Chandor Gardens

There is always something more to learn about our beautiful area. One of those interesting things is a special garden built by renowned English portrait artist Douglas Chandor in Weatherford in the early twentieth century. Yes, I know, Annie limits her blog to Fort Worth, and this is all about the story of the lovely gardens. It’s a tale told in Fort Worth that you’ll want to hear.

As part of the Community Workshop series, The Center for Texas Studies at TCU and the Fort Worth Library are uniting to present “The Story of Chandor Gardens”as told by Steven Chamblee, Chief Horticulturist. You can hear it all free on Saturday, May 7, 10:30 AM to 12:00 Noon, at Fort Worth Central Library’s Tandy Hall, 500 W. 3rd. Street. Mr. Chamblee will share the site’s history and recount the labors that have restored the garden’s former glory. After the program, he will be signing his new book, The Story of Chandor Gardens.

Annie wants to share more information about Steven Chamblee who sounds like the original plant doctor. He is a consulting editor and author for Neil Sperry’s Gardens magazine, writes an e-newsletter column Native Son, and is an Adjunct Instructor for Tarleton State University. And, Annie is inspired to make the drive to Weatherford to see Chandor Gardens. Wanna go? Just let me know.

Annie Ambles to the Library Saturday to learn more about Chandor Gardens

 

 

The Artist’s Eye

The Artist’s Eye Devon Nowlin Saturday, April 30, 11 am Please join artist Devon Nowlin and Jennifer Casler Price, curator for Asian and non-Western art at the Kimbell Art Museum, for a gallery talk. Nowlin’s Monument to the Loved will be on display at the Kimbell during the talk, and she will discuss her own artwork in relation to works in the Museum’s collection, including a 13th-century French reliquary casket. Admission is free. No reservations required. Kahn Building galleries Left: Devon Nowlin, Monument to the Loved, 2016, oil on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and Artspace 111 Right: Reliquary Casket, c. 1200–1220, champlevé enamel on copper, wood core. Kimbell Art Museum Annie Ambles shares Kimbell Art Museum information

 

Your Choice

My goodness, where did April go? Here we are at the end of the month staring our last Friday in the face. What to do? Where to go? As Annie sees it, we have three choices–Mayfest, Latin Express, and Sid Richardson Museum. Let’s look at each, taking into consideration the impending storm forecast by our weather-casters.

Mayfest opens at 9:30 this muggy Friday morning for special needs children. If you love and care for one of these darlings, by all means go to Forest Park and enjoy the activities. If not, you’ll have to wait until 3:30 this afternoon to enjoy the activities, food, and music. Bring your umbrella! There is an admission charge this afternoon.

Well, your choices have shrunk to two. Stacey at Central Market just told me that the free Latin Express live music experience has been cancelled due to the weather; however, tomorrow night Canta will be playing Latin pop, classic rock, and big band music, starting at 5:30 PM and ending about 9:00 PM. Central Market is at I-30 and Hulen, actually 4651 West Freeway. If you want to call to be sure of its events, call 817-989-4700.

The Sid Richardson Museum of Western Art is having a free lecture tonight at 6:30 PM. Please call 817-332-6554. to make a reservation as space is limited. While you’re there, browse the current exhibit Lonesome Dove: The Art of Story. You’ll see items related to our own Archer City novelist Larry McMurtry’s much loved novel that was made into a four-part TV mini-series.

Annie Ambles wishes she could be two places at once

 

Passport Services

Fort Worth’s City Council just voted 8-0 to allow our downtown Central Library to process passport applications. Located at 500 W. Third Street, our Library can now perform these passport services. Wonderful! Travelers, the Central Library staff will submit the applications to the U.S. Department of State for approval. These passport services are available from 2:00 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays and 12:00 noon until 5:00 PM on Saturdays. Parking is free on the weekend. You can park in the parking garage for 1 1/2 hours. It’s free, but you need to get your parking ticket stamped at the Library’s front desk.

Check the State Department web site <www.state.gov> for requirements. There is a “wizard” to walk you through either the new passport or renewal steps. Just be sure you are on the official government web page. You will need a couple of passport photos which you can have taken at Walgreen’s (nearest store to the Library is Henderson and Texas), most Walmart’s, and other photo processing places. Other documents are required, if this is your first passport. Everyone, yes, even your infant or grandchild, requires a passport these days.

Don’t expect to get your passport in a week. A renewal or first time passport takes about six weeks to process. Of course, you can pay to have the process expedited, but that still takes about three weeks. The message here is to plan ahead. You can complete the application online, fill out the form, and print it off to take with you to the Library. If you don’t use a computer, call 1-877-487-2778 to talk to a real live person.

Annie Ambles thanks the Council for the passport services

Early Voting

It’s an exciting time for us Tarrant County registered voters. The polls open today, Monday, April 25, for early voting that runs through May 3. We can cast our ballots in local city and town councils, school boards, library and water districts, and city charter elections. If you don’t do early voting, please be sure to vote in the May 7 election. Yes, dear heart, your vote does count and your voice needs to be heard.

There are 11 amendment changes to the 1924 Fort Worth city charter. To make Fort Worth’s charter current with state law, there are seven propositions we need to consider. The other four will affect the pay, term lengths, and council size of our Fort Worth City Council.

If you can’t make it to a polling place, you can download an application for a ballot by mail from the elections website. This must be submitted by tomorrow/Tuesday, April 26. As Annie often remarks, “If you don’t vote, you can’t complain.” Well, you know that we can always complain, but voting makes it legitimate, doesn’t it?

Annie Ambles to the Tarrant County Plaza Building to cast her ballot

Yoga at Sundance Square

The TV weather folks are predicting a beautiful Saturday with sunshine and nice temperature. It’s about time, don’t you think? Even the next day, they are saying we’ve going to be having more rain, but why worry. Just concentrate on being at Fort Worth’s Sundance Square at 8:30 AM, Saturday, April 23, for a free group yoga class. Yes, yes, Annie knows that it’s early, but you can do it.  If you missed today’s session, plan on coming to the next one in two weeks on May 7 and every other Saturday through June.

Bring your mat, towel, and water, even family and friends. Kick that body into high gear as you prepare for the weekend. Don’t worry if you’re a beginner, this class is for all levels. After you exercise, you can reward yourself with breakfast at the new Yolk cafe or at the Corner Bakery (love those cinnamon buns). Get a fruit smoothie right there on the Square or a cup of coffee–your choice.

Stick around until 10:30 to walk over to Bass Hall for a tour where you’ll go on stage, back stage, on all the levels, and out on the balcony to commune with the angels. It’s a fun 30-45 minutes, and it’s a free every Saturday event.

While you’re downtown, you may want to walk through the new H & M store that’s in the old Barnes and Noble space, or you can take a free tour of the Sid Richardson Western Museum to see the Lonesome Dove exhibit.

Annie Ambles to Sundance Square

 

Main Street

Fort Worth’s annual arts festival Main Street starts today and runs through April 17. Thousands of people will head downtown for awesome art, marvelous music, and tasty food. Without a doubt, this is Texas’s top arts and music festival, if not America’s.

Please note that some streets are closed, making your daily commute more challenging. Parking is free on the streets and in some lots after 6 PM and on the weekend. You may want to come see the sights on Friday as rain is forecast for Saturday and Sunday, but don’t let that spoil your fun. Annie won’t melt, and she’s sure you won’t either.

Annie Ambles enjoys Main Street

Tea and Talk

In this fast paced world of ours, it’s refreshing every now and then to just press the pause button and take a little time out. If you’re feeling the stress of civilization, Annie has just the remedy for you, just for today, just for an hour. Amble on over to the Sid Richardson Museum on Main Street just a block off Sundance Square for Tea and Talk. The event is free, but you will need to pay for parking.

Every first Wednesday of the month, Leslie, the Director of Adult Education at the Sid Richardson, is the hostess for an informative time that will give you a greater appreciation of the Museum’s Western art and put the spring back in your step. She or one of her staff will lead the assembled group in a discussion of a couple of paintings. Annie is always astonished to hear what others in the group see and say. Insights are gained, and fun is had.

After the educational part of the hour, the group adjourns to the back room to enjoy some refreshments. We always have tea and assorted treats after our talk. It’s a fun way to spend your lunch time and perhaps meet new people who will become friends.  See you there at 12 noon today.

Annie Ambles to Tea and Talk at the Sid Richardson Museum

Cliburn Junior Piano Competition Concert

We residents of Fort Worth are so lucky to live in a city that frequently presents free concerts for us. The next one, Thursday, April 14, at 6:30 PM, will have Annie in the audience. Maybe you, too, can work this free concert into your busy life.

Cliburn in the Community and the Fort Worth Library team up to present a 90-minute concert featuring the winners of last June’s Cliburn Junior Piano Competition. What a joy to have these three young people share their talents with us. Alim Beisembayev, Arsenii Mun, and Youlan Ji will play selections featuring works by Beethoven, Debussy, Czerny, Liszt, Rachmaninov, and Shostakovich.

You may want to come early to downtown Fort Worth’s Central Library to get a seat in its Library Gallery. Enter the library at 500 W. 3rd. Street, walk inside until you have to turn right. Continue straight ahead where you’ll see the seated crowd.  The library has free parking in the Sundance Square Garage III at 420 Throckmorton Street. Entrance to the parking garage is located on W. 3rd. Street. As always, on the street parking is free after 6 pm.

Annie Ambles plans to attend the Piano Competition concert

Caruso in Cowtown

What an honor it must have been for the great singer Enrico Caruso to sing for Fort Worth’s citizens way back then in 1920. To learn more about those days and time, come downtown as The Center for Texas Studies at TCU and the Fort Worth Library present “Caruso in Cowtown: A Lecture” with Ruth Karbach, Independent Scholar, Saturday, April 2, 2016, 10:30am to Noon.

The event is free as is the parking on downtown Fort Worth’s streets. Come to hear this program in the Discovery Theater of Fort Worth’s Central Library, 500 W. 3rd Street.

Famed Italian tenor Enrico Caruso’s first Texas performance was before a crowd of 8,000 gathered in the Cowtown Coliseum in the Fort Worth Stockyards in 1920. Speaker Ruth Karbach will explain how the city attracted Caruso and the excitement over his visit. Plus, we’ll hear sample recordings of the arias he sang that night. To hear them live, visit http://www.fwopera.org/ to learn more about an upcoming recreation of the concert on April 7, 2016.

Ruth Karbach has worked with the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech, Thistle Hill house museum, and the Cowgirl Hall of Fame. She is currently an active independent scholar who has contributed to a number of books including Texas Women: Their Histories, Their Lives, winner of the 2016 Liz Carpenter Award for the Best Book on Texas Women from the Texas State Historical Association.

For more program information, call 817-257-6896.

Annie Ambles to Fort Worth’s Central Library for the Caruso Program