On a recent trip to Fort Worth, Texas, a friend, born and raised in Texas, took me to the old Fort Worth Stockyards. If you’re ever in Fort Worth, a free (except for parking) bit of entertainment that’s very enjoyable, especially for kids or easily amused old folks, is a trip to the stockyards.

The big event–I think it only happens twice a day–is the “cattle drive.” (I didn’t know they could drive; did you?) Actually, it’s more like a “cattle mosey,” since they just amble along the street, the whips in the hands of the cowboys and cowgirls only for decoration. Such gentle, beautiful creatures.

Cattle Drive

 

Museum

There is also a free museum. It’s chock full of stuff from the era that made Fort Worth the legend it is. The museum is in a still functioning office building of the era.

 
 
 
 
 

I grew up with these

However, some of the items in the museum I remember from my own childhood home. I must be even older than I thought!

 
 
 

Around the restored old-town

Many of the buildings in old town around the stockyards have been restored and are now filled with shops and restaurants. I particularly enjoyed this one shop that specialized in hats, boots, spurs, and other articles of cowboy/cowgirl attire. Even the hotel was decorated with period furniture.

 
 
 

The rodeo arena is also here at the stockyards. I’ve only been to a couple rodeos in my life, but I’ve always enjoyed them. If I ever get a chance to return to Fort Worth, I hope to take in another one. I truly do enjoy the American West culture, history, and mystique.

That’s not all there is to Texas, of course! All the people I met on this trip were active professionals, highly cultured, and politically progressive. That should be no surprise since the music scene in Texas is among the finest in the country. Just the number and quality of pipe organs (why I was there) exceeds the number and quality of pipe organs in all of the Southeast US. Texas is a remarkable place that I hope to revisit.

1929

OVERLOOKING LAKE DORA FROM LAKESIDE INN

• Mount Dora Center for the Arts
• Mount Dora Chamber of Commerce
• What to do in Mount Dora
• Mount Dora Village Merchant’s & Business Association
• Wikipedia: Mount Dora, Florida
• City of Mount Dora

Mount Dora is a small historical Florida village on the shore of Lake Dora that has successfully made itself into an arts and convention center with plenty of opportunities for outdoor recreation.

LAKESIDE INN PIER

JUST A FEW OF MANY MOUNT DORA SHOPS

HISTORIC MOUNT DORA TRAIN STATION

ONE OF MANY LOUNGE/RESTAURANTS

NESTING BIRDS DOWNTOWN MOUNT DORA

STREETSIDE HARPIST

TAKING IT EASY

WORLD’S SECOND LARGEST LAWN BOWLING COURT

VINTAGE FLORIDIANA

Tomorrow, the Sunshine City Antiques and Collectibles Show opens at the St. Pete Coliseum. Here’s the details from the City of St. Petersburg Events page.

January 8-10
Sunshine City Antiques and Collectibles Show, Friday 5pm to 8pm, Saturday and Sunday 10am to 5pm, $6 adults, 12 and under are free. This nationally recognized show features nearly 100 exhibitors of antique furniture, art, pottery, jewelry, silver, toys, and glass. The event also features a two-day Antiques Appraisal Fair. Held Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 2pm, $5 per item.

The photo at the top of this article is a panorama of the 2009 Antiques Show at the Coliseum. It, and of all the still photographs in this post, expand to full size if you click on them. I encourage you to at least take a peek at the panorama at full size.

Immediately above is a short embedded video from that same vantage point. I just wanted you to see the scope of the show and to hear the sounds to get a sense of the show’s ambiance.

The rest of the snapshots from the 2009 show I present without further comment except to say that two of my favorites are the model boat (immediately above), the folk-art jugs (immediately below), and the old lace exhibit (at the very end).

My sister and I were fortunate as kids because our parents were good amateur musicians who, in the days before TV, would often play together as a way to end the evening: our mother on violin, our dad on piano. I have multiple memories of falling asleep on the couch as a child listening to them play the song pictured above. That copy of the sheet music is the actual music they played from: Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. It’s one of my favorite covers, not just because of the personal memories, but also its beautiful, period style of graphic design.

St. Petersburg seems to be a hotbed of vintage and antique shows and shops…I guess that’s because there’s so many antiques living here (such as myself)! One of my friends haunts these shows even more than I do and she’s kindly picked up copies of vintage sheet music she knew I’d love. The four covers above, There Are Fairies at the Bottom of our Garden, Way Down in Florida – That’s the Place To Be!, Buddha, and Nola were gifts from her. The first one was an amusing favorite of a dear friend; the second has value simply for its appalling lyrics; the third was an acknowledgment of my having taken lay vows as a Buddhist several years ago; and, the last was a piece I’d been looking for for years, a piece that I played constantly as a kid, driving my parents nuts.

The group pictured below, Galway Bay, The Last Round-up, San Antonio Rose, and Mexicali Rose, are more pieces our folks used to play in the evenings. Easy to see where I developed my eclectic musical tastes (or some might say, lack of taste!). I’m sure at least some of these are “collectibles,” but their value to me is entirely personal significance. It is fun, however, to rummage through the bins of vintage music to see how much some copies bring.

As we prepare to say goodbye to 2009 and welcome in 2010, here’s the cover of one of my favorite songs when I was a kid (a song that I sang over and over and over, maybe even more times than I sang Fuzzy Wuzzy Wuz a Bear), So Long It’s Been Good To Know Yuh.