Horse Fountain at Tarrant County Courthouse

HORSE FOUNTAIN
Tarrant County Courthouse Grounds

During the visit to the Tarrant County Courthouse, we stopped to look at the historic Horse Fountain, located on the Southeast corner of the lawn.

The original fountain was dedicated in 1892 by the Women's Humane Association.

The fountain recognized historic members of the Fort Worth community who use to water their horses at that spot.  Horses and mules were the vehicles that conveyed goods to the marketplace and they needed to be watered.

It is make of buff limestone, red granite and white concrete.

In 1999, during Forth Wroth's sesquicentennial, the fountain was restored and the horse was placed on top of the statute.

.

Tarrant County Courthouse - Texas Courthouse Series

TARRANT COUNTY COURTHOUSE
Fort Worth TX

While conducting some legal business at the Tarrant County Courthouse, The Travelling Toe and Dear Friends took the opportunity to look around the historic courthouse. The Travelling Toe was able to take a few shots with the trusty IPhone camera.  

The courthouse is located on the site of a military post established in 1849.  It is on a bluff overlooking the Trinity River.  The Fort was named in honor of General William Jenkins Worth, and gave the surrounding town it's name, Fort Worth.

General William Jenkins Worth

The current courthouse is the fifth permanent courthouse and construction was begun in 1893.  It is made of red granite in the Renaissance Revival style.  It received a complete restoration in 1983.

It has the destination of being a Texas Historic Landmark and is on the National Historic Register as well. 

The county was named for General Edward H.Tarrant 

General Edward H Tarrant

After passing through security in the main entrance, we found ourselves in the rotunda with 25 foot corridors extending from that central spot. At that center point we began our       

self-guided tour of the courthouse

     terrazzo floors  

                     beautiful wooden carved stair posts

frescos on the stairwell

staircase curving down or up - as you use them

inset at the landing staircase

staircase scroll work

door plate with the Texas Lone Star

the interior dome has a height of 110 feet from the floor

Since this is still a working courthouse, we saw this sign outside one of the county offices and thought it was funny.  It says:

no hats

no shorts

no cell phones

no gum

This sculpture named "Free Legal Advice" is in the middle of the rotunda.  It was made by Lex Graham who donated it to the people of Tarrant County in 1983.

The photo is from Mr. Grahams' web site:  Lex Graham.  He has numerous Western themed art work on his web site.

Below are some shots of the courthouse and the view looking south.

 The arrant County emblem stamped in the concert sidewalk in front of the courthouse.

There are some additional photos of the grounds that will be posted in a separate blog.

"Gifted" (movie critique)

GIFTED
movie poster

The Travelling Toe and several of the Movie Mavens went to the local multiplex to see the new flick "Gifted".  

Here is how the internet describes the movie:

Frank Adler (Chris Evans) is a single man raising a child prodigy - his spirited young niece Mary (Mckenna Grace) - in a coastal town in Florida. Frank's plans for a normal school life for Mary are foiled when the 7-year-old's mathematical abilities come to the attention of Frank's formidable mother, Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan), whose plans for her granddaughter threaten to separate Frank and Mary.

The interaction between the actors (uncle and niece) was very sweet.  They had excellent chemistry onscreen and seemed to really enjoy being together.  Of course Octavia Spencer was fun in her role as a neighbor and good friend to them both.  But one of the best actors in a cast was a one-eyed cat named Fred who stole the show!

CAST:

Chris Evans
Frank Adler

Mckenna Grace
Mary Adler

Jenny Slate
Bonnie Stevenson

Octavia Spencer
Roberta Taylor

Lindsay Duncan
Evelyn Adler

                                             

We all thought this was a precious movie.  A few tears were shed but what a sweet, sweet movie.

The Travelling Toe gives this movie 2 middle toes up with a math book just in case one needs a refresher course.

                                                               

"Going In Style" (movie critique)

GOING IN STYLE
movie poster

Needling some laughs, the Movie Mavens and The Travelling Toe went to the local Movie Tavern to see the buddy movie "Going In Style".  The movie was directed by comedian Zach Braff.  It is a remake of the 1979 movie with the same name.

Zach Braff
director

The movie is about 3 senior citizens friends who worked for many years in the steel industry and are now retired living on their monthly pension payments. But the company is sold and that merger caused their pensions to be dissolved. One of the guys, Joe, finds out that he is behind on his mortgage payments due to a re-fiance deal that upped his mortgage payment. He has fallen behind on his payments and could lose his house where he lives with his daughter and granddaughter.  Willie, is on dialysis and needs a replacement kidney.  Al has to live with Willie as he is out of money too.  So what are these 3 guys going to do to make a living at their age?  Well rob a bank of course - the bank that stole from them. At first Willie and Al are not sure that they can do it but Joe is sure that they can.  The planning of the caper starts.

One of the funniest scenes is when the 3 of them try a dry run of robbing the local grocery story by shoplifting and of course they get caught.  Then they find Jesus and he helps them out with their plan, first getting them in shape then teaching them how to use Smart phones.

So Dear Readers, do they really rob the bank?  Did they get caught?  How does it end?

No spoilers here.  If you saw the movie then you know what happens but if you haven't go see it for a fun time.  And we Golden Girls loved seeing older actors still working hard and making an entertaining movie.


CAST:

Michael Caine
Joe

Morgan Freeman
Wille

Alan Arkin
Al (Albert)

Ann-Margret
Annie
(AL's girlfriend)

Matt Dillon
FBI Special Agent Hamer

Christopher Lloyd
lodge buddy

This was a fun movie and we all enjoyed it.

The Travelling Toe gives this movie 2 middle toes up with numbered bank account in the Cayman Islands!

FWSO Symphonic Series presented at Bass Hall

FORT WORTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
program

The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra presented a symphonic program that consisted of three different musical works.  Miguel Harth-Bedoya was at the podium conducting the program.

Adam Schoenberg

The first selection played was a contemporary piece, "La Luna Azul (The Blue Moon)" written by Adam Schoenberg.  This work was first performance at the Atlanta Symphony Hall in 2012.  Mr. Schoenberg was in residence the weekend this particular piece of music was played by the FWSO.  He spoke with audience members about his influences in writing the music,his process and other fun aspects of his life.  He was very personable. It was indeed a very beautiful piece of music and so enjoyable.  It was well received by the audience and hopefully Mr.Schoenberg will return to Fort Worth.

Alexandra Soumm

After a brief pause for the orchestra to be re-set, Alexandra Soumm, solo violinist, came on stage to perform the "Violin Concerto in D Minor" written by Jean Sibelius. What a great performance!!!!!

Jean Sibelius
1865-1957

Ms. Soumm received a standing ovation and in response played a beautiful Baroque encour written by Telemann.

Geog Philipp Telemann
1681-1767

A 20 minute intermission followed.

After the intermission, Miguel led the orchestra in selections from Sergei Prokofiev's music for the ballet "Cinderella".  It premiered in Moscow in 1945 by the Bolshoi Ballet.  Oh how beautiful it all was. One could almost see Cinderella dancing across the stage and we did hear the striking of the clock counting down to midnight.

Sergei Prokofiev
1891-19551

Another joyful afternoon spent with the FWSO.  They are indeed world class musicians led by a brilliant maestro!

Fort Worth Symphony


Bass Hall

"The Last Word" (movie critique)

THE LAST WORD
movie poster

The Friday Movie Mavens and The Travelling Toe journeyed to the local multiplex to see "The Last Word."  The movie is billed as a comedy but has several poignant moments in it.

Harriet Lauler, a retired successful businesswoman with too much time on her hands, and begins to read the daily obituaries.  She reads about the dearly departed accomplishments and for the most part knows the real truth of the person and the lies that make up the obit. Harriet, being the force of nature that she is, decides that she wants to ensure her own life story is told her way.  She goes to the local newspaper office and chooses the obituary writer, Anne Sherman, to write her life story.  Anne is reluctant to take on the assignment due to Harriet's overbearing personality.  But over time, as Anne starts the investigation of Harriet's life, she becomes intrigued with the story and the woman behind the story. The two women begin to develop a deep bond that will change how Harriet is perceived and Anne's future.

We all agreed that we really enjoyed this show.  Shirley MacLaine was the perfect actor for this role. There is some bad language in it but not much.


CAST

Shirley MacLaine
Harriet Lauler

Amanda Seyfried
Anne Sherman

The Travelling Toe gives this movie 1 big toe up with an obituary template so you can have the last word of your own life story yourself!

Obituary Samples