Mabel Dodge Luhan House

Entrance to the grounds of the Mabel Dodge Luhan House

During our trip to New Mexico in January, we drove over the mountains to Taos, as we do every visit.  After visiting our favorite places, Scott took me to a "lodge" that he and our son found last Summer.  We only stayed long enough to shoot a few pictures, but I could tell it was extra special and I KNEW I wanted to return and stay for a while.



The Sitting Room

This wasn't just a lodge, this is the Mabel Dodge Luhan House.  We grabbed some information on the way out and it turns out this house was written about by D.H. Lawrence himself!  Others who were guests of Mabel and her full-blooded Taos Pueblo husband, Tony,  include, Georgia O'Keefe, Ansel Adams, and John Collier, to name a few.



Dining Room

While we were there, we were allowed to wonder around and were even offered tea and cookies.  I was struck by the absolutely beautiful ceilings.  And once we made it back to the kitchen, I was completely in love with the place.



Isn't it charming?  I can't wait to go back.  I'm thinking maybe this summer, when Texas gets SO hot I'm ready to move away.  That usually happens around late August, early September.

Bird Houses



Aren't these fantastic?  They're giant and they're in the courtyard.

Go here to visit their informative website.  And go here to read a post from their blog that features an essay written by a guest (who happens to be a photographer) that captures the feeling of this beautiful place.



Found in the courtyard.

What a beautiful place.....

It's Girly Time

Ali and Lynne.

 It's not very often that I have the chance to get together with my girlfriends. Most of my time is spent at home with our three male dogs, one male cat, my husband and son. The other girl in the house besides me is my 16 year old kitty (Lucy) who sleeps in my closet most of the time. Needless to say, I LOVE spending time with my girlfriends. It brings me back to myself and reminds me how much I LOVE being a girl.

This time we got together for the day and did a little vintage shopping at one of our favorite places, Ahab Bowen Vintage, in Dallas. Having first discovered this place in the 80's, I was sweetly surprised that it is still the same - no, it's better! Reasonably priced, clean, and fun: that's how I would describe their collection of vintage clothing, shoes and accessories. My favorite room is in the back - the men's section. Hats, coats, suits, ties and shoes! I never walk away without a treasure or two.  This time I walked in with some treasures:  Lynne, Ali and Nikki.  Love love LOVE those girls!!

Every girl needs something sparkley.



I want them aaallll!



One fantastic pair after another!



Different discounts for different tag colors = FUN!

 

The perfect hat for Ali.



Hello!

I'm so happy they are still around!

Scat

The neon beckoned us down the long alley and
into an elevator that took us down to heaven.

  This weekend, a dear friend of mine came to visit and we decided to stay up past our bedtimes, but we didn't want to be the oldest people in the room.  Just our luck, we stumbled upon the coolest place I've been to in AGES.  I'd heard about Scat Lounge in downtown Fort Worth, and was curious to see if it lived up to it's image.  After all, it has a tough act to follow.  In high school, my fellow band buddies and I would sneak our way into a tiny jazz club in Dallas called the 6051 Club on Forrest Lane, because it made us feel like grown-ups but mostly because the music was so fantastic.  I don't remember the names of any of the musicians we saw, but there were many.  Scat reminds me of this place.  The clientele is low key, great music is the focus and the drinks are de-lish.  My friend, Lynne, and I spent the night gabbing, and trying to nail a good shot of Joel Cross, the performer that night.  You can see her shots here and here.  I think I learned something that night, dirty martini's and all.  I need to stay up past my bedtime more often.

For the Love of the Lake

White Rock Lake in Dallas has been a lifelong friend of mine.  My mom and dad brought me there as a child.  We'd pick up a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken and have a little picnic by the water.  It became the permanent home of my childhood pet duck, Herman P. Duck, when he got too big for the bathtub (much to my dismay, I might add).  In the early eighties, it went through a rough period, seemingly forgotten by everyone except for motorcycle gangs and druggies.  Then in the early nineties it had its renaissance.  People began taking an interest in it again and recognized it for the jewel it is.  When I worked in Dallas through the nineties, I'd ride my bike around it several times a week - which soothed the artist in me that I was trying to force into a "real job".  And it was a place for healing when my world fell apart over ten years ago.  There is a bench there that I would sit in for hours at a time to watch the sailboats race and the sun move across the sky.  What I wouldn't give now to sit in one place for that long! After my father died (only a month before my son was born), my brother and I planted a tree there in his honor.  He loved that lake too.  The tree overlooks the playground, giving shade to the kiddos on the hot days we have here.  Each time I visit White Rock Lake, I notice new improvements they've made to the lake.  Right now they are building a new spillway - complete with an observation deck!  It is such a beautiful and well loved place.  Thank you,  For the Love of the Lake, for taking such good care of my lifelong friend.  Thank you!

I visited the lake last week when I had some time to myself.  The whole time I was there I kept wondering why I hadn't come there to take photos yet!  I guess there's a time for everything, right?

I remember this day at White Rock Lake.  That's my dad's Impala.  He took this picture.  I'm 3 1/2.

I loved my soldier dress.  And I LOVED my dad's car.  We went fishing in it together and
I spilled a milkshake in it.  He didn't even get angry.  I just had to sit in the milkshake until we got to the lake!

Sweet Rosie

Last week I needed to take a trip to Dallas to deliver a couple of my prints, and I had some time to tool around my hometown, alone, with my camera.  The first place I stopped off was the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority garage.  Before I actually got into the garage, I ran into this sweet little lady.

This is Rosie. She's 100 years old!

The moment I stepped into this streetcar, I could feel a sense of her, like I
feel when meeting a person for the first time.

I don't know what this does, but it's pretty, isn't it?

All rides are free, but please make a donation so Rosie can stay as beatiful as she is now.

Later, when I finally made it into the garage, I found out that Rosie may love her passengers, but she is a cantakerous old woman.  The head mechanic told me that she has a reputation among the streetcar mechanics of MATA.  "She'll hurt you if you let her," he told me.  I'd be a little fiesty, too, if I were 100 years old!

Find out a little about Rosie's history, here.  And here's a little movie I found of the streetcars that were in operation around Fair Park in Dallas in the 1950's, before the took them all off the road and replaced them with busses.  Legend has it that the day after they took them off the road, a huge blizzard hit Dallas.  Not a single bus could make it out.  That would not have been a problem for these lovely streetcars.  I'm so glad we have them back.



Love at First Sight

1939 Pontiac Coupe

Have you ever fallen in love with an inanimate object?  I can honestly say I have in the past - an old windup clock, a gauzy vintage dress from the 1920's, an antique armoire.  Usually, I fall in love with things I can just barely afford or can somehow scrape cash together to take it home with me.  But this time was different.  This is a 1939 Pontiac Coupe that I spotted at the Good Guys Lone Star Nationals at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth last weekend.   I'd never been to a car show like this one!  There were muscle cars, beautiful old cars from the fifties, bigger than you could ever imagine station wagons, an old school bus and my new favorite - the rat rods.  I swear, by the time I left that place at the end of the day I had a "happy headache".  And I had an ache in my heart because I had to walk away from this beauty.



Love the cracks in the steering wheel.



Isn't this hood ornament perfection?



You can see the famed Silver Streak in this shot.



Love the simplicity in the design here.

The sign on the car read:

1939 Pontiac Coupe

Barn Find, Always Garaged

6 Cylinder

Original Motor, Doesn't Run

$6,500.00

Donald Greer

(817) 228-1411

Gosh, if I just had a spare $6,500 stashed somewhere.....  And a friend who is a mechanic....  And the extra cash it would take to get it to run....   Yeah, that would be awesome!  I can see myself driving this lovely machine.

Here's a little history about Pontiac from Edmund's:

Pontiac originated as the Oakland Car Company of Pontiac, Michigan, in 1907; it was founded by Edward Murphy. Acquired by General Motors in 1909, Oakland introduced the first Pontiac vehicle in 1926. Dubbed the "Chief of the Sixes," the car was powered by a six-cylinder engine and made its debut at that year's New York auto show. It was so successful that the Oakland name was phased out in favor of Pontiac, the name of an 18th-century chief of the Ottawa Indians. Throughout the 1930s and '40s Pontiac made coupes, sedans and wagons in the low-to-mid price ranges. A unique styling cue of Pontiac cars from the mid-'30s to the mid-'50s was known as "Silver Streak," a set of art-deco-inspired chrome "speed lines" that ran up over the length of the hood to the base of the windshield.

Well, a girl can dream, right?  I mean, that's where it all begins in a dream.

Making Space

Hipstamatic

New York - yes.  San Franciso - yes.  But Dallas?  Thank you - thank you - thank you to whoever booked Coco Rosie at the Granada.  Not an ounce of predictability, so creative, fantastic sound and the best audience (thank you glow-stick guy).  There aren't many artists who can open up a space in my head like these two.  I see them as two people who are so authentically who they are, what we see is quite magical and cannot be replicated.  They reassure me as an artist to just keep going, even it it doesn't look like what everybody else is doing.

I've posted videos of them before, but just in case you missed them, here's another:

Their official website is here.  If you happen to be in Austin tonight.  Get your hiney to Emo's.  And bring a glow-stick or two.

One of their openers was Sleep Whale, from Denton, Texas.  FAN. TAS. TIC.  Here's a little taste:

Their blog is here. Their MySpace page is here where you can listen to what they do.   You can also find them on iTunes.  I won't be able to get them on my iPod fast enough!

Things I Love Thursday

This week I thought I would share some vintage snaps I found at the Cattle Barn Flea Market in Fort Worth last weekend.  Because I do love me some vintage snaps.

I give up.  Who?

Isn't he sweet?  What a cool harness, too.

Cracks me up on so many levels!

Magic.

I first saw the photo with the bird a few months ago and came across it again so I couldn't resist it this time.  It's now one of my favorites.

Speaking of vintage snaps, I was contacted today by The National Building Museum for permission to use two of my father's snapshots from the 1939 World's Fair in New York City for and exhibition entitled "Designing Tomorrow: America’s World’s Fairs of the 1930s" which runs from October 2, 2010 through July 10, 2011.  He would have LOVED that!  Go here to get more info the exhibit.  To see the photos, go here and here.

Until tomorrow.....

Goin' Junkin'

So this past Sunday was supposed to be one of the hottest days here, thus far (103!).  What do we decide to do? Go to the Flea Market at the Cattle Barn in Fort Worth, of course!  There's no air conditioning!  That's how much my husband, son and I LOVE goin' junkin', as my mother used to call it.

Still, we were not prepared for just how HOT it was inside - even though they did have giant fans blowing.  We only stayed 30 minutes and I didn't buy anything this time.  I just wondered around with my camera so I could share this with you.  I usually give my son $5 and he goes wild!  On this day he managed to buy two action figures.  He even haggled someone down from $3 to $2!!  That's my boy.

It was a little skimpy.  Who could blame anyone for not showing up. 

Vintage jars.

I just know there's something in here I need.  Oh Yeah!  Fake chicken leg!!

Vintage 1930's cast iron toy car.

Violin.

All original vintage 1930's car with matching trailer.  LOVE!!  If I had the $600.00 cash in my pocket, I would have walked out with this thing.  I really SHOULD carry more cash!

She's looking over at my favorite room.  The room with the only air conditioner FULL of vintage snapshots.  I've posted many of my finds here.

Vintage Airplane Love

Today I stumbled upon some photos I had taken back in March of last year at a wonderful place that my husband told me about. I remember that day because my son was beyond excited to see all the old planes, helecopters and boats outside. And of course, his mommy was excited about all the beautiful vintage cars stored inside the museum (no, I didn't get any good photos due to the - ehem - "bad lighting".

Well, imagine how disappointed I was to learn that the The Pate Museum of Transportation has been closed and dismantled. For some unknown reason, after the owner passed away, his heirs were not interested in keeping the museum open. I'm just glad I got to take my son atleast once. I wonder what happened to all those old cars......

To learn more about the closing of the Pate Museum of Transportation, go here.