Cottonwood Art Festival, Richardson, Texas
The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity… and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.
—-William Blake
The Dallas Piece, Dallas City Hall Plaza
Henry Moore
1978
“How important can it be that I suffer and think? My presence in this world will disturb a few tranquil lives and will unsettle the unconscious and pleasant naiveté of others. Although I feel that my tragedy is the greatest in history—greater than the fall of empires—I am nevertheless aware of my total insignificance. I am absolutely persuaded that I am nothing in this universe; yet I feel that mine is the only real existence.”
― Emil Cioran, On the Heights of Despair
Near the Lover’s Lane DART station, Dallas, TX
“If there is a hard, high wall and an egg that breaks against it, no matter how right the wall or how wrong the egg, I will stand on the side of the egg. Why? Because each of us is an egg, a unique soul enclosed in a fragile egg. Each of us is confronting a high wall. The high wall is the system which forces us to do the things we would not ordinarily see fit to do as individuals . . . We are all human beings, individuals, fragile eggs. We have no hope against the wall: it’s too high, too dark, too cold. To fight the wall, we must join our souls together for warmth, strength. We must not let the system control us — create who we are. It is we who created the system. (Jerusalem Prize acceptance speech, JERUSALEM POST, Feb. 15, 2009)”
― Haruki Murakami
DART rail station, Dallas Texas, on the way to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Saint Patrick’s Day
I wasn’t going to the parade... or any other drunken St. Patrick’s day stuff. I wanted to go downtown to meet my friends at Klyde Warren Park for a Writer’s Marathon downtown in the Art Museum. My intention was to ride the DART train downtown with my bicycle and then ride home (with the strong south wind at my back) afterward.
There would be big crowds though, so I intended to go early. Unfortunately, I had a late night, so I didn’t get up and around on time and didn’t leave the house until eight thirty AM or so. To save time, I decided to drive to a train station instead of leaving home on my bike. When I pulled into the Forest Lane Dart Station (the Cottonwood bike trail goes through there, so I could ride back) I saw the parking lot almost full and a thick crowd up on the elevated platform. Most of them were hauling coolers, bags of food, and folding chairs So I knew I wouldn’t be able to get on that train with my bike.
I walked up there, a little disappointed, and waited in line at the ticket machines to get my day transit pass. It took forever – the folks in front of me were not experienced train riders and they had a terrible time figuring out the ticket machines… plus a lot of them seemed to be drinking already, at nine-thirty in the morning. When I finally had my pass in hand (I checked, it took me less than thirty seconds to buy mine) I waited in the growing crowd for a train.
The next two trains came through the station and when the doors opened we were presented with the hellish vision of a compressed cube of green covered humanity. The cars were literally packed full. Not a single person from our station could get on the trains.
So I bailed. There was surprisingly little traffic on the highway and I was able to get down to one of my “secret” free parking spots in Deep Ellum. I could ride my bike over to Klyde Warren from there – won’t be able to get very many miles of exercise in and I’d have to make sure and get back to my car by sundown (I didn’t want to risk these streets after dark on a bicycle with all the celebrants driving).
Now, next year I want to go to the parade with my good camera. I am disappointed that I wasn’t at the opening door on the DART train with my camera ready – that was quite something to look at.
Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, New Orleans
Crow Museum of Asian Art, Dallas, Texas
Reflecting Pond, New Orleans Museum of Art
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Fair Park, Dallas, Texas
Fountain/Sculpture
“The Gulf Cloud”
Erected 1916
In Memory of
Captain Sydney Smith
First Secretary State Fair of Texas
From 1886 to 1912
Designed by Miss Clyde Chandler
Sculptress
The bronze fountain sculpture is an allegorical composition that depicts four female figures representing the four geographic areas of Texas –the Gulf, the Coastal Plains, the Table Lands and Mountains of West Texas, and the Gulf Breeze. The Gulf lies against the feet of the Coastal Plains who rests in the lap of the Table Lands, while the Gulf Breeze brings nourishing rains to the State. The bottom of the sculpture is encircled with a granite relief depicting a garland of fruit, flowers, grain, and vegetables grown in Texas. The sculpture rests in the center of a circular fountain basin.
I wanted some Chihuly Wallpaper for my computer at work, so on the last week of last year I went down to the Arboretum for the end of the exhibit and took another photograph of the boats full of glass on the infinity pool. I added a little Photoshop to disguise the transition from the pool to White Rock Lake.
Click on the image for the full-sized version.
Chihuly Boats full of glass at the Dallas Arboretum. White Rock Lake in the background.
Bill Chance 