The rugrats are coming..! The rugrats are coming..!

The Web Guy and the rugrats.

After a lovely spring break vacation (the university allots a three day weekend for staff - no I am not complaining...).  I am now in the midst of preparing for the impending invasion of teenagers.  One fifteen year old Prince and a twelve year old Princess shall grace the halls of the manor.  This also means that there shall be new rules/realities within the manor.

1. The day shall not begin before 10 am AT THE EARLIEST!
2. The carefully laid out plans of the Lord (Me) have a great chance of being tossed aside by said teenagers.
3. The Lord of the manor (Me) shall lose all control of the viewing habits within the manor.
4. The Lord of the manor (Me) shall have to deal with an overly pampered and hyped up Cat of the manor once the Prince and Princess return to the corn of Indiana (He gets this wide-eyed, manic look on his face that screams "Play with Me!' for about a week after they leave).

Now...having understood what is about to happen, I am thrilled beyond belief and the impending outbreak of pandemonium.  Thank goodness that I live in this area because there is no shortage of things to do.

The Bayou City Art Fair is this upcoming weekend.  If you have not been to one of these, I cannot recommend it enough.  I am finally going to visit NASA's Johnson Space Center.  Then there is the mandatory visits to the Houston Zoo and the Museum of Natural Science.

My son has already decreed that he MUST schedule a visit with his Houston friends which I have no idea what that may entail.  Maybe a visit to the Galleria Mall (... that IS what these teenage types do isn't it?).

So, I have cleaned the apartment and made the beds.  I have stocked up with snacks.  Life is going to be grand!

Making the lineup...

The rugrats are heading back to town!  The rugrats are heading back to town!

The excitement is palpable and I am starting to run around like a chicken with it's head cut off.  You see, I have to create a schedule.  Now it is certainly not hard to come up with things to do in the greater Houston area.  That is the easy part.  The hard part is to not to cram too many things in...

On top of all of that, my lovely young lady sent me a gift over the weekend that will be sure to be a hit when the rugrats arrive.  I received a milkshake maker and a book with recipes for making syrups and sundae toppings.  She really is the best...

In my mis-spent youth, I worked at a restaurant with an old fashioned soda/ice cream station so I got good at making milkshakes, ice cream floats, egg creams, sundaes, and the like.  The book has recipes for making homemade cola syrup, New Orleans Mead (root beer), and all of the fruit syrups.  I know that the young 'uns and I will have fun.

So... we have a trip to Galveston on tap (of course), and I still have not gotten out to the NASA Space center (Johnson Space Center for those of us "in the know"), and I just found out that there is a place that has trampolines all over the place.  And then, there are all of the restaurants...

Going to be a good visit.  Guess I should clean the place up a bit...

Outside the bubble...

A long time ago in a far away portion of my memory, I lived in "The North".  In fact, I still have family and friends in "The North".  Now that I live in Houston, I have come to appreciate the those hearty souls that occupy the nether regions north of Dallas.  You may be a bit confused at this attitude of mine but there is one simple reason for it...

...it is cold up there in "The North".

I have recently returned from a trip up there.  A trip where I was being enticed to move back up there.  Sure, the leaves were turning colors and on the surface, it looked wonderful.  The wind was blowing and there was the smell of fall in the air.  Folks were serving wonderfully hearty soups and stews (as is the tradition), a cup of hot apple cider or a hot toddy in my hand.  I pulled out the jackets that were gathering mothballs at my apartment in Houston.  I was sporting a fashionable sweater... it was all looking and feeling good.  I will admit that I went to bed that evening feeling really good about a return.

Then it happened...

I awoke the next morning and went for my walk.  It was 25 degrees and the wind was blowing.  I think my nose and right ear froze and fell off...

So I returned back to the comforts (68 degrees) of Houston and immediately drove to Galveston for a day at the beach.  Mid-November and I am walking on the beach with the sand in my toes and dipping my feet into the warm Gulf of Mexico.  Yeah...

So while I will have to travel back up there for the Christmas holidays, I think that it will be a good thing.  It will simply remind me that I really like Houston.

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.

The age of everything

There is something to be said about history.  I lived in Williamsburg, Virginia and the place is just dripping with 300 year old places and buildings.  The Jamestown settlement, Yorktown, and Colonial Williamsburg are all wonderfully fascinating places to live and visit.  Throughout Virginia there are living museums and architectural examples of the colonial era.

Having grown up in Springfield, Illinois, and having the last name of Herndon brought about a wealth of history from the mid-19th century.  Growing up in Abraham Lincoln's "home town" and having my great (x4) grand pappy who was Lincoln's longest serving law partner (and biographer) immeshed me in that era.  Growing up with the history of the Chicago fire, and the Gateway to the West (St. Louis) instilled a sense of place.  For that matter, I grew up in a house that was about 100 years old.

Houston is not that at all.  It is still a
young city.  Granted, it was founded in 1836 but the stories tell that it really did not take off until oil was discovered in 1901 and after the Galveston hurricane of 1900.  Evidently, after the hurricane wiped out most of Galveston people figured it might be better to move inland a bit.

But being in a young city is not a bad thing.  There is a wonderful vibrancy about the place.  There is not the worry of removing a building that is 200 years old.  The folks of this city are still exploring their sense of place and that can give a wonderful sense of energy to the area.

Now do not get me wrong, there is history all around Houston and the folks are rightfully proud of it.  There are also a lot of wonderful areas to visit in the vicinity to learn about Texas.  But, I want to applaud the vibrancy of a major metropolitan city that is still discovering itself and not stuck in the past.

Wow! What a weekend ahead...

This weekend is the Houston Art Car Parade.  As you can tell by the image, local artists turn cars into works of art and they have a parade.  I have been told that this event is one of the best parties in Houston.  I will be working a beer truck (#8) starting at 8:30 in the morning on Saturday.  14 Pews get a portion of the proceeds. Evidently the truck is at the beginning of the parade, so I will get a chance to enjoy the cars as they drive by.

I have also been told (and is verified by the website) that the folks that show up for the event are many times just as decorated.  Gotta love it, but that is just one of the things going on.

I know that i have written before about the Miller Outdoor Auditorium.  Well this Friday night, my butt will be planted in the grass to enjoy the Houston Ballet performing Madam Butterfly.  It is simply amazing and wonderful to me that a major ballet company like the Houston Ballet would do a free performance for the community.  Not only that but next weekend I will be there because the Houston Grand Opera will be performing La Boheme at the auditorium.  I am genuinely excited.

That is one thing that does set Houston apart.  The Houston community embraces the arts here and the arts community embraces right back.

Okay, now in my excitement I forgot to mention that I want to go to a free Drive-in movie on Saturday night and on Sunday there are two competing events - the Galveston Historic Home tour with some really outstanding late 19th Century homes on display.  There is also the Pop Shop Houston which is described as a "twice-a-year indie craft fair, art and music Festival."

This is going to be great!  Come by the beer truck and help raise some funds for 14 Pews.

Galveston

The sun was shining and the temperature was wonderful on Saturday.  I had planned to attend a wonderful International Festival highlighting Brazil in the downtown area but headed to Galveston instead.

I spent about five years in the Navy during the mid-eighties and I guess I have never gotten the sea out of my blood. The smell of the salt air and the waves coming ashore really relaxes me.  Always has...

So, it was a real treat to head back down to the water.  There is really something to be said for walking on the beach or along a pier and just looking out onto the water.  I loved driving along Seawall Boulevard and looking at all of the wonderful houses that are along the seaboard.  The pastel colors and the fact that they are up on stilts has always appealed to me.  I know that when I retire, my goal is to own a small place along the ocean/gulf.

Also found a great burger joint called Brick House Tavern and Tap (which is where the second photo was taken).  Had a delicious blue cheese burger and some wonderful tots.  They have a huge beer selection to choose from.  They are a bit pricey, but the food was good.

Tonight, is an Earth Day event at 14 Pews and I will be manning the table telling everyone how wonderful this place is to be a member.