A Contrast

One of the things that I have noticed living close in, instead of out in suburbia, is there seems to me a greater contrast in architecture. I guess that is because one builder didn't design the whole area. Most homes were custom built.

 click on photo to enlarge
This very modern one even looks like it could be a Frank Lloyd Wright design...although I know that it isn't,


and this one looking rather like a castle with it's round turret. I think I would prefer living here. Not just because it is larger than the other...it's just that I am not a fan of modern architecture.. Which do you  prefer?

Packing

Well, the title of this is not entirely true. We took a break from packing (for our move to the mountains) this morning to take a walk. Walking this time in a different neighborhood. I don't know about you , but a walk is much less monotonous if you have something new to look at.

How is this for an interesting view? Built in 1930 for the co-owner of an oil company that discovered vast oil fields in east Texas, it was appointed to the Home Beautiful list at one time by the local newspaper..The oil baron and Ft. Worth philanthropist that built it lived here until 1946.An interesting bit that I read online...his step daughter was forced to leave a prestigious school in Austria because he would not sell helium to Hitler to be used in a war effort.

The Live Oaks

One more post about Galveston. 

I admired the pretty old Live Oak trees 

at entrance of the neighborhood we stayed in.

They always have such graceful arching limbs.. The ones along the coast  bend and grow with the ever present winds shaping in an almost eerie fashion. In 2008 Hurricane Ike hit Galveston early one September morning with 110 mile an hour winds. The winds did not take these strong trees down, but the flooding was another problem. These trees can tolerate some salt water, but would surely have died sitting in the flood waters that came off of the gulf. That is when one of  our hosts neighbors sprung into action. He rented an eighteen wheeler tank trunk, filled it with fresh water and flushed the salt water from the roots of these trees...

and I am happy to say it worked!

Fifty Years

On our way back from Galveston, we stopped over in Houston (where we use to live) to attend the fiftieth anniversary party of some dear friends. They had invited thirty of their closest friends to an elegant dinner at the beautiful Champions Golf Club to celebrate.

Jim, confined to a wheelchair, has been in poor health for the last ten years.

There were many pictures of them, as younger folks, scattered about the room. This one taken right after their wedding. They had a big ceremony planned but Jim received orders (from the Navy) that he was shipping out to Vietnam sooner than expected, so they were just got married by a local judge. Maybe you are wondering about the Hostess Twinki in the picture?

Well, we all had a small gift bag in our chairs. 
Jim, who is a gifted story teller, explained. They went to a hotel at Disneyland for their honeymoon. Sherry commented when they got to the room that it was a shame that they had a wedding without a wedding cake. Jim went down the the hotel gift shop and and returned with the only thing he could find that resembled cake. He then invited us all to open our bags, and enjoy a piece of their wedding cake.
Happy Anniversary Sherry and Jim!

Galveston part lll

In and around Broadway Avenue on Galveston's east end you will find some of the the stately mansions that made it through the 1900 hurricane.

Many of these homes are open to the public during the Historic Home Tour held in May.

Not far from Broadway Ave. running parallel to Galveston Bay is the five block area called The Strand, which is the business district  made up of primarily Victorian aged buildings

set mainly along brick streets.

I especially liked this old building trimmed in green.

Couldn't resist going into this old soda shop and candy store where several times a day they have taffy pulling demonstrations.

They also have a colorful array of candy.

Very near The Strand is the port of Galveston where there are usually a couple of cruise ships parked.

and last but not least....trying to blend in, Tom and I did our best to dress like tourists.

It was a quick two days in Galveston, but we sure had a nice time.

Sightseeing

We have been to Galveston a lot over the years...but it has been awhile. So, we really enjoyed having our friends take us on a tour.

We started on the seawall and saw the new pleasure pier, which is very busy on the weekends. Galveston has been hit by many hurricanes over the years, but the biggest storm was way back in 1900 when an estimated 8,000 people died. After that, they built this sea wall which protects the city from storm surges.

The Galvez is a famous old hotel built in 1911

There have been so many changes since I was there last, including the building boom that is going on on the eastern tip of the island. I will save the pictures of the downtown area, called the Strand, for another day. I hope that you are having a nice week.

The Beach

Yes, we had been to the beach, Galveston Island to be exact. Galveston Island sits in the Gulf of Mexico below the state of Texas, and is connected to the mainland by a long causeway bridge.We have friends with a beach house there who invited us down for a couple of days.

Pink Oleander
I am not much of a beach person, but I love the smell of the salt air, the sound of the waves and the Sea Gulls.

We did get a lot of exercise, walking on the beach three miles each day.

There are a lot of things to see on the beach. At first I though these were yellow flowers, but taking a closer look realized they were yellow leaves

The Sea Gulls were everywhere

and brown Pelicans floating overhead.

You do have to be careful where you step. This little critter is a Portuguese Man Of War and those tentacles can give you a nasty sting.

Tomorrow we will tour the island

A bit of clue where I am:

A Special Memory

If you are ever in Austin, Texas I highly recommend you visit The Bob Bullock Museum. It is a museum that tells the history of our great state. Named after a politician who served the state for over  forty years and retired with the title Lieutenant Governor. He  also had the vision for this museum and worked tirelessly to see it to fruition.

When I saw the Texas marquis and ticket booth from an old movie theater on the second floor of the museum, I commented "gosh that looks like the sign from the movie in my hometown." Well you guessed it...IT IS! There were several Texas theaters in our state...but this sign came from my small hometown.

Even though we had several movie theaters in town..... The TEXAS was THE MOVIE THEATER. I can't tell you how many times I went to the movie there over the years. Sadly it closed in the 1980's and was demolished, but now a little bit of our town's history lives on in The Bob Bullock Museum in our state capitol!

There is another reason I am happy that the sign has survived.. My Mother sold tickets in that ticket booth and a tall good looking soldier use to walk her home. My Mother and Dad on their wedding day in 1942.

Before and After

A friend of mine was asking how we liked the Alaskan cruise that we went on a few years ago. So I pulled out the album...yes I actually did make albums at one time.

We traveled with four other couples and the ladies all posed on the back deck the first night.
That's me in the black...always a good color to travel in.

I couldn't resist posting both of these pictures on the last page of the album. My attempt at a little humor...but in reality there is a lot of food on these cruises...and some folks can't resist...like me!

The Brave Englishman

In downtown Ft. Worth, Texas near what was the Texas Pacific Railroad Terminal (now condos) stands a very old monument to a special Englishman.

There is a bust of him at the top and a history plaque explaining what he did, way back before that terminal building was even there.

The Texas Spring Palace

You see, on that spot  in 1889 there was a fabulous new exhibit hall  built to showcase the crops and produce grown in the state of Texas in grand style. The area was more like a fairground. The building having a large ballroom as well as displays of various priceless artifacts from Texas history, like the flag that was carried at the battle of San Jacinto and Sam Houston's walking cane.You could even fish in a small stocked pond or watch a prairie dog village with real prairie dogs scurrying about.Crowds came from all over the state during the first exhibit, and the one the following year. That exhibit was to end on May 30th 1890 climaxing with a huge society ball. There were a reported 7,000 people in the building

 when a child stepped on the head of a match causing the entire building to become a ragging inferno. People fled the first floor and those on the second were dropped into the arms of the crowds below.

Miraculously there was only one fatality. A forty one year old English Engineer. Al Hayne who was born in London to an upper class English family, educated at Eaton College and was living and working in Ft. Worth at the time. A single man he decided to attend the ball that was widely advertised as the grand finale of the exhibit. Mr. Hayne bravely saved countless numbers of women and children by dropping them to the crowd below. Sadly by the time he jumped, he had been badly burned.Severely injured in the fall as well, he died later that night at the hospital.

Al Hayne 1849-1890

A True Hero

Photo credit: Hometown by Handlebar (1st picture)

Illustration: Frank Leslie

                     

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The Fruit Basket

Just a shot I snapped on my morning walk. A cast concrete fruit basket adorning the entrance of an estate.

The Front Porch

Our neighborhood is a mixture of old and new homes. So many of the older (smaller) homes have been demolished to make way for newer, larger ones. I know there are a lot of people on both sides of the fence on this subject. What I have noticed is that architecture has changed over the years.

 Most of the older homes were built with front porches.

It was a place for socializing. Neighbors walking by would stop and chat awhile,

and in Texas, before air conditioning, a place to hopefully catch a breeze after dinner.I grew up loving the front porch. It was the place we played jacks or monopoly or better yet, home base for a game of hide and seek. Tell me, did you have a front porch where you grew up? Do you have one now? I don't, and I miss having one.

* Home number one is vacant and for sale. It has been on the market quite awhile. I fear if it doesn't sell, developers will purchase it, and it will meet the wrecking ball...due to it's prime location. Stay tuned.

The Old Theater

I found this mural on the front of an antique mall on the west side of Fort Worth, Texas.

It depicts the old Bowie movie theater on Camp Bowie Blvd that was built in 1940.The car, a Woody, was built by Ford and Mercury from 1949-51, having real wood side panels. The movie Giant being advertised was filmed here in Texas in 1956.

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My attempt at the same scene today
 The Bowie theater has closed but the building was re-purposed in the 1980's and became a bank. The brick streets, which are a maintenance nightmare, have also been saved.

Linking today to Monday Murals : HERE

Down in the Valley

At the end of this month we will be headed to Colorado to our house in the mountains for the summer. The summer to my husband is five months long. That's right, we will return in October.  I am always talking about the little town that we live in, and with good reason....it is a very special place.So that you have an image in your mind...of where we am going. Well.....

click on photo to enlarge

 

here it is....deep in this valley. As you can see we are surrounded by very tall mountains...in every direction, and those hills are a great big playground..Someone took this from an aircraft and you are looking south..Just around the corner to the top left  is a picturesque lake, which is why our town is called Lake City.I can tell that this was taken in the Fall. You can see the gold of the Aspen trees and probably the first snowfall since it is only covering above 10,000 feet.

I have been absent of late. Sorry, I do plan to get back on somewhat of a schedule.I have had a lot of company, cataract surgery and a root canal. I do plan to post on occasion before we depart, in between packing. So don't give up on me! Janey

It's Own Currencey

There is just one more thing I wanted to tell you about the department store that I have been talking about in the three previous posts. During the Depression of the 1930s here in the U.S. there was a run on banks. Many of them failing. So the department store printed their own currency.

Sorry about the photo quality-taken through a glass case

They would cash your pay-check giving you part cash and part department store currency. Since the store sold everything you could ever need it was a win win situation for the customer and the department store. I am thinking that this practice was clever marketing.

The Tunnel

My two previous posts are about at  mega department store we once had in Ft. Worth, Texas. A store that  seemingly was before it's time, and had it's own private subway. One of my reader's ask if the tunnel is still there?

The answer is yes. Although a college campus covers one opening, and the other end is protected by a locked gate. Above is a picture of one of the founder's daughters signing the tunnel. She and a cousin were along with a newspaper crew that filmed a video inside the old tunnel.

For those that are interested you can go to the link (and video) regarding that visit :HERE