A German Christmas Memory

    With a parent from Bavaria, it is just natural to develop a taste for the fruit laden German delicacy of Christmas stollen from my fathers youth. To find someone that makes a really good example in the rural one stoplight town in North Central Texas is a real surprise. After spending the afternoon with Letty Thome and Marche Ann Mann at the Bakeshop in Boyd, Texas I definitely found the goods and feel like Christmas is just over the horizon, even if it is still in the 80's outside.

A mound of dough ready to divide.

A double dip of butter. 

A final dusting of powdered sugar.

A slice of Xmas.

Summer Storm

  On the first business trip after being Socially Isolated I ended up in a hotel in Sugarland, Texas as a summer thunderstorm rose up over the outskirts of Houston. I just felt like the introduction of a new normal was introduced with an apocalyptic storm. Beautiful to watch but glad I was not in it.

Sidelined and Watching

 I found a good excuse to take a few photos of the kiteboarding crew at Benbrook Lake. Had a little mishap and dislocated my right shoulder so I could not kite on a rather windy May afternoon. Always hate to be sidelined by injuries but left me with no excuses about taking some photos from the shore especially since we were kiting at Baja Beach for a different perspective. Complaints of it being really gusty but definitely had some push to the wind with gusts to 40 miles an hour.

Peter getting some airtime. 

Serena exploring a different shore.

Justin Moore throwing a little spray.

Martin Mitter launching over a windmill.

Justin Moore committing to an inverted front roll.

Martin Mitter airing it out.

Close up Beard

   I love to study objects and the closer you look the more you can discover. AS individual as its are in nature, it always amazes me how structural parts can be so similar especially among completely different species. I took a really close look at the beard of a bearded iris and on closer inspection, it looks so much like tentacles seen in sea life. The structure is the same as anemones and the cellular structure of the leaves looks like the scales on the skin of a ray. It seems that nature uses the same techniques in multiple applications.

The delicate tentacles of an Iris Beard. 

Water droplets on the beard of an Iris.

Special Sanctuary

Peggy and Tommy Wadley are long time members of the church. 

The Aisles are lined with exquisite stained glass.

The organ at the back has been rebuilt once, but is still beautiful.

  Peggy and Tommy Wadley are long time members of St. Stephens Presbyterian Church. They were also the first couple to be married in the beautiful church sanctuary which was completed 50 years ago at the location on a hill overlooking the Parkhill neighborhood in Fort Worth, Tx.