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.

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?

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.

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!

Fort Worth Sunrise

Snow Day in Fort Worth

10:30 am. Here's a view of Alava Drive from our front door. No school today, or work for me. And if you're thinking, "why, that doesn't look like much snow," consider that it's all ice. Last we looked, 300 people foolish enough to think they could drive in this got into accidents.

Pool Fairies

The white fairy's name is Charlotte and she's a friend of Gwendolen's. The water is still too cold to swim in but we love our new swimming pool.

Billy Bob's Texas

I've been wanting to get to Billy Bob's Texas, the world's largest honky tonk--is that the same as a bar?--since I moved here. Six acres of bar and a whole lot more in a building that used to be an open air cattle barn. The best was the people watching. Where do all these cowboys and cowgirls come from? Fort Worth is a big city. Do they drive in from the country to party or are they city people in western wear? And everyone was white, like thousands of people and practically no one of color. Lloyd and I danced, we drank beer, we had fun.
I didn't bring my camera, so thanks to whomever posted this picture where I could borrow it. This wholesome group pretty much typifies the Saturday night crowd.

The Fort Worth Stockyards

I explain the Stockyards to my California friends as being like a beef themed Fisherman's Wharf. Historic western buildings, rodeo grounds, brick streets, the stockyards themselves, and saloons bedecked with stuffed animal heads testify to its historical authenticity as much as the Muslim and Asian families posing with costumed Indians betray its current role as the area's number one tourist destination. People come here to satisfy their fantasies of "the Old West" and to buy tee shirts, western wear and Texas souvenirs.
On a warm Saturday afternoon, the sidewalks were crowded with foreign tourists, cowboys of every color, boot-wearing promenaders, horses and bikers. I came to the conclusion that although it may no longer be the place where a long cattle drive comes to an end, it's as authentically Texan as anywhere else.

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.

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.

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.

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.

$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.

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.