Adventures in and Around Fort Worth

photo credit: wikimedia My last trip of the summer takes me to the Texas coast. It's time to go after days of play, but I need one last moment on the shore.  A few others are there doing the same. They stare out at the gilded waves reflecting the new morning sun. Two thoughts undulate in my head—someone bigger than we are had to organize this, and timelessness mixed with newness. Saltwater and waves have been around since the beginning, but the life within is new and ever-changing. Ancient Greek tragedies and comedies, settlers, explorers and travelers find their stories' epicenter in the ocean.  I then remember I'm not alone in my adoration. The opening paragraphs of Moby-Dick speak to humankind's shared fascination with water: "There now is your unsular city of the Manhattoes, belted by wharves as Indian isles by coral reefs—commerce surrounds it with her surf. Right and left, the streets take you waterward. Its extreme downtown is the battery, where t...

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. 

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...

West Wing After days of freezing rain, the sun comes out 11.26.2013 View of the original Kimbell building designed by L. Kahn from the new Piano Pavilion lobby Piano elegantly frames Fort Worth history—The Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum and its allée elms The Kimbell's Kahn Building the night of the Piano Pavilion Grand Opening Party 11.24.2013 What was once architectural silence, the lawn is now a space where Piano weaves the sacred (art viewing) with the profane (socializing). 

View of original Kimbell building from the new pavilion. I pulled my car into the Kimbell Art Museum's sparkling monochromatic underground parking garage. The museum's Renzo Piano Pavilion opened to members this morning, and after months of research I'm afire.  Talk about whether this building will complicate or take away from the original Kimbell Art Museum designed by Kahn have swirled internationally for years—whether the green space that once represented silence will be ruined, whether the jewel box masterpiece actually needed to grow, and why one should augment something that is considered a perfect work of architecture. I grew up close to this museum and was distraught when they erected the ugly tarp and dug into the sacred lawn I once sat by myself and sketched the allée elms or read philosophy texts.  After three years of digging the tarp is gone, and much of the green space intact. I jump into the transparent, glass elevator, float onto the lawn facin...

WOW makes its debut at Arts Goggle Fall 2013  Some of us have a love affair with books. We walk into the bookstore and wonder which book we will meet today. We narrow our options by going to the sections where we know we will find the one. We look at their covers, feel their pages, and read the synopsis inside the flap. Sometimes we meander over to staff picks to see what professional bookworms recommend. Then we whittle our decision down to one or two books and rush home to dive into another world. Words on Wheels is a school bus converted public library that moves up and down Magnolia Avenue in Fort Worth, but without a checkout system, making it possible for anyone and everyone to court the book of their dreams.  This young man found a Harry Potter book. After Borders bookstores shut their doors in 2011, and she heard Barnes & Noble plans to close two Fort Worth locations in Januar y, founder Tina Stovall decided to open WOW. She wants to...

Maybe you grew up playing in Fort Worth's Botanic Gardens . Maybe you didn't. It's a magical place where children dream of fairies and knomes, and adults escape the hum drum of the city life roaring just outside the garden's gates. This place means something different to everyone, but either way it is important to the city of Fort Worth, and for this reason people who care deeply for the gardens have come together to return the favor. A lot is about to change for the better.  As the oldest and largest botanic gardens in the state of Texas, the Fort Worth Botanic Garden  is nationally recognized as a historical site and for it's beautiful rose gardens.The garden's history started in 1912 when a small portion of land was roped off for a large city park. In 1933 it was purchased by the Fort Worth Park Commissioners. Originally 38 acres, the gardens now encompass 109 acres in the middle of the city. This year the Fort Worth Botanical Society just nominated the...

  Biking in Telluride, Colorado The More Forgiving Path Mountain biking —the most terrifying and exhilarating thing I’ve done since that crazy horseback ride through the mountains outside of San Miguel, Mexico. At that horseback ride, the guide handed us a beer and a flimsy straw hat when we arrived at 9 a.m. He pointed to the horse we were to mount in a few moments. No waiver was signed, no lessons or tips given. If you had to take a bathroom break there was a small blue bucket in their outhouse. Oh, and my horse’s name was Tornado. For three hours we galloped through steep canyons and splashed through creeks and river beds. And yes, some members of our group were in tears making their peace with God. I, on the other hand, was in heaven.  I figured out quickly that mountain biking is a lot like riding a horse in the wild. I’m not talking about group trail rides that move slower than a hoveround. I'm referring to the fox hunting style of riding—fast...