Guyana and The Market

Play in the low tide plain at sunset.

  Humans have evolved to the point of specialization that none of us, even in a third world country, produce all the things that we consider necessities for our daily lives. With that comes the market, where you get the full assortment of items not created by yourself to survive. Those markets can vary from smallest road in Africa to the biggest Mega Mall you can think of. The only requirement is that the be traffic flowing past to help increase the sales percentage.The Stabroek Market in the heart of Georgetown, Guyana is an overload of sights, smells and sounds. They are not all pleasant but they certainly verify your existence. The stench that hangs in the back of your throat, the sights that stick in your mind and come back as dreams in the dark. The crescendo of barkers, horns and trucks making your ears ring and your mind race. It is all about increasing total sales by being the brightest and loudest.

A bowl of chilies.

Moonrise over the seawall.

A shopkeeper in Stabroek Market.

Climbing aboard a river taxi.

Fish and prawns unloaded at the wharf.

 

Rolling Thru the Garage

  Republican candidate for Governor of the State of Texas and current Attorney General for the state Gregg Abbott rolled thru the the garage at the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway meeting fans and looking for votes. He met a fellow from Brooklyn, New York that was in town just for the Nascar races.

Gubernatorial candidate Gregg Abbott with a fan.

Distractions

  Cruising, on a sunny afternoon. What else would dogs really want to do, other than take a walk in the park. They even seem to get that "grass is greener" envy when they see another dog getting to do something else. Patty was walking Yoda and Kimo when they saw their friends Rodeo and Hammer drive by (on their way to the river to play). Hammer has been suffering from a growth on his leg which seems to be cancerous, so he is scheduled for an amputation tomorrow. Heading for one last long run along the river as a quad pod.

Distracted.

Distractions.

Found Photos

Is it working?

  It is always interesting when I pull cards out of cameras that I have not used in a while. Images long forgotten reveal themselves and I see the edits completely differently after that passage of time. Some of the funniest are the tests, what I call selfies, just a quick check to see if the shutter is actually tripping are usually shots of me in some awkward pose. They look like an assortment of most peoples phone pics but I usually scrap them. Found this card from a GoPro and it made me laugh.

Swimming in Honduras

Fish and Coral in Cayos Cuchino.

Yoda hiding from the elements.

Kimo checking out the GoPro.

Calming Waters

  Looking for some images of the Botanic Garden for a friend and I came across these water frames. It is a feature of runnels at the entrance to the main building at the Ft. Worth Botanic Gardens. They give off a wonderfully relaxing sound and I can stand for hours mind surfing the intricate water patterns with a tiny kayak. It reminds me of the mouse character "Ralph" and his adventures in the children's books I read as a child

A splash into the reflecting pool.

The start of the flowing pattern.

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California Dreaming

  I can tell the dogs are thinking that vacation was way more fun that hanging out at home. Don't get me wrong, I think they make their own fun, but they sure seemed to enjoy seeing new stuff and having lots of new adventures.

Kimo keeps an eye on the Velella Jellyfish at Emma Wood State Beach.

Yoda looking out of his bunker.

Kimo plays ball on the beach at Emma Wood State Beach.

Hurricane Marie Fun

   I love to surf, there, I said it. Living in a landlocked spot I just do not get to do it very often so I have to improvise with my kiteboarding on a lake. Every once in a while I hear about a hurricane in the gulf and I head for the coast as fast as I can get there. I don't usually think about the Pacific as a hurricane destination. Oh how wrong I could be.
   Spending a little time in California, mostly to get out of the Texas Summer heat I just chanced into back to back hurricanes. I look out at lines of waves at every beach I pull up to. Never thought that hurricanes would create some rather impressive summer time south swells for the west coast. A week of great surf, some wind as well. I now know what they mean about pigs in slop. It will take a while to get my shoulders to stop aching, and my face from being cracked with a permanent grin. A picture of me taken by the accompanying trio of Patty Pressley, Yoda and Kimo the wonder dog.

Catching a ride at "C" Street in Ventura.

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Rolling Sculpture

   There is a non profit, Stream and Valleys, in Ft. Worth that has been diligently creating a usable trail network along along the banks of the Trinity River. Over the years the network of paved riding trails has extended from Benbrook lake to Beach Street and north to the Stockyards giving virtually the entire city no excuse to get outside and get some exercise.
  Thanks to some contemplating during some of that riding local artist Jim Beckman has teamed with Tom Diel to create the sculpture "The Peloton", a series of oval stainless steel tubes that represents a really fast pace line of bike riders. Displayed along the north bank of the Trinity river along that very bike trail next to the Clearfork Main Street bridge it inspires additional speed from the riders that pass it
   After a frustrating day of gray clouds and sprinkles, a little patience paid off in the evening with a colorful sunset for a background.

"The Peloton"

On a Boat

Hanging on a boat with Melissa and Rachel.

  Spent the day out on a boat, a gorgeously restored nineteen foot Thompson, with a couple of gorgeous girls. Not playing, just working. I did not even get wet and for me that is unheard of, being that close to a body of water and not ending up in the drink.
   The boat was fully restored by Andy Butchard and painted a sea foam color that made it just sparkle. Girls are model Melissa Brown and fashion writer Rachel Peters. Ended up as a perfect day, light breeze, no rain and not a lot of traffic on the water.
   A little cruising on Eagle Mountain Lake and you could not even tell the water level was eight feet down.

New Lake

  I have lived in my neighborhood for a number of years and we have had a perpetual problem with a little flooding when we get a thunderstorm now and then. Yesterday we got one of those rain events that did not even seem too bad until I walked out the front door and realized I now have lake front property.
   There was a car floating down the street in front of the neighbor's house, my purple cone flowers and prickley pears in the front yard were barely visible and I was starting to think Simon and Garfunkel had it right, I was an island. I walked up the street to take a few pictures of what was surely a bad day for some of my neighbors and found a couple more cars floating in the pond around the corner. A standing wave that I could have surfed on a board was forming over the debris flushing from one driveway.

  The good thing is that the waters recede faster than an outgoing tide, bad part is the cleanup is gonna last a long time. As the woman whose car was flooded as she was looking at a property for sale on the street, "Guess I won't be buying a house on this street".

The Ft. Worth Police try to prevent any other fools from entering the pool.

Ft. worth firefighters contemplate the next move.

Roaring rapids at the top of the street.

That is usually the kitty hangout corner.

A firefighter tries to check on occupants of a car that is floating. 

Standing wave at the light pole.

Somewhere under there is a sidewalk and a planted cactus garden.

Bright Night in the City

Fireworks set to music.

   I joined Patty and a bunch of high school friends from years past at the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra's Concert in the Gardens which is held in the Ft. Worth Botanic Gardens on weekend nights for a month leading up to the Fourth of July. This particular night was a tribute to the songs of Journey which was one of "The" bands when I went to High School. They may not have been my favorite at the time but their songs were ubiquitous with the whole high school experience.
   Spent the evening on a comfortable grass lawn, catching up with old friends, good food and drink and the whole thing was capped with a fireworks display to coincide with the final song.
   Almost like being in the "city by the bay"

Bucket List

 

2005 Ford GT 40

Massive brakes and tires.

Scenic, well paved, and windy roads make a perfect test track.

The Driven Experience has a stable including a GT 40 and Bentley Continentals.

  I remember the first time I saw a photo of the classic Ford racing cars that were designed specifically to defeat the venerable Ferrari's at the 24 Hours of LeMans. A photo of the sleek two seater in deep blue paint with white stripes swept across the book my brother Chris showed me. I thought it was the most beautiful car I had ever seen. None of the huge wings protruding from the curving body panels like other cars were starting to use to create downforce. A long, low slung hood, a huge V-8 engine behind the driver, unusual for an American design from the era of Muscle Cars.
  Exclusively designed as a race car, I could not even dream of driving something like it. Jump forward a generation and Ford created a re-design of the body style in 2004, creating a truly modern supercar that incorporated that beautiful body work. Now my problem was not being a Silicon Valley tycoon or digging up a gusher in my backyard.
  Then I got an invitation from the wonderful folks at the Gateway Canyons Resort that let me check what I thought was an unobtainable dream off the personal wish list by driving their copy on the winding roads around the resort.
  The Driven Experience at the resort located in the small Southwestern Colorado town of Gateway offers a stable of exotic cars, racing trucks and other adventure excursions in the red rock formations along the Dolores River.
  Due to any actual details being disclosed giving the local authorities evidence for a criminal prosecution in the next seven years, or till the statute of limitations runs out, I will just leave it at "WOW"!!

A Hidden Colorado Gem

The Palisades Peak from the Vista Grande Trail.

   Ripping single track on a mountain bike after a morning of riding horses in the Uncompaghre National Forest of Southwestern Colorado. The folks at Gateway Canyons Resort in Gateway Colorado take care of everything including the perfect weather. What a wonderful way to spend a few days or even a few weeks.

Honduran Swim at Cayos Cochino

    After a little time in a really hot, really humid jungle rainforest in Honduras, I spent the day with a group of travelers on a snorkeling trip to Cayos Cochinos Marine Sanctuary. A chain of keys, or small islands off the Honduran coast, with some no bigger than an average car and the largest easily fitting within the confines of a small West Texas ranch.
    The islands were covered in lush forest and palm trees on top, below the surface however the reefs were alive with an assortment of fish. At one section named appropriately the wall, water depths dropped from a comfortable 15 feet to what appeared infinite in a sheer cliff of colorful coral reefs. I followed a hawks billed turtle down as it passed red snapper and blue jacks before realizing the surface was some fifty feet above.
    With water clarity of more than 80 feet, I was constantly looking for a passing shark to no avail. Probably better not to have scared the rest of the group anyway, the snakes and spyders had done enough of that.
    With wonderful and friendly people, warm days beautiful wildlife and topography and lots of good food to boot I would try to persuade everyone to visit the Lodge at Pico Bonito and the entire north coast of Honduras.

A self portrait with the group at the surface.

   

A Hawks billed turtle cruises along "The Wall".

An assortment of fish swim around columns of reef.

Guide Joel Mejia holds a Conch.

Day Late Sunshine

   Texas had to wait an extra day before NASCAR could run the Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway after a rainy day on Sunday. Monday turned out beautiful and Joey Logano took full advantage of it to win after a late yellow flag made it a race between he and Jeff Gordon for the victory.

The Texas track under sunny skies.

Joey Logano celebrates in Victory Lane

Dancing Boys of Summer

  Grown men are dancing in the dirt again. The sun came out for a bit and the boys of summer are back to playing a little baseball. Opening day in Major League Baseball has sprung the hopes of so many fans for another season, but at the end of the day half of them are already wondering if they will have to wait for next year for that winning season, again.
   Texas Rangers fans may be in that boat after a 14 to 10 loss to the National League Philadelphia Phillies. At least the team has offense even with a lot of injured players to start the season. Here is hoping that the rest of it is less injury prone and the luck of the Irish finds them.

Jimmy Rollins, Shin-Soo Choo and Chase Utley dancing in the dirt.

Tired of Winter

  As I drove past miles of fence lines with tumble weeds, scrub and brush I spot a trio of horses huddled together braced against the cold. Snow blanketed their backs and icicles hung from their manes. As I approached the fence they all came to nuzzle my hand and hope for a snack. Standing there in a forlorn field of white, I am sure that they are wishing for spring to hurry up even more so than the college co-eds going on their spring break adventures. When will it end?

"I'm gonna stomp on that damn groundhog's head!"

A Real Triumph

   I had a chance to meet a fellow and his beloved 1964 Triumph TR4 the other day. A gorgeously restored daily driver kind  of car. A few special tweaks like a lighter flywheel and aluminum head on the second rebuilt engine. All the tweaks are made to benefit the experience of CW Koellman as he has had the car for 35 years.
  The original was a hybrid of two cars, one found on oil drums in a field with no innards and the other for parts after it was broken in two by an errant garbage truck. The car has followed CW to Utah and back to Texas with lots of stories to accompany it along the way.
  A beautiful example of a car from an era that started the lust of mechanical devices for a generation of boys and young men. I wonder which of the appliances we call cars in the present will spark this kind of love and devotion?

1964 Triumph TR4

Hood badge for the defunct British manufacturer.

CW Koellman reflected in the spin off nut of wire wheels.

Flying Dirt

  The wind is whipping across the prairie from the north making the cold feel like needle pricks on any exposed skin. It must be time for the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo since it seems to be perpetually accompanied by inclement weather. The cowboys on the arena floor seem to enjoy performing indoors, and probably makes the landings a little softer than the frozen ground outside. Nice to see that skills developed over hundreds of years of practical ranching are still being put to good use.

Getting some air on a saddle bronc.

Cowboy hats and fireworks open the show.

Chasing down another loose calf.

Strange Surprise

  And the thing I learned yesterday was, what lychee tastes like. I have seen the unusual fruit in the asian markets but it looks so different in the eyes of a westerner that I never had the gumption to try it. Hard outer shell, white and soft inner flesh, just nothing like the fruit I am used to. Thai Select on South Hulen uses them in their roasted duck with red curry sauce and they are delicious. A soft mouth feel with a bit of an apple flavor, a little sweet, a little tart, but truly delicious. Turns out to be another one of those instances where I ask why I did not try it sooner.

Roasted Duck with Red Curry Sauce

Travel Tales

  Kimo and his little buddy Yoda have gotten in the habit of taking a photo in front of some tourist icon while they are on vacation. Since Christmas is being spent at the beach on South Padre Island, Texas it seemed only natural to look for a sand castle or the like. Yoda apparently sees the danger before Kimo does with the giant shark mouth about to swallow them. Guess he thinks nothing could be as bad as those green space aliens from the last trip.

What I don't see can not hurt me.

A Toasty Oven

  Cold days make you long for a good warm fire and something tasty to nosh on. What better combination than a wood fired brick oven, a little yeast dough and a some tasty toppings to make a great tasting pizza. A comfy spot to sit and how can you beat that for a winter evening. This particular combo comes from chef Dario Mar at Apeizza y Vino in Southlake but the oven makes me want to perfect my rough incarnation in the yard. Makes you realize why the Italians have been perfecting the craft for so many years.

Stretching a little dough by hand.

Chef Dario Mar loads the oven.

A finished Margharita pie.