Looking Back Over March

Sometimes, even with good intentions, things get missed. So, this serves as a sweep of things that did get missed. However, outside of the President and Air Force One being here (which are archived on the Live News Feed) the one central topic seemed to be the weather.

In cleaning up March-- as everyone already knows-- it was a windy little end to the first quarter of 2016 with storms, hail, tornadoes (again). Luckily, only about 20,000 were without power at any one given time in the Metroplex. The hail damage was bad--to say the least-- on cars and roofs. Some of those 12,000 new residents that arrive here every month got that old fashioned Texas Spring Hail Storm initiation. Welcome, to Texas!

At the end of the first ten days of the month, a young fisherman calls it quits as the wind and rain move in. A very wise young man, indeed.

Near the end of the month with about a week to go, the wind was still howling. The low-level stratus had lifted to clearing skies,however.

Yep! even the ducks were bobbing on the rolling waves and white caps.

The Unofficial Easter Decoration

When traveling by an area, usually, my eye will catch the unusual, new, or what once was. It goes with being a photographer. Photography does train the eye. It has been noted many times by many experts--of course, today, every one is some kind of expert-- but, usually the meaning is of a professional statue.

Never-the-less, Easter egg rolls may be fun for the kids, but they have been done so many times, it just isn't worth the time or energy. And, with no disrespect to the churches that put out a rugged cross and yoke it in the church calendar linen of red or purple for that period in the liturgical calendar, it is about the same as an Easter egg roll that has been done the same year in and year out. While the meaning of Easter never get old, the thoughtfulness and good taste that draws attention is pretty rare today.

However, this year, my interest was peaked when I drove by Royal Lane Baptist Church this Easter Sunday morning.. In fact, it caught my attention so much, I turned around and came back. Usually, I drive with my camera ready on the passenger seat with the bag on it's side to shield the camera from the sun, heat and  dust. Today, the camera wasn't even unpacked but the display at the corner of Royal Lane and Hillcrest Avenue was worth every bit of the effort to unpack for these images. So, if there was a winner to be judged in any contest of sort, Royal Lane Baptist Church was the winner in many ways. Good job and well done. It was a beautiful display for this Easter morn. Hallelujah!

The cross covered in fresh flowers

Coming down Royal Lane it could not be missed!

University of Central Oklahoma Women's Rowing Images

Currently, the images have rotated to page 3 row 8 and continue throughout the 48-hour cycle to rotate downward until they fall off into archives.

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Move Over New York

The electronic arm of the Dallas Morning News, the DallasNews, ran an article earlier this week about the rapid growth that we are experiencing here in the Metroplex and a side bar article mixed in about the even more expansive growth in Houston.  We are the fourth largest area in the country; New York and New Jersey is third.

Dallas came in at 131.000 in the count period in 2013 to 2014. Houston:156,000 in the same period. When you look at the New York and New Jersey numbers in comparison, they added just 91,000. That's 105,000 plus/minus more above each reaching New York's numbers in both Houston and Dallas. That is 287.67 people per day arriving in each  city of Houston, Dallas, The Woodlands, Arlington.

No wonder vacant land, from single lots to open fields, are under construction. For the past month, I have been counting  houses in the framing mode. The numbers add up more than the fingers on both hands, always!

The new homes on just single lots number more than the fingers on each hand in Dallas. That does not include the 300-500 apartment complexes that are going up en mass and the 8-10 unite condos that are squeezed onto 2 or 3 acres.

DallasMorningNew article

 

Term Limits Are Never Needed But......

https://t.co/WzsNGVdPlh#TRUMP HAS MAJORITY of CITIZENS
GOP WILL LOSE PRESIDENCY&CONGRESS
KEEP DISRESPECTIN VOTERS pic.twitter.com/3KbVCXb8mX

— GrandmaE (@TrussElise) March 18, 2016

This is how term limits are intended to work. This is the year to  redo congress. The dome has been redone....now lets redo people in offices in both the office buildings and on Capital Hill's landmark capital building. It's house cleaning time in Washington.Get out and vote. No more GOP secret meetings on private islands in Georgia. No more closed door meetings in Washington to work on ways to stop Trump. Washington's do nothing congress is scared that their 401 is about to go bust!! They let ours go bust. Just remember WE THE PEOPLE!!! Not US the Congress. Vote the bums out!! Then when you walk outside the polling place, pump your fist and scream, "OH, that felt so good!"

A Very Happy St. Patrick's Day

Amazing a Monk Parrot should appear on St. Patrick's Day of the green color variety!

J.R.R. Tolkien, "Celtic of any sort is a magic bag into which anything may be put, and out of which almost anything may come. Anything is possible in the fabulous Celtic twilight, which is not so much a twilight of the gods as of the reason.”

"That's the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, don't you see."~~dallaspaparazzo

Sights, Unheard Sounds, Ramblings & Thoughts

One,  it took 73-days of the new open carry law in Texas before I saw my first two open carries. Yesterday on the way down to the bridge, two motorcycles pulled up along side me on Harry Hines Blvd. at the light. The first open carry was on the man. The second open carry was alongside him and was carried by a woman rider. My reaction to seeing an open carry under the new law was somewhat mixed until I actually saw these two. Surprisingly, there was more feelings of, "Gee! we live in an awesome country!" The cyclist changed into my lane ahead of me after the light change and were ahead of me for a few miles. My attitude was pretty strong that they were exercising their rights on Texas soil like so many pioneers before them and it actually felt pretty good, emotionally, knowing that, like Ronald Reagan, basically, people are good.

Two, it was an above average day with temps well above the average only to hear that tomorrow (Monday) they will be some 20-degrees warmer. We could be pushing near 90 folks! It's not even the Ides of March yet and St. Patrick's Day is still a day away (since this is being written on Monday, now). Every thing is green and colorful. The red-bud trees are awesome, the flowering crabs and dogwoods are bright and gleaming, even the magnolia blooms look great. The tulip beds along Caruth Haven in the Village are spectacular. Beautiful wine colored and yellow iris and,of course, the underrated daffodils that William Wordsworth wrote about in 1815 are still holding true to the poems.

The third was a symphonic sound of a soulful trumpet player under the Commerce Street Viaduct at the Trinity River, which is at flood stage and the discharge on the downstream side of the bridge was swift and could be deadly, yet the sound of the trumpet filled my soul with joy and delight for having heard that majestic, almost state trumpet-like sound bouncing off the walls of the bridge supports and the deck above. Who ever the trumpet player was-- he was a delight to hear and I only hope that he will play again soon.

William Wordsworth poem, Daffodils, 1815

The commercialized meaning of Easter

Patiently awaiting President Obama Motorcade nearing sunset.This image is available for personal use at Alamy.com from the live news archive.  order Image FMR3YC

Daffodils

by William Wordsword, 1815. 

First Verse

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the tree,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.