If you want fresh eggs...

I am absolutely tickled about an event this weekend.  On Saturday afternoon there is a lecture at the Wabash Antiques and Feed entitled "Introduction to Chickens by John Berry".  Admission is free.  How marvelous is that?

Living in the fourth largest city in the United States and there is a lecture on how to raise chickens.  I am definitely going to it.  I just have this image in my head of sitting on the stoop of my apartment complex with 7 or eight chickens clucking about my feet.

But it is essentially this type of thing that makes this a wonderful place to be.  In the midst of 100 degree temperatures, the wonderful Houstonia Magazine tweets out a recipe for cool shrimp ravigote (a cold shrimp salad) and Houston Culture map posts about a chicken lecture.

...wonder if I should wear my boots and overalls..?

The ocean at 5am

Wow!  Did I need this past weekend...

The past two weeks at the office have not been a picnic and the cracks from the stress were beginning to show.  So, how do you remedy this?  Take a Friday off and enjoy a three day weekend, of course.

Now... just because I am who I am, I had to do something constructive so I became a legal resident of Texas.  Yup pilgrim, I got myself one of them there driver's licenses... so now it is all official-like (although when I tried to "mosey", I almost got beat up).

I spent a wonderful Friday evening cooking a pizza (from a box), having a great conversation and watching a movie with a wonderful friend.  Life is good.

Then I got up at three thirty in the morning.  Now there was a purpose for this.  I went with another friend to take pictures of the sun coming up in Galveston.  Being the sailor man that I am, the ocean has always held this draw for me.  But philosophical BS aside, it was simply a wonderful adventure.  I got to take a lot of pictures (see my Flickr site), FINALLY got to ride the Galveston ferry, and visited the Kemah Boardwalk.  Relaxing with a friend and a camera.

Sunday was simply a PJ day.  I made some bread and vegged out in my t-shirt and shorts.  Listening to music, playing games on the computer, did laundry, and watched NetFlix.

Mental recovery at it's best.

Look at the faces...

People are wonderful things.  People have viewpoints that drive you crazy, make you think and some will just make you stop dead in your tracks and wonder.  People have styles and habits ranging from the hilarious to the awe inspiring.  Here in Houston, we have some of the widest variety there is in the United States.

Diversity is woven into the fabric of this city from the variety of places to dine to all of the ethnic festivals.   You can just walk down the street and see it.  You can hear the languages spoken and the garbs being worn.  All of this coming together into one city and it is magnificent.

My apartment complex is a great example.  Just in my little section there are three hispanic families, four Indian families, a Pakistani couple, a group of (I believe) Nigerian taxi drivers, and an Arabic family.  All of these wonderful people all living together in one (what would be) small, city block of apartments.  The folks are all polite and happy.  All of the kids are rambunctious and fun to watch.

Life is really good.

A familiar itch...

Wanted.  One traveling companion to visit San Antonio for a day (or weekend)... or it could be Austin... or the wine country... maybe even Dallas... Nah, never mind... not Dallas.

The point is, I have that ever-so-familiar itch to hit the road and do a little exploring.  Which brings us to another wonderful point about living in Houston.  There are some wonderful places to travel to that are not that far out of reach.  San Antonio and Austin are about three hours away.  Add an hour from Austin to be in the "Hill Country" (although that is really a misnomer - the land is "wavy" not "hilly").  There are so many places to gravitate to that it can be wonderful.  For that matter New Orleans is only six hours.

So I have the itch.  Not sure if it will be this weekend or the next, but the road calls out to me.  It would really be nice to have someone tag along.

But hey, you have to buy your own drinks...