Tag Archives: fair park

Turtles All the Way Down

Posted on by Bill Chance

“A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: “What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise.” The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, “What is the tortoise standing on?” “You’re very clever, young man, very clever,” said the old lady. “But it’s turtles all the way down!”
― Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time

Fair Park, Dallas, Texas

The Dreams Of Spirits, Dwelling In the Distant Spheres

Posted on by Bill Chance

“I think our lives are surely but the dreams
Of spirits, dwelling in the distant spheres,
Who as we die, do one by one awake.”
― Edgar Saltus, Poppies and Mandragora

Traffic Barriers, Fair Park, Dallas, Texas

The Secrets of the World

Posted on by Bill Chance

“The man who believes that the secrets of the world are forever hidden lives in mystery and fear. Superstition will drag him down. The rain will erode the deeds of his life. But that man who sets himself the task of singling out the thread of order from the tapestry will by the decision alone have taken charge of the world and it is only by such taking charge that he will effect a way to dictate the terms of his own fate.”
― Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West

Fair Park, Dallas, Texas

A Question With No Answer

Posted on by Bill Chance

“Indeed, the only truly serious questions are ones that even a child can formulate. Only the most naive of questions are truly serious. They are the questions with no answers. A question with no answer is a barrier that cannot be breached. In other words, it is questions with no answers that set the limit of human possibilities, describe the boundaries of human existence.”
― Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Traffic Barriers, Fair Park, Dallas, Texas

I Like Turtles

Posted on by Bill Chance

“A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: “What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise.” The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, “What is the tortoise standing on?” “You’re very clever, young man, very clever,” said the old lady. “But it’s turtles all the way down!”
― Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time

Delta Duck-Potato (Sagittaria platyphylla), Leonhardt Lagoon, Fair Park, Dallas, Texas

 

 

The Lost Glory of Mammoth-Hunting Expeditions

Posted on by Bill Chance

“He’s a man,” Themla said.
“I guess that explains it.”
“Hairy, Neanderthalic,” Thelma said, “perpetually half-crazed from excessive levels of testosterone, plagued by racial memories of the lost glory of mammoth-hunting expeditions – they’re all alike.”
― Dean Koontz

Fair Park, Dallas, Texas

The Midnight Miner In the Secret Seams

Posted on by Bill Chance

“Here, are the stiffening hills, here, the rich cargo
Congealed in the dark arteries,
Old veins
That hold Glamorgan’s blood.
The midnight miner in the secret seams,
Limb, life, and bread.

– Rhondda Valley”
― Mervyn Peake, Collected Poems

Lignite Mining Mural Fair Park Dallas, Texas

Lignite Mining
Mural
Fair Park
Dallas, Texas

One of my favorite things in Dallas are the little-known Art Deco Murals along the Esplanade in Fair Park. Half-restored, few people see them, although millions visit during the state fair. They are hidden by the porticoes along the row of buildings – you have to get up underneath to see them.

And you should.