Tag: DFW Metroplex Blog

DESTINATIONS, DFW Metroplex, Restaurants & Bars, Shopping

The Weekend Report

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL HERE – FOURTH WEEKEND OF OCTOBER

Rodeo Goat at The Harbor

The plan was to meet my bestie for lunch after her dance lesson. When she called after the lesson, she was hungry for a burger and a beer. I named a couple of my favorite burgers in Rockwall and Rodeo Goat won the toss, because my favorite Rockwall burger joint, Well’s Cattle Co. doesn’t serve beer. They have amazing chocolate and coconut pies, which beat out a beer any day in my book, but it also doesn’t have the view Rodeo Goat does, so I couldn’t complain.

Before hubby left for a photo shoot that morning, he wondered where we were going for lunch, but we hadn’t planned that far in advance. So he called to let me know when he finished and tell me he was still interested in lunch with his two favorite girls. I told him his timing was perfect and to head to The Harbor.

Deborah got there before anyone and snagged a picnic table on the patio, overlooking Lake Ray Hubbard. I was next and suggested we start off with Cheese Fries. I told the guy there would be three of us and asked which size we should get. Apparently, there is just one size and it is gi-normous! We had enough for everyone on the patio – be warned.

Hubby showed up not long after the cheese fries arrived and even with all three of us working on them, we left a whole lot of them behind – in part, because we still wanted those burgers we came for. I shared a Bodacious Burger with Bill and Deb had the Blue Goat. The Bodacious Burger is sort of a delicious BBQ joint mess. Bill and I polished off it’s goodies, but left most of the bun behind. It was very good. Deb said the Blue Goat, with the Bleu Cheese was her favorite and would remain so. Bill and Deb washed their burgers down with beer, but Rodeo Goat has great margaritas, so I went that way.

Shopping Therapy

I am in the middle of creating a series of custom scrapbooks for a client who was a pageant girl and I needed some pageant-related stickers to jazz up my pages. Creative Memories, which is my go-to supplier, doesn’t have anything which is remotely pageant-related, so Deb and I hit the craft stores.

We first went to Jo-Ann’s, almost out of habit, because in the past we have bought truckloads of stickers and paper there. I am sad to say they are virtually out of the scrapbooking business. I lusted after the Cricut equipment a bit, but I am too cheap to buy it, so we headed to the next stop.

Hobby Lobby is definitely in the scrapbooking business, so it was next. They didn’t have pages of pageant-related stickers, either, but they had crown stickers and some teeny-bopper stuff that would do for Cinderella Girl and Junior Miss pageants. Of course, I didn’t stop there. Nobody can buy just one or two sticker packs!!

Then we went to Tuesday Morning, primarily because Deb just likes to go there, but they also have scrapbooking supplies, from time to time. I found a really cheap book of papers I decided I couldn’t live without. It had nothing to do with pageants, but some people do drugs – I do scrapbooking supplies.

A Quiet Sunday

I confess, I skipped church on Sunday. I needed to be at a family function at noon, so I would have only had time for Sunday School anyway. I decided to go easy on myself and play hooky for once, something I rarely do. The church did not fall down in my absence.

We went to a birthday lunch for our nephew. We have an odd sort of relationship with his in-laws – more like we are the parents, instead of the aunt and uncle. They are delightful people and we enjoy everyone on that side of the family, so while it may be weird to hang out at your nephew’s in-laws, it is a pleasure for us and we’ll be having Thanksgiving with them.

That evening Bill and I watched the new HBO movie, Moonfall. There is a star-studded cast which didn’t shine very brightly, except for John Bradley, playing a megastructurist (someone who believes aliens created and launched megastructures which are now planets, moons, etc.). He was the underdog no one believed, who ended up saving the world and he shone like the sun in the role. Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson did not. There was so much scientifically ridiculous about the movie that you just can’t take it seriously. The whole infrastructure of earth is being wiped away by mega-disasters caused by a moon out of orbit, but somehow their cellphones work – oh, and the moon’s gravitational pull which causing all that on earth somehow allows them to navigate into an opening on the surface of the moon. Un-huh, yeah.

And that, my friends, is that. Stay tuned. I’m continuing my Travel There series on Wednesdays and Memory-Keeping 101 on Thursdays!

DESTINATIONS, DFW Metroplex, Photography, Rockwall

Your Memories Are My Media

Jane Sadek

KEEPING MEMORIES: JANESADEK, SCRAPBOOKING ARTIST & PHOTO ORGANIZATION COACH

I’ve spent the last few years helping my husband build a thriving real estate photography business, but even though I loved doing it, I wasn’t living my dream. Over the last few months I began to think about what it would mean to live my dream. What would that look like? For those of you who follow me on one of my social channels, you already know how I chose to pursue my dream, but it’s time to catch my blogging friends up with my latest endeavor.

Scrapbooking Is One of My Things

I love to plan trips. I love to travel. I love history. I love to write. I love to scrapbook. These are not separate things. They are deeply intertwined with one another and each is a part of the rest. Anyone who has read my blog for any length of time is not surprised by any of these declarations. They are all a part of what I share here.

However, they were no part of my career choices, because that’s not the way you did things in my day. I have worked hard most of my life. My writing skills have helped me in my marketing career, but all the things I love to do were never on my resume or in my consideration when looking for work.

Looking back over my career, there’s been lots of success and I have enjoyed many aspects of the jobs I held, but on this end of my life, it was finally time to think about what most young people consider the most important part of their career search: What do I want to be when I grew up?

As I sat in my scrapbooking studio creating my scrapbook for 2019 I came up with an idea that sounded good. I wanted to create albums for other people. I knew people who built scrapbooking careers by teaching classes, selling supplies, holding events or even opening a scrapbooking store, but that wasn’t really what I wanted to do. I wanted to create albums for people who didn’t have the time, talent or interest in doing so themselves, not just sell them stuff.

I chewed on that for awhile, did some research and tried to figure out what a career in scrapbooking would look like. How many people were out there who would hire someone to create an album for them? Were there enough to keep me busy? What would people be willing to pay for the service? Would they want traditional albums or digital ones? How many albums could I actually do in a month? In a year? Could I build a profitable business out of that?

And what about people who did want to make their own albums, but they needed training or encouragement or just some tools and supplies. Then there were the people who really needed help saving their memories, but they didn’t want albums at all. Could I help them?

A Business Is Born

As I talked to myself, I thought, “I want to help people get their photos and memorabilia from wherever they are to whatever solutions the people want, traditional or digital, and I don’t care whether they want me to do it for them or they just want me to help them do it. I just want to help people get their memories organized and into a format where they can share them with others, now and in the future.”

It just so happens that our real estate photography company is called Spot On Images. Instead of inventing a whole new entity for the scrapbooking and photo organization, I decided Spot On Images would work. I just had to do it.

I decided to get my ducks in a row and introduce my new business venture on February 15th. Perhaps you already know that was the day the big ice storm hit the DFW area. So, if I was looking for omens, I might have quit that day. However, the official kickoff might have been February 15th, but I’d already been talking to people. One lady had already hired me to do an album for her. Others were ready to be my customers for scrapbooking supplies and events. I even had people interested in digital solutions to their photo dilemmas. So, I wasn’t looking for omens, I was already in business.

Since Bill and I already have a thriving business that we want to keep going, I’ve been rolling things out in phases. I knew back in February, I still had a few more posts on my blog to catch everyone up to date in my travels and adventures, so I put off this phase of my introduction. Consider yourself up to date and this your invitation to look into my new venture.

If you wonder exactly what a scrapbooking artist and photo organization coach could do for you, then you should follow this link: Why Do I Need Jane? If you’re interested specifically in scrapbooking, you should look at this page: SCRAPBOOKING. If you’re wondering what kind of digital solutions I offer, then this is your link: PHOTO ORGANIZATION.

Next week I will be kicking off National Scrapbooking Day with a 3-Day Celebration and Workshop in the amenity center of my neighborhood. If you are in the DFW area, I’d love for you to join us. We’ll be memory making in traditional and digital formats while having a whole lot of fun. Just give me a call or text at 972-971-5263 or email me at janesadek@gmail.com.

If you really don’t care and just want to read about my next adventure, then come back next week. I’ll tell you about it!

Attractions, DESTINATIONS, DFW Metroplex, Rockwall, TRAVEL

Staycation Fail

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL HERE: AND THE YEAR SPUTTERED TO AN END

We woke on New Year’s Eve to threats of snow. Though we had planned to drive up to the Two Hearts Inn, just outside Oklahoma City, our guts told us to cancel. We ran to the grocery store for some supplies and hunkered down for an at home celebration. While we managed to pull off a very nice meal and a fun evening, I’d grade my attempt at a Staycation as ZERO!

One Failure After Another

My idea of a Staycation was romantic brunches with my handsome husband, lazy afternoons playing games, sharing memories through my many scrapbooking albums and enjoying the excursions I’d planned for us to take. That’s not what happened.

One of our first planned activities was a cookie-baking day. Things started out well, but didn’t end that way. Our last cookies had to be pressed out of a cookie press and the one I had used for years decided it wasn’t going to work anymore. We were both tired and a little cranky when we had to face the biggest challenge of the day.

We lived through that and the next day we delivered all our cookies to our friends. That was pretty fun, but after the first few visits, it was more of a chore than I antisciapted.

Our visit to the Kimbell to see Nefertari went well, until we tried to have a nice meal. We were hoping for French food and white tablecloths, but ended up at McDonald’s. The carriage ride was a disaster. The Vintage Train Ride was disappointing. So, it was no surprise that the B&B idea for NYE didn’t work out either. The weather made trying to take a road trip insane.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom. We cooked up a nice meal for Christmas dinner and my bestie had amazing leftovers the next evening from her own Christmas dinner, so she shared them with us. The meal we cooked up for NYE was amazing and we did actually play some games that Mr. Bill enjoyed. However, looking back over the last two weeks of the year, more went wrong than went right.

Plan B for Me

It didn’t take me long to understand that my romantic dreams for Staycation weren’t going to happen. I got very lucky, because a set of photos I wasn’t expecting until after Christmas showed up on my door step. So, I got busy doing one of my my favorite things. I can’t help it that I wake up between 5 & 6 every day, but instead of just going up to my desk and going to work on Spot On Images business, I happily worked on scrapbooking – the one thing I love to do almost as much as traveling.

It would have been very easy, almost tempting, to just go ahead and work or do the opposite and stare into the TV feeling sorry for myself. Instead I chose what was behind Door #3. That didn’t do a thing for Mr. Bill, but I have to let him live with his choices. I needed a break.

Door #3 ended up taking me on a journey I hadn’t planned on taking. Come back next week and I’ll tell you about it.

Attractions, DESTINATIONS, DFW Metroplex, Restaurants & Bars, Road Trips, Shopping, TRAVEL, United States

Grapevine Vintage Railroad

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL HERE: FORT WORTH STOCKYARDS FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Desperate for some travel-like experiences in the Covid haze, I planned a series of holiday outings, but I’ll be the first to admit things didn’t go as planned. While there’s many a time the thermometer has hovered in the seventies over the holiday season, that was not the case this holiday. Instead, my poor husband suffered a series of weather-related indignities, just so he wouldn’t have to peel me off the wall. Our excursion on the Grapevine Vintage Railroad was just such an experience.

Covid vs. The Weather

During the pandemic, virtually everything you wanted to do, you needed to have reservations. While that seems like a reasonable request, as I mentioned when I talking about the Dallas Arboretum, it just doesn’t work very well in our lives. Bill needs to be in the mood and the weather needs to be nice. During December, Bill was not in the mood, at all, and the weather was pretty awful.

Bill suffers from SAD, a condition related to those people whose emotions can be effected by the lack of certain light rays from the sun. He has special lights in his office and he takes extra vitamins to combat it, but when the weather is lousy, so is his mood. In December the weather was lousy , but in spite of his mood, Bill tried to enjoy the events I scheduled, unlike the weather.

A Rainy and Cold Excursion

The morning of our Grapevine Vintage Railroad excursion was not a pretty one. It was cold and it was trying to rain. There was mostly just a miserable mist, but on occasion it would gather it’s wits about it and give us some actual rain. We drove to Grapevine in the mist, which turned into a pretty nasty rain, just about the time we needed to make a dash to get on the train.

Damp and wet, we turned our reservations in for some souvenir tickets. I’ve got to hand it to the Grapevine Vintage Railroad, their cars are very authentic and they’d done a marvelous job decorating them for the holidays. However, as we settled into our seats the Covid effect was immediate. Everyone had on their masks and those everyone’s were few and far between.

Part of the fun of something like a train excursion it the energy you get from the people around you only none of the people around us were actually close enough to us to share their energy. I know there was a pandemic going on, but this just felt sad in a way that our other attempts at our Staycation had not.

We tried to jolly one another along as the train made it’s way to Fort Worth. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to see. The railway went through industrial areas and neighborhoods, but none of the neighborhoods were very scenic – just one leaning, washed-out privacy fence after another, behind houses desperately in need of maintenance. Preventative maintenance had been ignored about a decade ago. The railway made an attempt to entertain us with a faux train robbery, but with a mostly empty car the failure of it just rattled the windows.

Finally, the Fort Worth Stockyards

As we arrived, others were clamoring to get on, so the initial feel of it was that maybe we were on to something. Then we stepped outside. It was cold, really cold, and while it wasn’t raining or misting, there was enough humidity to make it feel even colder.

We made our way over to the Stock Exchange which was reportedly full of exhibits, museums, food and shops. NOT! And all the reported attractions which were missing from the Stock Exchange must have taken the rest of attractions in the area with them, because nothing was opened with the exception of a few stores and restaurants.

We spent some time in the Stockyards Hotel Lobby and that, at least, was interesting. They did have some historical photos which kept us occupied for awhile. Then we headed on our way along Exchange Avenue. Several of the stores were nothing but junk. Forty million things with Fort Worth Stockyards printed on them and nothing at all that we wanted.

Then, we found out that it was a good thing we didn’t want to be a Cowboy or Cowgirl, because we couldn’t afford it! As we made our way along Exchange Avenue the quality went up and there were no souvenir type slogans printed on things, but the price tags scared us to death. Cowboy boots in multiple thousands, pieces of clothing in the mid to high hundreds. Hats for custom blocking that were astronomical. And the jewelry? Tasteful, but exorbitant.

Getting a Bite at Booger’s

Our watches told us we had a some more time to kill before we could get back on the train and return to Grapevine. We decided to drown our sorrows in some food and drinks. The best option seemed to be Booger Red’s, a restaurant and bar attached to the Stockyards Hotel. We have no complaints, at all, concerning Booger’s. My Margarita was good, as were our quesadillas. The establishment has a Western feel to it and they’ve hung a number of amusing signs around for entertainment.

If you’ve heard of the Fort Worth Stockyards, then you’ve probably heard of Billy Bob’s. On a cold weekday during Covid, nothing was going on there. The other thing you might have heard of was the daily cattle drives. That did happen, but let me tell you, like a lot of small towns in Texas, if you blink you might miss it.

Then we were glad it was time to go. The train ride back was pretty much a repeat of the trip there. We got back to Grapevine and got off the train. We had a close eye on the weather, because the next morning we were supposed to head to Oklahoma and celebrate at a very special Bed and Breakfast Inn. Did we get to do it? Come back next week and find out.

Attractions, DESTINATIONS, DFW Metroplex, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

Carriage Ride Chilly, Not Charmed

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL HERE: CINDERELLA CARRIAGE RIDE THROUGH HIGHLAND PARK

I thought it would be an enchanted evening. I dreamed of it for decades. I imagined it as an event shared by friends. I imagined it as an romantic evening for two. I saw it as a typical Texas December evening with temperatures in the 60’s. I saw it as a crisp evening wrapped up in blankets and sipping hot cocoa. I probably thought of every possible version, except the Covid tainted evening I ended up with.

Believe Half of What You See and Less of What You Hear

I’m not sure where I first heard that, but it’s true. The people in this picture look like they are having a marvelous time. Well, They are not.

In my Staycation dreams, Bill and I were going to take a ride in a carriage designed for two. I researched the whole thing and eventually was able to discuss it with Bill to get his stamp of approval, but by the time I got that approval and went back to order our vehicle of romance, all that were left were larger carriages.

As I said, I’d been wanting to do this for a long time and who knew if I’d ever get Bill’s OK again. So, I ordered up the carriage, which by the way was a Cinderella Carriage for up to four people and hoped for the best, even though the larger carriage was more money. It wasn’t that much more, but it was more than we had discussed.

I am convinced that the most trouble I get into comes when I am trying to do good. I knew two things, that I’d paid more than I intended for the carriage ride and that my bestie wanted to take this excursion almost as much as I did. Somehow, all that turned into an invitation for Deb to join us and maybe her son would come along. I’m not sure how that was supposed to jive with the romantic carriage ride I sold Bill, but that’s the road I went down.

The On Hold Music

So, I won’t bother you with all the details, but instead of driving down to Highland Park for our carriage ride with Christmas carols playing on the radio, we were instead treated to the horrendous “on hold” music of one of Bill’s investment brokers. The weather was worse than awful for an outside activity, but worse than the weather was Bill’s attitude. To say things didn’t start out on the right foot would be putting it mildly.

We also got there earlier than we needed to, which always irritates Bill, and that was just one more irritation heaped on several others. Bill and I were barely being civil to one another. It’s a good thing Deb loves us both or she’d have been done with us after that evening.

When our carriage was ready, we stepped out into the COLD, damp, misty evening and climbed aboard. Just a few minutes later, we took this shot. Anybody who says a picture doesn’t lie hasn’t seen this one.

The Meat of the Matter

So, the Highland Park Christmas lights are something to behold even on a bad night. The Cinderella Carriage seemed to fit the festive occasion and we all tried to make the best of what had turned into an ordeal, rather than an excursion. Our driver was really a nice guy and the horse was beautiful.

Our horse also had gas. Yes, I understood that horses sometimes defecate and urinate during their services to human beings. Those deposits fall onto the roadway and are soon left behind. When your horse has gas on a damp evening with no breeze, the funk lingers and lingers and lingers. I have no idea what they’d been feeding this horse, but the odor was foul.

I think you get the picture. My dream carriage ride turned into a nightmare. Not exactly a winner. Come back next week and maybe I’ll do better with my train excursion…maybe!

ART, Attractions, Decorative Arts, DESTINATIONS, DFW Metroplex, Museums, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

An Afternoon with Nefertari at the Kimball

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL HERE: QUEEN NEFERTARI VISITS FORT WORTH

Fast Forward to our Staycation. Pre-Covid I planned to spend the Holidays in sunny California enjoying a bargain I scored with Westin. During the year I had planned the trip three different ways, none of which we actually enjoyed. Then I planned a road trip around the Southeast, but rising Covid numbers nixed that, too. So I planned a Staycation. A major event during my Staycation calendar was a visit to the Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth to see Queen Nefertari’s Egypt.

Yes, There Was a Pandemic Going On

A few weeks back I told you about the Flesh & Blood Exhibition we visited at the Kimbell earlier in the year. Mask were de rigueur, but otherwise life at the Kimbell was pretty much the same as always. By the time Nefertari arrived, they’d gotten a whole lot more Covid-conscious. In fact, even the audio tour had been recorded anticipating visitors would be spending more time than usual in line, so there was more intro stuff you were supposed to listen to before you entered.

Bill and I arrived for our visit on a weekday afternoon, so there wasn’t much of a line. Hence I spent my first few minutes in the exhibition trying to coordinate what I was seeing with what I was hearing, so I was audibly handicapped in the first room of the exhibit. On a later visit, shown above, I had the chance to listen to the intro bits the way they were designed to be heard.

There were little arrows on the floor to keep you going in the right direction. That didn’t suit me either. I usually listen to the audio tour as I view the art and Bill walks through occasionally reading a label as he enjoys the pieces on exhibition. Then we backtrack, him showing me what he liked and me explaining the backstory on some of the more esoteric pieces.

So, my first visit to the exhibition, I had to acclimate myself to the new rules. Don’t worry I visited several more times and was able to fully enjoy the whole thing completely, in spite of the Covid-inspired challenges.

Exhibit vs. Egypt

I’ve been to Egypt twice, enjoying most of their famous museums, including the Cairo Museum and the Alexandria Library. Those authentic experiences cannot be replaced by a trip to Fort Worth, but there are things the Kimbell does better than the Egyptians.

Perhaps the most obvious difference is the display cases. In Egypt, the case is crammed full, an overabundance of everything from mummies to faience, the lighting is often nonexistent and the cards explaining things create more questions than they answer . Americans carefully place a few items at eye level, with perfect lighting and cards that give you more information than you need, accompanied by more information on plaques on the walls and audio tours.

Now in Egypt, for a very reasonable fee you can hire a guide to tell you everything the cards and audio tours let you know, but the guides come with challenges of their own. Guides have no off button and you don’t get to select which items you prefer to focus on. They will tell you what they want to, in the order they want to and nothing you can do will slow them down, speed them up or get them to change the subject until they decide to.

American exhibits also seem to make more sense. They carefully curate what will be shown and exhibit it logically. I got tickled during my first visit to the Cairo Museum, mostly because of the randomness of it all. There was no timeline, no themes, nothing I could identify except for room after room of amazing things thrown together willy nilly. The funniest part was the frequency with which I ran into display cases chock full of beads and small figurines of servants for the afterlife. They were virtually everywhere, in every room of the museum, often lined up one after the other along the walls with nothing but signs that said “faience.” I know more now, but then it was baffling.

Queen Nefertari’s Egypt

While there absolutely were numerous items related directly to Nefertari, the title of the exhibit was Queen Nefertari’s Egypt and that was the true focus, rather than the queen herself. What was the role of women? How did religion figure into their daily lives? These were the questions answered by this exhibit. However, some of the most fun display cases were devoted to jewelry and cosmetics. A pair of sandals found in her tomb, thought to be hers, were fascinating.

However, a large part of the exhibit was devoted to Deir el-Medina, the village where all the tomb workers lived. I found it very interesting, because I had actually spent some time in the village on my visit to the Valley of the Kings. A picture on the wall of the exhibit was the same as I have in my scrapbook. I love when I have those moments. Watching a travel show and saying, “We’ve been there,” is a blast.

In the exhibit, they expounded on the religious practices of the citizens of Deir el-Medina, but they missed out on what I thought was the most interesting. These workers, who spent most of their lives preparing an eternal resting place for royalty, spent their days off preparing their own tombs. The walls of the royal tombs were focused on the Book of the Dead, formulas and passages to send the kings and queens to live among the gods. For their own tombs, the workers carved and painted beautiful scenes from everyday life – a table burdened down with foods they loved to eat, rather than ritualistic meals to please the gods; natural wildlife scenes, rather than records of the victories they’d won and the slaves they’d captured. I thought the workers had the better idea of what to commemorate.

It was a marvelous exhibit and I am so proud of the Metroplex for hosting Queen Nefertari, but I wish it had been the DMA. Then next week we’ll ride a Cinderella Carriage through Highland Park. Yep, I ticked that one of my bucket list, too.

DESTINATIONS, DFW Metroplex, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

The Road to Alligator Bottoms

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL HERE: THE ADVENT TEA WE WILL NEVER FORGET

I have been accused of making up some of my adventures purely to entertain you guys. While I am guilty of squeezing every laugh I can out of a situation, I assure you I have lived through each of these adventures, exactly as I have explained them to you. Whether it was the chagrin I felt on the tourist train in Monte Carlo or having a machinegun toting guard deliver me to a wedding in Cairo, it happened. Perhaps the truth of it is that I just look for more fun in a situation than most people do. What other people experience and forget about almost immediately, I enjoy retelling with relish over and over and over.

The Advent Tea

I go to a very Conservative church. The women all home school and some families are so large, they broke the Covid restrictions just by waking up each morning. A great majority of the families live far out in the country. I’ve never exactly understood why God decided that’s where He wanted me to go, but it couldn’t have been clearer it was His choice for me, even if He’d decided to hang a red “You Are Here” arrow over the roof.

What’s even more strange is that they’ve made me a member of the Ladies Ministry Committee. Early in 2020, before Covid was a thing, one really sweet lady said she had a great idea for a November event. We’d each buy a box of tea, adhere a Bible verse to each tea bag and bring the bags to the event. Then we’d share tea bags and each lady would walk away with collection of teas to enjoy during Advent. That sounded like my kind of event, so I was assigned to help organize it.

The hostess had things pretty well under control, but she was a little fuzzy on the receptacles for sharing the teas at the event and on the receptacle each person would take home with their own teas. I suggested my mom’s Christmas China for presenting the teas and decorative tin boxes to take them home. My suggestions were accepted.

What I Thought Would Happen

The location of the event was one of those homes out in the country that’s not exactly on my beaten track. That’s why I was glad I’d need to take a pre-event visit to deliver the china pieces we’d be using, as well as the cute matching tins I’d found at the dollar store. Based on that assumption, I thought I’d invite along my Bestie, who attends the church with me, but rarely gets to participates in Ladies Ministry Events, because her schedule is so demanding.

So, the day before the event I contacted the hostess and asked her when she wanted me to deliver the china. Well, somewhere along the way she’d decided she didn’t want to use the china after all. While she was probably under the impression that she was making life easier for me, she had no idea that after learning Mom’s china would not be making an appearance, I actually sat down and cried.

I also made note of the fact that I wouldn’t be making a trial run to the location, but we have GPS, right. Everything would be fine.

What Actually Happened

So, Bestie did her best to break away from work, but by the time I picked her up, dusk was setting in. We shot up I-30, took the appointed exit and then turned right when the GPS said to. Only in the dark, I took some kind of driveway rather than a street or road and we were soon turning around.

We got on the right road almost by Braille and continued to follow the GPS directions. Left here, right there – no you missed it, turn around as soon as you can, now left, OK, but we’re about to take a quick right…well you get the picture.

Eventually, the GPS was happy with the road we were traveling and we went deeper into the boonies. At one point I looked at the screen and saw we were on Alligator Bottoms Road. I kid you not. She laughed, I laughed, Burt Reynolds and Jon Voight laughed…I’m kidding.

Finally, the GPS said we were only a few minutes away and that’s when I saw the gate across the road with a whole bunch of official looking signs warning me not to go any further. That’s when Dueling Banjos began to play. Maybe not in reality, but it was on both our minds.

I tried to turn around, but in the inky blackness I was afraid I was going to end up in a ditch, so Bestie had to get out and direct. Once I had the car headed towards civilization I zoomed out of there. We tried calling someone, anyone – because it was time for the event to start and I still had the tin boxes, but to no avail. Believe me, if I hadn’t had those boxes, we would have been on our way to someplace with adult beverages, not tea.

The Boring Ending

With no one answering their phones or calling us back, Deb pulled out her phone and gave Waze a shot. Perhaps it would do a better job than my GPS did. After about 27 more twists and turns we arrived at the tea with a couple of other carloads of ladies. We were late, but not horribly so and there were others who were more lost than we were, apparently – though no one else went to Alligator Bottoms.

Instead of Mom’s Christmas China, the various teas were in small baskets, not an improvement to my eyes, Everybody loved their tins. We had a nice devotional and some prayer time. Then we headed back into the night and were back on a main road before you could say Deliverance – The Movie.

And that was our Adventurous Advent Tea. Next time these city girls are staying home!! Come back next week and we’ll go to the Kimbell for a real holiday treat!

ART, Attractions, DESTINATIONS, DFW Metroplex, Museums, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

Kicking the Pandemic at The Kimbell

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL HERE – Flesh & Blood at the Kimbell Museum

I may be a Dallasite, but my heart belongs to the Kimbell Museum in Ft. Worth. I love the Dallas Museum of Art, too, but not in the same way. The DMA tends to cater to a more modern taste than mine. I almost grew up among the items in its permanent collection, so they are dear to my heart and frequently visited, but too often I look at what’s on special exhibition there, shrug my shoulders and head to Ft. Worth. There are notable exceptions in my recent memory, Dior, Tut, and Jean Paul Gaultier, for instance, but during the pandemic the exhibits were definitely not on my must see list.

Italian Masterpieces from the Capodimonte Museum

They had me at Italian Masterpieces! I got goose bumps at the idea of Capodimonte! That’s the kind of art I’ll drive to Ft. Worth for.

I made a couple of visits. One was with Bill and to say he was under-impressed would be an understatement. I was surprised, because most of it was nudes, he’s a guy…you know the drill. But, he went through the gallery at lightening speed. Usually, after we’ve both seen everything at our own speed, he’s eager to walk back through with me and point out his favorites. He was ready to go. I didn’t get that at all. Look at these gorgeous things!

I adored the painting of the woman and spent a lot of time trying to figure out exactly how the outfit she was wearing worked in real life. The boy lighting the flame was very sweet. All the painting were glorious – but not according to my husband.

Bestie and I Return

Well, once was not enough for me, so I returned with my bestie. The show was supposed to be over in June, but due to the pandemic it stayed a little longer and we went in July. She was as gaga as I was over the gorgeous works of art. We lingered and strolled and lingered some more.

We also had a good laugh. To spice up the experience, they had costumed volunteers strolling the galleries. It was supposed to give you the feeling of being in a gallery when theses masterpieces were new. Somehow the pandemic masks killed it for me.

Sorry the photo is a little tilted and fuzzy, I was doing the best I could, but I was trying to be a little discreet about shooting it with my phone. So what next. Well, there were weddings, neighborhood parties, grocery store contests, restaurant visits and other distractions, but it was all social distanced and masked, so I wasn’t having the time of my life. Finally, there was the Staycation. Come back next week and I will tell you about that.

ART, Attractions, DESTINATIONS, DFW Metroplex, Gardens, Photography, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

Dallas Arboretum – My Breath of Fresh Air

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL HERE: An Oasis in the Pandemic

I love the Dallas Arboretum. My family has had a long term love affair with it that continues until today. I claim the credit for the original discovery. A friend invited me onsite to look around when it wasn’t even the Arboretum, yet. My mom takes credit for contributing the most to it, because for many, many years she was a faithful docent in the DeGolyer Estate. As my parents’ health deteriorated, she clung to that volunteer appointment for as long as she could, but finally, she felt she couldn’t abandon my dad for so long for such a selfish reason. I’m still a member, visiting as frequently as I can and dragging anyone who will go with me. During the pandemic it was a true respite from the oppression of the regulations designed to stop the spread of Covid-19.

The Garden is Closed?

I confess, we treat the Arboretum as if it were our very own garden. Most of the visits I make with my husband are part of the Sunday afternoon rambles we take together and we just happen to go there spontaneously. My bestie and I will make a little more effort in planning, but it’s usually more of a decision to go on a certain day, rather than at a certain time on that day. As a member, we never have to stand with the general public. We just flash our credentials at the members’ attendant and stroll into the garden.

For instance, I had visitors in January and thankfully we had nice weather, because I took them with me for a visit. Little did I know it would be my last for a while.

I may go several times in one week and then not go again for several months. It’s OK, it’s my garden. When I go, I love to be there for lunch on the patio, but then again, I may just take a walk down the Paseo and then be on my way. When Dallas shut down for the pandemic, so did the Arboretum and it was a shock to my system. It was like the death of a friend you didn’t talk to all that frequently, but you always knew they were there, until they weren’t.

Unfortunately, the shutdown began when the garden was at its best. Every year in the Spring, they have Blooms, a celebration of color. I try to find a reason to be there frequently, because it literally changes from day to day, and each day it gets more fragrant and beautiful. In 2020, it was closed during Blooms.

Timed Tickets

The next shock to my system was timed tickets. It is my garden after all! How could they tie me to a specific date and time? By then, however, I was learning to adjust to a lot of things that I didn’t like very much, so I went through the motions of planning a variety of specific visits – with my hubby, with my bestie, with whoever I could drag there.

And therein lay the next shock. The garden was virtually empty. The female statue above usually has people all over it, trying to get pictures. Professional photographers with all their gear, people with phones, all people with all kinds of equipment snapping shots around every corner. On a normal visit we complain at least once or twice about the crowds. On these pandemic visits we complained because we were all alone and because our favorite dining spots were closed.

The Visiting Statues

During the days of timed tickets, the Arboretum featured Seward Johnson’s “Celebrating the Familiar” Exhibit. Dotted around the garden were a series of very realistic statues. Were you not looking for them, you might have passed by them, assuming they were just another gardener or visitor, but on closer inspection you would discover a very clever piece of fine art. Here’s a gallery of some of the fun and surprising visitors.

Pumpkins and Partridges

When fall rolls around, it is time for Autumn at the Arboretum and that means it is pumpkin time. I’ve documented those orange-hued days many times over in my blog, here for instance. This fall I visited with a young friend and my cameras battery was low, so I didn’t bother with my phone, since I already had so many photos of the DABS during that season.

Even before the pumpkins are all put away, the staff starts setting up for the Christmas Holidays and they have so much going on, I don’t know where to start. There are Holiday Gazebos full of scenes from the ever popular 12 Days of Christmas and a European Village full of faux shops to visit. Usually, Mom’s DeGolyer Mansion is decorated to the max, but alas, during the pandemic season it was closed. The photo below was taken during a previous holiday when masks were not de rigueur.

So, another year of fun is behind me at the Arboretum. Blooms is in full swing, but I keep forgetting I need a timed ticket to go, so I haven’t been yet. Hopefully, soon!

I hope you enjoyed this whirlwind, year-long visit. Next, we’ll visit the Kimbell, over in Ft. Worth, so don’t miss that.

Accommodations, DESTINATIONS, International, TRAVEL, Travel Planning

Forty Pounds?

Jane Sadek

brown leather duffel bag
Photo by nappy on Pexels.com

TRAVEL THERE: A $120 LESSON FROM SPIRIT AIRLINES

So, on a Monday morning in May, I woke up with the knowledge that I was going to Club Med Punta Cana at the end of the week – the trip we had won from CTC Travel.  I had no idea whatsoever of what I was taking with me.

The Resort Life

I am the Museum Girl, not the Resort Girl.  I know what to take on cruises.  I’m great at packing for a road trip.  However, I didn’t know what to take to a resort, because that hadn’t been my life up to that point.

So I imagined a really casual five-day cruise without any ports of call and no dressing for dinner.  My wardrobe began to form in my head.  Swimsuits, sundresses and shorts.  I scratched my head a little more and tried to dream up every eventuality.  Maybe I’d need jeans?  What about some slacks?  I stood around in my closet gathering up things I might need.  Something to sleep in, lingerie, sandals, sneakers.  The items began to pile up.  In the end I took a lot more than I needed, because I just didn’t know.

The Baggage Thing

So, if you travel at all, you know what Spirit is famous for – no frills, but a fee for everything.  I looked online for all of Spirit’s baggage fees and thought I was pretty clever.  I was sure we’d be able to get by without the additional cost of carry-ons, because I’d managed to fit us into one suitcase for five days for our cruise.  Of course, since we drove to Galveston, the weight didn’t matter, but I was certain I could fit everything into two suitcases – and I did.

We weighed the suitcases with our handy dandy suitcase scale and put the them next to the door.  The alarm would be going off at 3:30 AM the next morning, because our flight was at the ungodly hour of 6 AM.

The Other Baggage Thing

We parked our car at Park & Fly, like we always do, and were delivered to our terminal.  As we stood near the Spirit Airlines acclimating ourselves to their procedures, a very nice lady came up to us and offered to help.  She was happy to see the confirmations proving we had checked in online.  Then she grabbed a bag and set it on their scale.  I didn’t have a worry in the world.  Both bags were under 50 pounds – the magic airline weight limit.  Or at least that had been the magic airline weight limit the last time I had flown on a real airline.

I should have worried.  The weight of our bags brought a frown to our friendly helper’s face, but it was nothing compared to the one on my husband’s face.  We were going to have to pay an additional $30 per bag each way.  $120!!  The weight limit for Spirit Airlines is 40 pounds!

My stomach dropped to somewhere near my shoes.  We’ve had vacations ruined for less than $120 in unexpected fees.  Bill is no fan of traveling and he hates fees – they’re like paying interest, only much more careless. I waited for my dressing down, but it never came.  We’d both been looking at the Spirit website for days.  I’d emailed him a reminder of the permitted size of his personal item.  We’d both weighed the suitcases.  He wasn’t happy, but I wasn’t in trouble.

We finished getting our boarding passes and got in line to begrudgingly pay our first round of $60 baggage fees.  (BTW, CTC was in no way responsible for our frustration at the gate.  They didn’t book our air and I didn’t ask them about luggage fees!)  There was a wait by the gate and then we climbed on board Spirit Airlines.  Come fly with us next week.