A Reprise

  Today we had lunch at the HG SPLY CO in WestBend, Fort Worth. It was amazing as always. I got beans and rice side dishes, both of which were huge portions, plus we shared chips and salsa which also had great flavor. The restaurant is right off the Trinity River, with a view of the skyline. After lunch, we went to the Botanic Garden. It was a little different in that we had to pay to enter the entire garden, and the Japanese Garden could be entered at will, with no separate entrance fee. The Zen Garden in the Fort Worth Japanese Garden is one of my favorite places on earth. I've taken so many photos of the Zen Garden over the years, with so many different cameras. It was exciting to use my keychain camera today. The Suzuki Garden is one of my favorite places in the Japanese Garden. All of the above pictures were edited with the keychain cam's bundled software (Arcsoft PhotoImpression 4). I edited them a little further in Adobe Lightroom just to see the difference. I prefer the...

My favorite animals to see at the zoo are the primates. I went around to the back of this exhibit to get a better look and one of the gorillas was lying beneath the plexi-glass window. I made eye contact with her, and she glanced away uneasily and rolled to her other side. I could tell I made her uncomfortable and felt bad. Their facial expressions are so similar to humans'. The bonobos are another primate that are very human-like. They and chimpanzees seem to be tied as far as being genetically similar to us. I read that bonobos are fifty times as violent as humans and chimpanzees are one hundred times as violent as humans. However, I think, in general, our entire group is incredibly violent compared to other animals.  The flamingos appeared to be roosting and hatching eggs when we visited. There were many baby flamingos around. We happened to visit at a time when the tortoises were much more active, it being relatively early in the morning, and we able to watch them move around q...

I got the buttermilk one, white chocolate dip and espresso dusting.

Last night I dreamed that I chanced upon a beautiful garden and cemetery. Everything was covered in verdure and blooms, and I was seized with the desire to take every possible photograph. I didn't know why I had never noticed that place before. I hurried home to find my camera, but I became distracted by a dozen things, and I never returned to that beautiful place. This morning, I felt heartsick that it has been so long since I have spent time in a place of beauty photographing it. I decided to take some time the next few days to reconnect with photography. As I entered this pavilion the way the light fell reminded me of a dream. I wish I could find a place like the place in my dream.

Fire depts. showed up , a photo by ladyhildegarde on Flickr. The fire depts. from Crowley, Rendon and Everman came. Even though it may look like the deep country here, I'm glad it's not. City services here are good. They used the hydrant outside our home, stayed all afternoon. There was even a police car and ambulance. At the beginning though watching the fire trucks drive right into the flames was terrifying. I realized how dangerous it really is. They did not hold back and hose it down. They jumped off the truck and went right into it. It was more stressful than I even realized at the time, still trying to take in all I saw yesterday. The only casualty was Nathan's tractor. The policeman said if we put new tires and belts on it it would probably be fine. It will be a while till he does anything with it, but I think he will go back to it in a while when the drought is over.

Over the fence , a photo by ladyhildegarde on Flickr.

Saturday night the snow had melted off enough to allow us to venture out. This was our second visit to Spiral Diner, an all-vegan restaurant in Fort Worth. There was a long wait, and we contented ourselves in the vegan market occupying the diner’s foyer. There were some delightful fragrance oils, and I was very tempted by “Nostalgia,” self-described as redolent of several old, empty perfume bottles. I am captivated by beauty that hurts a little, like nostalgia. We had already had dinner at home, an enchilada pie I made, and ordered coffee and dessert. We made our selections from the dessert case, which had a tempting Valentine’s Day theme. I fell for the sugar cookie. At a cafe or whatnot, I can never resist the seasonal-themed cookie. It was delicious, with flavors I had never experienced, likely owing to the fact that it contained neither flour, nor sugar, nor butter. I also theorized that the baker had ascribed to the current school of thought that cooking food above a ...