And the Beer Can Garden EVOLVES!!!!

Now, I've posted a couple of times about the beer can garden... the first time HERE

Basically, here's the story in a nutshell...

this is in a rather neglected part of Ft. Worth... unfortunately, the yuppies have decided on an urban renewal plan and condos are going in.

so the Beer Can man had to remove a whole bunch of the beer cans, and what was actually a rather amazing sight was reduced to something rather pitiful. The reason for this was that they were supposedly impeding foot traffic outside his fence, which is technically public property. Now, even though it's public property, the city doesn't feel inclined to maintain it in any way, and there's no sidewalks, but the city had the law on it's side and the beer can garden was partially dismantled.

and it looked pitiful.

and now, it's starting to look like something again...

now... as mentioned in previous posts... these neighborhoods exist in every larger city... forgotten little pockets crammed between factories and the railroad... sure, there are trains going by at 2 am, but nobody cares... and you can usually do what you want. That's the only real reason for living there. I have personally seen goats wandering less than a mile from downtown, and a dozen old toilet bowls planted with geraniums lined up in military precision.

It's eccentric.

I'll give you that.

But, really, it's kinda cool too...

more random thoughts...

Well, nobody seems as impressed with the beer can garden as I was... It's a shame. I was hoping to lead a protest into Ft. Worth City Hall... complete with hippies singing peace chants.

Oh well.

yesterday was a very trying day... One of my brand new tires went flat, and my jack has gone missing, so AAA sent a guy to help me change it, but he didn't have the right tools, so he sent for a guy to tow me, but after 3 miles they had to charge me, so I told him to tow me to the nearest tire store, where they just put the spare on for me, but there were a whole bunch of people ther first, so I had to wait an hour. But he didn't charge me, so that's cool. Then I went to the store that sold me the tire, and they replaced it for free, and I went home and made muffins...

1 large can of mango puree (usually you have to find this at the nearest Indian market, but sometimes the Asian market will carry it.)
2 white cake mixes
a handful of dried cherries, chopped.

If you can find a small 15 ounce can of mango puree, use 1 cake mix, but the small cans are hard to find.

mix all the ingredients, (do NOT add the oil, eggs, etc to the cake mix)
bake in muffin tins, either sprayed with non stick spray or use cupcake papers... at 400 degrees for 22 to 25 minutes. 2 cake mixes will yield 24 muffins, 1 cake mix will yield 12...

because you don't use the oil or eggs, this is low fat and low cal (there are some calories & fat, but you're greatly reducing them) And they taste good...

This is one of my favorite recipes, because you can vary it and get creative... If you can't find mango puree, you can use any pureed fruit, either processed or fresh. You can also use any dried fruit (dates, raisins, cran-raisins) or nuts.

Try a 15 ounce can of pumpkin, and a devils food cake mix... that's good too.

beer can garden...

So I was delivering in a certain area of Ft. Worth and I dropped by to see one of my favorite things... the beer can garden....


This is in one of those neglected neighborhoods, that existed before the warehouses and factories were built around it. Fort Worth actually has a lot of these little neglected neighborhoods. Little houses with a train track through the back yard, or a fish packing plant across the street... One of the big advantages to living in these neighborhoods, is that you can do whatever you want. The city tries to forget they exist... so you're in the middle of the city
and see a small herd of goats, or geraniums planted in an old commode, or a beer can garden...

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I want to do this. And if my neighbor tried it, I would throw a fit on an absolutely lunar level... but it's nice to think that there's room in the world for this sort of thing... I mean, it's a big country, I think there should be room for anything somewhere...

Well, it turns out that this neighborhood is undergoing urban renewal, and nearby is being bulldozed for condos... so the city has made him reduce that up there to this...

The thing is... before it was kind of cool... One string of beer cans hanging from a tree is, undeniably, tacky, but there is a point where 100 of them become folk art... the breeze through the cans made a really relaxing sursuration, and some of them are cut to spin and catch the light.

Now, condensed and belittled, it's gone back to just tacky.

As for the yuppie condos coming in... hey, this guy was here first... isn't there some sort of Grandfather clause?

Anyway, I was just posting random thoughts... probably one of my wierder posts... but I've had a wierd day.