Justin Boots

For Christmas, I got a pair of Justin Boots--nothin' fancy, just good ol' sturdy cowboy boots from the Fort Worth based company that's been around since 1879 (OK, Justin, like four other well-known brands, is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, but...) Man are they comfy. When I get to visit a real city, like New York or Paris, where everyone walks, I'll be wearing these.

Christmas Day

The beauty of Christmas Day at home is that it could be anywhere. We just happen to be in a small apartment in Fort Worth Texas, but we have a tree, presents, a fire, food and each other. And we can telephone our families.Really, though, Gwenny's sixth Christmas was the best, full of those simple pleasures that make memories. To me, those memories were always associated with smells, flavors and sounds--fresh pine, peppermint, gingerbread, cloves, tangerines, egg nog, Ave Maria, Adeste Fidelis--and just having time to goof off and make stuff. I mean, what eles is there?

Christmas Eve at the Zoo

As we used to do in Cincinnati, we spent Christmas Eve at the zoo. Our favorite part is Texas Town, featuring Texas animals, geography and ecology.
The zoo has tricked out the exhibits in a Texas theme, housing the animals in clever recreations of old weathered buildings and such. Yeah, it's a little over the top, but it's amusing.

Our New House

Amidst all the other holiday shopping, festivities and relaxing, Lloyd and I bought this 2,300 sq ft, 4 bedroom, 1970s ranch house with a swimming pool. Happy holidays to all the hard working realtors, roofers, home inspectors, mortgage brokers and insurance agents who made this happen while everyone else was taking the week off.
What color roof shall we put on it? I'm thinking gray.

True Believer

Gwendolen explained how there's one Santa for each state. Duh. One Santa couldn't possibly get to everyone in a single night.

Girls in Red Dresses

For the second time this season, Charlotte's parents, Azilee and Rob, invited us to a fantastic holiday party. This one was called the Sugar Rush and was a fundraiser for Kids Who Care, a children's theater group, followed by their musical production of The Christmas Carol. The party was fun and their Carol was terrific. The main roles were played by professional actors while teens enlivened the script with extra Christmas songs and dancing.
I don't know whether it was because this production was especially good, or because great works of art continue to surprise you long after you think you know them, but I felt the meanness and misery, as well as the merriment, of Dickens' familiar story more intensely than I ever have before. I shed real tears.
Again, I can't post a picture, but here are Gwendolen and Charlotte enjoying each other's company.

Hulen Mall

Although I did all my shopping on line, Gwenny and I went to Hulen Mall on the Saturday before Christmas just to take in the holiday sights and sounds. For the first time, I got to witness the full demographic spectrum of Fort Worth: 45% white, 30% Hispanic, 20% African American, 5% other. There were so many families just out for a stroll, and very few of them toting shopping bags, that it felt like Hollywood Blvd on a Saturday night,

Munchkins

I was so excited when the invitation to Dickies Holiday Party came: cocktails, dinner and dancing at the Fort Worth Club. Unfortunately, it was the same night as Fort Worth Academy's production of the Wizard of Oz...starring the kindergartners as Munchkins. They were pretty darn cute, but I would have rather been at the Dickies party.

Wendy the Mouse

A mouse is a good pet for a five-year-old. Named after my mother, who's also Gwendolen's namesake, Wendy is little and cute and can be picked up and petted by little hands. Gwenny loves her.

The Dance Class

On Wednesdays, Gwendolen takes a modern dance class taught by Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth. When I start my new job in January, I'll really miss my weekly hour hanging out with these girls' moms.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Never underestimate a mother's love. I not only took Gwendolen to Casa Manana's production of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (a riotous good time, to be sure) but bought her the plush reindeer she coveted as well. I can't wait until Gwenny develops a taste for opera.

The Nutcracker at Bass Hall - Thanks Ellen!

Naturally, it's forbidden to take pictures of the show, so here's a pic of Gwenny and me in the lobby of Bass Hall. It was a splendid production with glittering sets and a lot of clever pantomime in the first act.
Yes, I know the Nutcracker is pure kitsch and its only reason for being performed year after year by ballet companies across the country is to make money. But it's always enjoyable and can you think of a better way to introduce a five-year-old to the performing arts? "Mom" Gwenny whispered in my ear, "we recognize this song."

Armadillo Races

An armadillo race consists of two contestants blowing on armadillos to make them move forward. They're not known for speed.

Chicken Dance in Cow Town?

"Feel like German food?" asked Lloyd as I sat at the dining table knee deep in fake fur. (I was busy making mouse, bear and wolf hoods for Gwenny's school play.) I loved Edelweiss the minute we walked in. The decor was "Bavarian Chalet tricked out for Christmas" and reminded me of Munich. The beers were huge and the food way too delicious. Best of all was the music: an oompa band with accordion, keyboard and Eidelwiess' owner, Bernd (pictured), belting out German drinking songs and Bing Crosby Christmas carols. Little girls, including ours, took to the dance floor. By the time I ordered another stein of hefe weizen and we danced the Chicken Dance, I felt like I hadn't had so much fun in years.
Here's Gwenny in the mouse hood.

Armadillos, cont.

It breaks my heart that so many of these sweet critters die in traffic accidents each year.

Thanksgiving

We are thankful to be in Fort Worth. We are thankful to have jobs, health, groceries and each other.
But we miss our friends and family, especially the Bruce Clan, who are now a 20-hour drive from us. This is what Thanksgiving Dinner for three looks like.

A Trip to Dallas

Gwendolen and I headed to Dallas to see the Children's Museum, which is inside the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science I've been to about 20 children's museums, in Boston, Brooklyn, Indianapolis, Chicago, San Diego, Cincinnati and elsewhere, both as research for the UnMuseum and as a parent of a toddler. The Dallas Children's Museum is pretty good, but offers nothing surprising or extraordinary. We had fun, as we always do, but Gwenny didn't like it as much as she did the Museum of Discovery in Little Rock.

The best was just outside the museum: a fabulous tongue-like sculpture that one can walk upon. It writhes around the shore and into Lenhardt Lagoon, providing turtles a place to hang and little girls a fun place to scamper.

Kindergarten Feast

Ushering at Circle Theater

No one to go to the theater with? Then be an usher and see the show for free. That's what I did Saturday.
The Children's Scientology Pageant was an off-Broadway hit exposing the absurdities and abuses of Scientology in the form of a bunch of happy kids singing and acting out the life story of L.Ron Hubbard. The Circle Theater produced an enjoyable show with a cast of likable local kids. I hope they don't get harassed, spied on or intimidated!
(For fun, wiki Scientology.)

A Night on the Town

Celebrating six years of matrimony and a possible job offer for yours truly, Lloyd and I got a babysitter for Gwendolen and went to downtown FW for dinner and a show. First we went to Piranha Killer Sushi. Yum.
Next, walking through FW's Sundance Square, we went to the McDavid Studio to see a concert by folk music giant Dave Alvin. The McDavid Studio is part of the Bass Performance Hall and a cross between a theater and a nightclub. Concert-goers watch the show from cocktail tables and can drink throughout the concert. Unlike a bar, however, well-mannered concert goers don't talk, smoke or dance. The atmosphere was a little...sterile? But otherwise fabulous.
Oh: Babysitters get $10 an hour for putting a kid to bed and then spending the next four hours watching TV, which gives me an idea if I don't get that offer.

Log Cabin Village

Sunday, 72 degrees and sunny. We went to Fort Worth's Log Cabin Village. There are five or six log cabins from the mid-1800s, complete with interpreters...albeit with different interpretations. One interpreter told us a family had raised eight children in the Seely cabin; another told us, "well, they didn't live in one room for very long, they added a room every time they had a child."

Lloyd and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary today. Like today, the day we got married in Carmel, CA, was 72 and sunny The traditional gift for the sixth is iron, so Lloyd gave me a new cast iron skillet, which is actually made in the USA! Turns out that Log Cabin Village had more stuff made out of iron than modern folks usually see: pots, pans, bells, stoves, pumps, wheels, axes, plows....

More Fort Worth Nature

Woke up this morning to bright blue sunny skies and cool, as in mid-50s, weather. I found a park on Grapevine Lake that promised a hike bike trail. Not only was it really beautiful, but we found an armadillo skin (what Gwenny is holding), a turtle shell and several bird nests. It's called Oak Grove Park.

Texas Ballet Theater

I saw the most amazing performance of the Texas Ballet Theater. First, Cincinnati Jane's Fort Worth cousin, Ellen, invited me. Ellen Appel is the official photographer for the ballet (and Opera) and a true arts lover. It was a one night stand for the Ballet, a benefit performance in the intimate Scott Theater. The very contemporary choreography by TBT's awesome Ben Stevenson and top notch dancing by the company dancers, all experienced up close and personal, made it one of the most enjoyable dance performances I've seen. Ellen tells me that TBT is able to attract such talented dancers because they all want to work with Stevenson. I don't doubt it.

Just mention the Ballet to anyone around here and they'll tell you about its much publicized financial trouble. The dancers took it upon themselves to help raise the needed $2 million. They took to the streets, literally, with a grass-roots fundraising campaign called "Get Behind Your Ballet" consisting of a night club fundraiser, shopping mall performances and bake/garage sales. Watch their feel good video on my space. Well, the Ballet has been saved. I just hope they'll do more performances like the one I saw tonight.

Remembering My First Car

With GM threatening to go under and bring the entire economy with it if the government doesn't give them another $25 billion, I can't help but think back on my 1973 Chevy Vega Hatchback. A "subcompact," it was GM's answer to the smaller, more energy efficient cars the 1970s market demanded. It wasn't perfect, but it was a blast to drive. Now GM's got the country by the balls claiming it needs govt money to "retool for innovation." What the ??? They've had 35 years to perfect the Vega! And don't tell me they didn't see this gas price thing coming...for three decades.
NYT Op Ed piece on GM

The American Flag

I've never seen as many American flags as I have in Fort Worth. Flags, in fact, are the most remarkable feature of the Fort Worth landscape, which is generally devoid of tall buildings or interesting geographical features. Average wind speed is around 10 mph here, which flies a flag pretty well. And against either bright blue skies or backdrops of puffy white clouds, they look pretty cool. I pass this huge one at the Ford dealership every day and it has the most beautiful fluttering, waving action although note that the edges are frayed. After the result of the recent presidential election, I'm feeling pretty patriotic.

Back to the Nature Preserve

They lied. There is fall in Texas. We spent a glorious day at the only park we know of, by Lake Worth, where nature is left alone to be herself. It's very dry, like California, with a splash of fall color thrown in. Lovely.

The Anole

Reptiles abound in Texas, much to my delight. This amazing critter found its way into my house. Turns out it's a wild green anole.
Watch the color change.

Dickies 500

The Dickies 500 Nascar race at the Texas Motor Speedway is a big deal around here. Seats in the hot sun, listening to about 40 very loud cars go around in circles while Nascar fans scream in your ears is definitely not my style. Gwenny and I prefer the symphony.

Fossil Rim

A friend recommended this place about an hour southwest of Fort Worth: the Fossil Rim Wildlife Park. You drive through a 1700 acre park where African wildlife roams in "their near natural environment," so we grabbed our binoculars and set off. We needn't have bothered, with the binoculars, that is.

I never knew ostriches and emus could be so...friendly. Did I mention you buy a bag of food for $7.50?

As one big-eyed animal after another approached our car seeking handouts, I began to realize how bizarre it really is. And ethical?

Here there were these deer, with antlers worthy of any trophy room, walking up to pickup trucks like streetwalkers.

Families of zebra with the little ones in tow worked the road, while giraffes stuck their heads in through sun roofs.
The fall scenery was prettier than I ever thought the north central Texas prairie could be. The wooded grassland is a lot like the African savanna, which explains why the animals thrive here. On a warm (not hot) late afternoon November 1st everything was tinged in gold. Gwenny and I stuck our heads out the sunroof as we drove, taking it all in.

I wonder what AZA (association of zoos and aquariums) would have to say about feeding animals from cars when most parks don't even want you to feed the squirrels, but it was fun. And the animals were healthy, if perverse.

Giraffes have really soft lips.

Halloween

I made Gwendolen this really cute cheetah costume. Doesn't she look adorable?

$19 Ticket to Texas Ballet Theater

Unable to convince Lloyd or Gwendolen to accompany me and not wanting to miss Texas Ballet Theater's production of Mozart's Requiem, a contemporary piece choreographed by TBT's own artistic director, Ben Stevenson, I went by myself to the Sunday matinee and bought a cheap ticket. What a show! The first piece, danced by seven ballerina's to a medley of songs by Judy Garland, was spare and beautiful. The second, danced by nine male dancers to Mozart's beautiful Requiem, was sublime. I couldn't help thinking how Victoria Morgan, AD of Cincinnati Ballet, would have stripped these hotties down to frilly diapers and sent them leaping across the stage. And while Stevenson could have punched up the color to match the lush choral tones of the Requiem, his fluid yet precise choreography perfectly complemented the structure and emotion of Mozart's music. I loved it!

Bass Performance Hall is one of the prettiest theater's I've ever seen, it's creamy white lobby a vision of Heaven. And at only about 2,000 seats, my $19 ticket, 25 rows from the stage, was an fantastic value. I'll be back.

Sleeping Beauty at Casa Manana

I happily bought a subscription to the Children's Playhouse, thinking Gwenny and wouldn't want to miss a single production. I needn't have been so excited though: Sleeping Beauty was disappointing, set in the late 20th Century and losing its fairy tale magic in the process. I'm sick to death of Disney's prissy princesses, but a good fairy tale deserves better than this. And there is a lot in the original tale that the show's target audience could relate to that this production completely missed. Gwendolen, however, had no complaints.

Moslah Shrine Circus

The Circus was just like any other circus I have ever been to. Did you know that the Shrine Circus has been traveling the country raising money for Shriners Hospitals for Children since 1925? I didn't until today

Pumpkin Patch

Gwendolen has two days vacation from school for Yom Kippur, so we headed off to a pumpkin patch in a place with the queer name of "Flower Mound." Just like you can in Cincinnati, you can be in the country in about a half hour's drive from Fort Worth. Pretty landscape actually, with little hills--mounds?--and lots of horses. It's 85 degrees in October, hotter in the sun, so it would be a blazing inferno in August.

Texas State Fair

The Texas State Fair is the
biggest fair in the biggest state so I was thrilled to learn it was less than an hour's drive from here. We had a blast. Dickies is the official outfitter. Check out Tex's outfit.

Blading the Trinity Trail

68 degrees, calm winds...the perfect morning for rollerblading. There are paved bike trails--30 miles of them!--running through Fort Worth, most along the Trinity River. I can catch the trail a mile or so from our apartment and blade all the way to the zoo or the stockyards and beyond. It's not as scenic as my beloved Miami Whitewater trail, which meanders through Ohio farmland, or as gloriously transcendental as blading along the Long Beach shoreline at sunset, it is worth breaking a sweat for. Just past the cow pasture, you can see the downtown Fort Worth skyline.

Day in the District

Sunday, the seven museums in the cultural district offered free admission and a lively schedule of performances. We caught the Cowtown Opry at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. Tons of people came out for the event, or were they going to the gun show in the adjacent Amon G. Carter Exhibit Hall at the Will Rogers Memorial Center? Note to self: time to learn a little something about Western music.