Thankful for Everyone

 

"And the cows in Switzerland were always dirty."

The Star of the herd.

Thanksgiving is a time of year when families get together and enjoy each others company. This year we finally convinced my parents to accompany us to the Peckham's ranch to enjoy the gathering the way someone else does it. I think John was tickled to show others his spread, dad was amazed at how gorgeous his Red Angus cattle looked and it brought back all those memories for my mom of taking her families dairy cattle out to the fields and early morning milking. I think Patty was amused how differently they did things. Great fun on a beautiful day for all even if my nephew Michael would not get out of the Kubota.

Christmas Trees

   The yearly lighting of the City of Ft. Worth Christmas Tree is to take place today and in preparation I shot some photos as the crews decorated the giant blue spruce. It is displayed in the center of Sundance square right next to the fountains which create wonderful shapes as the water spouts up and returns with the pull of gravity. Frozen in time it almost looks the part of a winter scene even thought the water is still liquid with the temperature in Texas being far above freezing.

Horse head splash and christmas tree.

Looking Over Georgetown

  On my final day in Georgetown, Devon the chef mentioned to me that I could go up in the lighthouse that delineates the confluence of the Demerara River and the Atlantic ocean. Since the water in the whole area is all as opaque and approximates the color of chocolate milk it is certainly impossible to find the junction from the jetty. Of course I jump at the chance although the safety precautions and liability waivers that North Americans are accustomed to do not apply in the southern continent.

The Lighthouse on Water Street.

   One hundred and thirty eight steps lead the way to the top of the hundred and three foot structure that has stood in one form or another for almost two hundred years on Water Street in the heart of the Kingston neighborhood. Even with the oppressive heat and humidity, the view from the top over the city flushes you with a sense of accomplishment and beauty and keeps the smells from the open sewers from reaching the nostrils as well.

Panorama of the city of Georgetown, Guyana.

Biting Jungle Flowers

  In Texas, and the desert southwest the claim is that everything either pricks, bites or stings. At this point I would describe the jungles of Guyana the same way. Ants that can shred the leaves of a mango tree in one night and sting like wasps. Trees with spikes like a saguaro cactus skewer anything that passes. Snakes that carry enough poison to take down King Kong.
   These pretty blooms are held up with vine like stalks that are lined with sharp little teeth that rip flesh better than a serrated kitchen knife. Bloody forearms were found rather amusing by our guide Toby who was marching thru all this thicket in a pair of adidas shower slippers. Just not that tough unless you live in the jungle.

Deceptively pretty thicket.

Results of trying to pass the flowers.

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.