I went to the new Main Street Garden a couple of weeks ago for the Grand Opening/Ribbon Cutting event. While maybe 20% of the park was still under construction, it is mostly a very pleasant, urban-feely and cool place to be. There is a white pavilion which will house a café, a shallow rushing-water pond, child’s play area, several smaller pavilions for group seating and a large grassy area. The crowning feature in my book is a restored circus-style “PARK” sign in one corner that used to be the signage of an old parking garage.

Flanking the park on each side is the Mercantile Place mid-rise loft building, a UNT System building, the old Municipal building (which is being restored as the new home of UNT’s law school), and the stellar/unfortunate, Statler Hilton. So it is only about two blocks in size, is in a highly car-trafficked area and is soon to be home of many college students studying, city dwellers walking dogs and policemen keeping the benches free from the homeless (as Mayor Tom Leppert promised).

So, it’s no Central Park but it’s a step in the right direction. And, this is 1 of 4 or 5 parks going in around downtown, with the Woodall Rogers “Deck Park” up next. Like an article I read about this said, “Now all’s we need is a bookstore and a dry cleaner and downtown will be really livable.”

That’s Swedish for Halloween. T had the superb idea that we dress up as an entity that has made such an impact on our home: IKEA. Pretty much all the furniture we have is from this European-based super-efficient, modern furniture store. If you for some reason have not had the chance to visit, you really have to. It’s quite an experience. Though you need to block about 3 hours minimum for the full effect.

Anyway, for the costumes (all in blue), T wore a t-shirt, tights, shorts and blue toenail paint. I wore a long-sleeve shirt, short-shorts and knee-high socks. AmericanApparel in Mockingbird Station did well to supply us with the necessary garments (Target, Academy and even Walmart, FAIL). Then, I cut out and mounted bright yellow cardstock in the shape of the IKEA logo and wired it as necklaces for us both. I was “I” and “K” and T was “E” and A”. The idea was a hit. We looked fantastic. WIN.