Art shows and food trucks....Life Is Good!

My second favorite time of the year after Autumn (football season, cooler weather) is this too-brief anomaly known as "Spring".  It's that tiny little gap between blah winter and hotter 'n hell summer when all the artsy types bring their cool stuff out to art shows for the rest of us to admire (and hopefully buy).  

Last weekend we found a new show, this one in Deep Ellum. 

 This is a seedy area of Dallas just east of downtown that has become a magnet for all the bohemian types in town. 

Lots of bars....

 ....and tattoo parlors and little hole-in-the-wall clubs buried deep in the alleys

....and some really talented artists.

Down a six-block stretch they set up their stalls, and young and old alike showed up to admire their talents.  The people-watching was phenomenal.  Wanna know where all the old hippies went?  I found 'em.  :)

This weeks art show couldn't have been any more opposite....suffice it to say the Main Street Arts Festival in downtown Foat Wuth was classy with a capital K.

 

 It was a judged show, meaning only the best of the best (as chosen by judges) were invited to participate.

 

This was apparently judged tops in the "carved horns and old bottle caps" category.  (Hey, it's Fort Worth.  Cowboy hats and boots are still considered de rigueur.)

I must hand it to our cousins to the west....they have fixed up their downtown and made it a true fun destination with....

 Little urban oasis scattered around  

The Bass Performance Center

Impromptu "guy juggling fire while riding unicycle" venue

Quiet little sidewalk bistros

And they're apparently much more open minded than I would have thought, too, as evidenced by this topiary  commemorating....umm....mans' desire to do unnatural things to animals?

 

  I was even inspired to try my hand at creative photography.  *Look ma....I'm an artiste!*

The one piece of art that impressed me the most was this "kinetic sculpture" by Jeffrey Zachmann.  To truly appreciate it you have to see all the moving pieces working together.  Just click on any one of the pieces shown on his website here and you'll see for yourself how hypnotizing they can be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After all that we went back towards home, stopping in at the Frisco Food Truck Expo (or whatever they called it).

I almost went Italian, but passed because I was sorta scared of where it might be in my digestive system when it exploded.

Instead I had a coupla sliders from Easy Slider.  They were awesome!  Angus beef, grilled jalapenos and onions, barbecue sauce and....oh yeah....BACON!

Apparently the Dallas Cowboys souvenir shop on wheels sold out of Jerry Jones Voodoo dolls early as I didn't see even one patron buy anything the whole time we were there.  *snicker*

That was our weekend(s).  Hope you had a good one, too.   :)

S

Food truck humor

I love to eat off food trucks.  I guess that makes me a foodie truckie foodie.  Unfortunately I have to look long and hard to find one in Dallas. 

While most of the rest of the country has been able to enjoy them for years, upscale hoighty toighty Dallas said they had "health and safety concerns".  (Wake up Dallas....these aren't your daddy's Roach Coaches.)  I'm thinking they only had tax $$$$ concerns.  Just now are we getting a fair selection of food trucks, if you know where to look.

San Antonio, on the other hand, has embraced them.  They have a thriving food truck scene.  And now they have a controversial food truck in their midst:

 

This rolling restaurateur's nom de guerre is CockAsian.

CockAsian specializes in Asian fusion cuisine, and its #1 dish is Asian fusion chicken.  Get it?  Chicken = Cock, Asian = ...er...Asian.  CockAsian.  To some it has a rather unsavory sexual innuendo, and they are, pardon the pun, all "bent out of shape".  (sorry)

I say the joke is on them.  This ^ is Candi Yoder, and she owns CockAsian.  And as you can see, she's very "Caucasian".  Touche, Candi!  :)

I say people these days are waaaaay too uptight.  They no longer have a sense of humor. In some instances, however, I must admit the subject matter is so obnoxious it trumps humor.  One instance that comes to my mind is the controversy over the name "Washington Redskins".

Fortunately good sense has won the day and the football team has agreed to change their name.  Because of all its sick, sordid history, the disrespect, and the hate and venom that name spews, the team has announced that from this day forward they will be known simply as "The Redskins".  :)

G'day friends.

S

Weekend's ROCK!

My, how time flies when you're having fun. 

Today it's a cool, cloudy, very quiet early Sunday morning in 'da hood....

....but yesterday we took Luke the Wonder Dog to Clyde Warren Park in downtown Dallas, a first for him.

There were sights and sounds and smells (and tastes) he'd never experienced before.  I think he enjoyed himself.

We had a great selection of food trucks to choose from:  I ate off The Butcher's Son....2 brisket/jalapeno, 1 cluck fillet sliders....sorry, too good to stop and take pictures of, while K had a Ruben grilled cheese off another "roach coach".  (Not really, they're super clean!)  For the record, Luke preferred my brisket. 

We wore Luke out!  On the way home he curled up in K's lap and passed out.  Back home I gave him a bath as he was overdue anyway, plus being on the streets of downtown Dallas.... 

I even gave K a haircut (yes, another skill set on my resume) and sent her to the showers, too.  Then I hosed myself down also and settled in to an evening of college football.  :)

Today it's Starbucks for a coffee and a read, then a trip to *gulp* Toys R Us to do the grand-kidlette's Christmas shopping.  Better now than DECEMBER 10th, right?  I think there's a small art show somewhere, too.  I'll have to Sherlock Holmes that.

But my sacrifice will all be rewarded when this evening I'll grill us some beautiful prime steak fillets I purchased from David's Meats yesterday.  Good times!

S

Here he comes....there he goes

Going to 4-yr-old grandson Parker's soccer game this morning.  I think later they'll break up and play positions, but for now they all just play "mob", as in wherever the ball goes, the mob follows.  It's 45 degrees this morning with a breeze.  That should wake everyone up.

Later we're going on a search for food trucks, probably downtown.  Looks like Luke the Wonder Dog is coming along, too.  There are always lots of dogs there, which should thrill him....unless any of them try to get too close.  

Then he does an admirable imitation of a greyhound chasing that little mechanical rabbit around the racetrack.

After that....gee....lemme think.  Oh yes!  Football, or as K calls it, #$%^&* football.  :)

S

Just a walk in the park

Since I'm not having to endure the floods in the midwest and southeast or the drought, heat, and fires out west I can say this:  I'm rather enjoying this climate change thing.

With early morning temps yesterday in the low 60's and staying in the 70's until early afternoon, K and I decided it would be a perfect day to go and re-visit the new Klyde Warren Park in downtown Dallas.

K's little Toyota Skateboard Coupe is perfect for maneuvering 'round town.

Lots of people were there with their miniature humans in special push-carts.

The mid-sized ones seemed content in the corner corral.

We had a good selection of food trucks to choose from for lunch.

We had a perfect spot to sit and enjoy the sights.  It was very pleasant until two guys got out their guitars and starting yelling and groaning.  (K and I had a difference of opinion on this.  She thought they were "singing".  She's funny sometimes.)

It was interesting watching this tiny little lady, maybe 110 pounds, hauling around this GIANT dog.  He was a Great Pyrenees / Bull Mastiff mix that weighed 180 pounds.  Very friendly, though, a true gentle giant.

This Miniature Schnauzer, however, had no use for the paparazzi.

A little grocery shopping later and a stop at Paciugo for some gelato, then we retired back home to watch the Louis Vuitton Cup yacht racing on TV, which still fascinates me.  Yep, this climate change thing makes for some fine weekends.  :)

S

It's almost here....I can FEEL it....

While our days are still warm, and I'm sure we still have plenty of summer ahead of us, our evenings have been amazing all week.  And at 7 am this morning it was 64 degrees....imagine that!  With fall-like weather my mind automatically starts thinking about....

FOOTBALL SEASON!!

And this fall, as an added bonus....

....at the Lowandslow residence at least....English rugby, too.  :)

Later this morning K and I are going back downtown to the new "park on top of the freeway".  I'm ready for a little sunshine, cool temps, people watching, and maybe lunch off a gourmet food truck, too.  Looks like a spectacular weekend.  :)

S

Yesterday at the park....

I've gotta give 'em credit....the weatherguessers nailed it yesterday.  We enjoyed a few puffy clouds, a mild breeze, and temps in the mid-80's.  I know!

To take advantage of this rare, cool Dallas summer day K and I decided we'd take a road trip all the way to downtown Dallas to see the new....

This is a $100M public/private venture that turned a three block long, 5.2 acre piece of land ON TOP OF AN 8-LANE HIGHWAY into a public park.

That's right, this freeway....

....goes underneath this beautiful park!

We arrived there a little after noon and had no trouble finding parking nearby.  What we hadn't counted on seeing there were...

....FOOD TRUCKS!  I love food trucks....yum!

We also noticed there were Corgi's everywhere.  What the...?  Turns out there was a Corgi owners club that had met there that morning.  Being as the place is so dog friendly you might think there would be some "piles" here and there, but there weren't.  It was super clean.

Man's best friend even had their own special cooling-off fountain.

Did I mention it was dog friendly?  Did I mention I like dogs?  ;)

It also had a dedicated Juvenile Holding Facility.  ;)

It looks like we just missed whatever kind of performance/presentation they had at the outdoor stage.

There were people tossing footballs around, a few frisbees, and even these guys playing a game of non-regulation croquet.  (I say "non-regulation" because they didn't have those little white sweaters tied loosely around their necks.)

After a while of walking around and taking in all the sights, we found us a shady spot to sit and "admire" the passersby.  

When hunger pangs finally overwhelmed us (OK...me) I walked back to the food trucks and settled on this one.

It was very good!  (Crab, red and jalapeno peppers, and siriachi sauce)

The park is right across the street from The Myerson Symphony Center, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Nasher Sculpture Garden, and the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.  Kudos to "Big D" for their downtown renaissance effort.

If I worked at one of these downtown offices (or the little church), I think this park is where I'd spend my lunch hour.

Off topic:   I always liked the curved front facade on the Hunt Oil Building.

The best view of the park is probably from one of the Museum Tower condos.  Unfortunately for me, each unit is juuuuust a smidge over my budget.  (Ha!  Who are we kiddin'....more than my entire net worth.)

It was a very pleasant day.  If we have another cool summer Saturday, or maybe this Fall, we'll definitely be back.  

Have a great Sunday everyone.

S