October 25-29, 1995: A Fall Trip to Arkansas
October 14-15, 1995: A Weekend at Possum Kingdom Lake
Return to the Index for 1995
October 21, 1995
A Visit to the Dallas Arboretum
 

On Sunday, October 21, Fred and Prudence and I and Prudence's sister Nancy have decided to expand our normal dinner-movie outing to include not only a visit to the Arboretum but also dessert at my house after the movie.

 

Getting to the Dallas Arboretum


The Dallas Arboretum is not too far from where I live over on Inwood- I'd guess about six or seven miles as the crow flies (see the map opposite)- but you can't get there as the crow flies because White Rock Lake is in the way. So you can either go through town and wind your way around the south end of the lake or you can take Mockingbird over around the north side of the lake. Today, Prudence and Nancy came to my house where Fred was already spending the weekend and then we just took Mockingbird over to Buckner Boulevard to Garland Road and the Arboretum.


In this closer view, you can see the south end of White Rock Lake and you can pick out the bike trail that hugs the lake shore almost all the way around. At the south end is White Rock Lake Dam and spillway, which takes the overflow water and sends it under Garland Road to continue on down to the Trinity River.

The bike path used to cross the top of the dam, but for one reason or another, the bike path was rerouted a year ago, and now it goes through some parkland and playing fields south of the dam, across the spillway, up Garland Road for a ways, and then back north along the lake shore.

You can also see a closer view of the Arboretum in this picture, and can begin to pick out some of the pathways through the gardens.


Finally, in this close-up of the Arboretum itself, you can see most of the major features- including the parking area just off Garland Road, the new administrative buildings, the restaurant and gift shop (all right near the parking lot) and, off in the middle of the gardens, the DeGolyer house (the former residence of the family that donated the land for the Arboretum to the Arboretum Society.

You can also see the maze of pathways that criss-cross the gardens.

 

The Layout of the Dallas Arboretum

As you are probably already aware, I have a penchant in this photo album for tying together our pictures with other elements- such as maps, aerial views and various diagrams- so you can get a feel for where we were when a particular picture was taken. In addition to the map and aerial views above, below I have added a diagram of the Dallas Arboretum with some of the separate little gardens that make up the Arboretum marked on it:

The Arboretum opened in 1984, and has been expanding and growing ever since. Originally, the 66-acre plot created with the donation of the DeGolyer Estate and the purchase by the city of the Alex Camp House adjacent, contained only a few small gardens; much of the rest of the property was as yet undeveloped. By the time we purchased a membership in 1993, about half of the property had been developed into a series of themed gardens. This development continues. The diagram above, a version of which you will see or have seen on every album page devoted to a trip to this wonderful attraction, is a diagram current in 2013. At least two of the gardens marked on it- "A Womans Garden" and "The Nancy Rutchik Red Maple Rill" did not exist on today's visit. (The woman's garden would open in stages beginning next year, and the Red Maple Rill would not exist until 2011.) But we can still use the diagram, for the main layout of the garden has remained the same.

 

Pictures From Today's Visit

While we spent a couple of hours wandering around the Arboretum, neither Fred nor I took many pictures. We were more concerned with trying to show Prudence and Nancy as much as we could. Indeed, we only took three pictures this afternoon:


Here are Prudence, Fred, Nancy Lucas and myself at the Arboretum.

I have been fortunate to be included with some of Fred's outings with Prudence, usually when Nancy is along. Nancy is quite nice, and I have always treated these outings as double dates.

At first, Nancy did not know of my own (or Fred's) inclinations, although Prudence did let her know the situation not long after these pictures were taken. I am very conscious of the special relationship that Fred and Prudence have, and try my best not to be an upsetting influence.

This October day at the Arboretum was very pleasant, and the late summer flowers were in full bloom. Although it was warm, you could tell that there was that hint in the air that it wouldn't be so warm for much longer.


Midway along the Paseo del Flores, there is a walkway leading south. This walkway is bordered by huge crepe myrtle trees, and hence the walkway is called the Crepe Myrtle Allee. At the south end is the Frog Fountain, and the picture at right shows Fred, Prudence, Nancy and myself at this fountain.

The fountain consists of a large square of pebbled concrete with a large grated drain in the center. At the four corners of the square are four sculpted frogs- each about five feet high and about five feet long. From the open mouth of each of them a stream of water comes out, that stream aimed so that the water falls directly through the drain in the center so it can be recirculated.

This fountain is a favorite of ours, mostly because we can watch what kids do with the fountain. The arched streams of water coming out of the frogs' mouths are high enough so that one can duck and walk underneath. Kids like to stick a finger in the flow as it comes out of a frog mouth so that the water doesn't form a clean arch but instead falls prematurely on whomever might be walking underneath.

Larger kids can also climb up on the back of the frogs, and ride them like horses. All this makes the Frog Fountain a favorite for kids and thus for their parents as well.


Here are Prudence, Fred, Nancy and myself at the Dallas Arboretum; we are near the Jonsson Color Garden right at the south end of the DeGolyer House.

This would have been a better shot had not the timer caught at least two of us in odd poses. Nancy didn't like staring into the sun, but was going to turn her head to the camera just in time. She was late.

To tell the truth, I can't recall what Fred was intending with his hand raised.

After the Arboretum, we had dinner at a restaurant near Northpark, and then went to see a movie called "The Stars Fell on Henrietta" about the beginnings of the Texas oil boom. It was a pretty good movie, although far from a blockbuster. We had dessert at my house before Nancy and Prudence left for their apartments out in the Mid-Cities.

NOTE:
The Summer and Fall have been enjoyable, and there has been lots to do. I have enjoyed not working for a change, and have pretty much decided to take the better part of a year as a sabbatical; I have not stopped working since 1971, and most of that has been travelling. While I have enjoyed myself immensely, it is also nice to relax, take it easy, concentrate on friends and friendships, and catch up on all the things I’ve been putting off.

I haven’t neglected the job market entirely, however, as I know that at some point I will want and need to work again. I’ve been up to EDS twice, but I think that environment is too button-down formal for me. I’ve done a couple of interviews with consulting firms, but they weren’t willing to pay me what my experience justifies. Greg and Linda Lea have said on numerous occasions that BSG will shortly be expanding its consultant base, and I think that is the most likely possibility.

But I am not in a rush, and I have pretty much decided not to worry too much about things until next Spring, unless something really good comes along.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

October 25-29, 1995: A Fall Trip to Arkansas
October 14-15, 1995: A Weekend at Possum Kingdom Lake
Return to the Index for 1995