the front door to heat up the door knob. The last time that I got a good burn on my hand was  after touring the then, Budweiser Plant, in St. Louis. I unlocked the doors and then set down in the driver's seat. With out thinking, I took hold of the steering wheel. Second degree burns was the result of that situation from a couple of decades ago. And, like then, I never gave a thought that reaching for the door knob would be a like situation. The angle of the sun came over the brick wall of my gate entrance to the porch. It heated the door know that quickly. Less than ten minutes of watering my plants was enough. My hand is still very red at this writing. 

The thermometer on my porch read 108°F then reached 112°F. At about 8 P.M. CDT the needle was still pointing at the 100° F mark. It's going to be 99-102 +/- for the rest of the week. I will not be going out until this high pressure that is parked over us decides to move to the Atlantic where the regular Bermuda high normally parks.

Firday, it was a day to visit the Farmer's Branch Rose Garden. I missed peak of some of the roses by a couple of weeks. Now, that I know how to complete that part of the wagon wheel route, I'll be back! The place is amazing with a wide canal that meanders through the southern side of the garden. When I was ready to make my return trip my bus was late. The stop was in the direct sun so I crossed over to the median which is tree lined and shady. There was another stop directly across from where I had been in the sun and where I was in the median. Which ever bus came first was going to be my bus back to the rail station. As it turned out, the bus that I got was not going to transit center where I wanted to go. The trains were down from downtown to Mockingbird because of the maintenance on the tunnels. The schedules were really jammed so I rode the next bus going north because I was so hot. I didn't need a heat stroke for sure As it turned out, the trip up north and back to the train station was about an hour. When I got back to the rail station, I stepped off the cooling station bus I rode to cool down and stepped onto the bus that pulled up within four minutes of my de busing. It took me to Addison transit and then cross town to the Spring Valley station that was an 8 minute ride home. It is just to early to have this crazy heat wave. The bad part is that one the retired senior weather guys explained correctly that usually when the spring is extremely dry, we tend to get 30-40 days of 100 plus temps. Last year we had 8 days the weather guy said.

Spring and Fall have always been my best time for images any way and now, the spring was cut short with half of May in the upper 90s. It's gonna be a long hot summer. 

 

 

In Loving Memory

                                                              Patricia Kathryn
                                             Her Urn will sit next to our son KP's urn

                               She was, and remains in my heart, the love of my life.

The Pneumatic Nail Guns are going wild with no end in sight.

Four years ago I still recall thinking: is there any empty ground available in Dallas? Since then, I have seen 30-40 houses built on a half block empty lot. Same thing, where a couple of warehouses once stood. Two empty lots and a for sale sign next to one of the lots. About a year later, a 8,000 sq foot home stood on the two lots and the third one with a house on it was bulldozed down giving enough area to build the 8K square foot home. This sight has gone on for the past four years since I really started paying attention to the need for new homes and we have not even begun to go back in the archives and check on the massive residential apartments pattern, although I can say that when I came back to Dallas, apartments were three stories. Then they stood four stories. Then five. This past weekend, I came across not one, but several projects where six stories are now a pretty common sight on the current horizon. 

I recall my mom telling me about the new DFW airport. Then she told me about the expansion of a couple of terminals. I flew into DFW to visit mom and my brothers. Downtown was building the tower with the 7 story hole in the center. The Bank of America building was just then going up. I viewed that from the 50th floor of my sister-in-laws office that provided the view next door. Then, the developments began of the land that was DFW owned surrounding the runways and operational field. Larger than Manhattan, This piece of property with 7- active runways. with the plans for number 8 are there already. When you see the layout of the runways, one can see clearly where number 8 could, should, would go in the future. The airport property on the North end of the airport is filled and construction has been going on for sometime now with large warehouses on the South end. The growth it generated has now shifted toward the south properties of the airport. Some 40 years later continues today and is spreading throughout the Metroplex. Of course, the hay fields between the airport property and the George Bush Turnpike are covered in black roofs of new homes now. 

Now, with the TEXrail line complete and active from Ft. Worth to terminal B at the big airport. The Silver Line, DART's  love,  currently under construction from the northern corridor across the old Cotton Belt rail lines, will arrive to Terminal B as Dallas' cousin to the TEXrail it will park along side. Dallas' Dart light rail system has been active for a few years, already next door and a short foot walk from Terminal  B  to Terminal A. But, that was the genesis of were this story really began and actively continues to this day. Dallas really started growing after DFW's ground breaking, the active charcoal that turns raw meat into BBQ so to speak. Developers have been hot on the rail path ever since.  Where the rail lines are, the developments follow in short order. It's happening at Dart's Lake Highland Station. It's happening at Dart's City Line Station. Along the Silver Line construction path. The end of the line at I-20 were the UNT (University of North Texas, Denton) built it's southern campus, the area is seeing growth and construction not seen in years. In fact, nearly twenty years ago while doing some research for a Fortune 50 company near downtown Dallas, I had ask one developer where would they be silently grabbing up property 20 years from then. His answer was, twenty miles north of McKinney. Jokingly, said to the developer,"not much land left to the Red River". His rely to that was a wake up call. He then said, "I'm not worries about the Red River. Engineers design and build bridges to solve that problem of keeping my customers' feet dry". South Dallas has paid a price in some ways, but the tides are turning in that direction, finally. The growth isn't as fast as it has been to the North. It seems more still believe in Santa Clause than we thought.

Today, downtown Dallas has it's 5th green space park that just opened. Deep Ellum has it's first high rise in the past couple of years with several more high rises following it's completion. Now, Texas Department of Transportation just held  one of a few more public meetings to discuss their desire to tear down the I-45 stretch that connects US Highway 75 (Central Expressway) and I-35E via the Woodall Rodgers expressway that reconnected downtown with Uptown District with the highly successful Klyde Warren Park built over the top of Woodall Rodgers. If the I-45 flyways are eliminated are placed sub-terrain, it will re-unite Deep Ellum with downtown.   I just hope there are enough nails to fill those pneumatic nail guns where ever the next project pops up and the supply chain is strong enough to support another 40 year growth that now includes suburban growth as it connects to the mother ship, Dallas/Ft/ Worth Airport.

Discovered the missing pieces of the puzzle.

Two years ago when I sold my car and started riding the bus and trains, there were bits of apprehension that I would not be able to cover  the same amount of ground as I did with my wagon wheel while driving. Each spoke of the wagon wheel was a 18-mile trip up, 6 miles across and back the other side of the 18-mile spoke. In 6-8 weeks I could cover the entire Metroplex and all 5 counties. 

Thursday, on one of my discovery missions, I happened, by chance, to take a bus that I normally do not use. Because of the delays that the shortage of bus drivers has caused nationwide, I used the bus mentioned above. Within the first 20-minutes of the route I was sitting up and paying great attention to the route. The overall route was about and hour and a quarter to a half and had filled in 18 pieces of the puzzle that I had not been able to complete thus far since starting the use of the bus and trains. 

Once home, I was able to look at the GPS locations and compare them to what I had been able to cover in the past via car. As it now stands, there is only one big void that I cannot cover at present. However, if the bullet train gets built in the next three years, I might be able to cover that area before I start pushing up daisies. Already, for the duration of the upcoming summer and early fall, it should be a good shoot season with this discovery.

Having been a bike rider for years prior to my hospital stays my new bike was almost without miles  with only a couple of small trips. Then, due to medical errors in the hospital, I had to walk with a cane for nearly 6 months and as I healed, my balance was a bit off so I left the bike at home and walked  to strengthen leg mussels. Even though all the buses and trains have bike carriers. So, as the bike sat in my living room, moving it back and forth to vacuum I got a couple of snakebites in the tubes. If I decide that I want to see if I can still ride, getting the tire tube issues repairs will need to come first. Health wise, I'm in excellent shape if the balance issue proves that it is safe to return to riding, then I will. Ideally, it would be even greater to cover even more ground in a joint venture with bus-train riding with biking. We will see how some of this works out. I will not over do and end up back in the hospital for sure. 

This past month has been a great month of better than normal sales since the pandemic. Things seem to be recovering and as I tell my brother, "once you create the beast you have to feed it". In this case, with new and creative shots that graphic people like to use. 

I'm back to shooting 100-150 images on each outing again. That seems to be a lot after the pandemic slowed things, then my hospital stays was more rowdy to keep things slow, but the past couple of months the images are turning out pretty well. I did have a technical problem with the big camera that I didn't notice was happening, but I have since corrected that issue.

It's been house cleaning time with both the web pages and the blog page. Yet, I've cleanedup of things for our viewers and readers. Outside of not having any problems staying busy, I'm blessed by the Grace of the Lord. 

Stay tuned. It has really been a good year thus far. Hopefully, you might enjoy some of the things we will be working on this summer.