Saturday, September 24, 2022

Oktoberfest

 Hello again, all!  I know, a post again!  Just 4 days after the last one?  WHAAAAAA?  Well, tbh I meant to post the last one well before I actually did.  What can I say, I got lazy.  I was watching Addams Family Values today and then the electricity did a 'blip' and now my Roku is super confused.  So, I unplugged it and figured I'd give it a while before trying again.  In the meantime, I could fill you in on the Oktoberfest shenanigans.  

For those of you going "But it's September" let me explain.  Oktoberfest was originally a celebration in October.  However, the longer it went on and the more popular it became, the start of the festival was moved to September because the sun stays up longer in Sept than in Oct, giving the festival goers more time to enjoy.  In Ft Worth I went to the first Oktoberfest at Panther Island.  This year, it was in Trinity Park (due to some legal issues from last year, I think).  It started on Thurs and ran thru Saturday.  I went Thurs with my fella and Saturday T came down and we went together.  Here are some of the pix from the last 2 days.

We gave our tickets to the people at the entrance and were promptly informed that the steins they had ordered were going to be there tomorrow.  Therefore, we'd have to come back tomorrow to pick them up.  I asked if I could pick his up since he would be busy and was assured that would be fine.  So, on Thursday we had to drink out of normal plastic cups, not out of the steins I'd been expecting.  Ah well, such is life during the Covid.

They had to do a polka/conga line.
I wanted to get a pic of him being him... he's kinda a goofball and I like that.
They looked like they were having fun going all around the tent, which, by the way, was AIR CONDITIONED!!!  That was part of the reason we were in here, as it was quite hot and melty out.

They were smart and put the A/C'd tent opposite one of the beer tents, so it was not difficult to get a refill.
I was going for a cute holding hand pic here... not sold on how 'cute' it turned out, but it was fun.
When the sun went down, we went exploring a bit more.  The carnival stuff looked fun, but we did not partake.
They make for good pix.
We did have food, but I did not take any pix of it this day.
MONKEY!
If you are my friend on FB, then you've seen this one.  I teased him a little about being officially official when there are these kinds of pix.
We're ok with it.  
Day 2 - Friday.  Here's the brat in a bun from Seigles that I had.  Ketzler's (my favorite German place in Granbury) was also there, but they were not serving brats.
My lovely companion for day 2 - it was still hot as hell.
A very German picture here, I think.  The pretzel was AMAZING.
Our food providers.
Sooo good.  I did in fact have a schnitzel on a bun from Ketzler's, mostly because I LOVE their sauerkraut.
We did also get our steins.  And I was able to get one for my fella as well.  So, all was good.  We spent plenty of time in the food, A/C, and beer tents.  The one complaint I would have is that (being in the park) the only toilet facilities were of the port-a-potty variety.  I did end up using one on Thurs (not bad, being the start of the festival) but was able to avoid them on Fri.  I'm sure they did their best to keep them clean throughout the weekend, but I can't say that I'm sad we decided not to go on Saturday.  Really, once we'd had some food and drink, we were good.  T and I had lunch at Rio Mambo on Saturday and then he headed home.  

It was a really nice couple of days of hanging out with my fella and seeing T.  The next post will likely be in October going over our Santa Fe adventures.  There's been a lot going on workwise, but I think I'll wait a bit to let you in on that.  Honestly, it's nice to be able to do more posts about 'here's the fun stuff going on' and less about 'I'm having a breakdown, come on the ride with me.'  I do appreciate when people read both kinds of posts, tho.  Thank you, faithful reader, for continuing to read the updates on what's going on in my world.  :)  :*MUAH!

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

The Fort Worth Botanical Gardens

 I treated myself on Friday and took myself out to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens.  It was a lovely day of taking pictures and treating myself to lunch at the cafe

I started the tour in the indoor part of the gardens - this is where they keep all the exotic plants.
BIG leaves.
BEST. PLANT. EVER!!!
Australia in Texas.
It's just so pretty... if I had lots of money, I'd build something like this.
More big leaves....
I feel short.

I liked being in the shade and then I realized...
I've got a fancy frond hat!!!  Audrey Hepburn, eat your heart out!!!
I thought this looked like an alien pod.
Just so nice.

The outside - start of the gardens.
I love this plant - the flowers are SO GOTH!
And the other goth plants also make friends!!
Seriously... I'd love to have $$$.
An exhibit with sticks.
Gives a whole new meaning to "I'm from the sticks."
You could live in the sticks!  It would be drafty, tho.
All these pretty plants, and then there's the DANGER VINES!

On the way to the rose garden.
Flowers!

Extreme close up!!!


Such lovely smells.

Walking around the pond looking at the weeping willow.
I like this pic.
Hungry fishie... 'om nom nom nom.'  They were disappointed that I didn't have any food for them.
So lovely.
Different perspective.
From the top.
Hanging baskets.
Shady lane!
This is a cool flower.

... Also known as West Texas.
More danger plants!
The Japanese gardens start with the gift shop, which was closed.
Nice water feature.
I had to pose!!

So peaceful.
Amazing... and humid.



I found a turtle who likes to pose!!

Look at him, posing!!
I like the green and red.
Wandering toward the cafe, waiting for 2pm for my eating window to open.
So cool how plants have different colors of leaves.


Flower in my hair!!

Rock Springs Cafe.
Reasonably priced at $10 for a turkey, bacon, and avocado sammich and kettle chips with a drink.
"The spirit of Woman" statue.

BEE BUTT!!  I love this one.

This is such a cool flower, too.
Bird of paradise!  

I will admit to thinking about getting a membership here so that I can go more often without having to pay $12 each time.  It's only $50 for the year, so I think I can swing that.  We are planning on going back when it gets a little cooler.  Maybe some of the leaves will have changed and we can get some nice fall pix... you know, in December when fall comes to TX!  

Much love to all, stay tuned for pix from Oktoberfest!