Adventures in and Around Fort Worth

I love everything about Friday on the Green in the hospital district just off of Magnolia—it's family friendly, has great food trucks, local breweries' beer, fantastic music, and it's free to the public! Not to mention it is more fun to be outside any day (unless a snownadocane strikes...or it's August in Fort Worth). This year they kick off their 6th season 7-10 p.m. Friday April 4. Friday on the Green only runs Spring through late fall on the  second  Friday of each month. There will not be an event in August due to the aforementioned horrid August heat. I tried to go in August once and thought I just might die, so I am glad to see they canceled this one. 

If you're looking for something cool to do besides lie around your house on the weekend, check out the Lone Star Film Society's Silent Sundays at the Kimbell's new Piano Pavilion auditorium. While silent films seem like a hard sell, you can expect a unique experience as you watch history's first films that shaped the industry with the accompaniment of live music. Way Down East  will screen 2 p.m. March 16,  Strike  plays 2 p.m. Sunday, April 20, and first ever Academy Award for best picture,  Wings, plays 2 p.m. May 18. I'm a little late in the game writing about this—the series kicked off Feb. 16. Their first production F. W. Murnau's "cinematic masterpiece" Sunrise had an unexpectedly large turnout. Classical pianist Robert Edwards performed his interpretation of the film live as the audience went back in time. After all, this is how moviegoers experienced film in the 1920s. And if they saw the same film three times, there may be a differen...

His first pair of blue jeans, cowboy boots, and his first rodeo.  Bucking broncos and bulls send cowboys flying, tough cowgirls whirl around barrels as their horses' hooves thunder back into a tunnel beneath the stands, and children scramble to catch their calves for prize money.  All of these things are reminiscent of the past, but the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo remind us city folks that the Wild West still lives right under our nose. Every winter Jan. 17-Feb. 8, cowboys from as far as France and Australia move to Fort Worth for a few weeks to show us how it's done. They perform daring tasks actually practiced on ranches all over the world to show off their antiquated skills and win prize money. And yes, these cowboys are the real deal. No show ponies here. This long-lived North Texas tradition is one I recommend for everyone. I go at least twice every year. Evening performances sell for $25 a ticket, and matinees $19. The event is held at the historic an...

Yet another trip to Marfa, Texas. This time I got to sleep in a teepee. For 2014, dare to do something different than usual. Stretch yourself. I left my comfort zone when I entered the community outdoor showers and slept in a fabric hut with only a zipper between me and the rest of the world. I hope to finish my article about this weekend getaway soon and will post. I just need to find the time to write it and pitch it to a travel magazine! Stay tuned... Our front door had a zipper.  I loved this so much I had artist Kristen Soble paint it for me in watercolor. We rented bikes. 

The ice starts to melt, and I'm not sure I'm ready to go back to the way things were before.  For three days we’ve lived in a city laminated in ice. The temperature never climbed above freezing until this easy Sunday afternoon. The sheets of freezing rain that fell Thursday begin to soften.  For reasons still unknown, this North Texas ice storm enchanted me. Maybe it’s that the world slowed down long enough for me to see it passing. Or the time I spent with my new little family. Maybe it's the  desolate roads, taking me to another place or time. Whatever it is, it prodded me to stop and think about why this weekend was so different from most. Please allow me  this platform to make a few guesses, and see if it means anything to you as a person probably wondering the same. The world stopped. But our overly productive selves never stop except on those rare holidays—Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. Black Friday started on Thanksgiving...