The ABC Life Blog

New gallery: Skypony GALLERY

Can one tire of visiting an art gallery? Not these sisters! You never know what you will discover and Skypony Gallery, located in the Willow Bend Mall, was a lucky find. This large gallery houses a great collection of creative art by local and national artists! All types of art, all styles, all mediums…truly a feast for the eyes. Barbara bought a beautiful pendant and fought the temptation to add another hat to her collection. Laura was thoroughly impressed with the various prints that were modestly priced and wished she had discovered this place years ago. In addition to the art, Skypony boasts an extra feature that distinguishes them from most other galleries in that they have a meeting room complete with full bar and often host a variety of events: rock bands, comedy acts, book signings, discussions and other fun ways for patrons to connect.

New restaurant: The GYRO Shop

Have you ever passed a local restaurant hundreds of times but never set foot inside? We’re sure that’s as true for many as it is for us. We both really like gyros, so for our G month it was only fitting for us to finally try our neighborhood restaurant – The Gyro Shop in Plano. The colorful wall mural set the tone for a relaxed experience

but it was the Lamb Gyro Sandwich that made our day. Huge and delicious! The lamb was scrumptious and the tzatziki topping was like icing on the cake. (Surprisingly, we learned that residents in northern Greece often top their gyros with ketchup or mustard – a definite “no no” in our book.) Now when we drive past this shop, the pull to stop will be hard to ignore.

New food: GOAT BALLS

For some reason, this month just crept up on us and before we knew it 11 days had gone by and we hadn’t done anything for our ABC Life. We decided to correct this immediately by revisiting one of our favorite casual restaurants, Rodeo Goat. We have a soft spot for goats ever since our experience with Goat Yoga many years ago.

We started out splitting a Nanny Goat burger which had, of course, goat cheese on it and then for dessert, an order of goat balls (shown above). These were beignet type balls filled with chocolate and graham crumbs and accompanied by melted marshmallow for dipping. How can you go wrong?!

LEARNING CENTER

Speaking of goats, where did the saying “got your goat” originate? Turns out those cute little guys are calming influences on other animals. The phrase “got my goat” means to annoy or irritate someone. Its origin is believed to be related to horse racing, where goats were kept with racehorses to calm them. If someone removed the goat, it would upset the horse, leading to a loss of performance. So… on a particular day that we feel very out of sorts we will now blame it on someone stealing our (imaginary) goats.

New activity: FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF DALLAS

Barbara: Laura’s schedule didn’t allow for this visit but luckily, I had 3 wonderful people who were game for a drive to the Federal Reserve Bank. My friend, Pam, already had been but she grabbed her hubby, Steve, and I grabbed A.D. and off we went.

The early bills looked quite a bit more lavish than those we have today.

I learned so much. I didn’t realize that originally “coins” were actually “paper coins” and they were nicknamed “shinplasters” since soldiers lined their worn out boots with the notes. Also, that in the 1800s states, railroads, stores – even the city I live in – were able to issue their own currency.

There were many more plus some interactive areas and I’m proud to say I was able to recognize 4 out of the 5 counterfeit bills. Definitely worth the visit.

LEARNING CENTER: FECES

Yes, I said feces. Get this: according  to the Encyclopedia Brittania, each year in April hundreds of people in the southern Indian village of Kairuppala, throw cow dung at each other in a celebration called the Pidakala War, which recalls a mythological marriage dispute between two deities. Can you imagine if that was a holiday here? What do you think it would be called?

We’ve been to Frisco many times but there’s always more to see. Yesterday we thought we would feed our taste for funky fashion and frozen treats.

New store: FLEA STYLE

When we read about Flea Style online it was described as “Handmade. Vintage. One-of-a-kind.” We both like to browse in unique stores and Barbara loves vintage hats so we were anticipating a long visit. Unfortunately, that description was very misleading. Nearly everything in the store was western clothing, jewelry, etc., which really is not our thing. And even the hats were all cowgirl hats which a Brooklyn girl can’t quite pull off. So that visit was a bust.

New eatery: DUMONT CREAMERY & CAFÉ

No, Dumont does not start with “F” but we found some great flavors there that do. At first we thought we’d order the Filter Coffee flavor and the La Ferrero (chocolate and nuts) flavor but then we saw something we hadn’t seen before at an ice cream shop. Dumont offered a flight of 4 ice cream flavors. So, we chose the two aforementioned flavors plus Festive Cake and then added mint chocolate chip to fill it out with a tried and true. We really enjoyed them but both agreed that La Ferrero was our favorite.

So the day ended on a favorable and flavorful note!

Happy FOURTH of July to our FAMILY, FRIENDS and FOLLOWERS!

PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT – Richard Avedon In the American West

Barbara: I wish I lived a little closer to Fort Worth because they have so many lovely museums. But I was willing to drive nearly an hour to see the Richard Avedon exhibit at the Amon Carter Museum.

I learned that he spent 6 years traveling to 189 towns in 17 states. Instead of photographing his usual celebrities, models and politicians he focused on “everyday people who work at hard, uncelebrated jobs, the people who are often overlooked.” The photos were pretty amazing. You can see the emotions on the faces of the people he shot – pride, despair, hardship, etc.

These were two of my favorites: the one of the drifter seemed to show to me both his pride as he held his shirt across his body and the hardship of his life etched in his face; the woman of the couple had a face that seemed resigned to a hard life and the man looked proud and determined but there was despair in both their faces.

What really got me were the photos of the children. I could have sworn the girl with the longer hair was at least in her late 20’s but she was only 13 as was the girl in the bonnet; the boy with the gun was 9 years old! I compare that to the photos of my kids when they were the same ages and you can just cry.

The exhibit will be at the museum until August 10^th I believe; if you can go I highly recommend it.