Get Ready. Get Set. It Opens This Saturday.

 There are two bus stops for the DART 251 bus in each direction from downtown Garland toward the South Garland Transit Center from from South Garland Transit via Saturn to Miller to the park. 

There are public rest rooms, drinking fountains for two legs and four legs and picnic tables, covered areas  in what once was a near mess. This is Heaven. The ball diamond has been moved and upgraded beyond the skate rink with 8 foot pits.

Plenty of Parking and green space. Lighted with cameras. The park is a scaled down version of Etnies Skatepark  in Lake Forest,California. So, Garland got one of the best designs around, scaled down or not. Check out the web cam at the Etnies Skatepark and see for your self. Mean while, Thank Garland for a splendid facility.

We have some images in the archives of this blog during the construction here. 

Sometimes it's just better to stay in bed.

 Well, yesterday, I visited the Dallas Zoo. It's been a few years since being there. Things change over time and while I knew where I was, getting around was a bit of a puzzle until I could get a few landmarks down. It was pretty chilly and at first, the animals were all inside, but as it began to warm up, they also did so out in the sun. In all, I shot 7 images less than 200. Upon getting home, I was a bit tired from the walking of an up and down terrain and while I did review the images, it was only to send three of the best to my brother who had planned to go with me, but bailed the night before. He had a good reason. He still thinks he hasn't retired yet. 

So, this morning, I started to plan which images I would post on the blog today. Quickly, it was not to be. My browser did an update and wiped out all my tabs which I had to reset the whole lot. Then, out of know where, I got this strange drop down that looked okay and just as I clicked it, it changed and I ended up deleting the whole lot of the images from yesterday from the camera file, no less.

Normally, I don't save emails from my brother, but for some reason, I decided to save his reply email. That email had the three best images that I would have used today.  Downloading each one carefully, they got saved. Oh, was I mad at myself. A whole days worth of work lost. That hasn't happened for a couple of decades. But, I was still mad at myself for not double checking as I usually do. 

So, to sooth my nerves, I ate a quick lunch and headed out the door to go find some fall material. I did and while I could have shot more,the experience from yesterday left me will a nearly full card so I packed an empty card that I had thought was formatted and ready to go should such a thing happen. Well. for some reason, double checking my own process that I follow without fail, I put the card in the camera before formatting the card that was there from yesterday. Lo and Behold, the card had images that I had not seen in my files. So, I packed it in and headed home. It just was not meant to be for some reason. I've said this over and over but this time, I'm saying it to myself as a customer, "As they say in Midtown Manhattan, you'll have that from time to time, yes, you will."

                                                        He misses his brother

                Enlarge to 100% for details of head feathers---which are outstanding

I had some head shots of the baby giraffe and the older mature one. The zoo had just had their third baby born just a couple of days ago. One from the earlier births this year did die later on, but I always enjoy the long necks. The have such expressions that make me chuckle as I wonder what must they be thinking about us?

This Condor is also an amazing bird. The middle image is my favorite of the three. It is a Red-legged Seriema from the South American countries (Cariama Cristata). Beautiful bird with an amazing head dressing. The Cheetah, I caught crying for his brother that had been moved to the vet's for a check up.

Downtown Plano is Getting Scary and the 12th Street run of the Silver Line Is getting ready to rumble with construction

 Well, I've had some close calls in cars, planes and trains before but this afternoon after leaving the Plano Downtown train station, I decided that I would go on to the Central/TI station and catch the 19 bus home. It usually has been running faster than the 200 from Spring Valley Station to Downtown Garland. Not today. It was not in the cards for the 19 nor the 200. Actually the cards had a wild card for the 19 that was rather more scary than the ghost in Downtown Plano 

Like I said, I made it to the Central/TI station and checked my app for the time the 19 would show up. Usually it is sitting at the regular slot. Nope. So, I waited as three or four trains rumbled through the station going south and going north a couple of times. Then, upon checking the status of the 19 again, the darn bus was sitting a block away and not moving. People were getting antsy and it appeared that the bus was broken down. So, I had made up my mind that I would board the next train and go back north to Spring Valley and wait or catch a 200 for the 8 minute or so ride home. Not today. The driver of the bus came back on and said that we needed to get onboard another 19 bus that just appeared out of nowhere it seems. So we did. Less than two miles away from the station, a passenger went into an Epilepsy seizure. The bus was pulled over at Abrams and Walnut where the Rescue Squad would be coming to aid the passenger with one man able to help right next to where he was setting. Then, the driver said if we needed to go on, we should get onboard the bus ahead of us,that again, had appeared out of nowhere but was driven by the same driver that had previously directed us to board the bus we were not on but stopped for a medical emergency.

Less than 2-tenths of a mile on the side of the street sat the 200 broken down that would had been the bus that I would have been waiting on at the Spring Valley Station. Even though it was headed toward Addison Transit station, I would have ridden it a short distance to a transfer point and still have gotten home more quick than this trip was affording me at present. 

Finally home, dinner was in the bag sitting on the desk while I changed into something more relaxing as I uploaded the days images while eating a lesser dinner than I would have had had I gotten home earlier and cooked. Don't you see, I learned a long time ago that these things were bound to happen and I always have a plan B for a quick meal when I come in late. 

To add insult to an already injured knee from my trip to the Stock Yards in Ft. Worth a couple of weeks back, my knee has been a bit swollen and I have been staying off the leg as much as I can---to a point---but Sunday, I was walking the nature trails at the President George W. Bush Presidential Center. Since it's opening, I have made trips covering all four seasons and fall is the best overall. The trails have been reworked and made even better than the last time I was there and I spent almost two hours sitting on a bench watching butterflies and bees and birds and people come and go when I spotted what appeared to be bee hives. 

Upon better inspection, they were bee hives and were some of the most amazing carvings on the boxes that I could see from my camera. The hives are posted to stay clear or in other words, don't get off the trails. They are called Hives for Heros and are managed by a group that help former soldiers recover much like the wounded warrior program. Amazing. A couple of brothers from a University Park school working on a boy scout Eagle Scout badge from troop 70, had sponsored the project. 

The knee did so well from Sundays outing, it's one reason I ventured out again so soon, today. Having walked from the train platform, the goblins were all over downtown and in Haggard park. Being October,  there is always a need for fresh Halloween images. When I got to K Street (better known to me as Greenville Avenue in Dallas) I made my way down to 12th street were the Silver Line would be running on the old Cotton Belt Route. A contractor was marking utility lines with his spay gun and I ask him if I would be in his way, that I wanted to get a few shots of the modern ties that were stacked for yards with some rail that would be placed on the area where the rail had been cut for the construction. We had not been talking long and I began to feel rain drops. By the time I crossed K street and was headed to the trail where the Red and Orange went above grade level before hitting the Plano Downtown station, my umbrella was out to cove my camera and lens in my open bag and it was pouring before I made it to the dry area under the train tracks at I-Street. While waiting for the rain to stop, I could see more material staged for the track work and when the rain stopped, finally, I walked over to check it out without being "officially" trespassing, which I will not do in Texas. Period. So, by the time I made my way back to the train station to begin the trip already related above, I helped a family buy their ticket for the State Fair. The problem most people had that don't ride the trains but ever now and then  is that they don't know whether to by a local or a regional pass because they are unfamiliar with terminology used on the kiosk machines. We all boarded, bid fare well to have a fun time at the fair and I got off the train at the Central/TI station. 

After dinner I had my apple fritter---yes, I got one at the 7-Eleven to have with my coffee. They are the best all round. Not like the ones in the Great Lakes area this time of year, where chunks of apples are not avoided, but for the Deep South, apple fritters still are chosen over donuts, always. And, nothing against Krispy Kream for I have had theirs in South Carolina and North Carolina, but that's yet another story within itself. The family would head to the beach for a week to ten days of fun and sun, ole dad was doing the working vacation thing. mom and the kids would drive down and I would catch the dinner flight from Detroit to Atlanta and then stop at either Savannah or Augusta and then on to Charleston where the warehouse manager would meet me and drive me the rest of the way to where mom and the kids had been a few days ahead of me.

 So much has changed over the years. My son and my ex (his mother) are resting side by side in a glass-fronted niche in a Mausoleum now. When KP passed at 27 it was the beginning of my heart condition. It almost killed me to loose him. But, one thing that is certain is that we can grieve but not forever. The pain will always be there, but life does go on and if we don't go on with it, then we will be pushing up daisies sooner than we should. 

It's Fall on the Prairie Nature Trails at the George W Bush Presidential Center

Since the park that is part of the Presidential Center opened, trips were made during all the seasons. But, for my satisfaction, it is the fall that draws me like a magnet to visit the park and take in all the fall changes along the several trails. Which, to my surprise, this year, the trails have been re arranged and made even more enjoyable with more memorial benches in place to look at the native American prairie grasses and blooms. Also, now, the trails make their way to active beehives called, "Hives for Hero's" and originally were a Scout Project for a couple of Eagle Scouts at Troop 70 in University Park. 

The carvings on the bee hives, with the help of my camera's lenses reveal some amazing carvings of the hive boxes. Stunning, in fact. The place is an Oasis in the middle of a high concentrate Urbanization Area. Sitting in the park and even walking the trails you forget where you really are and how much you can sit and just observe the birds, bees,squirrels and just reflect in almost solitude.Amazing 

I rode the train to SMU/Mockingbird Station and caught the SMU shuttle bus ( it is a free service) that delivered me right to where I usually enter the park. The driver knew that I would be riding it back to the train station so, when I did exit to the bus stop, the bus was coming down the street and stopped. The short trip back to the train station was over almost before it had begun. Generally, I don't mind walking some distances but my knee is a bit puffy from my fall at the Stockyards a couple of weeks back. Actually, it was because a couple of days earlier I had done a lot of walking and over did it a bit. The next morning, the swelling was present and I had been resting an not putting much pressure on it, so at the park, I took it at a much slower pace and didn't rush. Ironically, I learned a new way to go up and down steps where my good leg touched down first then gravity put the bum knee where it needed to be without any pressure on it to aggravate it more.

I have been seeing squirrels cutting clusters of pecans from the trees and take a cluster of three on the run stopping at the base of their tree where they lived or played rather than were they cut the clusters off the stems. There were pecan hulls all around the trees where they had dined and then they would bury the other two. I had seen this in a couple of places previously---one most recently at the Arboretum. So, since the little furry tails know about things like that, I wonder if we are in for a cold winter ahead. 

Asian Dragon Dances in Parking lot, Silver Line UTDallas Station Inspection and More

 The weather was so nice this morning, it was grab the bag and hat and out the door by 9AM.

As the day unfolded, the weather remained as nice as it was upon leaving the house until deep into the mid part of the day in total comfort. It was easy to see that with such nice weather, it was focus,click,focus again and click them shutters. It really was so far back to remember the last nice day like this that it just got chalked up as a very,very long time ago. 

                                                            Asian Performers

                                                            Asian Performers

Asian Performers

Asian Performers /\

India Student at UTDallas \/

Hitching a Scary Ride

                               UT Dallas Station is a bit ahead of the City Line Station, there is a lot of pilings being done on these two stations that is a slow process. City Line is upon leaving with some pilings to raise the tracks over a major highway and UTD is the above grade approach to the station.

Monarchs Are In North Texas Migrating South and Train History Is on Display Near By

The shoot today was the beginning of fall beginning to reveal itself for this drought year 2022. The Monarch Annual Migration back to the mountains of Mexico where they literally hang around over the winter, is underway. It will take three generations to get back into the Great Lakes and Southern Canada. It's an interesting fact about the Monarch. 

During Kindergarten for all three of my kids, the church was big in educating not only the kids on the life cycle of the Monarchs but the parents learned a interesting history as well. The school had net cages where they watched the cocoons being spun by the caterpillars, the hatching into the morphed butterfly to the release ceremony when the kids release their butterflies to fly to Mexico for the winter. 

As a side note to this, my wife and I had a friend who sailed on Lake Erie and Lake Huron about this time of year and had made some images of not only one but several Monarchs hitching a ride across the lakes on his sail boat. With the internet, there is a Monarch watch site that tracks the Northern journey South to the winter homes that they will never see again after they leave Mexico and start their trips back North, taking generations to get back, yet the trip south are done by one the last generations going North and will go the distance in one generation to Mexico. So, photographing the Monarch is something with very special meanings for me, especial since my oldest son (RIP) is no longer with me, an that his mother just passed away  in the last couple of months. My younger son and his sister were also schooled in the Monarch Project. Usually I find the milkweed patches earlier in the season so I know where to find the Monarchs as they migrate through North Texas, which has been in the past, around White Rock Lake. But, today, there was a sport found along my wagon wheel spoke route in Garland. There were dozens in one spot and they were just beautiful. 

Prior, the old AT&SF rail car that had been moved, along with the original station house of the Santa Fe in the downtown part of old Garland. The new location is off the parking lot of the Garland Library and is an interesting museum of railroading history of Garland. I have images of the move of one of the oldest residences next to where the Pullman car of the AT&SF and station house are now located. The other house that was a neighbor in its original location is now sitting in a residential area of South 11th (Pace Hose) The Lyle House sits now waiting restoration off the parking lot of the Library next to the Pullman car and the station house. 

The new re-due of the town square will take another14 months of construction to finish. All-in-all it is about a 24 month project. While talking to one of the contractors today, I told him I didn't like it. He ask me why. "No trees," I said. Well, they did save one tree. The others that took half a life time to grow were bulldozed. The contractor said to me that,"they were going to plant new trees here and over there." Before he went on further, I said," Well.I won't be around to see them the size you bulldozed. I'll be pushing up daisies."  He laughed.

I like trees and that is that. They are the HOV of earth and we need many more than those that are disposed of  with the push of a bulldozer. He, interjected that they were, "doing this for the younger generations." And  I rebuffed, "are they really doing that for the younger generations? And, I moved on to City Hall for some beautiful fall plantings outside between the sidewalk and the street. The contractor knew what I meant and our parting was on good terms. 

Milo Butterfinger's Grill & Saloon

 With the weather somewhat better than the relentless 10 days of 98 with high humidity, getting out again has been a long-awaited event. Frankly, this has been one of those years where Summer was not nice. Never-the-less, the last two days have been like a hot and cold type. By that, it is meant that one day was good shooting while one day was not very good for shots. 

Today, this afternoon, was the first time in a while that I have been able to board a bus at SMU/Mockingbird Station and bring it completely home without getting off until my final stop. I have not been able to do that since the big schedule changes took place this past January 24th. Still, the schedules are a mess and DART seems to think that things are working well unless people call in. My share of letting DART know how bad it is for my stops that once upon a time were flawless. Now, the stops are not dependable for the two main buses I use from and to home. When I am out and about shooting on the wagon wheel schedule, it doesn't matter to me. But when I'm ready to head home, I expect to be able to get there without any problems. 

From SMU/Mockingbird station, I walked the street from the DART parking lot down to Yale past the City of University Park's facility. Over the years that part of Yale Blvd. has undergone a major change in a short 2-3 blocks to the Northbound Service Road of Central Expressway (US Highway 75) near President George Bush's Presidential Center. But, from there back to Greenville Avenue, it's restaurants and bars and saloons. Low rise apartments cover the area also. 

There were a couple of guys walking toward the bridge that crosses Central Expressway that I ask, "of all the selection of campus bars and restaurants would you say is the best of the bunch?" The one who spoke out said that," I'd forget about all the rest but up on the end [Greenville coming this way] is Milo's. It's a funky type sports bar that is the best of the bunch."

 (note that Yale Blvd. has now been made SMU Blvd. to reflect the growing presence of the East Campus of SMU across North Central Expessway (NCX; US 75; etc.etc.)

I had the best Hawaiian Chicken cutlet with scalloped potatoes, white sauce, green peas and a buttered flaky roll sliced lengthwise. The price was good and the menu changes every other week. They will be sending me a menu for the week. I have been looking for a place that had an ole style Friday Fish Fry like the American Legions did every Friday in the Great Lakes. There are plenty of fish fries here in Texas, but that type of fish fry is just different and I am curious to see if this one will meet the test of my taste buds and expectations. I'm tending to think that it probably will.