June 30, 2010 - Day 111

This week's vegetables from the farmer: okra, squash, carrots, purple hulled peas (a cousin of black-eyed peas) and a cucumber. I wish I was more fond of okra - there's a lot of it.

June 29, 2010 - Day 110

I know this is going to sound strange, but I'm going to miss this box. I've enjoyed looking at it since we were packing. I guess eventually we'll have to try the wine. (This was one of the boxes we got from another couple after they moved.)

June 28, 2010 - Day 109

Last week the arch in this photo was missing its top. It's the 400-foot tall "signature arch" of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge that will connect downtown and West Dallas. Santiago Calatrava is the designer. We can see this from the side of our office building that faces the meeting of several highways called "the Mixmaster."

June 27, 2010 - Day 108

I discovered recently that there are red varieties of crape myrtle trees, and though I'm  fond of the many shades of white, pink and purple that are more common, I really like the red ones too.

June 26, 2010 - Day 107

I love this type of ornamental grass. It has great texture and color, looks nice in a breeze, and has soft, furry "tails."

June 25, 2010 - Day 106

A couple of days of cloudy skies and air pollution warnings can make for a pretty sunset, especially when reflected off a glass building.

June 24, 2010 - Day 105

Late dinner at the Blue Goose - needed a margarita. Yummy Tex-Mex in the new neighborhood.

June 23, 2010 - Day 104

This is what's usually waiting for me when I get home from work--Beryl!

June 22, 2010 - Day 103

In January I began taking classes in Improvisational Tribal Style belly dance. These are the coin scarves we wear to practice. This kind of scarf is really more for "shiny" dancing, but the jingling does let you know if you're moving! ITS is a group-based dance where you follow a leader, and the lead switches between dancers. After basics class and intermediate (a challenge, but the teacher encourages a friend and I to stay) I watched the start of the performance group's practice. When the teacher yelled, "anyone need to borrow a sword?" I chuckled - that's not something you hear every day!

June 21, 2010 - Day 102

Summer has officially begun as HOT. High temperatures have been hovering around 98 degrees, and tomorrow it's expected to reach 100. Shade is good!

June 20, 2010 - Day 101

I thought a curb was a strange place for a child to put a big sticker, but when I got closer I realized what it was. I had never seen stickers from Storm Water Management before - NO DUMPING * Drains to Creek.

June 19, 2010 - Day 100

The crape myrtle in our yard isn't blooming yet, so I had to venture down the street to see these. This one has just begun. Some are so full of flowers you can't really see the leaves.

June 18, 2010 - Day 99

This is Lightning, Jen and Tom's new next door neighbor kitty. They call him "Larry" though, because he looks like Harry, another tuxedo cat down the street, and they thought he was Harry until his owner identified him.

June 17, 2010 - Day 98

Meet Rudy. He makes me laugh.

June 16, 2010 - Day 97

Michael's Sleep Number: 90. Hattie's Sleep Number: 0. Hattie really enjoyed sitting in the dips in the bed while it was deflated during assembly.

June 15, 2010 - Day 96

This house in our neighborhood is for sale. It has really great curb appeal, but what always draws my attention is the wreath on the door. (So - bonus photo today.)

June 14, 2010 - Day 95

I'm drawn to Turtle Creek because it's beautiful in all kinds of weather. Yesterday when I was running errands I swung by the "hole at the end of the world" and saw this egret walking near its edge. I felt lucky to get the shot - it flew off shortly after that.

June 13, 2010 - Day 94

It's already apparent that it's going to be a hot, humid summer, and I'm not too excited about that. However, that kind of weather does make for beautiful cloudy skies. 

June 12, 2010 - Day 93

Pretty glass in a fountain around dusk - lovely. Bumblebees drinking - bonus.

June 11, 2010 - Day 92

Thursday night at yoga I saw a dental hygienist friend I hadn't seen since before I got braces and she that they are pretty. Though I haven't felt too self-conscious, lately wearing lipstick has made me feel a bit clownish. Claudia's compliment shifted my perspective, so I decided to celebrate by sharing a self-portrait.

June 10, 2010 - Day 91

With high temperatures hovering around 95 degrees lately, I thought this photo of snow from February might be refreshing.

June 9, 2010 - Day 90

A new spin on spaghetti - a combination of whole grain pasta and julienne fresh carrots, squash and green beans, and mushroom marinara sauce. Yum!

June 8, 2010 - Day 89

I guess May showers bring forth June flowers! These are so cheerful.

June 7, 2010 - Day 88

It took some work to remember where I saw this tree, but I found it again this afternoon. It's a mimosa, which I always thought would fit into Dr. Seuss' world very well. My great Aunt Marge had one next to her driveway, which was two gravel tire tracks amongst the grass on a fairly steep hill. Most of my life she drove a 1971 Ford LTD (a huge car), and I remember how amazed I always was that she could inch the car into the garage.

June 6, 2010 - Day 87

This is a closeup of the blooms on a rather striking tree I've seen around. From afar, the flowers look much more dark purple.

June 5, 2010 - Day 86

This is from the packaging of rechargeable batteries for the Wii game controllers. The instructions were obviously written by a non-native speaker of English. Some of them are not only unclear, but also a bit disturbing: I'm not sure I really want to know what they mean by "organic substance!" I do like the imagery of "straight of sunshine" though.

June 4, 2010 - Day 85

I had heard before that there are still areas in Dallas that are "dry" in regards to alcohol. In those areas if a restaurant serves alcohol it has to operate as a "private club" and you have to become a member to have a drink.  The gastropub where we had dinner is such a "club" (or, speakeasy, as we joked) that has dozens of beers on tap. This is a photo of the inside of the light shade above our table - hammered brass.

June 3, 2010 - Day 84

This time last week we were at The Granada, a great old theater in our neighborhood that features live music and sometimes movies. We saw John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting do a solo acoustic performance, and he shared stories of how some of the songs came to be. The Granada sends photos taken by its staff if you give them your e-mail address - pretty cool, since it's not easy to take photos in a theater!

June 2, 2010 - Day 83

A rather large mixing bowl of vegetable stock I made tonight, as seen from above. If I hadn't identified it, what would you have thought it was?

June 1, 2010 - Day 82

This is part of the burnt-up shopping center, which had great stone and brick decor. Even braced by the metal supports, it's still lovely. To see the charred and fallen remains of the building through the broken windows is both beautiful and sad.