"Melbourne left behind.
Waves carry echoes of time.
New beginnings bloom."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 17 Melbourne |
This photo-of-the-day was taken at sea as we sailed away from Melbourne, Australia, in March, 2023. Today, on this last day of 2023, this photo is also called on to say farewell to the year, full of good memories and sad. Here's hoping for a Happy New Year to one and all!
"Authentic allure,
Bustling spirit, markets soar,
Queen Vic, evermore."
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| From 2023 03 17 Melbourne |
This photo-of-the-day was taken in Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne, Australia. "Queen Victoria Market is an authentic, bustling, inner-city market that has been the heart and soul of Melbourne for 140 years. Home to over 600 small businesses, it is a great place to discover fresh and specialty produce, hand-made and unique products, great coffee and food, souvenirs and clothing." It was an old, established market when I first visited it in 1974. It's still going strong today.
Oh, I leave it up to you to discover what a Tiddly Oggie is. I'll just say Queen Vic has them for sale.
A bonus photo is after the jump.
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Many cities are facing the same problem: how to meet the demand for housing, both in absolute numbers and in affordability. Richardson is no exception. The solutions Richardson adopts, if any, will have to emerge from the "Envision Richardson" planning process now underway. But that's been quiet recently. Too quiet. When will the calm break? How fierce will be the storm?
"Modernist design,
Colorful stained glass panes line
Casablanca's shrine."
—h/t ChatGPT
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This photo-of-the-day is taken in the Church of Notre Dame of Lourdes in Casablanca, Morocco. It shows one detail of the windows by stained glass artist Gabriel Loire.
May your home be filled with love and laughter, the spirit of giving, and the magic of believing. Merry Christmas!
"Prominent alley,
Melbourne's visual delight,
Jam-packed graffiti."
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| From 2023 03 17 Melbourne |
This photo-of-the-day was taken in Hosier Lane in Melbourne, Australia. The laneway is a popular tourist destination because of its city-sponsored, graffiti-covered walls.
A bonus photo is after the jump.
"Unbefitting pose
In shadow of sacrifice.
War's memory lost."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 17 Melbourne |
This photo-of-the-day was taken at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, built to honor the sacrifice of men and women of the state of Victoria who served in World War I.
The man and woman in the photo are posing on the ceremonial pedestrian walkway in front of the Shrine. Why they are doing that, what significance it has, even what nationality they represent, are all mysteries to me. But they were photogenic, so I snapped a photo.
At the Dec.14 regular meeting, [Richardson ISD] trustees received operating budget recommendations from the Community Budget Steering Committee, which has been meeting for six months to arrive at measures the district can consider to address a significant operating shortfall in the 2024-25 budget.
Source: Richardson ISD.
First, let me compliment RISD for creating a Community Budget Steering Committee. Inclusion of the community is important for a problem like this. Keep it up. Keep spreading the word to make future community committees ever more inclusive.
"Retail Electricity Provider Procurement." That's the dry title of agenda item 7 in the December 11, 2023, Richardson City Council meeting. Richardson contracts with a retail electricity provider to purchase and pay for electricity used for all facilities, parks, pools, streetlights and traffic signals. The City spends $3 million annually on electricity, so we're talking significant sums.
Do you remember that old cereal commercial, the one where a rabbit kept being foiled in its attempt to get a kid's Trix cereal, and the announcer kept reminding him, "Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids." Well, in this analogy, the rabbit is a pedestrian, roads are Trix, and the kids are cars. I know, it's kind of a stretch, but bear with me.
"Cruise trip rearranged,
Melbourne's skyline beckons us,
No complaints, just joy."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 17 Melbourne |
This photo-of-the-day was taken from our ship docked in Melbourne, Australia, my favorite city in the whole wide world. We were on a cruise, so we couldn't spend a few extra days here like we did the last time we were in Australia, but because of a mechanical problem with our ship, our itinerary was changed, giving us an extra night in Melbourne. There were no complaints from me.
"Ship leaves Dunedin,
Tasman Sea's horizon calls,
Rainbow's hopeful arch."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 13 Dunedin |
This photo-of-the-day is taken from our ship as we sailed out of the southern New Zealand port of Dunedin, headed for the Tasman Sea and Australia beyond. That lonely lighthouse was our last view of New Zealand. The rainbow ahead of us was a good omen.
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Jim Schutze, retired Dallas journalist, still shakes his fist at the sky in Facebook posts. Yesterday's rant caught my attention.
I ordered two twelve packs of Vernon's ginger ale from WalMart.They said they would send me Vernor's ginger ale. They sent me Canada Dry.
Canada Dry. For Vernor's ginger ale.
OMG. Is this how it is now? I think I'm about done here.
Source: Jim Schutze.
That triggered a long-ago memory.
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An agenda item for the December 11, 2023, Richardson City Council meeting caught my eye. The City is on the verge of using eminent domain to acquire parts of two properties on Main Street across from the Police Department. One property is the address of the Ice House. The other is the address of Spice of Richardson, an Indian restaurant.
"Brushed by Belgian hands,
Roa's mural enlivens
Dunedin's artful core."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 13 Dunedin |
This photo-of-the-day is from the city centre of Dunedin, New Zealand. It shows a mural painted by Belgian street artist Roa.
"Portrait on house sings.
Dunedin's mural on show.
Queen Street's quiet song."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 13 Dunedin |
This photo-of-the-day is from Dunedin, New Zealand. It shows a mural painted on a house located on, appropriately, Queen Street.
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The visitors' section was full. There was an overflow crowd. For ninety minutes Monday night, speaker after speaker came to the podium and made heartfelt pleas for the Richardson City Council to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and to take measures to address the rise of Islamophobia in America.
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Recently, the Richardson City Council got into what passes for a contentious exchange over the question of naming parks (or, at least, naming of bridges in parks). What it boils down to is that the lack of any policies in Richardson results in naming by whim — i.e., when someone on City Council gets a notion to name something after someone, and just mentions it at a Council meeting, and others on the Council agree it's a good idea, it happens. Just like that. I called it government by whim.
Our big neighbor to the south has a different practice.
"Pitch meets petal's fall,
Cricket match by garden's edge,
Nature's green applause."
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| From 2023 03 11 Wellington |
We were lucky to be in South Africa on October 28, 2023, the night that South Africa won the Rugby World Cup in a match played in Paris. All of South Africa tuned in and was elated with the victory. They had defeated New Zealand. I imagine spirits were crushed in New Zealand. I don't have any rugby photos to show from South Africa, or from New Zealand, for that matter. But New Zealand is not only good at rugby, they also are good at cricket. This photo-of-the-day was taken from New Zealand's Wellington Botanic Garden, looking next door to the cricket pitch, where a match was being played.
After the jump, a bonus photo from the Botanic Garden.
"Nature's artistry,
Wellington's garden reveals.
Ripples mesmerize."
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| From 2023 03 11 Wellington |
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| From 2023 03 11 Wellington |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Wellington Botanic Garden in Wellington, New Zealand. Ripples on the water make for ever-changing, mesmerizing abstract art.
After the jump, a bonus photo revealing the artist at work.
2023-11-02: What's the over/under for how much Texas Rangers' ticket prices will jump next season?
2023-11-10: I just received an email from Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson that begins, "Thank you for supporting the Republican Mayors Association (RMA), an organization I launched less than three weeks ago." The mayor of Dallas is officially a non-partisan office. Recently, Mayor Johnson announced he was switching political parties. Now he's turning the office partisan. I have no idea where he got the impression that I support the Republican Mayors Association. I definitely don't.
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"Botanic beauty,
Wellington's garden unfolds.
A stroll through joyous."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 11 Wellington |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Wellington Botanic Garden in Wellington, New Zealand. I won't compare different cities' botanic gardens. I find them all joyous. Wellington's is no exception. It's a wonderful place for a romantic stroll.
"Funicular climbs,
Wellington's view unfolds wide,
Top of the city."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 11 Wellington |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the top of the funicular ride in downtown Wellington, New Zealand. Travel tip: buy a one way ticket. We paid for a round trip only to discover that a stroll through the botanic gardens at the top is all downhill, finishing back down in the central business district. Our funicular return tickets were never used. I know — first world problem.
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At the November 13, 2023, Richardson City Council meeting, the Council approved a resolution naming a new park "Twin Rivers Park" and naming the bridge there "Bob and Lynn Townsend Bridge." The vote was 7-0. An uncontroversial action. So why did it feel like some people were left feeling more than a little frustrated, if not with the result, then at least with the process, or lack of one? And why did Mayor Bob Dubey feel a need to apologize?
This week, the Texas House voted in favor of an amendment stripping school vouchers from a school funding bill. You can read elsewhere how significant this vote is (in the short run, very; in the long run, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ), but here I want to report on how my Texas representative, Angie Chen Button (R-Richardson) voted.
"Lumber on the dock,
Tauranga's tale unfolds here,
Shipped dreams but which way?"
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 09 Tauranga |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the port of Tauranga, New Zealand. According to IBIS World, online retail, IT security, and sports administration are among some of the growth industries tipped to boom over the next five years in New Zealand. But forestry is more photogenic, so the photo you get is of lumber stacked up on the docks waiting to be shipped overseas. Or, maybe that's wrong. Maybe the lumber is waiting to be picked up and delivered to New Zealand's construction industry to be turned into homes. You see, I heard that New Zealand exports logs and imports lumber. Why they don't cut the logs in New Zealand I'm sure can be somehow explained by David Ricardo's economic law of comparative advantage, but I'm sure I've lost you now, so let's drop it. I was just struck by the pretty picture of logs and lumber on the dock.
"On Tauranga's shore,
Ellen, kin reunited,
Photobombed by fate."
—h/t ChatGPT
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| From 2023 03 09 Tauranga |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Tauranga, New Zealand. Ellen poses with her DNA cousin and her husband. From DNA results, they know they are distantly related, but try as they might they have been unable to find a common ancestor. They suspect it's someone in Scotland, maybe in the 1700s. As I was taking this photograph, Mother Nature, as she is wont to do, serendipitously photobombed it with a young woman heavy with child, preggers as they might say in New Zealand (and if they don't say that, I apologize).
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Coming out of an executive session during the November 6, 2023, Richardson City Council meeting, Mayor Pro Tem Arefin made this motion: "I move that the City Manager be authorized to execute a mutually satisfactory settlement agreement in Walker at al. v City of Richardson, Texas, et al. civil action on 3:22-CV-01164-X pending in the United States District Court, Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division and any documents related thereto." Seconded by Councilmember Joe Corcoran and approved unanimously without comment, this motion at 10:59pm closed the book on a sorry story of Richardson's history.
On the agenda for the November 6, 2023, Richardson City Council meeting was this item: "REVIEW AND DISCUSS STRATEGIES TO PROMOTE PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT AND INVOLVEMENT." This is less than two months when they idea of a community engagement board was raised in the Council's goal-setting meeting, and less than a month since the Council first deliberated on this matter in open session (October 16). Then I was pleased to see the Council quickly tackle this need, but I was not as pleased with the scattershot ideas the Council had. Now I hoped that maybe this month they'd be focused and align on effective approaches.
At the November 6, 2023, Richardson City Council meeting, the Council adopted its tactics for the 2023-2025 term. According to City Manager Don Magner, these were developed with direction from the City Council and inputs from Boards and Commissions, residents and businesses. But let's face it, they were essentially drawn up by Magner. They read like a (long) scorecard by which his performance will be able to be graded.
Let me say, up front, that I very much like the comprehensiveness of this list. It shows just how much is going on at City Hall. There's no comparison to the (relatively) meager list of tactics brainstormed by the City Council at its Saturday morning unrecorded meeting on September 16. But given that the City Council's list might indicate just what they think is important, let's compare it with what the City Manager presented Monday night.
At the November 6, 2023, Richardson City Council meeting, one agenda item struck me as curious. It was listed as "REVIEW, DISCUSS, AND UPDATE ON THE 2021 BOND PROGRAM PARKS CAPITAL PROJECTS AND PROPOSED NAMES." That 2021 bond included $7.5 million for parks. You'd think the Council would keep a close eye on how that money is being spent. Good governance. Keep your eye on the ball and all that. Well, you'd think wrong. Instead, in Monday's update, the seven councilmembers were easily distracted by the unimportant part of that agenda item, the "AND PROPOSED NAMES."
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| From 2023 03 07 Auckland |
"High above the streets,
Sky Tower stands bold and proud.
Courage in the wind."
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Sky Tower in downtown Auckland, New Zealand. If you are not afraid of heights, you can take a SkyWalk and pose for a photo of a friend pushing you off (or an enemy — your choice). There is nothing below you but the street, 629 feet down.
A photo of the Sky Tower from the ground is after the jump.
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| From 2023 03 07 Auckland |
"Strand Arcade beckons,
Amidst the grandeur of old,
History preserved."
—h/t ChatGPT
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Strand Arcade in Auckland, New Zealand. Dating to 1900 (rebuilt in 1910 after a fire), it's one of the grandest surviving shopping arcades in New Zealand. Being a Sunday, foot traffic was light.
