Weekday ritual

About once per day at approximately 7am, five days per week, I utter a loud exclamation that contains an effing expletive. Yeah, that one.


No one else hears it since I’m in the car.


But I think I’ve been doing it for a while. I caught myself this morning and wondered why the foul language?


Truth is, maybe I’m not the best driver in the world. The freeway entrance ramp for my route brings me into a heavily traveled junction point where two exit-only lanes are departing for two separate destinations nowhere near the vicinity of my office. So I have about a half mile, in busy traffic, to enter the freeway and move two lanes to the left, dodging cars with more, shall we say, aggressive drivers.


The whole episode transpires in less than 30 seconds, but it scrapes my nerves raw in that short amount of time. And without fail, I unload the tension with some real nice profanity.

Summers of my memory

From Memorial Day to Labor Day, my brother and I seldom wore shoes. Hot pavement and thorny stickers were not a deterrent for our bare summertime feet. We rode our bikes everywhere and walked down the block to the community swimming pool every day. I played hopscotch on the driveway, taking great care to draw pretty course squares with colored chalk.

In the evenings, I would sit in the front yard and listen to the cicadas until past dark. Sometimes, on firefly nights, a thrilling game of hide-and-seek might occur.

Mommy made popsicles in metal ice cube trays and watermelon was plentiful along with beans, cucumbers and tomatoes from our garden behind the garage.

On the 4th of July, the annual parade consisted of a legion of kids riding spider bikes with red, white and blue streamers flying from the handlebars, followed by the fire engine from the community’s VFD and finally, a convertible coupe where the town mayor sat in the place of honor, waving to neighbors that lined the streets as the procession passed. The car was invariably adorned with a poster-sized sign on each door inscribed proudly with the phrase “Our Mayor” in boldly colored crayon.

Then, just before 9 o’clock, residents would walk a mile or so down the road to the community park and find a place to sit in the grass until the fireworks started. The volunteers manning the pyrotechnics lit the candles one by one, with a span of 10-15 seconds between each, giving the audience plenty of time to watch in amazement as the sparkles turn to ember and then to smoke.

And it was amazing. Pure magic for a young girl. I felt like skipping all the way home and probably did, swinging my mom’s hand the whole way.

In harmony

I walked down the street today to attend a presentation: 1 block west then 1 block north. The day is lovely and I noticed blooming daylilies and plenty of chirping sparrows along the way. One of the buildings I passed has now been entirely fenced; any sort of access to the perimeter is prohibited. The building will be demolished at some date in the not too distant future as the Texas Medical Center makes way for expansion.

The process of expansion is one that seems to have no end. New roads, new buildings, new floors added to the tops of existing buildings. The vast acreage of Hermann Park lies along the northern edge of the medical center. A drive into this complex from the freeway affords commuters a picturesque view of the golf course. Recently, a broader, new road was constructed to channel traffic alongside Braes Bayou more efficiently and as a result, the older road near the edge of the golf course was abandoned and has been returned to the park as restored green space.

This is something I have not ever before observed. A road demolished and the land restored to augment nature. It makes me happy that the civil engineers and transportation planners included this as one of the goals of the construction project.

In my personal corner of the world, Cristy has taken significant strides to convert our own yard into a nature friendly habitat. There are 2 squirrel feeders, a bird feeder, hummingbird feeder, two birdhouses and a birdbath. Numerous wind chimes provide soothing musical sounds that help mask the noise of nearby lawnmowers or tools. She has made our yard a welcome place for birds and squirrels and we are rewarded daily with visitors of all varieties.

The energy inside our homes is, I think, derived in large part from its external surroundings. Windows that offer views of water, sky, foliage and our feathered neighbors give us the elements in Feng Shui that represent vital Chi energy. A balance with nature and with spirit. Harmonious.

Amid a sometimes perplexing blend of chaos, I am reminded of the harmony woven throughout the moments of my day.

Fun at the rodeo

Create your own photo album

Asking for what you want

Yesterday was rodeo day. Couldn't have been a nicer day. Sunny, warm and perfect. As a result, over 100,000 Houstonians joined us for the event. Just a tad bit crowded, but we adapted, like the survivors we are.

In preparation for the day, we brought along two cameras. Photo opportunities abounded. As an added bonus, some rodeo attendees added a layer of green to their already colorful cowboy attire, in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

I spotted one particular rodeo visitor among a group of her friends, purchasing a souvenir coin. She was wearing shamrock eyeglasses. I deparately wanted a photo and tried to conceal myself next to a nearby glass cabinet housing some artwork to cleverly capture to candid image. But to my dismay, she kept her face turned away from my lens.

The two guys next to me caught wind of my quest and they pulled out a camera too, with no better luck than my own. Finally, as they gave up and walked off, one of them suggested to me that I just ask her to pose for a photo.

Such a brilliant idea, and so much easier than my futile method. So I did. And she said yes. One of her friends joined in the fun and these two lovely ladies gave me one of the best photos of the day.

Why didn't I think of that?

Observing Go Texan Day

On the eve of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the collective residents of greater Houston collaborate to celebrate the spirit of the rodeo by participating in Go Texan Day. Essentially, it’s an excuse to wear jeans, boots, hats and big belt buckles to work. Or for the ladies, western romance. My quickly pulled together Go Texan ensemble for the day includes boots, long knit skirt, crisp white cotton blouse with boning (for that touch of romance) tortoiseshell (faux, of course) earrings, soft scarf tied kerchief style, and casual updo. Tada! Instantly transported to a gracious ranch dripping with old-style Texas charm.

The HLSR is the largest rodeo in the world. The festivities will begin with a parade, celebrating the arrival of the trail riders that hailed from destinations near and far beyond the Houston borders. Other notable highlights, besides the drama and excitement of the livestock events and rodeo competition itself, include the carnival, barbeque cookoff, art contests, and a spectacular wine tasting event.

So, everybody wang-chung, I mean, Go Texan!

RTT - the early edition

Robins arrived in Houston today. I look forward to them each year and they arrive reliably on schedule, about 4 weeks before the official start of spring. They will be here for a couple of weeks before heading a bit further north to chase the edge of the ground temperature change. Of course, I’m just making this up because I am not an ornithologist. But it could be correct.

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I stumbled onto a new blog yesterday and the author listed ten things that she learned last weekend. If you think about it, we learn things all the time. So I stopped for a moment or two to consider what I learned last weekend. I did not undertake any particularly studious endeavors, so the things I learned were rather ordinary. But useful, nonetheless. At the top of the list is that fact that when you bake with whole wheat flour, the baked product tastes different. Previously, I had believed that you could bake with whole wheat flour but wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. I was wrong. The banana bread coffee cake I made with whole wheat flour is still good, but in a healthy-good sort of way. Not a yummy delicious treat sort of way.

Unfortunately, I purchased a standard size bag of whole wheat flour, so there is plenty remaining for future baking projects. And since I am frugal-girl, completely unlikely to discard a perfectly good bag of flour, there are plenty of whole-wheat baked items in my immediate future.

HLSR bling-bling

Publicity for the 2010 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo has begun. The music entertainment lineup has been announced, ticket sales are poised to launch promptly at 10am this coming Saturday morning, and as I was browsing the website yesterday evening, I stumbled upon the official HLSR paraphernalia online store. Yes, my friends, I am on a quest to update my “look” while attending HLSR this year in order to appear, shall we say, somewhat more official. And one item from the online store caught my attention. It is a Committee Badge. An official committee badge that resembles a sheriff’s badge from an old western movie. But instead of a star, the badge is emblazoned with a spur. I am coveting this badge!

Now I am not quite certain whether to pursue it or not, since in all honesty, I have never served on a committee. But I may make an attempt. Apparently if you served on a committee at some time in the past, you may request and purchase a badge for that prior service. All you have to do is send an email to make this request, specifying the committee and the particular position in which you served.

I do not know how accurate HLSR’s records are back 10 years, or if they really care much about the authenticity of selling a badge to some scammer, like me, who just wants to amp up her rodeo garb with a little official-looking bling.

Worth a try?

Please stand by

Please stand by. Your regularly scheduled winter will resume in a moment.

Yeah, I know we haven’t gotten much (ok, any) real effects of winter here in the Texas gulf coast, but you know why? Because it’s the Texas gulf coast, southern latitudes. Even in winter, the weather is relatively mild.

It has not eclipsed my awareness that some parts of the country have been enduring suffering from severe winter weather conditions and the extent of the arctic front’s reach into this portion of the map is essentially just a dip in temperature. Granted it dipped into the twenties, cold enough to damage the tropical plants that so many of us have adorning the landscape, but no precipitation, no shoveling, no sand or salt, no widespread power outages. All in all, it’s good to be in Texas right now.

Still, this is not our regularly scheduled winter.

Usually, winter gets revved up near mid-to-late January with some gloomy, rainy windy cold. After 4 weeks of Texas-style winter, the migrating robins pop up in our yards to bring glad news. And by the end of February it will all be a memory.

Winter wonderland for a moment

I just glanced out my window and noticed snow. Yes, it’s definitely a form of precipitation that is whiter than rain. Still, it’s all wet and watery on the ground, so the effect is sort of lost. Unless the ground temperature drops. Which could happen, you never know.

Having lived in the south for so much of my adult life, my few encounters with snow stand out in stark relief to all the other days of my life without snow.

There was some snowfall last year one evening. I spoke with my sister-in-law on the phone the following day and she said that T & D were outdoors taking photos, but they didn’t bother to fix the lighted reindeer on the lawn that had fallen over. That is such a classic Christmas card photo opportunity! I couldn’t stop laughing, just thinking about my crazy brother and nephew, taking those nutty snapshots of toppled over reindeer in the snow.

I was in Chicago once many years ago, the day before Thanksgiving and snow began falling in earnest. Big, clumpy flakes. It was beautiful. I could hardly tear myself away from the window to finish my work that day. Sort of like today. My eyes keep straying to the window, just to make sure. Yes, it’s definitely still snow.

Then there was the time when I was working in northern Virginia and 23 inches of snow fell in one night. Mobility screeched to a halt as the state public works forces and private contractors rallied to clear roads. But I soon discovered the problem with snow. You have to live with it until it melts. You can pile it up, but it just doesn’t go anywhere and soon begins looking like ugly, toxic waste alongside the road.

Living with snow for weeks is completely different than the Houston experience of watching the snow fall from the sky, wondering if a fraction of an inch will accumulate on the top of a car. Enough to gather up in your hand and touch, taste, crunch into a ball and throw. That is the joy of snow.

Things I love about Texas (part 2)

Since it is purely impossible to assemble a comprehensive list of things I love about Texas in a single brief essay, I felt compelled to extend the topic into two (or more) blog entries. After all, it would just be downright unpatriotic to leave anything out.

Bluebonnets – they touch the heart of every Texan. A harbinger of the coming of spring and a central character in both song and legend. A heartfelt thanks to the late Lady Bird Johnson for promoting the beautification of Texas through the proliferation of these treasured wildflowers. They are a true, blue symbol of Texas.

Longhorns – in a state where everything is big and vast, longhorn cattle are a quintessential ingredient that sets Texas apart from any other state.

Gulf coast – a large percentage of the state’s perimeter touches ocean water and the coastal plan has many contours: beaches, marshes, wetlands. The coast is one of my personal favorite recreational destinations. I love the sound of the surf, the warmth of the sun and the vastness of the ocean horizon.

Rodeo – a celebration of the skills cowboys have perfected in order to succeed in their vocation and a tribute to the agrarian heritage of Texas.

Ranches – a handful of vast family-owned ranches still remain in Texas, perhaps most notably the King Ranch in south Texas. The Kleberg family, descendants of the ranch founder, contribute to scientific innovations in agriculture.

The Mustangs of Las Colinas – the amazing interactive sculpture created by Robert Glen captures the untamed spirit of the wild horses it represents and transports visitors into that world, the essence of Texas.

Neiman Marcus – perhaps no list would be complete without tribute to the grand retail establishment, Neiman Marcus. A personal favorite shopping destination, and significant contributor to the founding backbone of the garment retail industry in Texas.

Broken Obelisk – in the midst of a quiet urban neighborhood in Houston, is a hidden treasure. This inspired sculpture, by Barnett Newman, is installed in a small reflecting pool in front of the serene Rothko Chapel. It is a memorial to Martin Luther King, Jr. and represents all that is possible when perhaps everything seems impossible.

Things I love about Texas (part 1)

I am not much of a world traveler and while I do appreciate the natural beauty of other locations, I am a true Texas girl. This is not only the place where I live, it is the place that feels like home. These are some things that make me grateful to live in this beautiful land, that is home to so many others, who like me, truly love Texas.

Armadillos – OK, we all know that they are known carriers of Hanson’s disease, but really, what’s not to love about a gentle creature that resembles a knight in shining armor?

Goodyear Blimp (in the past tense) – years ago, the town of Spring was home to one of the Goodyear blimp hangars. The blimp was a regular fixture in the Houston scene when it was not engaged for other endeavors. I vividly remember getting out of my car after I arrived home from work during the 1980s and being greeted by the blimp slowly flying past with its festive design of lights flashing a welcoming hello to Houston.

Tex-Mex – there is no contest. No one does Tex-Mex like Texans. Enough said.

Reckling Field – my favorite baseball field on the planet, located in the quiet enclave of Rice University. On a crisp late spring evening, there is nothing in the world like watching baseball with a perfect seat along the first base line and enjoying the spectacular reflection of the setting sun glinting off the backdrop of the Texas Medical Center. Pure heaven.

Moores Opera Center – a splendid gift from John and Beth Moores to the University of Houston, this smallish but grand performing arts center is a treasure for musicians, performing artists and those who love attending performances.

Central Texas – the collection of cities and towns in central Texas, mixed with the rolling landscape dotted with cactus and gnarled trees offer a true flavor of the heritage of our beautiful state.

Philip Johnson – the late, great architect, while not a Texan himself, left behind a legacy of architectural beauty that residents of Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and Corpus Christi enjoy on a daily basis. His buildings are wondrous to behold.

Fireflies – as a child growing up in a suburban community south of Houston, fireflies were plentiful on summer nights. I rarely see them any more in Houston, but they can be found in cooler climates, toward northern and central Texas, much to my heart’s delight.

Azaleas – the crowning glory of the Houston garden, some azalea plants are decades old and when they bloom, they look like a giant pink furry caterpillar creeping along the lawn of some of the most beautiful homes in town. The rest of the year they look like a gangly shrub, but it’s all worthwhile for those two weeks of blooming magnificence.

Austin – like no other city I know, it has it all. Hip, quirky neighborhoods, smooth urban scene, gorgeous vistas, fabulous weather, centers of intellectual pursuit, excellent blend of multiple heritages, and a wonderful esprit de coeur among the residents.