A Sunday Drive

 Gosh we had the most beautiful day yesterday. Very cool in the morning, afternoon reaching to 71 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Tom asked if I would ride with him to get gas for his car. Our gas prices are very high right now so he likes to fill up at a wholesale grocery that always seems has to have the lowest price in town. It was so pretty out that after filling up, I talked him into going for a drive out to Granbury, a cute town not quite forty miles away.

Granbury has a plethora (how’s that for a big word) of old homes. Of course you Europeans are probably laughing at the word old when I say this home was built in 1905. Here is a good example of one of their old (1905) homes. It is on Pearl St. and is the Baker-Carmichael home. The first owner Baker was a banker and Carmichael who later owned it was a physician.

Researching it, I was amazed that the cost to build it was $18,000 and the head carpenter received $1.50 an hour. I don't know what the equivalent would be today...but the price still shocked me.

Anyway, we had a very nice drive…and yes we used up a lot of the gas we had just saved money on. My Tom is such a good sport.

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Riding The Train

 Some of you know that we moved to Ft. Worth about eight years ago from south Texas. Although this is not the first time I have lived in Ft. Worth. When I was nine years old we lived here for about a year. I was going to write about a big event that year….my first train ride, but since I get side tracked on occasion when reading history, okay maybe a lot. So let me share with you about the two Texas and Pacific passenger stations.

In 1900 Ft. Worth was very proud of their new Texas and Pacific (TP) Railroad Station built just south of downtown.

Matter of fact it was directly south of town, exactly one mile south of the courthouse. Both facing Main St. The station and the courthouse had clocks on top and depending where you were on main you could see one or the other. Not sure if you stood  halfway you could read both…probably not.

Unfortunately there was a fire in 1909. Looks like the whole station was on fire, but they were able to extinguish it and the station was repaired.

I guess when the stock market crashed in 1929 people didn’t realize how long the approaching depression was going to last because a new Texas and Pacific Station was underway in 1930.. Look to the right and you can see the tower of the old station.

The new station was certainly bigger and showing off the latest Art Deco design.

The lobby was magnificent, a real showplace. Of course back then there were wooden benches for the passengers to sit on. This is the lobby I walked in at nine years old for my first train ride. My grandparents lived about 75 miles north in the small town of Sherman, and we were to ride the train there to celebrate Christmas. Actually the train took us ten miles north since it didn’t stop in Sherman.

This wasn’t just any old train we were getting on…This was the shiny Texas Special. Compared to the other old passenger trains on the line it was certainly the star of the show.

I can’t even describe my excitement getting to ride on this very special train!

The station was no longer used in the late 1960's. Passenger trains used the other station east of downtown, and the TP sat empty for many years.

In 1999 the building was refurbished and made into trendy high end lofts and the lobby became an event center. Set up here for a wedding reception. I am so happy they were able to repurpose this beautiful old piece of history. Oh and you can still catch a train out back. Tickets are sold from machines and you can ride the TRE to Dallas and TexRail to the DFW Airport.

Parts of my research were borrowed from a blog by Mike Nichols

A Famous Play

 This blog is about a world famous play, a granddaughter, a playwright, a hospital and a neighbor. Now that is an odd combination you say…well let me explain.

One of our beautiful granddaughters (if I don’t say so myself) is a bit shy. So my daughter enrolled her in a private children’s acting club. We were excited about her first  performance and drove down to Austin to see the play this weekend. Husband Tom wanted to know if she was going to be a tree? You must forgive him, he was just joking.

She did a great job playing one of the lost boys…that’s Hannah with the flowers.

So, did you know that a hospital in London has realized millions of dollars from this gift (see above) that was anonymous for years. All of this was to end fifty years after Barrie's death, but in 1989 the government in the U.K. passed some sort of bill. I believe it was the Designs and Patents Act....don't quote me on this, but this extended the royalties in the U.K. until perpetuity..

At the risk of seeming like a name dropper. Meet Ani Barrie long time neighbor and friend, who is an artist and past owner of Ani Barrie Sweaters, and yes that's right..... a direct descendant of  the Barrie family. Seen here with her husband Greg at an antique car event in Lake City, CO. So there you have it. I guess this post has been about connecting the dots!

Texas Football…and the photo shoot

 Football in Texas is a big deal. Not only Professional but College and High School alike. One thing they all have in common is they have a mascot. The University of Texas has a long horned steer that is paraded on to the field. Baylor University has a real bear but for obvious reasons it is not brought into the stadium. If you have ever been to a Texas Tech University football game you know the excitement when their mascot. The Masked Rider

charges out on a beautiful a horse ahead of the football players.

 

 

So why am I telling you this? Well my sister Polly, the creative one that I have spoken of on here before among other things is a photographer. She was ask to do a photo shoot for this little lady. She and her girlfriends started sending birthday announcements to each other when they turned 75 doing unlikely things... Like sitting on a motorcycle, etc.

 

 

Being a huge Texas Tech football fan, this was an obvious choice. 

Now mind you she didn’t want to actually get on the horse…which was a rental…but she sure got a kick posing with it!

Oh did I mention this card is for her 90th!. I sure hope that if I make ninety I am doing fun and silly things like this! How about you?

 

Thanks for the pictures Polly.

 

Fashion

 I went over to the mall today. Correction, I didn’t go over to walk around the mall. I am still being very careful about public places. I needed something from a department store that is connected to the mall..

I took a couple of pictures of things that amaze me. It’s rodeo time in Ft. Worth, and I guess there must be some fancy cowgirls about. I simply can not image anyone wearing these?

These caught my eye in the men’s department…how could they not!

Saw some shoes that would match in the shoe department. Looks like it’s going to be a colorful Spring!

The Barn

 Have you ever used Google Earth to search for something? It’s a grey, cold, damp day here in North Texas so I have been playing around on my computer. I have some cousins that grew up on a dairy farm southeast of the small town of Sherman, TX. At one point my family lived in a house on their farm. I remember with fond memories playing in their barn amongst the stacks of hay bales. 

They had two barns, which we referred to as the old barn and the new barn. The old barn was made of wood and painted red. The new barn was shiny metal. The old barn was especially fun because it had a hay chute that we would slide down, from our club house in the loft.

Not unlike this photo of an old hay chute.

The old farm is not there anymore, but I remember the general area,

and I came across this. By golly I do believe that this is the new barn. Okay I realize it looks old, but it is shaped more like the new barn (built about 1952) and I feel sure the old one bit the dust?

By the way there is a movie that came out a few years ago, a true story about an Indian man who at age five jumped on a train and got lost. He was eventually adopted by a family in Australia. The movie is about him using Google Earth to see if he could find his home. Great movie. Have you seen it? It's called Lion.

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We Are Going Where?

 On Christmas Eve, we were visiting our youngest daughter Katy in Austin. She was up early preparing for a big dinner party that evening. She said.”come on Mom, I need to go to Central Market”. Don’t know about where you live, but grocery stores on Christmas Eve here can be a nightmare! Although it is a favorite place for my husband Tom. He has always trekked to the grocery store Christmas Eve. He thinks it’s festive! I should have sent him..

Maybe you have never been to a Central Market…It is a Texas gourmet specialty store owned by HEB, which is a family owned Corporation. I don’t know how to explain it. It is a treat to the senses. You walk in the door and you are met by display cases full of chef prepared ready to eat food. Set up like a European market, you will find thousands of cheeses, wines, bakery items, flowers, prime cuts of meats and extremely hard to find produce, amongst the aisles of groceries.There is a place to dine inside and out and several nights a week a band on the patio. Did I mention their cooking school?

Here in  Ft. Worth, it is my closest grocery store. Tom and I go there several times a week for a cup of chef prepared soup at lunch. 

Sorry I do get a bit too wordy. Back to the trip with Katy…to her Central Market.

The thing that shocked me the most (other than the crush of people) was the fact that they are growing their own mushrooms! Because of the crowd I didn’t have time to read what kind of mushroom this is. One of my followers can tell us though, as her husband is a world renowned mushroom expert.

This case had tiny ones,

and this case had ones that were so strange …That I had to know more. 

So here ya go.. it's called Lion’s Mane. Have you ever heard of them? Not me!

Anyway…I actually enjoyed going to the store with her, and was amazed how efficiently they  handled the crowd. If you are ever in Texas, check to see if there is a Central Market. I consider it a tourist attraction!