Some Flawed Place In the Iron Dark Of the World

Posted on by Bill Chance

“By early evening all the sky to the north had darkened and the spare terrain they trod had turned a neuter gray as far as the eye could see. They grouped in the road at the top of a rise and looked back. The storm front towered above them and the wind was cool on their sweating faces. They slumped bleary-eyed in their saddles and looked at one another. Shrouded in the black thunderheads the distant lightning glowed mutely like welding seen through foundry smoke. As if repairs were under way at some flawed place in the iron dark of the world.”
― Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses

Trinity River Dallas, Texas

Trinity River
Dallas, Texas

I Move, Therefore I Am

Posted on by Bill Chance

“Judging from the spiderwebs clinging to it, the emergency stairway was hardly ever used. To each web clung a small black spider, patiently waiting for its small prey to come along. Not that the spiders had any awareness of being “patient”. A spider had no special skill other than building its web, and no lifestyle choice other than sitting still. It would stay in one place waiting for its prey until, in the natural course of things, it shriveled up and died. This was all genetically predetermined. The spider had no confusion, no despair, no regrets. No metaphysical doubt, no moral complications. Probably. Unlike me.
I move,therefore I am.”

― Haruki Murakami, 1Q84

Trinity River Levee Dallas, Texas

Trinity River Levee
Dallas, Texas

The Opposite Of Love Is Not Hate, It’s Indifference

Posted on by Bill Chance

“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”
― Elie Wiesel

Paula & Lucky Santa Fe Trestle Trail Dallas, Texas

Paula & Lucky
Santa Fe Trestle Trail
Dallas, Texas

Turning In the Widening Gyre

Posted on by Bill Chance

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
—–Yeats, The Second Coming

Stray Christmas Ball in the Trinity River, Dallas, Texas

Stray Christmas Ball in the Trinity River, Dallas, Texas

Enlist the Confidences Of Madmen

Posted on by Bill Chance

“I believe in the power of the imagination to remake the world, to release the truth within us, to hold back the night, to transcend death, to charm motorways, to ingratiate ourselves with birds, to enlist the confidences of madmen.”
― J.G. Ballard

Bicycle Drag Race, Continental Bridge, Dallas, Texas

Bicycle Drag Race, Continental Bridge, Dallas, Texas

drag_race1

drag_race9

Dallas Skyline from the Continental Bridge Park

Dallas Skyline from the Continental Bridge Park

They Swore By Concrete

Posted on by Bill Chance

“They swore by concrete. They built for eternity.”
― Gunter Grass

The Horseshoe, Trinity River Bottoms, Dallas, Texas

The Horseshoe, Trinity River Bottoms, Dallas, Texas

“When Armageddon takes place, parking is going to be a major problem.”
― J.G. Ballard, Millennium People

You Breathe In Nihilism

Posted on by Bill Chance

“If you live today, you breathe in nihilism … it’s the gas you breathe. If I hadn’t had the Church to fight it with or to tell me the necessity of fighting it, I would be the stinkingest logical positivist you ever saw right now.”
― Flannery O’Connor

Tin Ceiling Frisco, Texas

Tin Ceiling
Frisco, Texas

I have always had a love for embossed tin ceilings and look out for them in old buildings across the heartland. This beautiful example is in the Lebanon Baptist Church in the Frisco Heritage Village. I took this shot while listening to a talented woman play the fiddle.

The only thing better than a tin ceiling is a tin roof.

Marble and Mud

Posted on by Bill Chance

Life is made up of marble and mud.
—–Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Trinity River was still boiling, but it had obviously been higher a couple days earlier. The dropping river left it's burden of mud. Soon enough all will be dust.

The Trinity River was still boiling, but it had obviously been higher a couple days earlier. The dropping river left its burden of mud.
Soon enough all will be dust.

Writing is like walking in a deserted street. Out of the dust in the street you make a mud pie.
—- John LeCarre

Love Lock Dead Drop

Posted on by Bill Chance

I wanted to put out another USB Dead Drop.

When I stopped by the local electronics store to pick up a replacement for the USB drive that I used in my Spring Creek Nature Trail USB Dead Drop I came across a two-pack of small plastic 8 gig USB drives. These looked good for making a Dead Drop and were inexpensive, so I bought the pair.

These have a nice hole in the plastic housing for mounting on a keychain and I had an idea. I took a red plastic padlock I had lying around and drilled a small carefully placed hole. Then I used a washer and a pop rivet to permanently attach the USB drive to the lock.

You see, one of my favorite spots in Dallas is the Santa Fe Trestle Trail. This is an old unused train trestle that has been converted into a biking/pedestrian trail across the Trinity River just south of downtown. People have copied the French Tradition of placing “Love Locks” – padlocks with two names – along the fencing of the bridge.

What a perfect spot for a USB Dead Drop – The Love Lock Dead Drop.

I caught the train down to the Corinth and 8th DART station, rode my bike down the trail to the bridge, and put my lock with attached USB onto the bridge. Easy as pie.

Closeup view of my red padlock - Love Lock USB Dead Drop, on the Santa Fe Trestle Trail bridge.

Closeup view of my red padlock – Love Lock USB Dead Drop, on the Santa Fe Trestle Trail bridge.

Medium view of my red padlock - Love Lock USB Dead Drop, along with the other locks on the Santa Fe Trestle Trail bridge.

Medium view of my red padlock – Love Lock USB Dead Drop, along with the other locks on the Santa Fe Trestle Trail bridge.

Distant view of the Santa Fe Trestle Trail in Dallas. My Love Lock USB Dead Drop is on the bridge.

Distant view of the Santa Fe Trestle Trail in Dallas. My Love Lock USB Dead Drop is on the bridge.

That’s What This Storm’s All About

Posted on by Bill Chance

“When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

Trinity River Dallas, Texas

Trinity River
Dallas, Texas