Dinosaur Valley

Texas's Jurassic Park likes about an hour from Fort Worth, along the Paluxy River, near Glen Rose. Three kinds of dinosaur footprints can be found imprinted in the rock of the river bed. Two live dinosaurs, a carnopod (meat eater, see the teeth) and a sauropod (plant eater) guard the entrance.

Texas Barbecue

There's nothing that says weekend eating like Texas barbecue. It differs from other styles in that it's dry, served with a thin sauce on the side. Beef, especially beef brisket and beef ribs, is by far the preferred meat. Chicken and sausage or bologna are popular too, but only rarely can one get pork. Typically, Texas barbecue is served with beans, coleslaw, potato salad, a thick slice of onion, and toasted bread. Whether a small, family-owned restaurant or a chain, the sign of a good barbecue place is the firewood, piled out front and the number of big trucks in the parking lot.

Erath County

My job took me to Stephenville, Texas, about 60 miles southeast on Hwy 277. October's nine inches of rain (3.5 is average for the month) have made everything green and happy.

Natty Flat, Texas

Natty Flat, Texas, boasts the world's largest cedar rocking chair. A true roadside attraction, the little complex includes a dozen charming outbuildings built from local trees, a smokehouse and a rustic furniture store.
Larry kept us company throughout dinner. He's not only the establishment's owner, but the builder of the chair. "We didn't set out to break a world record," he explains, "we jus' wanted to build a really big rocking chair."

Dublin, Texas

The first Sunday in November brought glorious sunny skies and the call of the open road. We headed south west, through Granbury and Stephenville, on to Dublin, TX, home of the oldest Dr Pepper bottling plant in the country. Today the sickenenly sweet soft drink is owned by Snapple, but the proud little Dublin (pop. 1064) shop still makes Dr Pepper according to the original formula, with 100% pure Imperial cane sugar (ick). It also recycles the same, decades-old bottles. The machinery consists of a giant industrial bottle washer and a modest bottle filling and capping machine. Locals buy a crate of 24 and return the empties to get another crate.

Summer Fun

This is why we had to have a backyard pool in Texas. The weather a tolerable 101 degrees, Lauren and her mom came over to hang out.

"I'm a Texas Girl"

Going to downtown Fort Worth on a Saturday night calls for dressing up. Gwendolen is into the cowgirl spirit. I don't know where she got it

Everythng is Bigger in Texas

This cicada is about eight inches long (kidding.)

Cat in a Fairy House

No sooner had Gwendolen and I put the finishing touches on Thumbellina's new fairy house (made entirely of found objects) than Bella moved in.

Ahhhh

After driving home in 105 degree heat, sitting in a traffic jam with the sun beating through the window, coming home to a pool is essential.

Common Buckeye, Mating

I saw this beauty at the Fort Worth Nature Preserve. They were too busy to fly away and let me get really close

Texas Spring

At last some beauty in this flat, parched land. The Nature Preserve was a riot of spring wildflowers, cactus, yucca and that famous Texas sky.

Clark Botanic Gardens

Wow. Why have I not heard of this place until now? Thirty-five landscaped acres of gardens created by one guy,
located half way between Fort Worth and Weatherford. Acres of iris, ponds full of water lilies, poppies everywhere, woodland paths, fountains, islands, swans, peacocks, the Clark Botanic Garden is a lush wonderland in the middle of the Texas prairie. It's like the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens only bigger, prettier and without the traffic in the middle. We appeared to be the only people there on a May Saturday.

Lake Mineral Wells State Park and Trailway

How did we manage to pick a cool, moist, overcast spring day to visit Lake Mineral Wells State Park and Trailway? Good for me, bad for photographs. I love these cactus. They're everywhere.

Silk Stocking Bed and Breakfast

The motivation for a trip to Mineral Wells was a gift certificate for a one night's stay at the Silk Stocking Bed and Breakfast that I bought at the annual auction for the Alzheimer's Association. I always wanted to go inside one of those big, old Victorian houses. Now I got to spend the night. Thanks, Chuck and Wilene for an enjoyable stay. Breakfast was fantastic. But oh my gosh is the place over decorated.

Mineral Wells, Texas

Last weekend, I took the family on a mini vacation to the small Texas town of Mineral Wells, oh 'bout an hour's drive from Fort Worth. Once famous for its nasty tasting water, which was said to have curing properties, and bolstered economically by a military base, since closed, Mineral Wells is a shadow of its former self.
Like so many small towns, it's Main Street (actually Oak St.) has been emptied by competition from the local WalMart.

Pool Weather is Here!

The Garden

I've been working madly trying to turn this backyard into a garden before the weather gets too hot and without spending a fortune. Here we have some kind of sage (I'm trying to go native and drought resistant) and some sunflower and zinnia seedlings. It's pretty sparse now, but by July, it should be a riot of color.

Three Generations of Bruces

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit so we got our picture taken.

Gwendy Lynn at the H3 Ranch

Here is Gwendy Lynn hanging out at the H3 Ranch, a Stockyards establishment where they have dead animal heads on the walls, a beer called "Buffalo Butt" and the best pulled pork sandwich I've ever had.

fort Worth Botanic Garden

The Botanic Garden is the best place for a photo shoot. It's extremely popular with brides and quinceaneras and adoring mothers like me.

Family

Waaa! Where am I supposed to sleep?

Alll Gardening, All the Time

Last weekend, Gwendolen saw Disney on Ice with Lauren and I ushered at Circle Theater's production of "Art". We all went to an opening at the Modern on Saturday, and attended the Ballet's, "Cleopatra," on Sunday. Now I'm back to trying to turn this parched patch of earth into something resembling a garden. Flopsy, happy bunny that he is, has run of the whole garden. He has taken a fancy to Mexican heather.

Too busy to blog about them at the time, but I'm glad Gwenny got to see Disney on Ice without my having to take her. "Art" is a fantastic play and the Circle did it well. The Modern's openings shut down too early (8 pm) to attract a young, hip crowd (they have old and rich, or so it would seem.) It's always a treat to go there. Because of severe budget shortfalls, the Ballet is performing to recorded music now, and the musician's union is picketing. I miss the live music, but I understand. "Musicians get paid twice as much as dancers, Stevenson whines in the program," I just wonder why they had to record the Chinese symphony playing the Rimsky Korsakov score. We gotta outsource classical music now?

Horse Thieves continuned

Fool me once...how does it go again, George? Doing due diligence, I thought, I asked the local nursery to recommend a landscaper. James Baker was cute enough, but how does anyone who calls themselves a landscaper install the edging so wrong? Like I wouldn't notice?

Texas bluebonnets

Bluebonnet season is here. A few furious, drenching storms have started to turn dry grass green and with the green come the bluebonnets. Beautiful blue wildflowers that grow in uncultivated fields, bluebonnets remind me of the lupine that blanket the hills of Salinas (CA) in the spring. Right: Lupensis texensis, the state flower of Texas: Left: Lupensis succulentus, its California cousin.

Wichita Falls

Not many would consider themselves lucky to have to make the two hour drive from Fort Worth to Wichita Falls for work, but I do. It's a fascinating place, where futuristic-looking fifties architecture--now mostly boarded up--meets the distinctive western-style brick of a Texas town. It's the Main Street of Small Town America. Or was. It's now so eerily quiet that I could stop my car in the middle of the street to snap a picture of a building I liked. Close to the border with Oklahoma, everything is named "Texoma," as in Texoma Auto Repair. I can only wonder at its bustling commercial and industrial heyday--coinciding with the invention of air conditioning, perhaps? Of of big cars that could take ranch families to town on Saturdays. Whatever its story is, Wichita Falls has the patina of decay, the optimistic exuberance of fifties design, and the charm of the American vernacular that gets me getting out my camera.

Granbury, Texas

Coming back from Fossil Rim, we stopped at the completely charming historic Small Town of Granbury. It just happened that the town was celebrating its birthday. Strangely (we thought) the street festival was shut down before dark on a Saturday night,

Return to Fossil Rim

We'd been warned that spring break was the busiest time of year at this amazing wildlife park an hour south of Fort Worth (see previous post) but my mother, who's been visiting for Gwenny's spring break, really wanted to go. The line of cars was long and painfully slow and the animals too full to bother trolling for snacks. This irritable ostrich whacked Lloyd on the head, hard, and put a few dents in his car. Showed him.

Fort Worth Water Gardens

Designed by architects Philip Johnson (who also built the Amon Carter Museum) and John Burgee and completed in 1974, the Fort Worth Water Gardens is a park like no other.Here is The Mountain, with its ten terraces of 20-inch-high steps.


The Aerated Water Pool, has 40 spraying nozzles, set 40 feet below ground level. The park is an oasis of concrete terraces, water and greenery on the edge of downtown Fort Worth.


The Quiet Pool, which one reaches by descending a narrow stairway, is surrounded by a wall that is bathed in noiselessly cascading water. It is as inviting a pool of water as I've ever seen, although wading is strictly forbidden.



The Active Pool is about as close to boulder-hopping down a stream in the high sierras as you can get in the middle of a city, and almost as thrilling. A family was killed here in 2004. The park only reopened again in 2007 and still doesn't have a railing.

Gwendy Lynn with up-doo

like it or not, my baby is going totally Texas. Here she is on the way to the theater with her dad.

Princess Party

At least one of us has a social life. Gwenny's friend Emma had her sixth birthday party at Sweet and Sassy, a salon for little girls. After getting their hair done, the little princesses strutted their stuff on stage, played games and ate cake.

Spring comes to Fort Worth

Eat your heart out, Cincinnati. It's the first week of March and we have flowering trees and balmy spring weather. Here's a park by our house. Notice how short the trees are. I don't ever think I'll find Fort Worth beautiful.

Horse Thieves and Cattle Rustlers

"I'm sorry. Since that's a separate problem, you'll have to make a separate service request," the woman at ARC Rapid Rooter told Lloyd when called to tell her that the drain they had cleared not three hours earlier was now backing up into the kitchen sink. What could be more maddening? I'll tell you: Lloyd and I committed a small fortune to having "radiant barrier" sprayed in our attic. Imagine how furious I was to discover, after hours researching what exactly it was that ABC Installation was calling "radiant barrier," (it was Radiosity 3000) that it was in fact little more than a thin layer of flat interior latex and nothing remotely close to Heat-Stop 75, the industry standard. "Gee I'm sorry," the contractor says, through the salesman, 29 clams to stop payment on the check and numerous angry phone calls later, "I didn't know. I've been installing this stuff for years and no one's complained." Please tell me how a middle aged woman who wakes up in the middle of the night with the sneaky suspicion that she's been swindled knows more about the product than the guy who's paid to install it. Unfortunately, that seems to be the law of the land here. Suckers beware!