The Fall Festival...

Tis the season of falling leaves (although here in the south, that doesn't happen for a while...), the smell of warm apple cider, pies in the oven, football on the tele, Jack o' Lanterns all about...  If I had to pick a favorite season, fall may be it (as long as it does not get cold).

Another thing that is in the air are the annual festivals.  Most of the ones I have seen about town are ethnic in nature (Italian, Turkish, Greek, Irish, Korean...) and they highlight their culture, music, (and more to my liking) their food and drink.  Lord knows I love a good festival.  Not to mention the Texas Renaissance Festival which runs to the beginning of December.

Also, Miller is winding down their fantastic season.  I simply cannot believe how lucky this city is to have a venue such as Miller Outdoor Auditorium.

Now, if you will excuse me...my bowl of candy corn is empty.

Experimental theater with puppets

I am excited.  Tonight, a group of us will be attending a show at the Catastrophic Theater.  It will be my first visit to this theater and I am really looking forward to it.

The little ones visit went very well and I am still dealing with an over stimulated cat.  The furry grey boarder was constantly played with by my kids and now that they are gone, he is going through some type of withdrawal.  I am getting this psychotic "play with me now" stare right before he jumps onto my thigh with his claws bared.

During their visit we had a marvelous time going to the Bayou City Arts Festival.  This is an amazing display that happens twice a year and if you have not gone out to see it then you are REALLY missing out on something.

Once again, the Houston Zoo, The Houston Museum of Natural Science and Miller Outdoor Theater came through magnificently.  The outdoor performance was a celebration of the hispanic culture here in Houston and featured a Columbian Salsa band that really had everyone dancing.

Now I just have to find my way to the Renaissance Festival before it leaves in December...

In a week...

In seven days, my two sidekicks come back to Houston...and boy, what a weekend is on store.  As usual, there is just so much going on here.

Of course we will have to start off the weekend with a trip to Galveston.  Since there are no oceans or gulfs in Indiana, they love to hit the beach.  Next is where the mayhem will ensue.

The weekend of October 12th and 13th has the following wonderful events.  The Bayou City Arts Festival, The Texas Contemporary Arts Fair, The Texas Renaissance Festival (opening weekend) The Houston Food Truck Fest (Haute Wheels Houston), the Houston Italian Festival, and a couple of other things...

On top of that is the usual fantastic fare at Miller Outdoor Auditorium and the Houston Zoo.

On Monday I was hoping to take the kids on a tour of the Johnson Space Center (NASA), but with the government shutdown we may not be able to do that.  Oh well, it would not be hard to talk them into going back to the beach...

Posting around...

Buckling down is never an easy thing... well, for me anyway.  I am a person that can get easily distracted and pulled off into many directions.  This is probably why I enjoy the city of Houston as much as I do...

...there is just so much to do here.

Fall has arrived here in the Bayou City.  It only gets up to 90 nowadays, so before long we will all be breaking out the long sleeve shirts for the winter.  Miller Outdoor Auditorium just keeps on bringing the hits and once again, 14 Pews has a great lineup of movies.  It is funny that I am the FourSquare mayor of Miller.  I didn't realize that I went there that often.

The kids will be visiting again in ten days and things will be done on the cheap this time (which is not a difficult thing to do here).

Miss my girl...

Who is wearing the steel toed boots..?

There is a reason that I am not keen to go see any Tennessee Williams plays.  While he is a wonderful wordsmith and his dialog is absolutely riveting, the plays are depressing as all get out.  Whenever I go to see one, it just feels like I am being kicked in the head with steel toed boots for two hours.  So while I appreciate the artistry, I am not a big fan.

Last night at Miller Outdoor, there was a production of the Vietnamese epic poem "The Tale of Kieu."  The production was simply mesmerizing.  What the producer did was to make a "Broadway musical" show out the the tale, complete with both Vietnamese and English dialog/translations.  The costumes, minimalist set design, and choreography were all very nicely done.  The visuals were quite frankly, simply beautiful.

However... remember what I said about being kicked in the head for two hours?  Here is a summation of the plot:
Beautiful girl falls in love with handsome boy.  Boy gets called away for a year and a half.  Father of girl falls into debt and girl sells herself to brothel to save family.  Forced into prostitution, beautiful girl attracts many men.  One man buys her freedom, but he is married to the daughter of Prime Minister who does not take kindly to having another woman in the house.  Girl steals two candlesticks and flees for her life to a Buddist temple.   Priest accept her until he finds out she carries stolen property... back to the brothel.

You get the idea.  She eventually ends up with her original love but refuses to have sex with him because of her past.  Oy!  My head hurts.

But man... the pictures sure were pretty.

All the world is a stage...

I know that I have rambled on and on about the Miller Outdoor Auditorium and this will be another one.  This time was to see "As You Like It" and "Antony & Cleopatra" which was part of the Houston Shakespeare Festival.  Before each show I would gather up some cheese, fruit, bread and a bottle of wine as part of my picnic.  Spread out my blanket, relax and enjoy.

Both shows were outstanding in their own right.  "As You Like It" was pseudo modernized in it's setting by placing it in Louisiana which was a master stroke on the director's part.  The story of a Duke who banishes family members to the woods worked very well using the swamp lands as a backdrop.  The ole' Kingfish himself would have been proud.

Antony & Cleopatra was with minimal set and terrific acting.  The story is the centerpiece and the actors carried the day.

Life is good with some culture...

Boots on The Bard

I would fit right in for "Antony & Cleopatra"

William Shakespeare is alive and well in Houston, Texas believe it or not.  Over the next week at Miller Outdoor Theater is the annual Shakespeare festival in conjunction with the University of Houston (I am now legally bound to say "Go Coogs!").  The repertory is presenting "Antony and Cleopatra" and "As You Like It" starting on the 2nd through the 11th of August.

I have heard people say that they are not going because of the heat, but I am here to tell you (and them if they are reading this...) that at 8:30 at night, when the show starts, it is quite pleasant.  There is a wonderful breeze that blows across Hermann Park at that time.   Plus, if you sit in the seated area there are a number of HUGE ceiling fans going that make for a nice, relaxing evening.

It is one of the most wonderful things about this city.  In the midst of one of the rather more (ahem) conservative states in the union is the fourth largest city in the United States that hosts events such as this.  There are a plethora of artistic events that range from the rather bizarre to hosting The Bard in cowboy boots.  Gotta love it...