Construction Zone

 Saw the National Weather Service Summer Forecast yesterday. It ain't pretty. More Hot than the two record years of the past. That set the time clock ticking to switch from Spring Backgrounds to Summer. If it is going to be as hot as the NWS thinks it will, I have two choices, get out before the sun comes up and shoot until it starts to feel like Texas--that's 10 AM forward. Or, prepare to be under the AC for the duration of the summer.

It Rained all night. It Rained all day. Loud Thunder and Lightening Rumbled Sleep Away.

 Over 2-inches of rain since late afternoon yesterday. Rain with high winds. Falling temperatures came as the cold front passed and weather system became a slow mover. The low tonight will be 49°F. Two days from now it will be back in the high 80's. But the kicker is that after three days of nice weather again, we are in for another round of 4-days of rain. 

It might be better to go to Sam's club and buy a canoe and rain gear, Then, I can forget about the buses and train schedules.

It might even be to my advantage because I could get to places in the canoe that I have not seen. Of course, I am kidding. I had enough canoe trips at summer camps in southern Michigan. I'd get up at 5:30 AM and paddle around the lake before breakfast. My wife and the kids were not big canoe fans. The peace and quiet of the morning as the sun came up is one of my favorite times to be out in nature. The birds sing sweeter songs, the light paints the surrounding landscape like a Norman Rockwell canvas. The stillness of the water is like a mirror and to me, it's a perfect start to the day. 

The rain also cancelled the 40-miles of trails at the Blue Bonnet Festival in Ennis, Texas today.

Headed out to Deep Ellum today after talking with the Muralist yesterday on a bus route.

 This was my third weekend in the Art's District Train Station and it was more wild that the past two. It didn't take long to figure out why. The past two weeks the girls Volleyball playoffs were being held at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center and today was the final weekend. While waiting for the Green line to Deep Ellum, suddenly, I was surrounded by three full teams of the competition when I heard a guy say, do these trains all go the same direction? He later said that he was from out of town and needed some help. I explained to him the difference of the four lines and where they went and teams were trying to get to the Convention Center via train. When the teams got on the right side of the platform, I could see the Green Line inching it's way toward me. Reaching into my camera cart, I pulled out a bus route schedule that had a map of the train system. As I gave it to him, he was full of joy. 

When I got to Deep Ellum, the Baylor station was my target.  I would not have to walk as far to Rudolph's to see the mural that was painted on the back of their building as the muralist had explained to me yesterday. Walking past Paula's business, there was a note taped to the door that her mozzarella was being sold at Rudolph's in the next block. Paula started that business in early 1980's. Most of the afternoon was spent walking down Elm, crossing over to Main and coming back up Main before rounding the corner where Tree's (the music venue) once stood, with my full intentions of boarding the train at the Deep Ellum station. That station  had been built over the two tunnels that I will always remember being there and the paint parties that were held. I had to get my notes out as to the early date of 1911 beginnings of the Boyd Hotel, one of the few remaining cast iron front buildings. My notes come from the time that I was working a project to secure a grant to be given to the Deep Ellum Foundation from the Walmart Foundation. It was a joy to go to that Board Meeting with the grant to Deep Ellum. I have so many memories of Deep Ellum in a whole different light than most people do and I consider myself to be very fortunate to have that knowledge. Yes, even where all the broken beer bottles were on a Monday morning when I started my trek gathering the info needed for the grant and talking with the shop owners. 

So, I noticed so many changes today, new places, old buildings that were getting face lifts and somewhat loosing the old character of Deep Ellum, though that will never totally happen. The new characters just add more layers of history to the tale.

Since the Elm Street Upgrades, now, along the side walks are flower beds with native Texas wildflowers and prairie grasses. There are many metal backed benches in place now, as well. 

Of course, to me the big changes is that it took Deep Ellum over 100 years to get it's first high rise and now they sprout up as urban development. The pollinators were busy doing what they do best on these beautiful flowers.

Hesperaloe parviflora (Red Yucca)

 The afternoon was spent experimenting with a new-found setting on the big lens of the camera and a parking lot that is packed with flower beds of Red Yucca blooming. A Serendipity find.

Weather update for this weekend: 89 to 48 on Monday. That is a high today and a low beginning on Monday after 1-3 inches more of rain. The roller coaster in the sky overhead is on the move. It's Springtime in Texas. 

Buc-ee's is now a big bucks employer as it is now being reporting at $18 and change minimum wage at this super store of on- the- road travel stops. You have never seen as many gas pumps in on location and inside you would think that you had stepped into a Walmart in square footage, more if you add the food service section. They hold some records, folk's.

Had a nice chat with a mural artist that has been painting in Deep Ellum since 1980s. He was telling me that he had just finished a mural  on the back of Rudolph's Meat Market that has been operating since the1890's from the same location. Great family, too. 

Paula Lambert has been making Mozzarella cheese just down the street from Rudolph's. Paula is such a nice lady. And----her cheese is out-of-this world, no kidding. Two stops on Elm street and you could have one heck of a dinner party that everyone would like.

Deep Ellum has changed a great deal since 2001, but overall, it's still a great entertainment district of historic significance. It's been a while since I have photographed there. In the past it was during the Arts Festival. It was the hat that the mural artist was wearing today that  got my attention, asking him if he remembered when they painted the tunnels in Deep Ellum before Dart filled them in for the first of two Deep Ellum train stations. The muralist had abstract paint colors allover. One of my favorite designs!

 

Another Trip Downtown checking out the tower cranes going up again. There are many.

The  first two images were at Carpenter Park in Downtown Dallas with the last image made from the West End Transit Center

The number of tower cranes going up and that are up already covers the urban center from east to west and I haven't even been paying attention to Uptown following their many additions within the past three years. 

The urban parks are all amazing to find in a high urban area. It's like an Oasis from asphalt and concrete. Klyde Warren Park, the 5.2 acre deck over the Woodall Rodgers Freeway just got another grant from the Dept. of Transportation, delivered by the Secretary himself to add even more deck onto the park.

Main Street Park across  from the Statler Hotel is active with more green space, trees, plants, and quiet areas to bench set and read, study or just relax. The UNT system law school is  part of the architecture and the old Municipal Building that has had a massive face lift to its carvings cleaned and even more impressive than before. But, Carpenter Park has shown the most increase trees, flowers. It also has benches that wind their way thoughout with a full scale dog park, basketball court and the East Transit Center. Bus 45 will take you through the downtown to Union Station where you can catch the light rails both north and south, to DFW Terminal  A. The second commuter rail to Terminal B is under construction to North Garland. 

This image is across from the Main Street Park

 The TRE is a commuter train that runs between downtown and Ft. Worth daily except Sundays from Union Station. And while there, you can take the trolley to the Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff  or use the tunner to go up into Reunion Tower's deck for open air 360° views. 

Having said all that, growth has been so unbelievable since I return to Dallas.  What really is exciting to see is the forward motion to bring back trees and gardens to the Urban Heat Island that was created in the years past with nothing but asphalt and cement. That island holds heat and is several degrees warmer than surrounding areas. That heat island effect also steers storms around it and adds to the summer drought development. So, to see that changing is a big plus in my book.

Three Days of Flooding Rains had me climbing the walls

........since I have been walking 50+  miles a month. Being inside for 72 hours was killing my muscles in my legs....they wanted to be walking. So, when the sky was blue yesterday morning, the decision was already made, it was get out of the cabin and leave the fever behind for the afternoon. Dallas got three months of rain in one day and the Piney Woods of East Texas  picked up a total of 14-inches.

Almost immediately, I felt a bit of weakness in the legs as I started out. When that happens, I slow down my pace a bit but keep on trucking forward. By the time I had made the bus stop, that weak feeling was gone already. Arriving at the train station, I didn't even get off the bus. The next stop was about a 40-minute ride and I just enjoyed sitting back and looking at what the rains had left behind. That evening, on the news, there was an aerial view of White Rock Dam and the greater spillway. I started noticing a long time ago that when flooding rains come and the runoff ends up in our streams and lakes, that the bottles floating all had caps on them. There was sometimes as much as half a bottle of water trapped. I even made a few pollution related images to help being awareness tot the problem(s).

Back at the transit station and still testing out my legs, walking a large scale block was the test that I needed to see how much strength was available. There is a nearby suburban airport and the business jets and aviation school were in  full active mode. Finding a  shady spot, my folding stool came out of my pull cart along with the camera. Within seconds, planes were right in front of me having just become airborne. I love those moments of liftoffs and the reverse when the tires paint rubber on the runways as smoke rises from the wheels. 

It's been nearly three years since I have been to Founders Plaza at DFW. It was a spot I enjoyed spending an afternoon as the heavies came in on the two 18's. I have a shot from   those times when the Qantas A-360 double deck ended it's 15 hour flight from Australia to DFW and the tire carriage on that baby produced smoke like none other. It painted the 18L with a lot of rubber when those massive wheels hit the runway. Without my car, I could take a ride share out there, I suppose, but with no shelter should a storm come up, my cardiologist would be screaming NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Weather has become a first check before I go out walking. Don' t want to get trapped in the open in a lightening storm. Blowing a fuse would be no good.  

                 

And the Darkness Came and Went in 4 minutes and 23 seconds. So Cool.

 Waiting for the day to come has been since I was 14 and my grandmother told me about her mother (my great grand mother) telling her about the total eclipse that she saw in the exact path of totality that she had seen it occur. Today. I fulfilled that long expected day for myself. 

In fact, where I was watching it occur was with staff and students at a nearby college. Even saw the solar flare that was shot toward the earth. It was like looking at the  flashlight on my phone. So cool. There was a horn when it was safe to look at the time of totality.

This day was for me. The only picture that I took was afterwards at a bus stop as a field of bluebonnets were in bloom. On the way home, I stopped to pick up some extra milk and a few quick things for dinner because of the severe weather alert for the next two days that we are already under until Thursday. 

Louisiana One

Tom Braniff would be so proud of SWA for painting their planes. Tom and his brother had one of the most colorful airlines in aviation history. Ironically, he died in a plane crash in Louisiana.

A DJ spins records in a pre-eclipse party at Dallas' Main Street Park 

Since it's reopening, activity is non-stop. Back in the day, Frank Sinatra played at the Statler and stayed there several times.

The park was full with vendor tents, music, food trucks, surrounded by historic architecture and high rises, and the UNT System. While Klyde Warren Park may be more A-list, my preference runs with Main Street Park. It just seems more homey than the other that just got  another grant from the Department of Transportation to add another stretch over the Woodall Rodgers Epressway to it's current 5-acre deck park.