Our good deed for the day yesterday involved an old, skinny hound named "Mojave" who showed up at our house (probably visiting the small pond in the front yard, which is the only close-by source of water), looking like he was starving to death. He was a sweet, gentle dog and had a collar and tags, so we tried to contact the owner, whose name and phone number were listed.
When I called a young woman's voice responded on the answering machine - the right person, thank heavens - so I left a message. We pulled out one of our own dog's metal crates and kept him in the house for the day, feeding and giving him short walks every little while. (I feared putting a strange dog with my three might start a fight, and the animal wasn't in any shape for a scrap.) The owner's name was quite unusual and in addition to calling the number on the tag, I even was able to find her on Facebook and send her a message that way.
For most of the day, though, we heard nothing. By late afternoon we were beginning to wonder what we'd gotten ourselves into (we need a fourth dog like a hole in the head and I was loathe to take an adult animal to the pound for execution), but eventually the relieved owner called and agreed to come get Mojave when she got off work at a restaurant that evening.
I figured this doe-eyed bag of skin-and-bones had been fending for himself on the street for weeks, but no. It turned out Mojave was well cared for, but 13 years old and cancerous, explaining the appearance that he was starving. The dog was not yet decrepit, though, by any means. The owner had recently moved from an apartment into a house with a yard maybe 15 blocks from us, and she said this was the fourth time in several weeks the dog had inexplicably gotten out, this time, she said, in a blink of a eye while her back was turned. She thinks he's actually jumping the chain link fence, which is pretty good for a cancer patient!
I probably overfed him, wrongly thinking he was starving, giving him about four cups of food split up in small portions over the course of the day. He also drank water like it was going out of style, perhaps a function of the cancer.
When his owner finally arrived at about 10 pm after her work shift, Mojave couldn't have been more excited to see her - not just his tail but his whole, skinny body was wagging. She was on a bike, and put a muzzle/leash apparatus on the dog to which he was clearly accustomed before taking him away. I imagine the jog home was a welcome, joyful relief for Mojave. He'd not only missed his owner, but he'd been cooped up in a cage most of the day when he's clearly a runner and a jumper.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Fruit trees loving the extra rain
All the rain we've received this year has led to an unexpected fruit boon in my household: A peach tree in our front yard and a fig tree in the back have been filled the last couple of weeks with ripe, delicious fruit.
The figs are perhaps the best I've ever eaten, fat, ripe, and full of juice. The peaches are less spectacular and some have been victimized by bugs or squirrels (who take a ripe peach, eat one bite, then throw it on the ground - bastards).
The peach tree in particular is going on ten years old and we've never before had a peach crop that generated edible fruit, partly because of the ongoing squirrel problem, but mostly because the tree never produced much. But this year's rain has the thing loaded with peaches to the point that I'm afraid one limb is about to break from the weight. We've been cutting them up to remove the bug-spoiled parts and using the peaches for fruit salads, smoothies, etc.
Strangely, squirrels have been apparently carrying peaches across our rooftop and into our backyard, where we've found a number of them which immediately become dog toys. One dog (Domino) likes to chew them until getting to the pit, which he then cracks down on like a bone. Another one (Indeaux) will throw them up in the air like a ball and presses me to use them to play "catch" (his favorite trick is for me to throw one up high and he can catch it out of the air).
There's also a pear tree in the front yard that's a little younger, but we're still not getting edible fruit from it. My wife thinks if we get one more round of rain the tree might fully fruit out.
We're really loving all the extra rain since the drought has finally broken, but the fruit trees have got to be the nicest surprise from all the extra water.
The figs are perhaps the best I've ever eaten, fat, ripe, and full of juice. The peaches are less spectacular and some have been victimized by bugs or squirrels (who take a ripe peach, eat one bite, then throw it on the ground - bastards).
The peach tree in particular is going on ten years old and we've never before had a peach crop that generated edible fruit, partly because of the ongoing squirrel problem, but mostly because the tree never produced much. But this year's rain has the thing loaded with peaches to the point that I'm afraid one limb is about to break from the weight. We've been cutting them up to remove the bug-spoiled parts and using the peaches for fruit salads, smoothies, etc.
Strangely, squirrels have been apparently carrying peaches across our rooftop and into our backyard, where we've found a number of them which immediately become dog toys. One dog (Domino) likes to chew them until getting to the pit, which he then cracks down on like a bone. Another one (Indeaux) will throw them up in the air like a ball and presses me to use them to play "catch" (his favorite trick is for me to throw one up high and he can catch it out of the air).
There's also a pear tree in the front yard that's a little younger, but we're still not getting edible fruit from it. My wife thinks if we get one more round of rain the tree might fully fruit out.
We're really loving all the extra rain since the drought has finally broken, but the fruit trees have got to be the nicest surprise from all the extra water.
Thursday, April 01, 2010
All Purpose Casserole Recipe
Another recipe for Mikel and whoever else might be interested: Here's an all-purpose casserole that's a staple around the Henson household: comfort food that's relatively quick and easy to make, even after a long day's work.
Ingredients
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cook 1-1/2 -2 cups of rice per the directions, or boil spaghetti (broken in half) with a dollop of olive oil in the water.
If using ground beef or some other meat like sausage that requires cooking, salt and pepper and cook it in a frying pan with a little olive oil and butter. If using fresh vegetables, add them to the meat when it's nearly finished cooking and mix thoroughly, sauteing both together.
When meat (or meat/vegetable mixture) in frying pan appears adequately cooked, take 1/4 - 1/2 cup of flour and sprinkle moderately over all of it. Take spoon and mix it all together so the flour sticks to filling, then pour in chicken broth, stirring constantly. Start with two cups (and don't worry if you run out of broth and need to use water). Stir constantly until the whole concoction begins to boil and simmer. If it thickens to a nice, gravy like texture, great, turn the heat off and you're done with this step. If it's too thick, add more broth or water. If it's too liquidy, put a little more flour in a separate small bowl, mix it with broth or water in a slurry, and add a little at a time, stirring all the while, until the gravy reaches the desired thickness. At that point, turn off the heat.
Spray your casserole dish with Pam or use butter or oil to grease the bottom and sides.
Lay the rice or spaghetti on the bottom of the casserole dish. If you're using frozen vegetables, open the uncooked package and spread the contents over the base. Then pour in the whole contents of the frying pan, meat, veggies, gravy, and all. Mix together thoroughly in the casserole dish so the gravy gets over everything.
Spread grated cheese over the top to taste. I use pre-grated cheddar from the grocery store which is relatively inexpensive and perfectly adequate for most everyday purposes.
Place the casserole dish, uncovered, in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. (It doesn't have to stay in there long because everything has already been cooked once.)
When you remove the casserole, let it sit for ten minutes before serving. If you don't it will fall apart, but if you give it 10 minutes to set up it comes out in nice, neat squares - particularly the version with rice. Feeds 4-6 or makes enough for a family meal with leftovers.
This is a favorite household dish. A family tradition with holiday turkey after both Thanksgiving and Christmas is to make a turkey tetrazzini that's essentially this recipe with spaghetti, leftover turkey frozen peas and a gravy made separately. But the great thing about this is it's a technique more than a recipe, so you can adapt it to basically whatever you have around the house.
Ingredients
- Base: Rice or spaghetti. (Instant rice is okay, but long cooking brown rice or,even better, red himalayan rice makes for a tastier, more substantive casserole. If you're using spaghetti, break dry spaghetti in halves before boiling with little olive oil in the water.)
- Meat: One pound or less of ground hamburger works well. You can also use leftovers, including, for example, scraps from a roasted chicken, holiday turkey etc..
- Veggies. Stir fry your own if you have fresh you need to use (broccoli is good), or add a bag of frozen mixed veggies (household favorite is green peas; with rice, but not spaghetti, corn works well, but really any bag of mixed frozen veggies will do).
- Chicken or Beef Broth (2 cups or more, as necessary): You can use water if you're broke and need to skimp - it will still taste good - but broth gives a richer flavor.
- Flour - just a small amount, a half cup or less, to create a gravy
- Grated cheesse
- Spray-on Pam or butter/oil to grease a 13x9 casserole dish
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cook 1-1/2 -2 cups of rice per the directions, or boil spaghetti (broken in half) with a dollop of olive oil in the water.
If using ground beef or some other meat like sausage that requires cooking, salt and pepper and cook it in a frying pan with a little olive oil and butter. If using fresh vegetables, add them to the meat when it's nearly finished cooking and mix thoroughly, sauteing both together.
When meat (or meat/vegetable mixture) in frying pan appears adequately cooked, take 1/4 - 1/2 cup of flour and sprinkle moderately over all of it. Take spoon and mix it all together so the flour sticks to filling, then pour in chicken broth, stirring constantly. Start with two cups (and don't worry if you run out of broth and need to use water). Stir constantly until the whole concoction begins to boil and simmer. If it thickens to a nice, gravy like texture, great, turn the heat off and you're done with this step. If it's too thick, add more broth or water. If it's too liquidy, put a little more flour in a separate small bowl, mix it with broth or water in a slurry, and add a little at a time, stirring all the while, until the gravy reaches the desired thickness. At that point, turn off the heat.
Spray your casserole dish with Pam or use butter or oil to grease the bottom and sides.
Lay the rice or spaghetti on the bottom of the casserole dish. If you're using frozen vegetables, open the uncooked package and spread the contents over the base. Then pour in the whole contents of the frying pan, meat, veggies, gravy, and all. Mix together thoroughly in the casserole dish so the gravy gets over everything.
Spread grated cheese over the top to taste. I use pre-grated cheddar from the grocery store which is relatively inexpensive and perfectly adequate for most everyday purposes.
Place the casserole dish, uncovered, in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. (It doesn't have to stay in there long because everything has already been cooked once.)
When you remove the casserole, let it sit for ten minutes before serving. If you don't it will fall apart, but if you give it 10 minutes to set up it comes out in nice, neat squares - particularly the version with rice. Feeds 4-6 or makes enough for a family meal with leftovers.
This is a favorite household dish. A family tradition with holiday turkey after both Thanksgiving and Christmas is to make a turkey tetrazzini that's essentially this recipe with spaghetti, leftover turkey frozen peas and a gravy made separately. But the great thing about this is it's a technique more than a recipe, so you can adapt it to basically whatever you have around the house.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Shaky NCAA bracket picks barely holding up
As we enter the Sweet 16 in the college hoops tournament, my bracket still looks pretty good. Three of the four teams I picked for the Final Four are still alive, where I have Baylor beating Syracuse for the title in what's only a bit of a homer pick. I didn't think Duke or Kentucky would hold up as well as they have, though - both look stronger than I anticipated - and I've been surprised at how, besides Baylor, the Big 12 teams seemed to all crumble. (I had Texas as a first-round loss, but was surprised Texas A&M didn't get through to the Sweet 16.
Anyway, since they're still alive I'll stand by my pre-tournament pick: Baylor over Syracuse in the national championship game. Somebody's got to win the thing; it may as well be the Bears.
Sic 'em.
UPDATE: Thanks to the Bears' collapse in the final five minutes of their game with Duke in the quarterfinals (the "Elite Eight"), not one of my picks made it into the Final Four this year. The lesson from this: Don't come to me for your sports betting tips.
Anyway, since they're still alive I'll stand by my pre-tournament pick: Baylor over Syracuse in the national championship game. Somebody's got to win the thing; it may as well be the Bears.
Sic 'em.
UPDATE: Thanks to the Bears' collapse in the final five minutes of their game with Duke in the quarterfinals (the "Elite Eight"), not one of my picks made it into the Final Four this year. The lesson from this: Don't come to me for your sports betting tips.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Cedar Waxwings
For the past week or so we've had a flock of several hundred Cedar Waxwings in and around our neighborhood. Both yesterday and this morning I had a pleasant time sitting on my back deck watching them swoop in a huge mass from tree to tree, hovering briefly almost like a hummingbird to peck at their food and then lighting momentarily on seemingly every available branch and twig. They tend to all arrive and leave together in a furious, fluttering whirlwind of activity.
They're quite pretty, colorful birds when they sit still long enough to observe them closely. These are probably the final weeks we'll see them before they head northward to summer in the midwest and Canada. They're really quite lovely, colorful birds and the sight of them swooping in a chaotic mass from tree to tree is really neat to watch.
UPDATE: I should also mention that hundreds of birds leave massive amounts of bird poop, which I've been dutifully cleaning off of Ty's treehouse deck every few days. There are pros and cons to this whole nature thing.
They're quite pretty, colorful birds when they sit still long enough to observe them closely. These are probably the final weeks we'll see them before they head northward to summer in the midwest and Canada. They're really quite lovely, colorful birds and the sight of them swooping in a chaotic mass from tree to tree is really neat to watch.
UPDATE: I should also mention that hundreds of birds leave massive amounts of bird poop, which I've been dutifully cleaning off of Ty's treehouse deck every few days. There are pros and cons to this whole nature thing.
Monday, March 01, 2010
Dessert staples: Banana bread and brownies
In part for the benefit of my goddaughter Mikel, who God help her never quite learned to cook while she was living with us as a teen, I'm going to begin putting on this blog some of my staple household family recipes. Lets start with sweets, since she would. ;) Here are two recipes I've used a long time and that Mikel grew up on.
The first is a simple banana bread recipe my mother scrawled onto an index card when I first go my own apartment at college.
I usually double this recipe and make two loaves because inevitably at our house the first loaf gets eaten within 24 hours and it keeps well wrapped lightly in plastic or foil for several days.
Another standard recipe in the Henson household is a brownie recipe I got from a cooking magazine, probably Cook's Illustrated, at some point in the mid-'90s. I've long ago lost the original text of the magazine article, but have made the recipe many dozens of times from memory. They're incredibly quick, easy and delicious. Here's the gist:
The first is a simple banana bread recipe my mother scrawled onto an index card when I first go my own apartment at college.
Shirley Henson’s Banana Bread RecipeAdd a half cup or so of chopped nuts if you like. Her instructions envision using a hand mixer, but in my large stand-up mixer I do it in one bowl.
1 stick of butter
½ cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 mashed ripe bananas
1¼ cup flour
¾ tsp soda
½ tsp salt
Cream butter and sugar until light. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Stir in mashed banana.
In another bowl, mix together flour, soda and salt. Add to banana mixture. Mix well. Pour into greased loaf pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool for 45 minutes before serving.
I usually double this recipe and make two loaves because inevitably at our house the first loaf gets eaten within 24 hours and it keeps well wrapped lightly in plastic or foil for several days.
Another standard recipe in the Henson household is a brownie recipe I got from a cooking magazine, probably Cook's Illustrated, at some point in the mid-'90s. I've long ago lost the original text of the magazine article, but have made the recipe many dozens of times from memory. They're incredibly quick, easy and delicious. Here's the gist:
Chocolate BrowniesThis was adjusted slightly from the original recipe, as I recall, which substituted a small amount of unsweentened chocolate for a portion of the semi-sweet. In my experience, this made the already-rich brownies just a little too bitter and intense for children's tastes, but if you want to try it, use 7 oz of semisweet and one oz of unsweetened chocolate instead of 8 oz semisweet.
One stick of butter
8 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate
1-1/4 cups of sugar
3 eggs
1 cup of flour
1/4 cup of cocoa
Put butter in small bowl. Break up chocoloate on top. Microwave for 2 minutes on high. In bowl, beat together sugar and eggs. Add in butter/chocolate mixture. Mix in flour and cocoa until texture and color are consistent. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 38-40 minutes.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Watch the angels cry
I love to sing and frequently will get snippets of song lyrics stuck in my head, often for days at a time. Over the past few days, this line has been repeating itself from a favorite John Prine tune: "My car is stuck in Washington and I cannot find out why. Come sit beside me on the swing and watch the angels cry."
The tune is catchy and that line cracks me up every time. But it was a difficult concept to explain to the three-year old grandbaby, who piped in from the other room upon hearing me sing this to myself while making supper last night, "Why are the angels crying, Grandpa?" She came into the kitchen looking genuinely troubled.
Why indeed? I didn't quite know what to say. I told her they couldn't find their car.
"But they'll find it, right?" she insisted. I assured her the angels would likely find their missing car very soon. "That's good," she said with a relieved expression. "I don't want angels to cry."
Me either.
The tune is catchy and that line cracks me up every time. But it was a difficult concept to explain to the three-year old grandbaby, who piped in from the other room upon hearing me sing this to myself while making supper last night, "Why are the angels crying, Grandpa?" She came into the kitchen looking genuinely troubled.
Why indeed? I didn't quite know what to say. I told her they couldn't find their car.
"But they'll find it, right?" she insisted. I assured her the angels would likely find their missing car very soon. "That's good," she said with a relieved expression. "I don't want angels to cry."
Me either.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Meeting Mommy's Boyfriend: A 3-year old's first trip to the Texas state fair
This weekend we took Mikel and Ty to the state fair in Dallas, and it was great to see a three year old get to experience that for the first time. Of course, spending so much time on the little kids' midway meant the adults didn't get to see the exhibits we might have chosen, but the little one had loads of fun.
On the drive to Dallas I kept telling Ty she would get to meet "Mommy's boyfriend," ribbing her mom to say she had a long-time crush on "Big Tex," the giant statute at the entrance to the Midway at Fair Park (pictured above). Since all over the fair Big Tex is used as an icon, this elicited cries of "that's mommy's boyfriend" every time she'd see an image of him. Mommy was tickled but a little mortified, which was of course the desired effect - I thought it was hilarious.
Of all the things she saw - from the carnival barker with no legs to a diver take an 80 foot plunge into a 10 foot pool of water (definitely a don't try this at home moment), what Ty loved most were the Midway rides she took with her Mom. It was all ridiculously cute. I've got a lot of fun memories from the state fair when I was a kid and I hope Ty will too when she's old enough to remember what will probably become annual pilgrimages, just like we did with her mom when she was still a youngster living at home.
Thursday, September 03, 2009
3 Fun Outings in Austin, and a Baby's First Poem
I had three fun outings last weekend with the grandbaby, Ty, now almost 3, who was with me when her daycare was closed on Friday and then quite a bit over the weekend.
On Friday, she and I went to Zilker Park and Ty enjoyed the wonderful converted fire truck that they've transformed into a platform for slides and monkey bars. She also loved the huge statutes of seals, which are usually fountains, though she was disappointed that (thanks to Stage 2 drought restrictions) they had the water turned off. And as always, we spent a loooooong time on the swingset, where she would happily be swung as high as you can push her for as long as you're willing.
Quite a few other kids were there, maybe 9-10 or so, all supervised by Moms; I was the only man there with a child. One youngster turned out to be from our neighborhood; her mother recognized Ty from playing at a neighborhood park up the street.
After an hour or so on the playground, we got a (much anticipated) snow cone at the snack stand and purchased tickets to ride on the kiddie train, which Ty adored. She wanted to sit at the very front (in my lap) and waved to everyone remotely nearby as the train meandered through the park. (Later, recounting the story to Kathy, she told her she'd waved to her "friend with the guitar" as we rode along, by which she referred to a long-haired fellow who was playing the guitar by the tracks who waved back to her, smiling as we passed.)
Ty was thrilled when the train went through the tunnel at the very end of the trek, holding her breath and squeezing my neck as we went through, then announcing excitedly when we came out the other side, "It's not scary, I wasn't scared!" Throughout the rest of the weekend she kept bringing up that tunnel, which apparently made an impression on her.
After her Mom took Ty for the afternoon, she came back to spend the night with us, and the next morning after breakfast I took her to hear children's books read on the second floor of Book People's downtown Austin store. This was her first time there and the outing was a big hit.
The reader had chosen books about magic - one about a witch who turns her dog different colors, another about a little girl who uses a magic wand to create a menagerie of friends while alone in her room. Afterward, they passed out paper, crayons, and supplied tape and ribbon to create a "magic wand."
This was a clever trick. First the kids colored whatever they wanted all over the paper. Then you'd roll it up corner to corner, taping it together in the middle so that the coloring shows somewhat randomly on the outside. Then they twisted together one ed and tied on red and white ribbon, which gave the "wand" a pointy feel and a sense of magic as the far end whipped through the air. This cheap, homemade toy was the source of big fun for two solid days after the event.
Just as fun for Ty was running around underneath the bleachers that constitute Book People's little kiddie amphitheatre. She thought that was pretty cool.
On Sunday we had Ty while her Mom went to church (she's just a little too fidgety to sit through a worship service), so Kathy and I took her over to Rosewood Park hoping for a swim. Unfortunately, the main pool was closed (again, presumably because of drought), but surprisingly their lovely kiddie area had all nine fountains going full blast (they're designed for kids to splash and play, not as decoration). On what turned out to be a scalding hot day, that was the perfect way to cool off.
I'm glad Austin has some fun, cool places to take young kids.
A final baby story: Ty recited her first poem on Sunday, at one month shy of three years, I kid you not! :) It's from the wonderful "Book of Hours" - a book of translated Mexican poetry I frequently read to her by the painter Alfredo Castañeda. The one she honed in on (though she knows shreds of many of his other poems) is about Little Red Riding Hood. The short poem is illustrated by Castañeda with his wife's face in a red hood, with a menacing wolf's eyes and ears vaguely but recognizably imaged in her cape behind her. I can't make Blogger properly indent the last two lines, but the poem reads:
Is your fear like mine, friend wolf?
Mine is growing beneath my clothes
beneath my hair
beneath the color of my name
She recited it without prodding upon seeing the accompanying picture, which has always fascinated her (we've read these poems together over and over). I think it was that picture and her love of the Red Riding Hood story that made her latch on to these words, though admittedly they sound a little odd coming out of the mouth of a toddler. Perhaps somebody read her the story at daycare, but Ty has no books with the Red Riding Hood story in it and I've only ever told it to her subsequent to questions about this poem. Still, she knows the tale inside and out and it's a remarkably frequent reference for her.
I'm going to get a Red Riding Hood book next time we're at Book People for storytime, but I suspect Ty will always associate the story in some way with that picture and her first poem.
On Friday, she and I went to Zilker Park and Ty enjoyed the wonderful converted fire truck that they've transformed into a platform for slides and monkey bars. She also loved the huge statutes of seals, which are usually fountains, though she was disappointed that (thanks to Stage 2 drought restrictions) they had the water turned off. And as always, we spent a loooooong time on the swingset, where she would happily be swung as high as you can push her for as long as you're willing.
Quite a few other kids were there, maybe 9-10 or so, all supervised by Moms; I was the only man there with a child. One youngster turned out to be from our neighborhood; her mother recognized Ty from playing at a neighborhood park up the street.
After an hour or so on the playground, we got a (much anticipated) snow cone at the snack stand and purchased tickets to ride on the kiddie train, which Ty adored. She wanted to sit at the very front (in my lap) and waved to everyone remotely nearby as the train meandered through the park. (Later, recounting the story to Kathy, she told her she'd waved to her "friend with the guitar" as we rode along, by which she referred to a long-haired fellow who was playing the guitar by the tracks who waved back to her, smiling as we passed.)
Ty was thrilled when the train went through the tunnel at the very end of the trek, holding her breath and squeezing my neck as we went through, then announcing excitedly when we came out the other side, "It's not scary, I wasn't scared!" Throughout the rest of the weekend she kept bringing up that tunnel, which apparently made an impression on her.
After her Mom took Ty for the afternoon, she came back to spend the night with us, and the next morning after breakfast I took her to hear children's books read on the second floor of Book People's downtown Austin store. This was her first time there and the outing was a big hit.
The reader had chosen books about magic - one about a witch who turns her dog different colors, another about a little girl who uses a magic wand to create a menagerie of friends while alone in her room. Afterward, they passed out paper, crayons, and supplied tape and ribbon to create a "magic wand."
This was a clever trick. First the kids colored whatever they wanted all over the paper. Then you'd roll it up corner to corner, taping it together in the middle so that the coloring shows somewhat randomly on the outside. Then they twisted together one ed and tied on red and white ribbon, which gave the "wand" a pointy feel and a sense of magic as the far end whipped through the air. This cheap, homemade toy was the source of big fun for two solid days after the event.
Just as fun for Ty was running around underneath the bleachers that constitute Book People's little kiddie amphitheatre. She thought that was pretty cool.
On Sunday we had Ty while her Mom went to church (she's just a little too fidgety to sit through a worship service), so Kathy and I took her over to Rosewood Park hoping for a swim. Unfortunately, the main pool was closed (again, presumably because of drought), but surprisingly their lovely kiddie area had all nine fountains going full blast (they're designed for kids to splash and play, not as decoration). On what turned out to be a scalding hot day, that was the perfect way to cool off.
I'm glad Austin has some fun, cool places to take young kids.
A final baby story: Ty recited her first poem on Sunday, at one month shy of three years, I kid you not! :) It's from the wonderful "Book of Hours" - a book of translated Mexican poetry I frequently read to her by the painter Alfredo Castañeda. The one she honed in on (though she knows shreds of many of his other poems) is about Little Red Riding Hood. The short poem is illustrated by Castañeda with his wife's face in a red hood, with a menacing wolf's eyes and ears vaguely but recognizably imaged in her cape behind her. I can't make Blogger properly indent the last two lines, but the poem reads:
Is your fear like mine, friend wolf?
Mine is growing beneath my clothes
beneath my hair
beneath the color of my name
She recited it without prodding upon seeing the accompanying picture, which has always fascinated her (we've read these poems together over and over). I think it was that picture and her love of the Red Riding Hood story that made her latch on to these words, though admittedly they sound a little odd coming out of the mouth of a toddler. Perhaps somebody read her the story at daycare, but Ty has no books with the Red Riding Hood story in it and I've only ever told it to her subsequent to questions about this poem. Still, she knows the tale inside and out and it's a remarkably frequent reference for her.
I'm going to get a Red Riding Hood book next time we're at Book People for storytime, but I suspect Ty will always associate the story in some way with that picture and her first poem.
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Remembering Maggie Lee
What a sad and terrible week it's been. Here's a good account of the extraordinary, jam-packed funeral service in Shreveport for my lovely, departed niece Maggie Lee Henson, and a number of other substantive stories about her and the bus crash that took her life from the Associated Baptist Press:
One amazing aspect of this event was the online outpouring of support my brother's family received, evidenced on this page set up for her on the website CaringBridge. John and Jinny's updates and the many thousands of guest book entries are as inspiring as they are heartbreaking.
Thanks to all the friends and readers who've expressed their sympathy and support in this difficult time. I definitely appreciate it.
- Funeral of girl killed in bus crash to be webcast live (8/5)
- Shreveport girl dies from injuries in church-bus crash (8/3)
- Youth minister hurt in bus wreck released from hospital (7/20)
- Struggle continues for teenager injured in church-bus accident (7/16)
- Shreveport church focuses prayer on daughter of church staff member (7/14)
- Pastor says National Guard saved lives following wreck of church bus (7/13)
- Church bus headed toward Passport overturns, killing teen (7/12)
One amazing aspect of this event was the online outpouring of support my brother's family received, evidenced on this page set up for her on the website CaringBridge. John and Jinny's updates and the many thousands of guest book entries are as inspiring as they are heartbreaking.
Thanks to all the friends and readers who've expressed their sympathy and support in this difficult time. I definitely appreciate it.
Monday, July 13, 2009
A family tragedy
Say a prayer, please, or give a good thought for my niece, Maggie Lee Henson, who yesterday was in a terrible church bus accident in Mississippi and has been airlifted to Jackson with severe injuries. (See initial coverage.) My brother John is an assistant pastor at the Shreveport church whose bus rolled three times after a tire blew out while taking a youth group to Atlanta, killing one and injuring 27. At this time, Maggie is still not out of the woods and remains in critical condition.
If anyone needed a reminder that everything about your life can change in a heartbeat, here it is. Just devastating. Keep Maggie, John, and his family in your thoughts and prayers, as well as the family of the deceased and the other bus crash victims. They face a rough road in front of them.
UPDATE (July 14): As of this morning, Maggie Lee remains in a coma with a severe brain stem injury. She has nearly died several times and is fighting for her life. Thanks to everyone who's expressed their sympathy and good wishes. They are appreciated.
MORE: See AP coverage of a prayer vigil held for Maggie today in Shreveport.
AND MORE: (July 14, 3:30 p.m., via Caring Bridge): "Latest update on Maggie Lee....Tubes have been inserted to inflate her lungs. The tubes that were put on Sunday were temporary and have been removed. Maggie Lee is getting good air return from this procedure. Medicine has been turned down to ease her out of medically induced coma. Her heart is stable. We are still watching cranial pressure. It is creeping up to 30. Please pray for swelling to subside."
If anyone needed a reminder that everything about your life can change in a heartbeat, here it is. Just devastating. Keep Maggie, John, and his family in your thoughts and prayers, as well as the family of the deceased and the other bus crash victims. They face a rough road in front of them.
UPDATE (July 14): As of this morning, Maggie Lee remains in a coma with a severe brain stem injury. She has nearly died several times and is fighting for her life. Thanks to everyone who's expressed their sympathy and good wishes. They are appreciated.
MORE: See AP coverage of a prayer vigil held for Maggie today in Shreveport.
AND MORE: (July 14, 3:30 p.m., via Caring Bridge): "Latest update on Maggie Lee....Tubes have been inserted to inflate her lungs. The tubes that were put on Sunday were temporary and have been removed. Maggie Lee is getting good air return from this procedure. Medicine has been turned down to ease her out of medically induced coma. Her heart is stable. We are still watching cranial pressure. It is creeping up to 30. Please pray for swelling to subside."
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Graffiti as Art in Austin
Fueling the neverending debate over whether graffiti is art or merely vandalism, the UT-Austin art school purchased an outdoor piece by graff writer Shepard Fairey who created the Obama "Hope" poster. The Statesman notes that "Although his Obama poster now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., Fairey currently faces multiple vandalism charges in Boston for pasting his work on public and private property."
In addition, some of Fairey's work will be included in a special short-term exhibition at Gallery Lombardi in Austin this weekend. Then on April 4, also in Austin, Spider House Cafe will feature work by a long list of local graffiti artists, sponsored by the Art Seen Alliance.
For the latest in Austin graffiti news, stay tuned to atxgraffiti.com; they'll keep you in the loop.
In addition, some of Fairey's work will be included in a special short-term exhibition at Gallery Lombardi in Austin this weekend. Then on April 4, also in Austin, Spider House Cafe will feature work by a long list of local graffiti artists, sponsored by the Art Seen Alliance.
For the latest in Austin graffiti news, stay tuned to atxgraffiti.com; they'll keep you in the loop.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Oscar Wilde in Austin
Last night Kathy and I attended the first performance we've seen at Austin's Long Center for the Performing Arts - a rendition of Oscar Wilde's "An Ideal Husband" put on by the UT Department of Theater and the Austin Shakespeare group, and for my money (@$32 per head) I thought it was an excellent performance.
The play was performed in the round and there wasn't a single bad seat in the house. I won't try to parse the details of the performance, but here's an excellent review that gives a good sense of the event.
The costumes and set were visually gorgeous, particularly the women's dresses which displayed the long trains and high Victorian-era style one might have seen when the play first debuted in London in the 1890s. Some of the "bonnets" worn by the actresses - particularly a hat worn by the woman playing Mrs. Marchmont - were so elaborate and outlandish they almost made me laugh as hard as the dialogue.
I'd not seen this play performed before and it's been 20 years since I read it, so after seeing this performance (which shortened the script to cater to the shorter attention spans of modern audiences), I'm now anxious to go back and read the full text again as it made me laugh out loud nearly from start to finish.
The actors motion, to a person, was incredibly fluid and graceful, and the lilting British accents they adopted gave Wilde's prose an impact they couldn't have achieved in the local dialect. Good choice, IMO, to make it a period piece instead of trying to modernize the setting or script.
One of the actresses in a Q&A after the event said their vocal coach had told them to emphasize the adverbs in Wilde's script instead of the nouns, because it emphasized that what the speaker thought was important was their own opinion, not the actual subject of the conversation. I don't think I'd have noticed that particular affectation if she hadn't mentioned it, but, it's absolutely true that that aspect of their delivery made the humorous lines all the funnier.
The UT MFA grad students who performed the five main roles did an admirable, professional-level job to the point where I can honestly say I wouldn't have expected a higher caliber performance if I'd seen it in New York. Everybody involved deserves a lot of credit.
They'll only be performing the play for one more weekend, so anyone interested should make their plans accordingly.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
A serious art museum in Austin? Blanton's permanent collection improving with Latin American additions
Kathy and I went to UT-Austin's Blanton Museum of Art yesterday afternoon, and they've improved their collection a lot since I'd been there last.A commissioned work covering the walls and stairs at the main entrance - tiles resembling stacked water in rolling waves of blue - really improved the visitors' first impression. And at the top of the stairs leading to the main galleries, they've installed a gorgeous African piece made of metal strips from Nigerian liquor bottles sewn together with copper wire to look (from a distance) like a woven blanket with tribal patterns. Very cool, and a step forward from the European dominated pieces that formed the base of their initial collection.
They're developing a significant Latin American base for their permanent collection - a decision which, as a lover of Mexican art, I can only applaud. Among the new pieces acquired since I last visited was a small painting by David Siquieros, the Mexican painter who once tried to assassinate Leon Trotsky. I didn't know previously that Siquieros was a mentor of Jackson Pollock. You could see from the painting they'd chosen how Pollock's "controlled accidents" may have evolved in part from Siquieros' stylings, though I'm not sure I'd have otherwise made the connection.
An acquisition fund left to the museum by writer James Michener has been used to purchase a number of excellent new pieces from Latin America and elsewhere, including the piece pictured above by Jerry Bywaters, a former Dallas Morning News art critic and co-founder of the Dallas Nine, a group of artists who became known when they (unsuccessfully) tried to get permission to decorate the interior of the Hall of State on the state fair grounds during Texas' centennial celebrations.
I think that's exactly the direction they should take the museum's collection, fulfilling a niche that to my knowledge nobody else has taken. I'm not aware of a serious, permanent collection of Latin American art on US soil, certainly not in Texas, and there's a lot of wonderful historical and artistic ground to cover. Let somebody else do ancient Greece and the European masters.
That said, the European art in the Blanton is certainly impressive, just not in any way unique. I've got a fascination with religious history so I especially appreciate the Christian art from the 15th and 16th century they've compiled, which includes some beautiful pieces. A series of drawings featured in a collection of art from the era of Pope Clement included sketches for larger murals and elaborate drawings of action scenes commissioned for an international Jubilee in 1600. The most vivid of these (and there were several) depicted attacks on soldiers by wild lions. They were beautiful to look at, but quite classical not particularly interesting, as art exhibits go. If you visit big museums with any frequency, you've seen much like it before.
When the Blanton first opened, I was particularly unimpressed with their collection. But by my third visit yesterday, their team of curators had bolstered that initial batch of art with numerous quality additions, giving me hope that, before long, Austin may actually have a serious, quality museum with exhibitions rivaling those in Houston and Fort Worth.
As an aside, by comparison to the ever-improving Blanton, the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum across the street, by all accounts, remains a complete mess - if they didn't have an IMAX theater, I can't imagine why anyone would go there.
That's a source of embarrassment to me because I care a lot about Texas history and think there's much of significance besides nostalgia and schlock for them to present, but that would require more serious and creative curation. Perhaps as the Blanton's collection improves, with a serious museum across the street the Texas History Museum will ultimately be shamed into presenting a more serious collection.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Burn, baby, burn: Flaming timepiece incinerates last year's regrets
Yesterday afternoon Kathy and I went downtown to walk around Town Lake and see the preparations for Austin's First Night celebrations, and I couldn't help but remark here about the astonishing New Year's art project the city of Austin financed for the event.
The city gave artsts a grant to construct an ornate, two-story working wooden clock - a project that took them three months - then for the new year, they invited the public to write on the clock anything they'd like to symbolically get rid of and burned it publicly last night!
I'm pleased and proud to live in a city that spent my tax dollars that way, and clearly from the response we saw to this magnificent piece of art, the public enjoyed it, too. Here's the Statesman's coverage, a Youtube video of the clock once it was fully constructed and here's a clip of them burning it last night - awesome stuff.
Congrats, and thanks, to everyone involved with the project.
The city gave artsts a grant to construct an ornate, two-story working wooden clock - a project that took them three months - then for the new year, they invited the public to write on the clock anything they'd like to symbolically get rid of and burned it publicly last night!
I'm pleased and proud to live in a city that spent my tax dollars that way, and clearly from the response we saw to this magnificent piece of art, the public enjoyed it, too. Here's the Statesman's coverage, a Youtube video of the clock once it was fully constructed and here's a clip of them burning it last night - awesome stuff.
Congrats, and thanks, to everyone involved with the project.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
The old precinct sports a new election day look
To avoid the lines, Kathy and I showed up about ten minutes before 7 a.m. at Austin's Precinct 126 to find about 12-15 people waiting ahead of us. After a moment of initial confusion (my ID was checked a total of three times, and there was an oddly large amount of redundant paperwork required, for whatever reason), we were able to quickly complete the task, and now it's just a matter of hoping the electronic voting machies record the darn thing accurately. ;)In any event, predictions of a high turnout appear to be on target. Over the years, East Austin has experienced such low turnout rates that most political consultants, based purely on a (correct) cost-benefit analysis, advised against spending money on East Austin GOTV efforts since, more often than not, nobody voted anyway even if the campaign spent money there.
This spring, though, around 2,000 people voted in my precinct alone in the Democratic primary, then more than 600 of them came back that night to caucus at the precinct convention. By comparison, at the last Democratic precinct convention I attended before that, my wife and I made seven total participants. (I've lived in this neighborhood since 1990. Our precinct is historically black and at one time a serious crime center, but is now a rapidly gentrifying mixed neighborhood a mile due east of the capitol.)
Another interesting change, for good or ill: For years, our precinct (which was precinct 128 until the 2003 redistricting) was staffed on election day with the same, long-time cadre of septuagenarian or octogenarian black women, all wearing their Sunday finest. A couple of them would remember me as a frequent voter, always asking if my wife was coming in, exchanging guesses about turnout totals, etc..
But 2008 saw a generational shift Precinct 126's election workers, who today were mostly energetic young people, a couple of whom sheepishly admitted they were doing this for the first time as they fumbled through the seemingly over-complex paper work required to verify IDs. One of the new election workers was an old friend who Kathy and I've known for 20 years, so I'm happy to report this personnel transition didn't alter that sense of communal familiarity I think I'm somehow looking for when casting a ballot on election day. And there's little question there's a lot more excitement in the air - even at 7 a.m. - than there is for most elections.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Dinosaurs in Zilker botanical gardens good fun for kids
Kathy and I took our two-year old grandbaby to the "Dinoland" exhibit at the Zilker Botanical Gardens - featuring life-sized replicas of various dinosaurs set au natural - and the baby particularly enjoyed herself, though the long walk wore her down by the end and made everyone a little cranky.We happened to go to the event on opening day, and though the botanical garden is a large place - around 30 acres - the crowd at 2 pm on Saturday was still rather oppressive, I must admit, though it made no difference to the baby.
Having visited the zoo recently, I think, primed her for the experience, and Ty issued oohs and aahs at nearly every stop. I particularly liked one depicting two long-beaked dinosaurs in a gigantic nest situated up in a tree, but Ty was most impressed with the traditional, large lizard creatures like the one featured above.
The animals were most notable for their impressive scale, but they didn't quite look real, more like oversized toy dinosaurs. Another minor complaint - while we know nothing about what color dinosaurs were, a little more diversity in the educated guesses exhibitors made would have been welcome. Like birds, to whom they're related, dinosaurs were likely multi-colored and more showy than depicted in this exhibit, which portrayed most of them as gray, brown, or some other neutral hue.
The level of supporting information provided was aimed at an audience of kids, for sure, not adults who might, say, frequent natural history museums. But for its audience it was quite well done. There was also quite a bit of kid oriented programming in addition to the nature walk, but it was a hot day and the baby was ready to bed down by the time we finished. Not only was this a good experience for kids, it gives a lot of Austinites who might not have been there before a chance to see Austin's impressive botanical garden that plays second fiddle on most weekends to Zilker Park and Barton Springs across the road.
UPDATE (Oct. 19): See a story on the exhibit from the Austin Statesman.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Baby Ty and the Rhinos
Among the many animals at the San Antonio Zoo that were new to her, my granddaughter saw a rhinoceros for the first time recently and the beast made quite an impression on the 23-month old. Even now, weeks later, if you mention the zoo she'll break in to a babbling description of either the rhino or the monkeys (who got into a fairly energetic and vicious fight while we watched, much to her amazement).
In any event, upon returning home she was so obsessed with rhinos that we got online looking for toddler-appropriate rhino references and quickly found "The Rhino Song," a brilliant little ditty with an accompanying cartoon that she now asks for virtually every time she sees the computer. This is clearly quite popular among toddlers and the adults who cater to them but I just ran across it. Be forewarned: It's addictive:
In any event, upon returning home she was so obsessed with rhinos that we got online looking for toddler-appropriate rhino references and quickly found "The Rhino Song," a brilliant little ditty with an accompanying cartoon that she now asks for virtually every time she sees the computer. This is clearly quite popular among toddlers and the adults who cater to them but I just ran across it. Be forewarned: It's addictive:
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