Yeah, I know that these United States legally forbid government establishment of religion. Nevertheless, it's widely recognized both by native Texans and by "foreigners" (e.g Okies, Yankees, Brits, etc.) that Texas DOES effectively have a National Religion. (Oops, make that "State Religion".)
It's called "Friday night lights", that is, high school football. Some observers might append to these youthful gridiron gods the slightly older deities of the pigskin who are burnt orange Longhorns or maroon Aggies.
Yes, I'm writing this with tongue firmly in cheek. But make no mistake! 1) High school football IS serious business here in Texas (as is NCAA football). And 2) I too can get fairly serious about it. Hopefully, not to the level of religious devotion!
My own alma mater, Borah High School of Boise (Class of '72), had a splendid team, the Lions, who lost only one game in my three years there (Boise high schools were grades 10-12). The Borah Lions reigned (of course: the Lion IS King of Beasts/Mascots) at least four straight years as mythical Idaho football champ of the largest schools, and my senior year represented Idaho in Honolulu, where the Lions beat the best of Hawaii's football teams. And I've maintained interest in local h.s. football any place I've lived since. Thus, while I lived in Decatur, Texas (1979-'80) and then Devine, Texas ('92-'94), I enthusiastically supported the gridiron Eagles and the Warhorses, respectively. Therefore I was delighted to read in the Sports section of the newspaper early this week that the state-wide AP poll ranked Decatur #10 in 3-A schools and the Express-News' own poll of local schools (greater S.A./south-central Texas) ranked Devine #10 for all Sub-5A (Devine is also a 3-A level school). That same Sub-5A ranking had the Alamo Heights Mules at #2. AHHS is the high school where I sub-teach.
Allow me to advise you, dear reader, that the Texas state religion is somewhat stronger in small towns such as Devine and in distinctive "suburban" school districts (set-apart by obvious boundaries or unifying and unique characteristic, e.g. Alamo Hts.) than it is in metropolitan ISDs. Also, in these latter it's not just "Fri. nite" but also "Thu. nite-Sat. p.m." lights due to limited stadium facilities. Thus, the San Antonio ISD, where I used to also sub-teach, has eight high schools and two football/track-&-field stadiums. I still keep up with the high schools where I used to work, including the fortunes of their gridiron elevens. Notably the Sidney Lanier Voks ("Pride of the Westside"), the Thomas Edison Golden Bears, and the Thomas Jefferson Mustangs.
My favorite stadium in Bexar County is the SAISD's Alamo Stadium. The WPA of the Depression Era (1930s) built it, so it features solid construction and attractively classy looks. It overlooks downtown San Antonio from a hill to the north between the zoo-Brackenridge Park and the Trinity University campus. I also really like Alamo Heights' Orem Stadium and Harlandale ISD's Memorial Stadium near the old Spanish missions in southern S.A. At those two I can stand and watch a game from outside the fence, until ticket-takers leave the gates mid-way in the second half. Then I can enter and for no cost sit and enjoy the final quarter!
Well, I shall be at one or another of those temples of the Texas state religion some evening this weekend. I just haven't made up my mind WHICH game yet! It may just be highly-ranked 5-A Judson's stadium, because they are hosting another high-ranked 5-A team (Churchill H.S.), and I personally knew their head coach, Jim Rackley, when he was head coach at Southwest H.S. and attended my church in Devine. Now, let me tell you: having known him personally in the church/family setting (I was his house guest one night), and followed his coaching career since, I firmly believe that Jim Rackley is not just a terrific coach, but that he's probably THE BEST high school football coach in Texas! Which may just mean Jim's the best in the USA!
Friday, September 22, 2006
Monday, September 18, 2006
San Anto -- ALWAYS something to do!
Let NO ONE say in my presence, that "there's nothing to do in San Antonio!" As you may have guessed from my constant references to San Antonio as being a "party city", there is something entertaining or recreational going on all the time (weekends at least). And if there isn't some special event, there are always the numerous museums (more about them in a later blog), parks, or historical sites and tourist attractions.
This past weekend was a HUM-DINGER!!! We celebrated Diez y Seis, Mexico's Independence Day from Friday evening thru Sunday -- and NOT just Saturday the actual Sixteenth (Diez y Seis)! I had TWO spiritual/church-related events to attend in addition to the usual Sunday morning worship. The Aggies of Texas A & M were playing a football game against Army (West Point, the USMA) at the Alamodome, in addition to the usual line-up of dozens of area high school football games on Friday and Saturday nites. Also, I had won admission for two to great pop and country singer Ray Price's concert for Saturday nite at Floore's Country Store in suburban Helotes.
And then, I went to the Thursday evening closing portions of the S.A. City Council meeting -- and got reminded that this weekend was ALSO the annual JazzSAlive festival of jazz music in downtown's block-size Travis Park! Wow! When was I going to have time even to sleep, if I tried to take in all this? The ball games, of course, immediately got scratched. Since I couldn't find anyone with a car who could go to Ray Price (several liked him and would gladly have gone, but already had other commitments), that got scratched, too.
Friday evening I went across town to the Lackland AFB area to attend the Northwest San Antonio FDG Emmaus monthly gathering. One event of the meeting was the commissioning of the Team for Men's Walk to Emmaus #1327, and I'm on that Team. (The number of a Walk, BTW, refers to how many that particular conference-equivalent Emmaus community has done. This is the Southwest Texas Emmaus community, co-equal with the SWTX Conference of the United Methodist Church (the UMC oversees Emmaus nationwide). It's such a huge area that it's divided into numerous Fourth Day groups, of which NWSA and Care Bexar are two. Southwest Texas easily has had MORE walks than any equivalent region! And my impression is that Cursillo, the original 3-day retreat floowed by 4th Day activities for Christian renewal, in the Catholic Church is probably likewise enormously popular here in Texas.
The NWSA gathering seemed to go longer than usual, & not simply because of the additional commissioning of our Team. So I didn't get downtown until about 10:30. I had REALLY desired to attend the "El Grito" ceremony at Municipal Auditorium. I hadn't attended in a couple of years & missed it, because it truly is a delightful, colorful and musical celebration of Mexico's culture, ending with the official grito or shout patterned after Father Hidalgo's original grito that launched the struggle for independence from Spain. Plus I knew that one of the entertaining artists this year was to be Los Caporales, the excellent mariachi band which performs in Fiesta Texas themepark. But alas! as I approached the auditorium, the audience was leaving, since the show was over. Strange, that el grito was done at 10:30 and not an hour and a half later (midnight), as it's done across the border. (Hidalgo had summoned his parish in Dolores village by ringing the church bells around midnight, to utter his cry -- grito -- for revolution.)
So I went on home to bed. And I was up early on Saturday, to pray my half hour of the Prayer Vigil for Kairos Weekend #16 at the Torres Prison. Then I rode bus(es) to the Westside and my church on Guadalupe Street, for the Diez y Seis Parade. As always (when I've been able to attend it), this parade was colorful, long and fun. I'd put it right up there with the parades of Fiesta San Antonio -- even my fave, the Battle of Flowers (altho' Diez y Seis isn't nearly THAT long!).
Then I got on the bus(es) again, to get to Fiesta Texas, to turn in my locker and employee i.d. and to try one last endeavor to find someone who would like to attend the Ray Price concert and give me a ride. I had no success on that latter. So I consoled myself by enjoying the themepark one final time in '06. I watched my three favorite musical shows, Los Caporales mariachi, "The Heart of Country" traditional country classics and "Reflections at Rockville" '60s rock. That latter has my heart because the songs they sing and the clothes they wear are THE songs and clothes of MY high school years! (I was Borah H.S. in Boise, Class of '72.)
Furthermore, even tho' I took it easy as far as planning my itinerary, in addition to the three shows I rode six rides (the Train twice, for seven rides), including three I'd never before ridden. I even did the lead-up to The Rattler I had planned early this summer & hadn't gotten to put into action before that infernal Crew Ride on the wooden roller coaster that threw out my lower back. I first rode the Roadrunner Express, a comparatively mild coaster that I had ridden before, then The Boomerang, which takes riders several stories up on an incline before dropping them down thru a corkscrew and loop and then dropping them thru it all again -- backward! The lift up and dropping down (face-to-the-ground) on that first incline was the scariest part! Backward, which I'd been told was THE scariest part, was a piece of cake.
And THEN it was off to The Rattler, to ride the wooden coaster for my second time! To avoid another throwing-out of the lower back, I padded my seat with the day's newspaper which I'd bro't with me. Also, I psyched myself to stay as loose-jointed and relaxed as possible. No problem! I felt fine when my ride on The Rattler was done!
Sunday morning I was back on the bus(es) and riding back to my church on the Westside's Guadalupe Street for worship. It was a good service, well-attended for this small congregation! I had to leave during the sermon, in order to catch the bus again and get to a rendevous point at the appointed time to get a car ride out to the Torres Prison Unit (west of Hondo, the next county seat town due west of S.A.). One of the other passengers in this car had had heart surgery just this past Thursday -- and yet here she was, going to the Closing for Kairos Weekend #16 at Torres! What a trooper!
Dear reader, if you're a Christian & haven't ever been to a Closing for a Kairos Weekend, PROMISE yourself that you'll find out when the next one at a prison near you will be -- and go; in being a blessing to the inmates you'll get blessed! It used to be that to attend a Kairos Closing one had to have been on Cursillo or a Walk to Emmaus or a related program, but they've dropped that requirement (at least the TDCJ in this state has dropped it). All one needs is clearance to visit the prison (here, thru the TDCJ). I went to my first Kairos Weekend Closing in September of A.D. 2002 -- and I was "hooked! I couldn't get on a Team to do a Kairos Weekend fast en'uf! The testimonies of the inmates who were Candidates on the Weekend were that powerful, as to how the three-day Christian retreat in the prison had changed them around for the better! Kairos Prison Ministry is widely recognized as being THE MOST SUCCESSFUL rehabilitation program for offenders (inmates, convicts), that is, it has the best rate for released inmates NOT returning to a life of crime and back into the prison system.
Don't you want to be a part of something that God is using THAT effectively to bless folk who truly need the blessing of getting their lives turned around for the better???
This past weekend was a HUM-DINGER!!! We celebrated Diez y Seis, Mexico's Independence Day from Friday evening thru Sunday -- and NOT just Saturday the actual Sixteenth (Diez y Seis)! I had TWO spiritual/church-related events to attend in addition to the usual Sunday morning worship. The Aggies of Texas A & M were playing a football game against Army (West Point, the USMA) at the Alamodome, in addition to the usual line-up of dozens of area high school football games on Friday and Saturday nites. Also, I had won admission for two to great pop and country singer Ray Price's concert for Saturday nite at Floore's Country Store in suburban Helotes.
And then, I went to the Thursday evening closing portions of the S.A. City Council meeting -- and got reminded that this weekend was ALSO the annual JazzSAlive festival of jazz music in downtown's block-size Travis Park! Wow! When was I going to have time even to sleep, if I tried to take in all this? The ball games, of course, immediately got scratched. Since I couldn't find anyone with a car who could go to Ray Price (several liked him and would gladly have gone, but already had other commitments), that got scratched, too.
Friday evening I went across town to the Lackland AFB area to attend the Northwest San Antonio FDG Emmaus monthly gathering. One event of the meeting was the commissioning of the Team for Men's Walk to Emmaus #1327, and I'm on that Team. (The number of a Walk, BTW, refers to how many that particular conference-equivalent Emmaus community has done. This is the Southwest Texas Emmaus community, co-equal with the SWTX Conference of the United Methodist Church (the UMC oversees Emmaus nationwide). It's such a huge area that it's divided into numerous Fourth Day groups, of which NWSA and Care Bexar are two. Southwest Texas easily has had MORE walks than any equivalent region! And my impression is that Cursillo, the original 3-day retreat floowed by 4th Day activities for Christian renewal, in the Catholic Church is probably likewise enormously popular here in Texas.
The NWSA gathering seemed to go longer than usual, & not simply because of the additional commissioning of our Team. So I didn't get downtown until about 10:30. I had REALLY desired to attend the "El Grito" ceremony at Municipal Auditorium. I hadn't attended in a couple of years & missed it, because it truly is a delightful, colorful and musical celebration of Mexico's culture, ending with the official grito or shout patterned after Father Hidalgo's original grito that launched the struggle for independence from Spain. Plus I knew that one of the entertaining artists this year was to be Los Caporales, the excellent mariachi band which performs in Fiesta Texas themepark. But alas! as I approached the auditorium, the audience was leaving, since the show was over. Strange, that el grito was done at 10:30 and not an hour and a half later (midnight), as it's done across the border. (Hidalgo had summoned his parish in Dolores village by ringing the church bells around midnight, to utter his cry -- grito -- for revolution.)
So I went on home to bed. And I was up early on Saturday, to pray my half hour of the Prayer Vigil for Kairos Weekend #16 at the Torres Prison. Then I rode bus(es) to the Westside and my church on Guadalupe Street, for the Diez y Seis Parade. As always (when I've been able to attend it), this parade was colorful, long and fun. I'd put it right up there with the parades of Fiesta San Antonio -- even my fave, the Battle of Flowers (altho' Diez y Seis isn't nearly THAT long!).
Then I got on the bus(es) again, to get to Fiesta Texas, to turn in my locker and employee i.d. and to try one last endeavor to find someone who would like to attend the Ray Price concert and give me a ride. I had no success on that latter. So I consoled myself by enjoying the themepark one final time in '06. I watched my three favorite musical shows, Los Caporales mariachi, "The Heart of Country" traditional country classics and "Reflections at Rockville" '60s rock. That latter has my heart because the songs they sing and the clothes they wear are THE songs and clothes of MY high school years! (I was Borah H.S. in Boise, Class of '72.)
Furthermore, even tho' I took it easy as far as planning my itinerary, in addition to the three shows I rode six rides (the Train twice, for seven rides), including three I'd never before ridden. I even did the lead-up to The Rattler I had planned early this summer & hadn't gotten to put into action before that infernal Crew Ride on the wooden roller coaster that threw out my lower back. I first rode the Roadrunner Express, a comparatively mild coaster that I had ridden before, then The Boomerang, which takes riders several stories up on an incline before dropping them down thru a corkscrew and loop and then dropping them thru it all again -- backward! The lift up and dropping down (face-to-the-ground) on that first incline was the scariest part! Backward, which I'd been told was THE scariest part, was a piece of cake.
And THEN it was off to The Rattler, to ride the wooden coaster for my second time! To avoid another throwing-out of the lower back, I padded my seat with the day's newspaper which I'd bro't with me. Also, I psyched myself to stay as loose-jointed and relaxed as possible. No problem! I felt fine when my ride on The Rattler was done!
Sunday morning I was back on the bus(es) and riding back to my church on the Westside's Guadalupe Street for worship. It was a good service, well-attended for this small congregation! I had to leave during the sermon, in order to catch the bus again and get to a rendevous point at the appointed time to get a car ride out to the Torres Prison Unit (west of Hondo, the next county seat town due west of S.A.). One of the other passengers in this car had had heart surgery just this past Thursday -- and yet here she was, going to the Closing for Kairos Weekend #16 at Torres! What a trooper!
Dear reader, if you're a Christian & haven't ever been to a Closing for a Kairos Weekend, PROMISE yourself that you'll find out when the next one at a prison near you will be -- and go; in being a blessing to the inmates you'll get blessed! It used to be that to attend a Kairos Closing one had to have been on Cursillo or a Walk to Emmaus or a related program, but they've dropped that requirement (at least the TDCJ in this state has dropped it). All one needs is clearance to visit the prison (here, thru the TDCJ). I went to my first Kairos Weekend Closing in September of A.D. 2002 -- and I was "hooked! I couldn't get on a Team to do a Kairos Weekend fast en'uf! The testimonies of the inmates who were Candidates on the Weekend were that powerful, as to how the three-day Christian retreat in the prison had changed them around for the better! Kairos Prison Ministry is widely recognized as being THE MOST SUCCESSFUL rehabilitation program for offenders (inmates, convicts), that is, it has the best rate for released inmates NOT returning to a life of crime and back into the prison system.
Don't you want to be a part of something that God is using THAT effectively to bless folk who truly need the blessing of getting their lives turned around for the better???
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Radio: San Antonio on the airwaves
In my previous blog I mentioned listening to Stu Paul (& Roy Acuff) do play-by-play broadcasts of the San Antonio Missions Texas League baseball games on radio station KKYX-AM 680. This "classic country music" station is one of two stations I've listened to THE MOST since arriving here in San Antonio in A.D. 2002. The other station is KDRY-AM 1100, which used to be a limited-broadcast (i.e., not 24-7) mixture of good Christian teaching programs and of Southern Gospel music. KDRY is now 24-7, but is also almost all-teaching and almost no music any more.
A-a-a-hhh! I remember how in '02 I got into a very satisfying M.O. to start my week days. I would set the alarm for 5:00 AM on radio (rather than set for the beeping alarm), and have the radio tuned to KDRY. At the appointed hour KDRY would awake me with its opening, which included the morning deejay, Ralph Thompson, saying, ". . .and remember: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift from God. So let us rejoice and be glad in the present!" I've never heard a better opening for ANY radio station!
If I remember correctly, the first hour was all Southern Gospel music, and at some point during it I would silence the radio to do my morning devotions. Then, at 6:00, I would listen to Dr. John MacArthur's excellent teaching program "Grace to You". As soon as it ended, I would switch the radio to KKYX, catch the 3-4 minutes of local news, weather & traffic (not that I needed the latter), and then delight in two to three classic country music songs, one of which was ALWAYS a George Strait song! And then, about 6:38 would come "Today in History". Deejay Jerry King would go over events that had happened on the date thru'out the years (usually just the past century or two), and generally end this with a partial description of some event -- with the listener to call in a missing detail. I won a lot of tickets to such things as San Antonio Missions games and the Texas Folklife Festival by listening to Jerry's "Today in "History"!
Alas! most of that M.O. is now gone, mostly due to KDRY going 24-7 and dropping almost all music and that dear morning deejay! And at KKYX the program director, who dictates (doubtless by computer programming) what songs are played when (with NO concern for what the listening public might like), has seen fit to take George Strait and move him to BEFORE the 6:30 news (while "Grace to You" is still airing at KDRY). Oh, well. . . I still listen to KKYX a lot (& still win with "Today in History" or "Farm Fact or Fiction" an hour later), and to KDRY for "Grace to You" and when I can for its one remaining hour of So. Gospel music on Saturday afternoons.
Radio station KKYX-AM 680 played two songs on the morning of the eleventh of September, that were very appropriate for the solemn memorial of that fifth anniversary of the attacks. Right after "Today in History" it broadcast Alan Jackson's song "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)?" which was most appropriate, I'd say! Within a half hour the station also broadcast Moe Bandy's "Americana". Even more than Jackson's song, "Americana" bro't tears to my eyes, as it always does.
"Americana" is a ballad sung in the first person, of a man who for some reason turns off a superhighway into a small county seat town -- I like to think Decatur, Texas, or Crossville, Tennessee -- and upon observing the relaxed and friendly pace of life there, decides to hang around a bit longer, even tho' it will "throw me off my schedule". He sings about old men playing checkers and kids hop-scotching on the town square, Old Glory flying "high above a statue of an unknown soldier" at the courthouse, and young lovers courting at the drug store's soda fountain "like we did before they built the shopping mall". And as he gets ready to pull back onto the superhighway "it hit me like a freight train, that a stone's throw from the fast lane, America is still safe and sound."
Yes, even that Norman Rockwell-like image of small-town Americana, is getting rarer and rarer. And I suppose that 9-11 has to some degree had its deleterious effect upon even the smallest and most remote of burgs in this country. This is probably true also for that earlier terrorist attack that so many seems to have forgotten, but which was perpetrated by red-blooded American citizens against a target in the Heartland: McVeigh & company's vile destruction of the Murrah Building in OK City.
Still, as I listened to Moe Bandy sing those words that are at once both nostalgic and patriotic, "it hit me like a freight train" that there are still strong remnants of that old pre-terrorist American life, to be experienced here & there. And so I'll continue to sing along on the chorus:
. "Americana, pictures of a people proud and free
. Americana, I’ll keep holding to the dream
. You’re still what living means to me."
A-a-a-hhh! I remember how in '02 I got into a very satisfying M.O. to start my week days. I would set the alarm for 5:00 AM on radio (rather than set for the beeping alarm), and have the radio tuned to KDRY. At the appointed hour KDRY would awake me with its opening, which included the morning deejay, Ralph Thompson, saying, ". . .and remember: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift from God. So let us rejoice and be glad in the present!" I've never heard a better opening for ANY radio station!
If I remember correctly, the first hour was all Southern Gospel music, and at some point during it I would silence the radio to do my morning devotions. Then, at 6:00, I would listen to Dr. John MacArthur's excellent teaching program "Grace to You". As soon as it ended, I would switch the radio to KKYX, catch the 3-4 minutes of local news, weather & traffic (not that I needed the latter), and then delight in two to three classic country music songs, one of which was ALWAYS a George Strait song! And then, about 6:38 would come "Today in History". Deejay Jerry King would go over events that had happened on the date thru'out the years (usually just the past century or two), and generally end this with a partial description of some event -- with the listener to call in a missing detail. I won a lot of tickets to such things as San Antonio Missions games and the Texas Folklife Festival by listening to Jerry's "Today in "History"!
Alas! most of that M.O. is now gone, mostly due to KDRY going 24-7 and dropping almost all music and that dear morning deejay! And at KKYX the program director, who dictates (doubtless by computer programming) what songs are played when (with NO concern for what the listening public might like), has seen fit to take George Strait and move him to BEFORE the 6:30 news (while "Grace to You" is still airing at KDRY). Oh, well. . . I still listen to KKYX a lot (& still win with "Today in History" or "Farm Fact or Fiction" an hour later), and to KDRY for "Grace to You" and when I can for its one remaining hour of So. Gospel music on Saturday afternoons.
Radio station KKYX-AM 680 played two songs on the morning of the eleventh of September, that were very appropriate for the solemn memorial of that fifth anniversary of the attacks. Right after "Today in History" it broadcast Alan Jackson's song "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)?" which was most appropriate, I'd say! Within a half hour the station also broadcast Moe Bandy's "Americana". Even more than Jackson's song, "Americana" bro't tears to my eyes, as it always does.
"Americana" is a ballad sung in the first person, of a man who for some reason turns off a superhighway into a small county seat town -- I like to think Decatur, Texas, or Crossville, Tennessee -- and upon observing the relaxed and friendly pace of life there, decides to hang around a bit longer, even tho' it will "throw me off my schedule". He sings about old men playing checkers and kids hop-scotching on the town square, Old Glory flying "high above a statue of an unknown soldier" at the courthouse, and young lovers courting at the drug store's soda fountain "like we did before they built the shopping mall". And as he gets ready to pull back onto the superhighway "it hit me like a freight train, that a stone's throw from the fast lane, America is still safe and sound."
Yes, even that Norman Rockwell-like image of small-town Americana, is getting rarer and rarer. And I suppose that 9-11 has to some degree had its deleterious effect upon even the smallest and most remote of burgs in this country. This is probably true also for that earlier terrorist attack that so many seems to have forgotten, but which was perpetrated by red-blooded American citizens against a target in the Heartland: McVeigh & company's vile destruction of the Murrah Building in OK City.
Still, as I listened to Moe Bandy sing those words that are at once both nostalgic and patriotic, "it hit me like a freight train" that there are still strong remnants of that old pre-terrorist American life, to be experienced here & there. And so I'll continue to sing along on the chorus:
. "Americana, pictures of a people proud and free
. Americana, I’ll keep holding to the dream
. You’re still what living means to me."
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Baseball: Minor & Major
Early on in my postings at this, my blog spot, back in April, I mentioned the San Antonio Missions, the local minor league -- AA Texas League -- baseball team. Haven't said much, if anything, since. Here's why:
I actually won tickets to two of the Missions' games during this past season. My upstairs neighbor, Dennis from Detroit, went with me to one of those games. At the other game I got to go up in the pressbox and meet face-to-face with radio announcer Stu Paul, who does the games on radio station KKYX-AM 680. This is the fifth season that I've been privileged to listen to him and Roy Acuff (NOT THE Roy Acuff of the Grand Ole Opry, who's playing the Opry of Heaven; this one's not even named after him) do their play-by-play of Missions' games on KKYX-AM 680.
Both games I attended this year the Missions won.
However, over-all, 2006 was not kind to the hometown "boys of summer". After commencing in April with a successful series against the Corpus Christi Hooks in the Gulf-side city, The Missions slid down into a definite last-place finish in the TL South first half. Then after the TL All-Star Game break, San Antonio started out roaring in the second half! I actually got to thinking (hoping?) that '06 might be a repeat of '02, when the Missions finished dead last the first half, only to turn around and win the second half and go on to the first of back-to-back TL Championships.
But it never happened; the Missions faded away as the second half came to a close. There were some great games, at least to listen to on KKYX. But they still didn't make the playoffs.
So. . . since I've bro't up the subject of pro baseball, how about the Majors? Well, just to let you know, when I was a boy, I was a fervent fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates and all but worshipped Roberto Clemente. When he died in an airplane crash while taking aid to earthquake-devastated Nicaragua, his death hit me hard. I couldn't bear to follow baseball at any level for years. Then I moved to Fort Worth (A.D. 1976), and soon became a fan of the Texas Rangers. I actually attended a couple of Texas Rangers games at their ballpark in Arlington (the old one, before George W. built the present stadium). I'll never forget one of those, in which the Seattle Mariners were at bat, and the Rangers got a triple play against them! A TRIPLE PLAY!!!
When Nolan Ryan starred with the Rangers, I found a new baseball hero, one to almost rival my boyhood adoration of Clemente. Ryan was such a CLASSY man all around! And going strong at an age when most pro baseballers had hung up their gloves! Alas! the last visual image of Ryan as a Ranger was in a fight that broke out at his final game (or near-final), and there he was in the midst of the donnybrook, the head of someone on the opposing team locked in an elbow-grip while Ryan was giving him a noogie. Not an attractive image to go out on!
Since my Metroplex-residence days I've been a fan of the Rangers. I also continue to support the Pirates. And my love for the Seattle Mariners has become strong, due to them being the parent club for the S.A. Missions.
So-o-o, there's baseball and me, for you. . . .
I actually won tickets to two of the Missions' games during this past season. My upstairs neighbor, Dennis from Detroit, went with me to one of those games. At the other game I got to go up in the pressbox and meet face-to-face with radio announcer Stu Paul, who does the games on radio station KKYX-AM 680. This is the fifth season that I've been privileged to listen to him and Roy Acuff (NOT THE Roy Acuff of the Grand Ole Opry, who's playing the Opry of Heaven; this one's not even named after him) do their play-by-play of Missions' games on KKYX-AM 680.
Both games I attended this year the Missions won.
However, over-all, 2006 was not kind to the hometown "boys of summer". After commencing in April with a successful series against the Corpus Christi Hooks in the Gulf-side city, The Missions slid down into a definite last-place finish in the TL South first half. Then after the TL All-Star Game break, San Antonio started out roaring in the second half! I actually got to thinking (hoping?) that '06 might be a repeat of '02, when the Missions finished dead last the first half, only to turn around and win the second half and go on to the first of back-to-back TL Championships.
But it never happened; the Missions faded away as the second half came to a close. There were some great games, at least to listen to on KKYX. But they still didn't make the playoffs.
So. . . since I've bro't up the subject of pro baseball, how about the Majors? Well, just to let you know, when I was a boy, I was a fervent fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates and all but worshipped Roberto Clemente. When he died in an airplane crash while taking aid to earthquake-devastated Nicaragua, his death hit me hard. I couldn't bear to follow baseball at any level for years. Then I moved to Fort Worth (A.D. 1976), and soon became a fan of the Texas Rangers. I actually attended a couple of Texas Rangers games at their ballpark in Arlington (the old one, before George W. built the present stadium). I'll never forget one of those, in which the Seattle Mariners were at bat, and the Rangers got a triple play against them! A TRIPLE PLAY!!!
When Nolan Ryan starred with the Rangers, I found a new baseball hero, one to almost rival my boyhood adoration of Clemente. Ryan was such a CLASSY man all around! And going strong at an age when most pro baseballers had hung up their gloves! Alas! the last visual image of Ryan as a Ranger was in a fight that broke out at his final game (or near-final), and there he was in the midst of the donnybrook, the head of someone on the opposing team locked in an elbow-grip while Ryan was giving him a noogie. Not an attractive image to go out on!
Since my Metroplex-residence days I've been a fan of the Rangers. I also continue to support the Pirates. And my love for the Seattle Mariners has become strong, due to them being the parent club for the S.A. Missions.
So-o-o, there's baseball and me, for you. . . .
Monday, September 11, 2006
Nine-Eleven five years ago
Well, dear reader(s), here we are, on the fifth anniversary of one of the most horrendous events -- if not THE most horrendous -- to occur in my lifetime. To be honest, other terrible things assaulted me in A.D. 2001, that first year of the Twenty-first Century and the Third Milennium. All these traumatic events affected me deeply, and here in '06 I remember them clearly. But in the case of this one remembered today, EVERYONE remembers; it was an event which affected everyone -- most especially folks who were in the locations where it happened.
Five years ago, on Tuesday morning of the eleventh of September, I was watching "Stanley and Livingstone" on one of the classic movie reruns channels. When the movie was over, I considered getting myself ready to go out job searching (I was in the middle of a seven-month stretch of joblessness). But I decided instead to channel-surf. As the remote control sent the TV surfing over the various cable channels, there was a recurring image of one of the World Trade Center twin towers in New York City billowing out a huge cloud of black smoke. When this image had cropped up three or four times, I let up on the remote, to find out what this signified.
Shortly afterward, the second jet rammed into the second tower. That was just the beginning of a series of images on the small screen that infamous day and the following days. The Pentagon hit by a third jet. . . a fourth jet hurtling to Earth in a Pennsylvania field. . . the WTC towers imploding one after the other. . . people fleeing the destruction thru the streets of NYC, businessmen with their neckties flying over their shoulders. . . dust covering people and cars. . . . It was a much darker picture than had been that movie I'd been watching, set in the interior of "darkest" Africa!
At some point it became very clear that these United States were not being attacked by some other established nation but rather by some shadowy group of terrorists. I remember going to awaken my son (a "night owl" and late sleeper), to tell him that "we're at war!"
And so we were. Here, five years later we're still in this war against terrorists. A lot of my fellow citizens are opposed to continuing this war, or at least that part of it that has our military in Iraq. However, I remember the words our President had said a few days later, upon declaring this war against terrorism. He told us it would be a long war, and nothing like any war this nation had fought before. We need to keep up our resolve, to thwart terrorism and pass on a peaceful, terrorist-free world to our children and grandchildren.
For all the horror of those days of September of '01, a few good things came out of them. One was the strong sense of national unity in the face of this terrible new threat, another the sympathy of other nations expressed in numerous memorials overseas, some simple and spontaneous, such as growing collections of lit candles outside USA embassies. And for me, a growing gratitude that the previous November (after much thought and weighing the plusses & minuses of the candidates) I had cast my vote for the man who was to be President when the 9-11 attacks occurred. Yes, I thank God that George W. Bush was our President when the atack came!
So: where were YOU that Tuesday morning five years ago? What were YOU engaged in?
Five years ago, on Tuesday morning of the eleventh of September, I was watching "Stanley and Livingstone" on one of the classic movie reruns channels. When the movie was over, I considered getting myself ready to go out job searching (I was in the middle of a seven-month stretch of joblessness). But I decided instead to channel-surf. As the remote control sent the TV surfing over the various cable channels, there was a recurring image of one of the World Trade Center twin towers in New York City billowing out a huge cloud of black smoke. When this image had cropped up three or four times, I let up on the remote, to find out what this signified.
Shortly afterward, the second jet rammed into the second tower. That was just the beginning of a series of images on the small screen that infamous day and the following days. The Pentagon hit by a third jet. . . a fourth jet hurtling to Earth in a Pennsylvania field. . . the WTC towers imploding one after the other. . . people fleeing the destruction thru the streets of NYC, businessmen with their neckties flying over their shoulders. . . dust covering people and cars. . . . It was a much darker picture than had been that movie I'd been watching, set in the interior of "darkest" Africa!
At some point it became very clear that these United States were not being attacked by some other established nation but rather by some shadowy group of terrorists. I remember going to awaken my son (a "night owl" and late sleeper), to tell him that "we're at war!"
And so we were. Here, five years later we're still in this war against terrorists. A lot of my fellow citizens are opposed to continuing this war, or at least that part of it that has our military in Iraq. However, I remember the words our President had said a few days later, upon declaring this war against terrorism. He told us it would be a long war, and nothing like any war this nation had fought before. We need to keep up our resolve, to thwart terrorism and pass on a peaceful, terrorist-free world to our children and grandchildren.
For all the horror of those days of September of '01, a few good things came out of them. One was the strong sense of national unity in the face of this terrible new threat, another the sympathy of other nations expressed in numerous memorials overseas, some simple and spontaneous, such as growing collections of lit candles outside USA embassies. And for me, a growing gratitude that the previous November (after much thought and weighing the plusses & minuses of the candidates) I had cast my vote for the man who was to be President when the 9-11 attacks occurred. Yes, I thank God that George W. Bush was our President when the atack came!
So: where were YOU that Tuesday morning five years ago? What were YOU engaged in?
Thursday, September 07, 2006
End-of-summer slouching continues. . .
In an earlier blog, I described how the Summer season seems to slouch toward its ending, since there are numerous ways to define the end of summer (in addition to the official calendar ending, which is the Fall Equnox on or near 21 September).
Well, the slouching of Summer's ending persists. Tomorrow will be my final day of work on the Fiesta Texas Railroad. Now, stictly speaking this situation should not signal the end of Summer, since I did a whole week of work on the train ride during Spring Break and then Saturdays to late May. And let's not forget that Spring Break was early in March, well before the equinox that officially signals the commencement of Spring!
Nevertheless, I consider work at Fiesta Texas to be my Summer job, in some manner or other. Certainly during the summer months this is my sole source of income. And as I've said in earlier blog postings, this Summer's work on the train has been FUN! Already I miss it -- and I still have that one day to go!
Oh, I've mentioned that San Antonio has been in a drought, and that August daily high temperatures have been at or above 99 F. Well, early this week we finally got some much-needed rain, and the "cold" front that bro't it snapped that trend toward triple-digit highs. Indeed, yesterday we didn't get into the 90s at all! Hooray!
One event that seemed to signal Summer's end, at least for us Fiesta Texas workers, was on the Sunday evening at the end of the park's being open all week long. It was a "Sock Hop" for all employees, in the Rockville or 1950s theme area. The dominant item in the Rockville area is Rockville High School, and altho' the "Sock Hop" was held outside & well away from that building, and the event didn't involve a true sock hop or any dancing at all -- still, one associates a sock hop with high school, since it was type of dance event popular in high schools of the '50s.
What WAS available for enjoyment during this event were a couple of games, at which I did lousy, three rides, none of which I could ride thanks to the earlier back injury on the Rattler and the VÍA bus, and karaoke, a great delight for me. Alas! this karaoke was limited to strictly Elvis Presley hits. As I scanned the list of hits we could sing to (which was far from exhaustive of Presley's output), I saw "In the Ghetto", which is my favorite of songs Elvis recorded. However, it's been years since I heard it (if I remember correctly, when I was in high school I had that song on a 45 rpm vinyl disk), and I wasn't sure but what it might go above my comfortable vocal range. So I chose "Return to Sender" I sang that one easily en'uf, but still didn't win the prize. Nevertheless, it was a fun evening, presenting one of a bunch of events I can consider as end-of-summer!
So. . . have a gre-r-r-reat Fall, y'all!
Well, the slouching of Summer's ending persists. Tomorrow will be my final day of work on the Fiesta Texas Railroad. Now, stictly speaking this situation should not signal the end of Summer, since I did a whole week of work on the train ride during Spring Break and then Saturdays to late May. And let's not forget that Spring Break was early in March, well before the equinox that officially signals the commencement of Spring!
Nevertheless, I consider work at Fiesta Texas to be my Summer job, in some manner or other. Certainly during the summer months this is my sole source of income. And as I've said in earlier blog postings, this Summer's work on the train has been FUN! Already I miss it -- and I still have that one day to go!
Oh, I've mentioned that San Antonio has been in a drought, and that August daily high temperatures have been at or above 99 F. Well, early this week we finally got some much-needed rain, and the "cold" front that bro't it snapped that trend toward triple-digit highs. Indeed, yesterday we didn't get into the 90s at all! Hooray!
One event that seemed to signal Summer's end, at least for us Fiesta Texas workers, was on the Sunday evening at the end of the park's being open all week long. It was a "Sock Hop" for all employees, in the Rockville or 1950s theme area. The dominant item in the Rockville area is Rockville High School, and altho' the "Sock Hop" was held outside & well away from that building, and the event didn't involve a true sock hop or any dancing at all -- still, one associates a sock hop with high school, since it was type of dance event popular in high schools of the '50s.
What WAS available for enjoyment during this event were a couple of games, at which I did lousy, three rides, none of which I could ride thanks to the earlier back injury on the Rattler and the VÍA bus, and karaoke, a great delight for me. Alas! this karaoke was limited to strictly Elvis Presley hits. As I scanned the list of hits we could sing to (which was far from exhaustive of Presley's output), I saw "In the Ghetto", which is my favorite of songs Elvis recorded. However, it's been years since I heard it (if I remember correctly, when I was in high school I had that song on a 45 rpm vinyl disk), and I wasn't sure but what it might go above my comfortable vocal range. So I chose "Return to Sender" I sang that one easily en'uf, but still didn't win the prize. Nevertheless, it was a fun evening, presenting one of a bunch of events I can consider as end-of-summer!
So. . . have a gre-r-r-reat Fall, y'all!
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Los Apaches Café has gone
Well! Is there some dread disease moving among the Mexican cafés of San Antonio? Last month my favorite Mexican café closed its doors, and only by serendipity did I get to have a final meal at Salsa Mora's, on its final day.
As this month of September in the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Six began, I was dismayed to read in the newspaper that Los Apaches Café likewise was about to shut down! After all, it was among the first places at which I ate when I arrived here in the Alamo City in January of A.D. 2002.
During that first week of living here in San Antonio, I took the bus downtown one evening to get re-acquainted with landmarks I remembered from earlier eras in my life. (Specifically, during my tour of duty at Ft. Hood, north of Austin, in 1981-83, and then while living in Devine, southwest of here in 1992-94.) One place I checked out was El Mercado, the Mexican Marketplace. Since I found everything there closed, I started walking east on Commerce Street toward Main Plaza. And thus I came to Los Apaches Café, and found it still open on this chilly January evening. I went in and had a small supper there. The food was delicious and definitely NOT mass-produced like a chain cafe's! And all over the inside, as well as on the sign outside were many Native American figures & figurines: "Indian" heads, paintings of "Indians" on the warpath or hunting, etc.
Really, it was a very pleasant place to dine! Alas! shortly afterward, Los Apaches did what most Mexican cafés here do: it began to close in the mid-afternoon. But I still had a breakfast taco or two occasionally there. LAst Sunday, my after-church dinner was at Los Apaches. And I probably would have eaten there more often, had I not encountered such other delightful Mexican restaurants as the now defunct Salsa Mora's.
And alas! now Los Apaches is defunct, too! Who's next, I wonder. . . .
As this month of September in the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Six began, I was dismayed to read in the newspaper that Los Apaches Café likewise was about to shut down! After all, it was among the first places at which I ate when I arrived here in the Alamo City in January of A.D. 2002.
During that first week of living here in San Antonio, I took the bus downtown one evening to get re-acquainted with landmarks I remembered from earlier eras in my life. (Specifically, during my tour of duty at Ft. Hood, north of Austin, in 1981-83, and then while living in Devine, southwest of here in 1992-94.) One place I checked out was El Mercado, the Mexican Marketplace. Since I found everything there closed, I started walking east on Commerce Street toward Main Plaza. And thus I came to Los Apaches Café, and found it still open on this chilly January evening. I went in and had a small supper there. The food was delicious and definitely NOT mass-produced like a chain cafe's! And all over the inside, as well as on the sign outside were many Native American figures & figurines: "Indian" heads, paintings of "Indians" on the warpath or hunting, etc.
Really, it was a very pleasant place to dine! Alas! shortly afterward, Los Apaches did what most Mexican cafés here do: it began to close in the mid-afternoon. But I still had a breakfast taco or two occasionally there. LAst Sunday, my after-church dinner was at Los Apaches. And I probably would have eaten there more often, had I not encountered such other delightful Mexican restaurants as the now defunct Salsa Mora's.
And alas! now Los Apaches is defunct, too! Who's next, I wonder. . . .
Friday, September 01, 2006
Gen. Mc Dermott, Sir, rest in peace!
Early this week San Antonio and the USA lost a man who, probably more than anyone else, shaped this city in the last half of the twentieth Century into what she is now in the opening years of the Twenty-first. General Robert F. Mc Dermott left this mortal Earth on Monday the 28th, at age 86, following complication of a mid-August stroke.
The General was known to me primarily as the (retired) CEO of USAA, the major financial and insurance firm for military (active & retired) and their dependents. In that role I'd long admired Gen. Mc Dermott. He was a very respected leader at USAA. which used to be my auto insurer and still is MY BANK. One item that led to my admiration was that early in the 1990s, he insisted that USAA not stoop to the "casual Friday" work apparel, but rather continue to have employees dressed like professionals, e.g. men in dress shirts and neckties. Speaking of apparel, I've never seen a photo of the General where he wasn't wearing a suit and tie. With such dapper garb and his silvery head of hair always neatly combed, and his bearing, he truly looked regal, or as someone has said, like "a made-to-order General for Hollywood casting"
But oh, there was SO MUCH more to "McD", as he was affectionately known. One strong indication of the full life of this man is that his obituary took up TWO entire columns on the Express-News obituary page! (Be aware that the font size for obituaries is smaller than the font size for regular newspaper articles!) And in the day or two following his departure from this life there were easily a half dozen newspaper articles concerning him. Even the Sports section got in on this act, since McD was engaged with S.A.'s beloved NBA team, the Spurs, and was responsible for the hiring of Coach Popovich, a cadet at AFA during McD's tenure there.
Raised in New England, he flew several combat missions in WW II. He was also in the administration of the then-new Air Force Academy in Colorado, and retired as brigadier general (the youngest at the time he was promoted to that rank). While taking USAA from a mediocre auto insurance corporation to an efficient and admired financial giant (for awhile the largest private employer in S.A.), McD also took San Antonio from a sleepy, status-quo-is-fine city basking in the afterglow of HemisFair '68, to the vibrant and economically diverse yet still-colorful metropolis it is today.
On the way, McD started innovative business practices at USAA & had his hand in the origins or major expansions of various now-well-established S.A. entities, such as the Medical Center in the northwest of the city, the Economic Development Foundation, and the Texas Research Park in far west Bexar County. He and USAA joined forces with Opryland USA in Nashville, to bring an Opryland-style music show oriented amusement park to S.A. Hence, we now have Fiesta Texas!
McD was not perfect. (Only one man ever was perfect, and for His perfection He got nailed to a cross!) Early on he and C.O.P.S. got cross-wise of each other. But then McD realized that his E.D.F. and the Communities Organized for Public Service had very similar goals, and conversations led to co-operation. McD also was a staunch early advocate (if not agitator) for air bags in vehicles. I detest those deadly devices -- numerous small children and small women have died thanks to an air bag deployment. So McD loses points with me thanks to that! (However, he doesn't lose many.)
The Express-News, S.A.'s daily newspaper, on its Website had a "Talkback" page where readers could post reminiscences of General Mc Dermott, and condolences to the family. Over 70 such messages were quickly posted, many from retired or former USAA employees. Many a heart-warming anecdote concerning this man got shared here.
Mc Dermott's name graces such items as the USAA headquarters building, a nearby elementary school and professorships at the AFA and the UIW. A grateful San Antonio also gave his name to the portion of IH Ten going north from downtown past the USAA campus and further out toward Fiesta Texas.
Today they held the funeral and then buried this remarkable man. Also, there was a rosary for Gen. McD last evening, in the chapel of the University of the Incarnate Word, where he had been teaching when he suffered the stroke. The funeral itself was this morning at St. Peter Prince Catholic Church in Alamo Heights (just blocks up Broadway from the university chapel). He being a retired military general, the burial was of course in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.
Due to work schedule and other factors I didn't get to attend the rosary, the funeral or the burial service. However, I've made a promise that as soon as I am able, I'll visit the FSH Nat'l Cemetery and pay my respects to this man I never met but whose impact has touched my life and whose example I will always hold to be one of the best!
General Mc Dermott, Sir! Thank you for all you gave, to make San Antonio the dynamic city she is today. And a special thanks to you for your hand in the creation of Fiesta Texas! May you rest in the undying peace of Heaven!
The General was known to me primarily as the (retired) CEO of USAA, the major financial and insurance firm for military (active & retired) and their dependents. In that role I'd long admired Gen. Mc Dermott. He was a very respected leader at USAA. which used to be my auto insurer and still is MY BANK. One item that led to my admiration was that early in the 1990s, he insisted that USAA not stoop to the "casual Friday" work apparel, but rather continue to have employees dressed like professionals, e.g. men in dress shirts and neckties. Speaking of apparel, I've never seen a photo of the General where he wasn't wearing a suit and tie. With such dapper garb and his silvery head of hair always neatly combed, and his bearing, he truly looked regal, or as someone has said, like "a made-to-order General for Hollywood casting"
But oh, there was SO MUCH more to "McD", as he was affectionately known. One strong indication of the full life of this man is that his obituary took up TWO entire columns on the Express-News obituary page! (Be aware that the font size for obituaries is smaller than the font size for regular newspaper articles!) And in the day or two following his departure from this life there were easily a half dozen newspaper articles concerning him. Even the Sports section got in on this act, since McD was engaged with S.A.'s beloved NBA team, the Spurs, and was responsible for the hiring of Coach Popovich, a cadet at AFA during McD's tenure there.
Raised in New England, he flew several combat missions in WW II. He was also in the administration of the then-new Air Force Academy in Colorado, and retired as brigadier general (the youngest at the time he was promoted to that rank). While taking USAA from a mediocre auto insurance corporation to an efficient and admired financial giant (for awhile the largest private employer in S.A.), McD also took San Antonio from a sleepy, status-quo-is-fine city basking in the afterglow of HemisFair '68, to the vibrant and economically diverse yet still-colorful metropolis it is today.
On the way, McD started innovative business practices at USAA & had his hand in the origins or major expansions of various now-well-established S.A. entities, such as the Medical Center in the northwest of the city, the Economic Development Foundation, and the Texas Research Park in far west Bexar County. He and USAA joined forces with Opryland USA in Nashville, to bring an Opryland-style music show oriented amusement park to S.A. Hence, we now have Fiesta Texas!
McD was not perfect. (Only one man ever was perfect, and for His perfection He got nailed to a cross!) Early on he and C.O.P.S. got cross-wise of each other. But then McD realized that his E.D.F. and the Communities Organized for Public Service had very similar goals, and conversations led to co-operation. McD also was a staunch early advocate (if not agitator) for air bags in vehicles. I detest those deadly devices -- numerous small children and small women have died thanks to an air bag deployment. So McD loses points with me thanks to that! (However, he doesn't lose many.)
The Express-News, S.A.'s daily newspaper, on its Website had a "Talkback" page where readers could post reminiscences of General Mc Dermott, and condolences to the family. Over 70 such messages were quickly posted, many from retired or former USAA employees. Many a heart-warming anecdote concerning this man got shared here.
Mc Dermott's name graces such items as the USAA headquarters building, a nearby elementary school and professorships at the AFA and the UIW. A grateful San Antonio also gave his name to the portion of IH Ten going north from downtown past the USAA campus and further out toward Fiesta Texas.
Today they held the funeral and then buried this remarkable man. Also, there was a rosary for Gen. McD last evening, in the chapel of the University of the Incarnate Word, where he had been teaching when he suffered the stroke. The funeral itself was this morning at St. Peter Prince Catholic Church in Alamo Heights (just blocks up Broadway from the university chapel). He being a retired military general, the burial was of course in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.
Due to work schedule and other factors I didn't get to attend the rosary, the funeral or the burial service. However, I've made a promise that as soon as I am able, I'll visit the FSH Nat'l Cemetery and pay my respects to this man I never met but whose impact has touched my life and whose example I will always hold to be one of the best!
General Mc Dermott, Sir! Thank you for all you gave, to make San Antonio the dynamic city she is today. And a special thanks to you for your hand in the creation of Fiesta Texas! May you rest in the undying peace of Heaven!
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
San Antonio & last year's storms
If you've paid any attention to current news, particularly of the printed genre (newspapers), you'll know that we're at the anniversary of when Hurricane Katrina came ashore and dealt its deadly blows against the city of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast of Louisiana & Mississippi. That was such a sad time, back then. Imprinted in my memory lies a photo from the front page of the San Antonio daily, showing an Afro-American woman wearing a print dress typical of middle-aged women, floating dead, face down in the floodwaters. Yes, it was horrible!
And then within a month, Hurricane Rita stormed ashore further to the west. She had her deleterious effect on the region still reeling from Katrina, plus visiting damage on southeast Texas.
Far stronger in my memory than that photo of the dead victim in New Orleans is memory of my city's response to the two storms and to those negatively impacted by them. San Antonio REALLY stepped in and helped our coastal neighbors! Tens of thousands of evacuees, mostly from the Big Easy, swelled our population for several months. This city was ready to aid them, and gave the evacuees a strong welcome and assistance. Even VÍA buses got in on the action, giving free rides to resident evacuees, so they could get around the city for immediate help of all kinds, to find shelter more comfortable than the temporary group lodging arranged in old hangars, an abandoned factory and a mostly vacant shopping mall, and to seek out employment either for the duration or permanently. It says A LOT about our welcome and assistance, that many, many New Orleans evacuees have chosen to make the Alamo City their new residence (and to not return to New Orleans).
Then came Rita. Again, San Antonio and VÍA went into action, as buses were sent to Corpus Christi to help in the evacuation of the Gulf Coast city. Turned out this evacuation wasn't needed, since the hurricane took a more easterly trajectory. But then, we saw lots of folk from the Houston-Galveston-Beaumont area. And thank goodness, these evacuees weren't as numerous as those from the previous storm. And Rita wasn't quite the ogre either that Katrina had been.
As the news media reminds of this sad anniversary, the sadness of the memories of the storms is lightened by the memory of how San Antonio responded! This city knows how to party; we also know how to work hard at helping neighbors less fortunate!
And then within a month, Hurricane Rita stormed ashore further to the west. She had her deleterious effect on the region still reeling from Katrina, plus visiting damage on southeast Texas.
Far stronger in my memory than that photo of the dead victim in New Orleans is memory of my city's response to the two storms and to those negatively impacted by them. San Antonio REALLY stepped in and helped our coastal neighbors! Tens of thousands of evacuees, mostly from the Big Easy, swelled our population for several months. This city was ready to aid them, and gave the evacuees a strong welcome and assistance. Even VÍA buses got in on the action, giving free rides to resident evacuees, so they could get around the city for immediate help of all kinds, to find shelter more comfortable than the temporary group lodging arranged in old hangars, an abandoned factory and a mostly vacant shopping mall, and to seek out employment either for the duration or permanently. It says A LOT about our welcome and assistance, that many, many New Orleans evacuees have chosen to make the Alamo City their new residence (and to not return to New Orleans).
Then came Rita. Again, San Antonio and VÍA went into action, as buses were sent to Corpus Christi to help in the evacuation of the Gulf Coast city. Turned out this evacuation wasn't needed, since the hurricane took a more easterly trajectory. But then, we saw lots of folk from the Houston-Galveston-Beaumont area. And thank goodness, these evacuees weren't as numerous as those from the previous storm. And Rita wasn't quite the ogre either that Katrina had been.
As the news media reminds of this sad anniversary, the sadness of the memories of the storms is lightened by the memory of how San Antonio responded! This city knows how to party; we also know how to work hard at helping neighbors less fortunate!
Friday, August 25, 2006
Summer slouches toward terminus
This past week has been a different one in some ways. Instead of taking the bus to work at Fiesta Texas daily (or most days) I've worked a few days at my other job, as substitute teacher in the Alamo Heights ISD. And I've had "free time", to catch up on the many items that had been set aside during the busy summer weeks at the theme park.
That school classes are back in session and Fiesta Texas is now open only on weekends may SAY that summer's over. But the thermometer most assuredly isn't saying the same! The daily high remains what it's been all thru August: at or above 99 F! And the drought that has afflicted Texas for months (since '05) rages on. Not exactly comfy weather for the learning environment!
Last Friday, as I was leaving Fiesta Texas on the final work Friday of '06, two things were on my mind. One, I had survived a double shift with a bad back (which I had injured the day before on the VÍA bus arriving at the themepark's employee bus stop). And two, I was feeling a sort of "separation anxiety" that I wouldn't be working daily at the park any more (at least in '06) and for only three more Saturdays to boot.
Yup, it sure felt, in a sort of spiritual way, that summer was indeed at its sad end. But. . . this HEAT! ! !
Add to your consideration, that folk in these United States consider the Labor Day weekend to be the "official" or "informal" end of the summer season -- but nevertheless the calendar end of summer is the equinox, occurring on or around 21 September. So-o-o, exactly WHEN does the "dog days" season have its terminus? Eh? ? ?
Meanwhile, what is continuing on is this HEAT! ! !
That school classes are back in session and Fiesta Texas is now open only on weekends may SAY that summer's over. But the thermometer most assuredly isn't saying the same! The daily high remains what it's been all thru August: at or above 99 F! And the drought that has afflicted Texas for months (since '05) rages on. Not exactly comfy weather for the learning environment!
Last Friday, as I was leaving Fiesta Texas on the final work Friday of '06, two things were on my mind. One, I had survived a double shift with a bad back (which I had injured the day before on the VÍA bus arriving at the themepark's employee bus stop). And two, I was feeling a sort of "separation anxiety" that I wouldn't be working daily at the park any more (at least in '06) and for only three more Saturdays to boot.
Yup, it sure felt, in a sort of spiritual way, that summer was indeed at its sad end. But. . . this HEAT! ! !
Add to your consideration, that folk in these United States consider the Labor Day weekend to be the "official" or "informal" end of the summer season -- but nevertheless the calendar end of summer is the equinox, occurring on or around 21 September. So-o-o, exactly WHEN does the "dog days" season have its terminus? Eh? ? ?
Meanwhile, what is continuing on is this HEAT! ! !
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Mexican mother, German father
Or maybe it's "Mexican father, German mother"? Either way, in this blog posting I offer rumination (there's that word again!) upon why it may be that San Antonio is what she is, specifically, a city whose middle name is "PARTY".
Because the main train depot at Fiesta Texas is in the German theme area of the amusement park, called Spassburg or "Fun Town", I've been doing a little investigation of the Deutsch language and German culture. Years ago, I must confess, I was prejudiced against Germans and all things German. They were the people who had sparked two world wars with their aggressive militarism, had put the despicable Nazis in power and exterminated millions of humans simply for being Jewish, Slavic, gypsy or whatever. But in the past decade or so the prejudice has been eroded by various factors. Perhaps most significant was that there was a native German lady at my church in Clarksville, Tennessee, who was a cherished sister in Christ. There wasn't anything about her to not appreciate, so why should I hang onto any remaining bias against the Deutsche, their language or culture/history?
More currently, a couple of my fellow train crew members on the Fiesta Texas RR were of German heritage. In fact, one related to me that he didn't learn English until he began school because everyone in the small town of his raising spoke either German or Spanish or both. (An interesting side note: in the mid-1800s the one bridge over the San Antonio River had a sign giving brief instructions for walking horses across it in Spanish, German and English -- a trilingual sign, reference to which always causes me to think of history's most infamous trilingual sign, the one Pontius Pilate ordered nailed atop the cross of Jesus.)
So-o-o-o. . . I've done a little reading this summer. Just a little, since I spent so much time either at work or going to and from work on the VÍA bus system. One of the books I read had a brief introduction by a sort of American ex-patriate living in Deutschland. His most interesting point, for me, was that next to the Spaniards the Deutsche are the most partying people in Europe.
Oh??? Hm-m-m-m!!! Well, then, perhaps THIS explains San Antonio's partying nature! Join the original settlers of this city, that is, the Spaniards and the Spanish-indigenous (that is, mestizo) Mexicans in union with the Deutsche who arrived from their Fatherland in the mid-1800s, and one might just ahve a very strong foundation for the party nature of this eighth largest US city! Or to metaphor it: join a Mexican mother to a German father in cultural marriage and the resulting entity (the city of San Antonio) will be born, crying "¡Hagamos fiesta!" ("Let's have a party!" or "Let's make merry!")
Because the main train depot at Fiesta Texas is in the German theme area of the amusement park, called Spassburg or "Fun Town", I've been doing a little investigation of the Deutsch language and German culture. Years ago, I must confess, I was prejudiced against Germans and all things German. They were the people who had sparked two world wars with their aggressive militarism, had put the despicable Nazis in power and exterminated millions of humans simply for being Jewish, Slavic, gypsy or whatever. But in the past decade or so the prejudice has been eroded by various factors. Perhaps most significant was that there was a native German lady at my church in Clarksville, Tennessee, who was a cherished sister in Christ. There wasn't anything about her to not appreciate, so why should I hang onto any remaining bias against the Deutsche, their language or culture/history?
More currently, a couple of my fellow train crew members on the Fiesta Texas RR were of German heritage. In fact, one related to me that he didn't learn English until he began school because everyone in the small town of his raising spoke either German or Spanish or both. (An interesting side note: in the mid-1800s the one bridge over the San Antonio River had a sign giving brief instructions for walking horses across it in Spanish, German and English -- a trilingual sign, reference to which always causes me to think of history's most infamous trilingual sign, the one Pontius Pilate ordered nailed atop the cross of Jesus.)
So-o-o-o. . . I've done a little reading this summer. Just a little, since I spent so much time either at work or going to and from work on the VÍA bus system. One of the books I read had a brief introduction by a sort of American ex-patriate living in Deutschland. His most interesting point, for me, was that next to the Spaniards the Deutsche are the most partying people in Europe.
Oh??? Hm-m-m-m!!! Well, then, perhaps THIS explains San Antonio's partying nature! Join the original settlers of this city, that is, the Spaniards and the Spanish-indigenous (that is, mestizo) Mexicans in union with the Deutsche who arrived from their Fatherland in the mid-1800s, and one might just ahve a very strong foundation for the party nature of this eighth largest US city! Or to metaphor it: join a Mexican mother to a German father in cultural marriage and the resulting entity (the city of San Antonio) will be born, crying "¡Hagamos fiesta!" ("Let's have a party!" or "Let's make merry!")
Monday, August 21, 2006
The Rattler bit me!
It's no secret to those who have known me a long time, that for much of my life I have had serious issues with heights (a.k.a. acrophobia). In the late '90s I more or less overcame the fear, thanks to the final ride installed in Opryland USA themepark before it closed for good. That ride was "The Hangman", a hanging & therefore floorless roller coaster.
When I began working seasonally at Fiesta Texas in '04, I remembered how "The Rattler" wooden roller coaster was the feature ride when the park had opened in '92, and how because some riders complained of injuries -- whiplash or the like -- the ride had had to be "tamed" as it were. That first summer of '04 I had entered the park on an off-from-work day and had considered riding even The Rattler -- until I witnessed how when the cars came down from circling around in a loop and then ascended a straight stretch back up to the top of the old quarry cliff the wooden structure VISIBLY shook from side to side perhaps five feet!
No wonder the wooden coaster was named "The Rattler"! Now my employee training had stressed to me that at Six Flags parks it was "Safety first last and always!" Nevertheless my heart told me that "sure as shootin', you get on The Rattler and it'll fall apart right at that point right when your car gets there!"
So-o-o, for over two years I hadn't even considered riding the thing. But remember the "Crew Ride" I had won? (See Sunday, 30 July blog entry.) Well, last Wednesday evening that raffle winning turned into a ride on The Rattler. All thru the day, whenever I was working as depot agent at the Western station (which looks right at that straight stretch that "rattles" so) I was busy psyching myself up to do the ride.
And I did it! Yup, I've been a rider on The Rattler, the largest & fastest wooden coaster when the themepark first opened -- if not still the same.
But the manmade beast really did "bite" me! During my spiel as conductor on the train, while passing under the coaster I would conclude with "The Rattler is a ride with quite some bite!" Well, when I stood up to exit the car my lower back was in pain. By the time I walked all the way across the themepark to the employee entrance and caught the bus home I felt better. So I only gave it further tho't during the infrequent twinge of pain before going to bed and after arising the next day.
However, the venom kicked in when I got to work at the park. You see, the express bus VÍA provided Thursday morning was one of its old RTS types, with two significant steps up to get on the bus and very cushy cushions on the seats. When I stood up to get off at the employee bus stop, oh! the pain and agony in my lower back! It was all I could do just to descend those two big steps to get to the ground. And then I had to get word to the park's First Aid to come to my rescue.
Let me give credit where credit is due. First Aid took such good care of my back pain that after two hours of being there I felt well en'uf to still do my final hours on the train. And the next day I did a double shift. The pain is still there in my lower back, I'm still taking Ibuprofen and applying relaxing heat to my lower back muscles. But I'm able to function!
So-o-o! I've now ridden The Rattler. And been bitten by the same and survived!
When I began working seasonally at Fiesta Texas in '04, I remembered how "The Rattler" wooden roller coaster was the feature ride when the park had opened in '92, and how because some riders complained of injuries -- whiplash or the like -- the ride had had to be "tamed" as it were. That first summer of '04 I had entered the park on an off-from-work day and had considered riding even The Rattler -- until I witnessed how when the cars came down from circling around in a loop and then ascended a straight stretch back up to the top of the old quarry cliff the wooden structure VISIBLY shook from side to side perhaps five feet!
No wonder the wooden coaster was named "The Rattler"! Now my employee training had stressed to me that at Six Flags parks it was "Safety first last and always!" Nevertheless my heart told me that "sure as shootin', you get on The Rattler and it'll fall apart right at that point right when your car gets there!"
So-o-o, for over two years I hadn't even considered riding the thing. But remember the "Crew Ride" I had won? (See Sunday, 30 July blog entry.) Well, last Wednesday evening that raffle winning turned into a ride on The Rattler. All thru the day, whenever I was working as depot agent at the Western station (which looks right at that straight stretch that "rattles" so) I was busy psyching myself up to do the ride.
And I did it! Yup, I've been a rider on The Rattler, the largest & fastest wooden coaster when the themepark first opened -- if not still the same.
But the manmade beast really did "bite" me! During my spiel as conductor on the train, while passing under the coaster I would conclude with "The Rattler is a ride with quite some bite!" Well, when I stood up to exit the car my lower back was in pain. By the time I walked all the way across the themepark to the employee entrance and caught the bus home I felt better. So I only gave it further tho't during the infrequent twinge of pain before going to bed and after arising the next day.
However, the venom kicked in when I got to work at the park. You see, the express bus VÍA provided Thursday morning was one of its old RTS types, with two significant steps up to get on the bus and very cushy cushions on the seats. When I stood up to get off at the employee bus stop, oh! the pain and agony in my lower back! It was all I could do just to descend those two big steps to get to the ground. And then I had to get word to the park's First Aid to come to my rescue.
Let me give credit where credit is due. First Aid took such good care of my back pain that after two hours of being there I felt well en'uf to still do my final hours on the train. And the next day I did a double shift. The pain is still there in my lower back, I'm still taking Ibuprofen and applying relaxing heat to my lower back muscles. But I'm able to function!
So-o-o! I've now ridden The Rattler. And been bitten by the same and survived!
Friday, August 11, 2006
Salsa Mora's Café has gone
When I got acquainted with Joe, my best friend here, who drives a VÍA bus route that runs up and down Zarzamora Street on the Westside, I would simply ride his bus along the street to converse, whenever time permitted. It was then that I noticed that at the corner of Zarzamora and Durango there was a Mexican café with the name Salsa Mora's. Cute pun-type name! (Be aware that in Spanish the "z" is pronounced "s" and you'll understand the pun employing the street's name!)
After several months I decided that it was time to go in to Salsa Mora's and see if the Mexican food were as good as the name was cute. And thus I discovered that the café was owned and managed by Rudy Zamora! I had worked for Rudy a couple of times when I was a waiter at Jim's Restaurant and he an assistant manager. And now he had his own eatery! On the Westside, no less!
Just knowing the manager/owner would have earned points for Salsa Mora's, to me. But the food wasn't bad; it was typical of locally-run (v. chain) Mexican café fare. Another "plus" were the many paintings by José Villarreal, a Westside artist. Many of his paintings depicted life on the Westside. My favorites were "Las Mañanitas de Mi Madre" which showed a characteristic abuelita ("Granny") smiling out the screen door of her Westside home at a mariachi band serenading her, and an untitled painting simply showing a typical Westside cottage or casita decorated for Navidad ("Christmas").
This past Sunday (the Sixth) I chose to eat Sunday dinner at Salzamora's (Rudy's re-spelling of the name), since I hadn't eaten there in a few weeks. Am I glad I chose to eat there! As soon as I entered, I noticed the walls were bare of Villarreal's paintings and it otherwise looked comparatively barren. Then I saw Rudy and approached him. He told me that this very day was the final day for his café.
When I asked him why, Rudy replied, "Because I'm starving here! When I bo't the place I gave myself three years to make a success of it [and it hadn't happened]."
This analysis took me by surprise, because whenever I'd eaten at the café it was busy. (To be honest, I usually ate after church on Sundays, but I had been in a couple of times on weekdays, too.) Nevertheless, Rudy made it clear that he just wasn't drawing a clientele except at midday on Sundays.
Alas! I shall miss my friend Rudy. And I shall miss eating at what had been probably my favorite Mexican restaurant/café here in San Antonio. I pray Godspeed on Rudy and blessings of success in his next enterprise.
After several months I decided that it was time to go in to Salsa Mora's and see if the Mexican food were as good as the name was cute. And thus I discovered that the café was owned and managed by Rudy Zamora! I had worked for Rudy a couple of times when I was a waiter at Jim's Restaurant and he an assistant manager. And now he had his own eatery! On the Westside, no less!
Just knowing the manager/owner would have earned points for Salsa Mora's, to me. But the food wasn't bad; it was typical of locally-run (v. chain) Mexican café fare. Another "plus" were the many paintings by José Villarreal, a Westside artist. Many of his paintings depicted life on the Westside. My favorites were "Las Mañanitas de Mi Madre" which showed a characteristic abuelita ("Granny") smiling out the screen door of her Westside home at a mariachi band serenading her, and an untitled painting simply showing a typical Westside cottage or casita decorated for Navidad ("Christmas").
This past Sunday (the Sixth) I chose to eat Sunday dinner at Salzamora's (Rudy's re-spelling of the name), since I hadn't eaten there in a few weeks. Am I glad I chose to eat there! As soon as I entered, I noticed the walls were bare of Villarreal's paintings and it otherwise looked comparatively barren. Then I saw Rudy and approached him. He told me that this very day was the final day for his café.
When I asked him why, Rudy replied, "Because I'm starving here! When I bo't the place I gave myself three years to make a success of it [and it hadn't happened]."
This analysis took me by surprise, because whenever I'd eaten at the café it was busy. (To be honest, I usually ate after church on Sundays, but I had been in a couple of times on weekdays, too.) Nevertheless, Rudy made it clear that he just wasn't drawing a clientele except at midday on Sundays.
Alas! I shall miss my friend Rudy. And I shall miss eating at what had been probably my favorite Mexican restaurant/café here in San Antonio. I pray Godspeed on Rudy and blessings of success in his next enterprise.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Of sparrows and squirrels
Lately, whenever I work the closing shift or a double on the Fiesta Texas Railroad, I've ended up at the German depot during the time the train is down for the park's parade. (This parade is a new feature, at 4 PM daily, celebrating 45 years since the first Six Flags park opened its gates in Arlington, Texas.) The train spends the "down time" at the other depot, the Western one, so all the rest of the crew is over there.
But I'm not lonely! If nothing else, while I tidy up the depot I can enjoy the broadcast of recorded German music. It's instrumental waltz, march or oom-pah, with one vocal. This latter is Ein Prosit der Gemutlichkeit, a drinking toasting song. Also, we have a family of sparrows and also one grey squirrel who like to visit the vacant (except for me) depot. If I've finished my tidying up I will rest and just enjoy watching the birds or the furry friend move around the station paving. The sparrows hop and the squirrel scampers, as they seek out any left-over crumbs. There are always a few crumbs I managed to overlook during the clean-up!
And I'm most certainly NOT ALONE! God is there, too! In Matthew 28:20, among other verses in the four Gospels, Jesus Himself promised that He is "with you alsways, to the end". And I firmly believe that Jesus was not promising this to those present, but to all of His disciples everywhere then AND now! David, in the Shepherd's Psalm (Ps. 23), affirms of and to the shepherding God, that "You are with me". In the Emmaus order of worship there is an affirmation of faith. It begins "We are not alone" and it ends "We are not alone; God is with us; thanks be to God!" And sometimes as I watch the furry friend or the feathered familythere at the depot, the Creator and I carry on a conversation without audible words, about the sheer joy of His creation -- even in these small inhabitants of that creation!
NOTE: The two depots on the Fiesta Texas RR have various names. The names on the buildings themselves are "Der Pilger Bahnhof" and "Whistle Stop 39". The train crew personnel when answering the phone at either depot generally will say, "Spassburg" or "Crackaxle" (or "Crack" for short). The terms "German" and "Western" I picked up, I think, from printed employee material. BTW, the depot name in Spassburg means "The Pilgrim Depot" in Deutsch.
But I'm not lonely! If nothing else, while I tidy up the depot I can enjoy the broadcast of recorded German music. It's instrumental waltz, march or oom-pah, with one vocal. This latter is Ein Prosit der Gemutlichkeit, a drinking toasting song. Also, we have a family of sparrows and also one grey squirrel who like to visit the vacant (except for me) depot. If I've finished my tidying up I will rest and just enjoy watching the birds or the furry friend move around the station paving. The sparrows hop and the squirrel scampers, as they seek out any left-over crumbs. There are always a few crumbs I managed to overlook during the clean-up!
And I'm most certainly NOT ALONE! God is there, too! In Matthew 28:20, among other verses in the four Gospels, Jesus Himself promised that He is "with you alsways, to the end". And I firmly believe that Jesus was not promising this to those present, but to all of His disciples everywhere then AND now! David, in the Shepherd's Psalm (Ps. 23), affirms of and to the shepherding God, that "You are with me". In the Emmaus order of worship there is an affirmation of faith. It begins "We are not alone" and it ends "We are not alone; God is with us; thanks be to God!" And sometimes as I watch the furry friend or the feathered familythere at the depot, the Creator and I carry on a conversation without audible words, about the sheer joy of His creation -- even in these small inhabitants of that creation!
NOTE: The two depots on the Fiesta Texas RR have various names. The names on the buildings themselves are "Der Pilger Bahnhof" and "Whistle Stop 39". The train crew personnel when answering the phone at either depot generally will say, "Spassburg" or "Crackaxle" (or "Crack" for short). The terms "German" and "Western" I picked up, I think, from printed employee material. BTW, the depot name in Spassburg means "The Pilgrim Depot" in Deutsch.
Of La Prensa, Nite-Out, Castro & Cuellar
San Antonio used to have two daily English-language newspapers. But around A.D. 1993 the better of the periodicals, the San Antonio Light, went defunct. Nowadays, in addition to the Express-News daily, S.A. has two or three regular Spanish or bilingual journals. The oldest of these is La Prensa. It prints articles in Spanish and also about as many others in English. Likewise, photo captions may be either language. Most issues of La Prensa contain a main news section and other sections of Deportes (Sports) and of Cultura (society/culture). I enjoy reading La Prensa, since it both keeps me up on local events from a chicano perspective and on my Spanish reading comprehension.
On 2 August La Prensa on its front page covered the National Night-Out of the previous day ("day" literally, since at City Hall there was a "lighting ceremony in mid-morning!). I had gone to the Witte Museum Tuesday evening the First, primarily to view the special exhibit "A Wild and Vivid Land: South Texas stories", but also to engage in the NNO event(s). There were some very interesting displays for the NNO, altho' most were definitely oriented to kids and/or families with small children. But I am glad that this national observance is going on, and apparently growing stronger each year!
Also on the front page of La Prensa two photos caught my eye: Fidel Castro of Cuba in one and in the other Congressman Henry Cuellar who in DC represents portions of South Texas from S.A. to Laredo. What struck me was that both men were wearing dark suits, white shirts and red neckties! Hm-m-m! I can just hear some late-nite TV pundit crack some joke about how politicians look (or dress) the same, no matter where they are on the left-right political ideology spectrum! Hm-m-m!
On 2 August La Prensa on its front page covered the National Night-Out of the previous day ("day" literally, since at City Hall there was a "lighting ceremony in mid-morning!). I had gone to the Witte Museum Tuesday evening the First, primarily to view the special exhibit "A Wild and Vivid Land: South Texas stories", but also to engage in the NNO event(s). There were some very interesting displays for the NNO, altho' most were definitely oriented to kids and/or families with small children. But I am glad that this national observance is going on, and apparently growing stronger each year!
Also on the front page of La Prensa two photos caught my eye: Fidel Castro of Cuba in one and in the other Congressman Henry Cuellar who in DC represents portions of South Texas from S.A. to Laredo. What struck me was that both men were wearing dark suits, white shirts and red neckties! Hm-m-m! I can just hear some late-nite TV pundit crack some joke about how politicians look (or dress) the same, no matter where they are on the left-right political ideology spectrum! Hm-m-m!
Monday, July 31, 2006
Frank 'n Joe - forty years!
In the early 1990s (while my family lived in Devine, southwest of S.A.) I began to be acquainted with "Frank 'n Joe". And now that I'm residing here in San Antonio I've gotten well-familiar with this gospel-singing team, a father-son duet. Daddy Frank -- isn't there a country song about him, and "Sister played the ringin' tambourine" and deaf Mama and so forth? -- sings lead while son Joe plays piano (or keyboard) and sings harmony.
The Ramirez father-and-son team celebrated forty years of gospel-singing ministry Saturday nite, at their home church, First Mexican Fundamental Baptist Church in the southeast quadrant of this city. Since I so greatly enjoy their singing, whether they sing in English or in Spanish, I wasn't about to let the church's long name scare me away! Actually, the church was quite nice. It was packed, every pew filled and several folding chairs too.
Well, the concert was a true blessing! Four or five artists or groups sang, three songs each, before Frank 'n Joe took the stage. They were all powerful, but the best was the last, a young soloist lady who is Frank's granddaughter and Joe's niece. Ooh! did she have a golden voice! I began to contemplate what it might be like to make the Ramirez duet a trio.
There was a slide show of photos of the Frank 'n Joe team in ministry over those forty years. Considering that forty years ago was in the midst of the colorful polyesther era, the guys' garb in the early years looked almost quaint or amusing! But it wasn't the look, it is the SOUND that makes them so special. And the guys sounded as gr-r-r-reat as always when they sang a couple of gospel songs live, in Spanish and also in English!
I pray that our dear Lord Jesus grant Frank 'n Joe many more years of music ministry to His glory and the blessing of others!
The Ramirez father-and-son team celebrated forty years of gospel-singing ministry Saturday nite, at their home church, First Mexican Fundamental Baptist Church in the southeast quadrant of this city. Since I so greatly enjoy their singing, whether they sing in English or in Spanish, I wasn't about to let the church's long name scare me away! Actually, the church was quite nice. It was packed, every pew filled and several folding chairs too.
Well, the concert was a true blessing! Four or five artists or groups sang, three songs each, before Frank 'n Joe took the stage. They were all powerful, but the best was the last, a young soloist lady who is Frank's granddaughter and Joe's niece. Ooh! did she have a golden voice! I began to contemplate what it might be like to make the Ramirez duet a trio.
There was a slide show of photos of the Frank 'n Joe team in ministry over those forty years. Considering that forty years ago was in the midst of the colorful polyesther era, the guys' garb in the early years looked almost quaint or amusing! But it wasn't the look, it is the SOUND that makes them so special. And the guys sounded as gr-r-r-reat as always when they sang a couple of gospel songs live, in Spanish and also in English!
I pray that our dear Lord Jesus grant Frank 'n Joe many more years of music ministry to His glory and the blessing of others!
Apricots, the juicy fruit!
Just this morning I was in the nearest H.E.B., the local grocery store (and more) chain that dominates San Antonio and the Hill Country. And as in previous years at the end of July, I was disappointed to find that the season for apricots is over. I declare! The apricot is the fruit with THE SHORTEST growing season!
That's disappointing because the apricot is my favorite fruit, above all. It's been my fave since I was a teenager and my family lived in a house in Boise with an apricot in the backyard. I loved to go out there in season and pick and eat an apricot right off that little tree.
Funny that I do not remember knowing back in those years how short the apricot season runs. And funny that I haven't noticed apricot trees here in South Texas. But then, I'm not sure I'd recognize an apricot tree without the ripe fruit hangin on it. And then again, perhaps this region is just too hot for growing apricots.
That's disappointing because the apricot is my favorite fruit, above all. It's been my fave since I was a teenager and my family lived in a house in Boise with an apricot in the backyard. I loved to go out there in season and pick and eat an apricot right off that little tree.
Funny that I do not remember knowing back in those years how short the apricot season runs. And funny that I haven't noticed apricot trees here in South Texas. But then, I'm not sure I'd recognize an apricot tree without the ripe fruit hangin on it. And then again, perhaps this region is just too hot for growing apricots.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
A long, full day of Fiesta Texas
Friday the 28th turned into a very long, very full, day for me at my jobsite, Six Flags Fiesta Texas. In addition to working a double shift, i.e., from opening to closing of the train ride, there was a Rides Dept. meeting after hours (meaning after all rides were down and Guests gone home).
It started out rather differently & not per the usual M.O. When I scanned my park i.d. card at the guard station at the employee entrance, it rang the alarm (two quick, short phone rings). But not to worry (said the guard's face), just a reminder about the Rides' "Pep Rally" after hours.
Then I rode the train over to the Western depot during its check run, to open the depot -- and was told by a supervisor in that area to call the German depot and have the train held. You see, there had been a boat wreck (so to speak) on the GullyWasher water ride, right by the depot. I puzzled as to why the train should be shut down when the water ride had the problem. I was told that it was so that train riders wouldn't observe the GullyWasher situation until it looked like it was close to resolving.
Well, the train was allowed to start running (with Guests) in half an hour. Half an hour after that I got sent to the other depot to be Agent there. A weird feeling came over me shortly, there in the German depot. Sarah Cannon in her autobiography ("Minnie Pearl" by Minnie Pearl) described her first performance as Minnie Pearl in a country-girl costume, after having performed her comedy routine numerous times in ordinary clothes. She told how she felt herself "moving out of Sarah. . . into Minnie. . . became the character." And at this moment I felt that I became an honest-to-goodness depot agent and train conductor! I wasn't just a guy doing a summer job in an amusement park. It was an eerie sensation, but if anything it helped me to identify with what had happened so many years ago to Sarah Cannon, a.k.a. Minnie Pearl.
Later on in the day we had a couple of fellows in the blue Class A uniform of the US Air Force on board the train. Lackland AFB here in S.A. is the basic training site for this military branch, and on Saturdays many trainees come to the park in Class A's, in groups or with family. When I'm Conductor and a basic training graduate boards the train I will call the passengers attention to the fact that "we have a special guest on board, in Air Force blue. . . thank you for serving our country in the military!" And I lead the applause. Today I also got my photo taken with a flyboy who had ridden the rails.
And so my double shift on Fiesta Texas Railroad continued into the evening. Finally we closed the ride for the night and put our engine Gretta "to bed", that is, backed her and her four passenger cars to the train shed. I was delighted to see Miss Kitty parked outside the building. Miss Kitty is my favorite of our two train engines: she'd been disabled for quite awhile. Her location outside meant that she would be the operating engine on the rails the next day!
After changing out of my train crew costume I went directly back into the park to watch the "Lone Star Spectacular" yet again. Amusement Today magazine says that this multi-media event is THE BEST outdoor night show in any park in the country! I believe it, because I keep on returning to see it! And this time I noticed that they had taken care of a few minor flaws I'd seen the previous time. The lazer-lights and fireworks musical extravagaza is a moving celebration of what it means to be a Texan & and American. The audience cheers (notably at seeing the name of hometown or their favorite sports hero), laughs (during the "Chicken Dance" scene) and claps and sings along (during "Deep in the Heart of Texas"). And I also get a lump in my patriotic throat during the honoring of the US Army (& USAF & other military branches), during "God Bless America" and during the concluding words of co-narrator "Alamo Annie" about we the people of Texas. Yup! the "Lone Star Spectacular" is quite a show -- by itself worth the park admission!
And then it was time for the Rides meeting or "Pep Rally". One feature of these is a raffle drawing. My ticket number hadn't been called at the previous two rallies, but it was this time! In fact mine was the second or third number to be called out. This means I get to choose any ride, and all Rides crew members of Area 3 of the park get to ride it (the RR is in A3), on a certain day before park opening or after closing.
Let's have some FUN, my co-workers!
It started out rather differently & not per the usual M.O. When I scanned my park i.d. card at the guard station at the employee entrance, it rang the alarm (two quick, short phone rings). But not to worry (said the guard's face), just a reminder about the Rides' "Pep Rally" after hours.
Then I rode the train over to the Western depot during its check run, to open the depot -- and was told by a supervisor in that area to call the German depot and have the train held. You see, there had been a boat wreck (so to speak) on the GullyWasher water ride, right by the depot. I puzzled as to why the train should be shut down when the water ride had the problem. I was told that it was so that train riders wouldn't observe the GullyWasher situation until it looked like it was close to resolving.
Well, the train was allowed to start running (with Guests) in half an hour. Half an hour after that I got sent to the other depot to be Agent there. A weird feeling came over me shortly, there in the German depot. Sarah Cannon in her autobiography ("Minnie Pearl" by Minnie Pearl) described her first performance as Minnie Pearl in a country-girl costume, after having performed her comedy routine numerous times in ordinary clothes. She told how she felt herself "moving out of Sarah. . . into Minnie. . . became the character." And at this moment I felt that I became an honest-to-goodness depot agent and train conductor! I wasn't just a guy doing a summer job in an amusement park. It was an eerie sensation, but if anything it helped me to identify with what had happened so many years ago to Sarah Cannon, a.k.a. Minnie Pearl.
Later on in the day we had a couple of fellows in the blue Class A uniform of the US Air Force on board the train. Lackland AFB here in S.A. is the basic training site for this military branch, and on Saturdays many trainees come to the park in Class A's, in groups or with family. When I'm Conductor and a basic training graduate boards the train I will call the passengers attention to the fact that "we have a special guest on board, in Air Force blue. . . thank you for serving our country in the military!" And I lead the applause. Today I also got my photo taken with a flyboy who had ridden the rails.
And so my double shift on Fiesta Texas Railroad continued into the evening. Finally we closed the ride for the night and put our engine Gretta "to bed", that is, backed her and her four passenger cars to the train shed. I was delighted to see Miss Kitty parked outside the building. Miss Kitty is my favorite of our two train engines: she'd been disabled for quite awhile. Her location outside meant that she would be the operating engine on the rails the next day!
After changing out of my train crew costume I went directly back into the park to watch the "Lone Star Spectacular" yet again. Amusement Today magazine says that this multi-media event is THE BEST outdoor night show in any park in the country! I believe it, because I keep on returning to see it! And this time I noticed that they had taken care of a few minor flaws I'd seen the previous time. The lazer-lights and fireworks musical extravagaza is a moving celebration of what it means to be a Texan & and American. The audience cheers (notably at seeing the name of hometown or their favorite sports hero), laughs (during the "Chicken Dance" scene) and claps and sings along (during "Deep in the Heart of Texas"). And I also get a lump in my patriotic throat during the honoring of the US Army (& USAF & other military branches), during "God Bless America" and during the concluding words of co-narrator "Alamo Annie" about we the people of Texas. Yup! the "Lone Star Spectacular" is quite a show -- by itself worth the park admission!
And then it was time for the Rides meeting or "Pep Rally". One feature of these is a raffle drawing. My ticket number hadn't been called at the previous two rallies, but it was this time! In fact mine was the second or third number to be called out. This means I get to choose any ride, and all Rides crew members of Area 3 of the park get to ride it (the RR is in A3), on a certain day before park opening or after closing.
Let's have some FUN, my co-workers!
Monday, July 24, 2006
An "Emmaus " weekend -- without the "Walk"
In earlier postings I have written about the "Walk to Emmaus" (see, most recently, 13 July "As the Train Rolls. . ." and in depth 24 June "Walk to Emmaus. . ."). Now, "Walk" itself refers to the three-day retreat, which many Emmaus and Cursillo folks have testified was THE BEST weekend or three days of their life. And indeed, my "Pilgrim Walk" and my service on the Team for a Men's Walk in A.D. 2002 are cherished memories!
This past weekend was so full of "Fourth-Day" activities that it was almost like being on a Walk weekend!
It all began Friday evening when the seven San Antonio area Fourth Day Groups (Emmaus communities) held their semi-annual joint gathering. (Each FDG has a monthly gathering, except in the two months when all of us get together.) This took place at Oxford UMC, west of the medical district in northwest San Antonio. NWSA (Norhtwest San Antonio) was the host FDG for this gathering. Due to the bus schedule I arrived early, and to a few minutes to explore the Oxford UMC campus and the neighboring street. (The church is listed as being on Huebner, a major thoro'fare west of the med. dist., but there are actually a couple of acres of open land between the church and Huebner, and entrances into the church parking lots are on the side street.) As I looked westward the hilly neighborhood definitely had a "country" look to it, a "Texas Hill Country" look. Hence it prompted me to think of Mt. Wesley, the Methodist camp in Kerrville where my Pilgrim Walk and my '02 Team Walk took place.
The gathering was terrific! After a scrumptious & sumptious potluck meal in the gym/fellowship hall we adjourned to the fairly new sanctuary for the Worship portion of the gathering. The singing (out of "Songs", Johann Anderson's famous songbook), the Fourth Day Talk, the Lord's Supper. . . . The Spirit of the Lord was there!
Next morning (Saturday the 22d) I saw several of the same Emmaus folks, when we had the second meeting for the Team which will conduct Men's Walk #1327 in October. Like the first meeting, it was at University UMC, which is a couple of miles north of Oxford UMC. We continued our bonding into a team for presenting the gospel of God's grace in Christ, for the Pilgrims who will be on the Walk. More singing, more worship, more Talks (previews of those to be given on that Walk), more food. . . .
And then Sunday nite I attended the meeting of members of Laurel Heights UMC who have been on a Walk to Emmaus. Large congregations that have several members who have been on a Walk tend to form groups within the congregation which meet monthly, just as official Fourth Day Groups meet monthly. (They also tend to have dozens of weekly Reunion Groups made up entirely or mostly of congregation's members.) Laurel Heights is a congregation in Care Bexar FDG. I wasn't at this Sunday evening gathering due to being an official FDG officer, altho' I do hold two offices in Care Bexar. Rather, I attended more because I had visited Laurel Heights two Sundays earlier to hear Bro. Alex Alvarez preach. (Bro. Alex has a music show on KKYX-AM 680, "Sunday Morning Gospel", to which I listen faithfully each Sunday morning before leaving for church.) In the announcements on that Sunday, I had read of the upcoming LHUMC Emmaus gathering, and decided to attend.
Several folk were on vacation, so it was a small gathering. Only a score of folk attemded, a compared to a couple hundred who were at Friday's joint FDG gathering. Nevertheless the spirit of Emmaus was there, with the few as with the many. More singing, more worship, another Talk (a "Fourth Day Talk", just as the one Friday evening was). And more food. . . .
This past weekend was so full of "Fourth-Day" activities that it was almost like being on a Walk weekend!
It all began Friday evening when the seven San Antonio area Fourth Day Groups (Emmaus communities) held their semi-annual joint gathering. (Each FDG has a monthly gathering, except in the two months when all of us get together.) This took place at Oxford UMC, west of the medical district in northwest San Antonio. NWSA (Norhtwest San Antonio) was the host FDG for this gathering. Due to the bus schedule I arrived early, and to a few minutes to explore the Oxford UMC campus and the neighboring street. (The church is listed as being on Huebner, a major thoro'fare west of the med. dist., but there are actually a couple of acres of open land between the church and Huebner, and entrances into the church parking lots are on the side street.) As I looked westward the hilly neighborhood definitely had a "country" look to it, a "Texas Hill Country" look. Hence it prompted me to think of Mt. Wesley, the Methodist camp in Kerrville where my Pilgrim Walk and my '02 Team Walk took place.
The gathering was terrific! After a scrumptious & sumptious potluck meal in the gym/fellowship hall we adjourned to the fairly new sanctuary for the Worship portion of the gathering. The singing (out of "Songs", Johann Anderson's famous songbook), the Fourth Day Talk, the Lord's Supper. . . . The Spirit of the Lord was there!
Next morning (Saturday the 22d) I saw several of the same Emmaus folks, when we had the second meeting for the Team which will conduct Men's Walk #1327 in October. Like the first meeting, it was at University UMC, which is a couple of miles north of Oxford UMC. We continued our bonding into a team for presenting the gospel of God's grace in Christ, for the Pilgrims who will be on the Walk. More singing, more worship, more Talks (previews of those to be given on that Walk), more food. . . .
And then Sunday nite I attended the meeting of members of Laurel Heights UMC who have been on a Walk to Emmaus. Large congregations that have several members who have been on a Walk tend to form groups within the congregation which meet monthly, just as official Fourth Day Groups meet monthly. (They also tend to have dozens of weekly Reunion Groups made up entirely or mostly of congregation's members.) Laurel Heights is a congregation in Care Bexar FDG. I wasn't at this Sunday evening gathering due to being an official FDG officer, altho' I do hold two offices in Care Bexar. Rather, I attended more because I had visited Laurel Heights two Sundays earlier to hear Bro. Alex Alvarez preach. (Bro. Alex has a music show on KKYX-AM 680, "Sunday Morning Gospel", to which I listen faithfully each Sunday morning before leaving for church.) In the announcements on that Sunday, I had read of the upcoming LHUMC Emmaus gathering, and decided to attend.
Several folk were on vacation, so it was a small gathering. Only a score of folk attemded, a compared to a couple hundred who were at Friday's joint FDG gathering. Nevertheless the spirit of Emmaus was there, with the few as with the many. More singing, more worship, another Talk (a "Fourth Day Talk", just as the one Friday evening was). And more food. . . .
Monday, July 17, 2006
The Spanish Missions re-visited
Yesterday afternoon I got to play Tour Guide -- which is always a fun occupation for me. You see, my upstairs neighbor, Dennis from Detroit, had not visited the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, altho' he'd been to The Alamo (originally a mission, too -- the first here) and other downtown historical attractions.
So we went out to the other four missions, starting with Mission San Francisco de la Espada ("Espada" for short), the furthest away from the city center, in the most rural setting and probably my favorite of the missions. The chapel door has a Moorish-style arch. Dennis even remarked about the Moorish look as we approached it. It looks like straight out of The Alhambra in Spain. Inside, the kneeling bench on the back of each pew is covered with sarape material -- very colorful! There are statues of Jesus, Mary and behind the communion table, Saint Francis of Assissi (in Spanish San Francisco de Asis). How a mission named after such a peace-loving saint got the tag de la Espada (of the sword) is still somewhat of a mystery; several suggestions have been proposed. A most likely one is that the statue's empty hands, which are positioned as if they once held some long object, MAY have held a sword (for whatever reason -- St. Francis as defender of the true faith???).
Then it was on to San Juan Capistrano (not the mission of the swallows song, tha one's in California), San José y San Miguel de Aguayo and Concepción. It was great to view all the missions again. (The two furthest away are nowhere near VIA bus lines.) So, even tho' it was a very hot afternoon, it was an enjoyable and informative tour, for both of us. Especially when we were visiting the grist mill at San Jose, and got in on a Park Ranger guide's explanation of the millstones used for grinding grain.
On our way back into the central city, I gave Dennis directions for driving us past the fourth mission in the park: Misión Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción, Mission Concepcion for short. We slowly drove thru the parking lot and down Mission Road, viewing the unrestored stone place of worship with its twin towers and central dome. The acoustics in this, the oldest unrestored church building in these United States, have been compared to the terrific acoustics of the Mormon Tabernacle! We did not go in; I got the impression that Dennis was tired from the overwhelming wealth of information at these, the greatest jewels in in San Antonio's treasure chest. (I had made this "greatest jewels" in the city's "treasure chest" in an earlier posting.)
Yup, there is much to see and learn of San Antonio's matchless spiritual and historical heritage in the San Antonio Missions NHP!
So we went out to the other four missions, starting with Mission San Francisco de la Espada ("Espada" for short), the furthest away from the city center, in the most rural setting and probably my favorite of the missions. The chapel door has a Moorish-style arch. Dennis even remarked about the Moorish look as we approached it. It looks like straight out of The Alhambra in Spain. Inside, the kneeling bench on the back of each pew is covered with sarape material -- very colorful! There are statues of Jesus, Mary and behind the communion table, Saint Francis of Assissi (in Spanish San Francisco de Asis). How a mission named after such a peace-loving saint got the tag de la Espada (of the sword) is still somewhat of a mystery; several suggestions have been proposed. A most likely one is that the statue's empty hands, which are positioned as if they once held some long object, MAY have held a sword (for whatever reason -- St. Francis as defender of the true faith???).
Then it was on to San Juan Capistrano (not the mission of the swallows song, tha one's in California), San José y San Miguel de Aguayo and Concepción. It was great to view all the missions again. (The two furthest away are nowhere near VIA bus lines.) So, even tho' it was a very hot afternoon, it was an enjoyable and informative tour, for both of us. Especially when we were visiting the grist mill at San Jose, and got in on a Park Ranger guide's explanation of the millstones used for grinding grain.
On our way back into the central city, I gave Dennis directions for driving us past the fourth mission in the park: Misión Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción, Mission Concepcion for short. We slowly drove thru the parking lot and down Mission Road, viewing the unrestored stone place of worship with its twin towers and central dome. The acoustics in this, the oldest unrestored church building in these United States, have been compared to the terrific acoustics of the Mormon Tabernacle! We did not go in; I got the impression that Dennis was tired from the overwhelming wealth of information at these, the greatest jewels in in San Antonio's treasure chest. (I had made this "greatest jewels" in the city's "treasure chest" in an earlier posting.)
Yup, there is much to see and learn of San Antonio's matchless spiritual and historical heritage in the San Antonio Missions NHP!
Thursday, July 13, 2006
As the Train Rolls & the World Turns
No, dear reader, I'm not trying to make some alteration to a certain long-running soap opera (my dear, sainted mother-in-law's fave). Rather, herein I'm simply presenting some ruminations about life, particularly as I'm experiencing it now in this Summer of Ought Six.
("Ruminations". . . well, I hope you know the meaning of this word; if not, please consult Webster. . . & I shall try to avoid such words.)
"As the Train Rolls" refers to my summer job as Conductor & Depot Agent aboard the Fiesta Texas Railroad. This work -- if "work" it can be called since it's so fun -- is radically different from my summer work of the past two, which was at the Front Gate to Fiesta Texas. Then & there I interviewed in-coming Guests (a demographic survey for marketing purposes) for five hours, & then left the park at two in the afternoon. But on the train my hours vary (& every week are more than the hours I averaged at the Front Gate).
On days I work both shifts, I have to leave my room before 7 AM (to be sure I get to the theme park well before my 9:30 AM clock-in) and do not get back until 10 PM or later. Doesn't leave much time for other activities "as the world turns". Get up. . . pray. . . go to work. . . ride the rails. . . get back on the bus. . . flop into bed. I'm not complaining. And PLEASE don't feel sorry for me! Remember: 1) this description is true ONLY when I do a double shift and 2) this job is FUN regardless!
Nevertheless, I get the feeling often this summer, that the train IS my life. And I certainly do not want that to be reality. So I seem to especially relish it when I enter fully into other aspects of my life. My Mexican church on the Westside, the local Emmaus community (officially called a "Fourth Day Group") of Care Bexar, the monthly trip down IH-35 to Dilley for the Kairos Prison Ministry's Prayer & Share with the inmates of the Dolph Briscoe Unit. . .
Notice how these all are "faith-based" activities, to use the current politically-correct term? I prefer to say that these activities are my endeavors to allow Almighty God to use me to minister His grace to others and live out the Good News of His love, revealed to us humans in His written word (Old & New Testaments) and perfectly in His Living Word, the Nazarene Jesus the Christ. Yup, Christ first-last-& always is my goal! I'd appreciate your prayers, my brother or sister in the faith, if you are such, reader.
Oh, and back to "Care Bexar". The name is a play on the name of San Antonio's county, Bexar ("BAYH - hahr" in correct Spanish, but pronounced by Anglos as tho' it lacked the "x"), and a very popular cartoon set of characters from the era when Care Bexar was set up as the first Emmaus community or FDG in this area. There are now seven such FDGs in what was the original Care Bexar coverage area.
("Ruminations". . . well, I hope you know the meaning of this word; if not, please consult Webster. . . & I shall try to avoid such words.)
"As the Train Rolls" refers to my summer job as Conductor & Depot Agent aboard the Fiesta Texas Railroad. This work -- if "work" it can be called since it's so fun -- is radically different from my summer work of the past two, which was at the Front Gate to Fiesta Texas. Then & there I interviewed in-coming Guests (a demographic survey for marketing purposes) for five hours, & then left the park at two in the afternoon. But on the train my hours vary (& every week are more than the hours I averaged at the Front Gate).
On days I work both shifts, I have to leave my room before 7 AM (to be sure I get to the theme park well before my 9:30 AM clock-in) and do not get back until 10 PM or later. Doesn't leave much time for other activities "as the world turns". Get up. . . pray. . . go to work. . . ride the rails. . . get back on the bus. . . flop into bed. I'm not complaining. And PLEASE don't feel sorry for me! Remember: 1) this description is true ONLY when I do a double shift and 2) this job is FUN regardless!
Nevertheless, I get the feeling often this summer, that the train IS my life. And I certainly do not want that to be reality. So I seem to especially relish it when I enter fully into other aspects of my life. My Mexican church on the Westside, the local Emmaus community (officially called a "Fourth Day Group") of Care Bexar, the monthly trip down IH-35 to Dilley for the Kairos Prison Ministry's Prayer & Share with the inmates of the Dolph Briscoe Unit. . .
Notice how these all are "faith-based" activities, to use the current politically-correct term? I prefer to say that these activities are my endeavors to allow Almighty God to use me to minister His grace to others and live out the Good News of His love, revealed to us humans in His written word (Old & New Testaments) and perfectly in His Living Word, the Nazarene Jesus the Christ. Yup, Christ first-last-& always is my goal! I'd appreciate your prayers, my brother or sister in the faith, if you are such, reader.
Oh, and back to "Care Bexar". The name is a play on the name of San Antonio's county, Bexar ("BAYH - hahr" in correct Spanish, but pronounced by Anglos as tho' it lacked the "x"), and a very popular cartoon set of characters from the era when Care Bexar was set up as the first Emmaus community or FDG in this area. There are now seven such FDGs in what was the original Care Bexar coverage area.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Independence Day '06
Yesterday was Independence Day here in the USA. The first half of the day I worked at Fiesta Texas, my usual summer job. (Except that, as I've explained in an earlier posting, this summer I'm in a new position at the theme park: Conductor and Depot Agent on the Fiesta Texas Railroad, the park's train ride.)
The park was crowded with Guests, despite the overcast skies that before dawn had given San Antonio much-needed rainfall. The clouds cleared later in the morning, and other than it being a very hot and very, very humid day (typical in summer for Texas), it was pleasant. The train was nearly full just about every trip (after the first one or two).
Once I had been cleared at the end of my shift (mid-afternoon), I stayed in costume for awhile, and went looking for someone else in costume. She is Linda Kitshner, a middle-aged lady who worked with me last summer as an Interviewer at the front gate of the park. But this year Linda is working as a costumed character in Spassburg, the German-themed area of the park. (Spassburg means "Fun Town" in Deutsch.) She's dressed like a traditional frau, whose name is Ima - Ima Jermain-Ladee, that is! Ha, ha, Six Flags came up with a cute pun for THAT one!
Linda (aka "Ima") was doing crowd control of Guests who were lined up to get their picture taken with Peppie Le Pew in the Sangerfest Halle patio. Once she was done we two went to the front of Sangerfest Halle, so I could get another park employee to take our picture, Linda in her volksdeutsche frau costume and me in my train crew costume.
Having achieved this desired photo shoot I went to the wardrobe building and changed into street clothes, and then re-entered the park as a Guest. I attended a couple of our live music shows; these shows have won awards seven consecutive years for Fiesta Texas. In the evening we got treated to natural pyrotechnics just before the manmade pyros got started. I watched the latter fireworks from Los Festivales, the Mexican-village area of the park. Los Festivales presents colonial Spanish architecture and strings of colored lights over the streets; it's very beautiful at dusk. Here was a great way to celebrate the holiday!
The park was crowded with Guests, despite the overcast skies that before dawn had given San Antonio much-needed rainfall. The clouds cleared later in the morning, and other than it being a very hot and very, very humid day (typical in summer for Texas), it was pleasant. The train was nearly full just about every trip (after the first one or two).
Once I had been cleared at the end of my shift (mid-afternoon), I stayed in costume for awhile, and went looking for someone else in costume. She is Linda Kitshner, a middle-aged lady who worked with me last summer as an Interviewer at the front gate of the park. But this year Linda is working as a costumed character in Spassburg, the German-themed area of the park. (Spassburg means "Fun Town" in Deutsch.) She's dressed like a traditional frau, whose name is Ima - Ima Jermain-Ladee, that is! Ha, ha, Six Flags came up with a cute pun for THAT one!
Linda (aka "Ima") was doing crowd control of Guests who were lined up to get their picture taken with Peppie Le Pew in the Sangerfest Halle patio. Once she was done we two went to the front of Sangerfest Halle, so I could get another park employee to take our picture, Linda in her volksdeutsche frau costume and me in my train crew costume.
Having achieved this desired photo shoot I went to the wardrobe building and changed into street clothes, and then re-entered the park as a Guest. I attended a couple of our live music shows; these shows have won awards seven consecutive years for Fiesta Texas. In the evening we got treated to natural pyrotechnics just before the manmade pyros got started. I watched the latter fireworks from Los Festivales, the Mexican-village area of the park. Los Festivales presents colonial Spanish architecture and strings of colored lights over the streets; it's very beautiful at dusk. Here was a great way to celebrate the holiday!
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Walk to Emmaus - Men's #1327
Today I attended the first Team training meeting for a Walk to Emmaus for men. This is my second Walk as a Team member; I've also been on the Team for two Kairos Prison Ministry weekend retreats.
For those for whom what I've said so far is Greek, "Emmaus" and "Kairos" are variations of Cursillo de Cristiandad, a Catholic personal and congregational (or "parish" as Catholics would say) renewal program. Cursillo began around WWII in Spain, spread to this country and became popular among non-Catholics as well as Catholics. The concept is to present a short course in Christian teachings thru a three-day retreat built around fifteen talks and other activities, including the Lord's Supper. Then there are "Fourth-Day" or follow-up activities, such as small-group accountability weekly meetings and monthly large-group meetings. Emmaus is a basically ecumenical version sponsored or overseen by the United Methodist Church. Kairos is the same concept, tailored for the prison environment and ministering to inmates.
Each Walk to Emmaus has 36 "Pilgrims" or candidates, who are all men or all women. These are ministered to by an "inside" Team of speakers, clergy, table leaders and musicians and an "outside" Team that works behind the scenes to serve and also to distribute "agape" or small gifts of love. I will be one of the clergy speakers on Men's Walk #1327, giving the fifth Clergy Talk, which is the Twelfth Talk, on "Sanctifying Grace".
Now, my "Pilgrim Walk" was #327 - 1000 Walks ago! And it also "happens" that the centering song is the same for both Walks! A "centering song" is a prayerlike song designed to center participants' minds and spirits on God, to prepare for one of the 15 Talks or another significant event during the retreat. I'm not aware of a specific name for this particular centering song, but the first line is "Jesus, let us come to know You".
The first meeting for us on the Team was at a very large Methodist church to which the Lay Director belongs. He is Bruce Bray, whom I knew well from our mutual participation in Kairos Weekend #9 at the Ruben Torres Prison near Hondo, Texas. From what I saw Saturday, Bruce will be a fine LD! And I'm looking forward to being used by our Lord on this Walk to Emmaus, as an individual vessel for God's grace and as part of the greater vessel for grace which is the Team!
And in case you don't know, the name "Walk to Emmaus" comes from the account in the Gospel According to Luke, of the two disciples who met the risen Jesus on the road to Emmaus but didn't recognize Him as their Lord who had been crucified three days earlier - until the three got to the village of Emmaus (near Jerusalem) and Jesus sat at supper with them and blessed and broke the bread! Then the pair's "eyes were opened" and they rushed back to the city to tell that Christ had risen indeed, and about their encounter with the risen Savior and their recognition of Him at the "breaking of the bread".
De colores.
For those for whom what I've said so far is Greek, "Emmaus" and "Kairos" are variations of Cursillo de Cristiandad, a Catholic personal and congregational (or "parish" as Catholics would say) renewal program. Cursillo began around WWII in Spain, spread to this country and became popular among non-Catholics as well as Catholics. The concept is to present a short course in Christian teachings thru a three-day retreat built around fifteen talks and other activities, including the Lord's Supper. Then there are "Fourth-Day" or follow-up activities, such as small-group accountability weekly meetings and monthly large-group meetings. Emmaus is a basically ecumenical version sponsored or overseen by the United Methodist Church. Kairos is the same concept, tailored for the prison environment and ministering to inmates.
Each Walk to Emmaus has 36 "Pilgrims" or candidates, who are all men or all women. These are ministered to by an "inside" Team of speakers, clergy, table leaders and musicians and an "outside" Team that works behind the scenes to serve and also to distribute "agape" or small gifts of love. I will be one of the clergy speakers on Men's Walk #1327, giving the fifth Clergy Talk, which is the Twelfth Talk, on "Sanctifying Grace".
Now, my "Pilgrim Walk" was #327 - 1000 Walks ago! And it also "happens" that the centering song is the same for both Walks! A "centering song" is a prayerlike song designed to center participants' minds and spirits on God, to prepare for one of the 15 Talks or another significant event during the retreat. I'm not aware of a specific name for this particular centering song, but the first line is "Jesus, let us come to know You".
The first meeting for us on the Team was at a very large Methodist church to which the Lay Director belongs. He is Bruce Bray, whom I knew well from our mutual participation in Kairos Weekend #9 at the Ruben Torres Prison near Hondo, Texas. From what I saw Saturday, Bruce will be a fine LD! And I'm looking forward to being used by our Lord on this Walk to Emmaus, as an individual vessel for God's grace and as part of the greater vessel for grace which is the Team!
And in case you don't know, the name "Walk to Emmaus" comes from the account in the Gospel According to Luke, of the two disciples who met the risen Jesus on the road to Emmaus but didn't recognize Him as their Lord who had been crucified three days earlier - until the three got to the village of Emmaus (near Jerusalem) and Jesus sat at supper with them and blessed and broke the bread! Then the pair's "eyes were opened" and they rushed back to the city to tell that Christ had risen indeed, and about their encounter with the risen Savior and their recognition of Him at the "breaking of the bread".
De colores.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Folklife follow-up
Wow! While attending the Texas Folklife Festival on Friday evening (it goes from Thursday evening thru Sunday afternoon and evening), I felt a great sense of delight and enjoyment. So much so that I was tempted to return on Sunday. (But I stuck with attending evening church instead, which turned into a blessing in itself!)
Highlight of this year's Folklife, I suppose, was my interaction with "Professor Katzenjammer". I had seen him at various times at Folklife thru'out the years. But I'd simply considered him some crazy guy who liked to come to Folklife in this outlandish costume of German lederhosen, an alpine cap covered with buttons and pins, and an over-wide and over-long necktie hanging to his bare knees.
Then Friday's newspaper in its coverage of Folklife gave a short biography about Prof. Katzenjammer, who does emcee work during the festival. He's the alter ego of Robert Thonhoff, a retired teaching principal from the rural community of Fashing southeast of here. This in itself immediately earned points in my estimation! And the article told how Thonhoff was going to retire his alter ego after this, the 35th annual festival. Reading about Thonhoff and his Deutsch persona inspired me to to look him up at Folklife and have my picture taken with him.
Partly because of my new interest in the retiring "Professor" I think I spent more time absorbing the various elements of Deutsch culture at this year's festival: sopng, dance, food. I even got to learn a German folk dance when Der Deutsch Volksdanzverein (sp?) invited a few audience members to join them onstage to dance "The Great Atlantic". Our reward for "cutting the fool" in "cutting the rug" -- actually the dance was very simple! -- was a tri-ribbon pin-on, each ribbon in one of Deutschland's colors of red, yellow and black.
Oh, I did experience also other of Texas' exciting mosaic of cultures at this year's Folklife, including a Mexican mariachi group and a Scottish folk-dance group. There was the Bill Smallwood Band playing country music - in a broad sense, because the band performed the "Mickey Mouse Club" theme song (somewhat "country-fied"). I delighted to tell Bill how that song was the melody for my high school's fight song. Borah HS had begun classes while the Club was enormously popular, as was its theme song.
The "day" at Folklife ended with me under the dome inside the Institute of Texan Cultures building. There's a regular dome show of slides and music, called "Faces & Places of Texas". (From the folks' garb in the slide pictures one can tell that the show was put together for HemisFair '68 -- but even tho' dated it's fun to watch.) However, the show I watched was a new one (projected against only one side of the dome) in tribute to the late O.T. Baker, founder of the Texas Folklife Festival in '72. The tribute was built around the popular country-rock song "God Blessed Texas" -- a very fitting homage to a man who had so loved Texan folkways.
. God blessed Texas, with His own hand
. Dropped down angels from the Promised Land.
. Gave them a place where they could dance,
. If you wanna see Heaven, brother,
. Here's your chance.
. I've been sent to spread the message,
. "Mmmm, God blessed Texas!"
Highlight of this year's Folklife, I suppose, was my interaction with "Professor Katzenjammer". I had seen him at various times at Folklife thru'out the years. But I'd simply considered him some crazy guy who liked to come to Folklife in this outlandish costume of German lederhosen, an alpine cap covered with buttons and pins, and an over-wide and over-long necktie hanging to his bare knees.
Then Friday's newspaper in its coverage of Folklife gave a short biography about Prof. Katzenjammer, who does emcee work during the festival. He's the alter ego of Robert Thonhoff, a retired teaching principal from the rural community of Fashing southeast of here. This in itself immediately earned points in my estimation! And the article told how Thonhoff was going to retire his alter ego after this, the 35th annual festival. Reading about Thonhoff and his Deutsch persona inspired me to to look him up at Folklife and have my picture taken with him.
Partly because of my new interest in the retiring "Professor" I think I spent more time absorbing the various elements of Deutsch culture at this year's festival: sopng, dance, food. I even got to learn a German folk dance when Der Deutsch Volksdanzverein (sp?) invited a few audience members to join them onstage to dance "The Great Atlantic". Our reward for "cutting the fool" in "cutting the rug" -- actually the dance was very simple! -- was a tri-ribbon pin-on, each ribbon in one of Deutschland's colors of red, yellow and black.
Oh, I did experience also other of Texas' exciting mosaic of cultures at this year's Folklife, including a Mexican mariachi group and a Scottish folk-dance group. There was the Bill Smallwood Band playing country music - in a broad sense, because the band performed the "Mickey Mouse Club" theme song (somewhat "country-fied"). I delighted to tell Bill how that song was the melody for my high school's fight song. Borah HS had begun classes while the Club was enormously popular, as was its theme song.
The "day" at Folklife ended with me under the dome inside the Institute of Texan Cultures building. There's a regular dome show of slides and music, called "Faces & Places of Texas". (From the folks' garb in the slide pictures one can tell that the show was put together for HemisFair '68 -- but even tho' dated it's fun to watch.) However, the show I watched was a new one (projected against only one side of the dome) in tribute to the late O.T. Baker, founder of the Texas Folklife Festival in '72. The tribute was built around the popular country-rock song "God Blessed Texas" -- a very fitting homage to a man who had so loved Texan folkways.
. God blessed Texas, with His own hand
. Dropped down angels from the Promised Land.
. Gave them a place where they could dance,
. If you wanna see Heaven, brother,
. Here's your chance.
. I've been sent to spread the message,
. "Mmmm, God blessed Texas!"
Friday, June 09, 2006
Texas Folklife Festival - una fiesta más
Yup! This city whose middle name is "party", as I've said before, is having yet another one -- a major one. The Texas Folklife Festival is held every June (years ago it was in August) at HemisFair Park in and on the grounds around the Institute of Texan Cultures. The ITC is an adjunct of the University of Texas, housed in what was the Texas Pavilion during the 1968 World's Fair (HemisFair). The ITC is open year round and is always worth a visit. But it's sheer excitement during Folklife. That is, if you're into cultures as they're expressed in food, music, dance, and other arts.
Folklife celebrates the many, many ethnic cultures and national origins that together have composed the mosaic that is the people of this great state of Texas. And what better city to host it than San Antonio, to which city many ethnic groups have contributed since its founding or shortly afterward. Such as, the indigenous or native American (the local "Indians" evangelized by the Spanish Franciscans were the Coahuiltecans), the Spaniard, the Mexican, the German(Deutsch), the British or Anglo-Celt, and the African-American.
If you think that a typical Texan is a white, Anglo-Saxon cowboy type -- you're sadly mistaken! If you think that San Antonio is a city of mostly Mexicans and Anglos (or British-origin) -- you're still sadly mistaken! One aspect of this city (indeed also the state) that so much endears it to me is the tremendous variety of cultures and ethnic origins which not only historically contributed to it but are today celebrated in numerous festivals. Of which Folklife is the largest and most notable as the confluence of them all! (I understand that a subtitle of HemisFair '68 was "Confluence of Cultures", referring primarily to the convergence of the northern European from the north and east and the Latin-native (that is, the mestizo or mixed Spanish-Portuguese and indigenous) from the south in the host city.
So-o-o-o, as soon as I get off this computer terminal, I'm heading to Folklife! To get some culture! See you there some year?
Folklife celebrates the many, many ethnic cultures and national origins that together have composed the mosaic that is the people of this great state of Texas. And what better city to host it than San Antonio, to which city many ethnic groups have contributed since its founding or shortly afterward. Such as, the indigenous or native American (the local "Indians" evangelized by the Spanish Franciscans were the Coahuiltecans), the Spaniard, the Mexican, the German(Deutsch), the British or Anglo-Celt, and the African-American.
If you think that a typical Texan is a white, Anglo-Saxon cowboy type -- you're sadly mistaken! If you think that San Antonio is a city of mostly Mexicans and Anglos (or British-origin) -- you're still sadly mistaken! One aspect of this city (indeed also the state) that so much endears it to me is the tremendous variety of cultures and ethnic origins which not only historically contributed to it but are today celebrated in numerous festivals. Of which Folklife is the largest and most notable as the confluence of them all! (I understand that a subtitle of HemisFair '68 was "Confluence of Cultures", referring primarily to the convergence of the northern European from the north and east and the Latin-native (that is, the mestizo or mixed Spanish-Portuguese and indigenous) from the south in the host city.
So-o-o-o, as soon as I get off this computer terminal, I'm heading to Folklife! To get some culture! See you there some year?
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Democracy in action!
Having the day off, I attended this morning's session of the San Antonio City Council weekly meeting. Almost all the morning was taken up with a currently "hot" issue, that of the Mayor's proposal to redevelop historic Main Plaza (aka Plaza de las Islas). Today featured presentation of the final proposed plan for the square's redevelopment, which features permanently closing the two north-south streets, and the Council voting on it.
From the first that I heard about the proposal, as a member of VÍA's citizens council, I've opposed closure of ANY streets. My position has modified somewhat, as I received more info and watched VÍA develop their response to the plan. I didn't EVER oppose plans to improve the landscaping, seating, etc. Just closure of any streets.
But this morning I saw democracy in action, representative democracy. The vote did not go exactly as I wished, but I know our Council took all viewpoints and reasons into consideration.
I'm proud to live in this city. I'm proud of our city government and my neighbor citizens!
From the first that I heard about the proposal, as a member of VÍA's citizens council, I've opposed closure of ANY streets. My position has modified somewhat, as I received more info and watched VÍA develop their response to the plan. I didn't EVER oppose plans to improve the landscaping, seating, etc. Just closure of any streets.
But this morning I saw democracy in action, representative democracy. The vote did not go exactly as I wished, but I know our Council took all viewpoints and reasons into consideration.
I'm proud to live in this city. I'm proud of our city government and my neighbor citizens!
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Trains in my life - "All aboard!"
For the third summer (plus weekends of Spring) I'm working in a delightful amusement (or theme) park, Fiesta Texas. This park, which I've mentioned in earlier blog postings, is officially named Six Flags Fiesta Texas. But I prefer to use the shorter name, primarily because that WAS its name when the park opened in 1992, fostered by Opryland Park of Nashville. (Six Flags took over the park a few years ago).
I'm working a new job this year at Fiesta Texas, Conductor and Depot Agent on the Fiesta Texas Railroad. This is a train ride very similar to the train ride in the now-defunct Opryland. And there are other amusement parks and even a few public parks, e.g., Brackenridge Park here, that have train rides. Folks, it's a barrel of fun to work on the train!
Possibly this fun aspect of my work is because trains (particularly of the passenger sort) have been a prominent part of my life since early childhood. Back then there were two very dominant buildings in downtown Boise, at opposite ends of a major, scenic boulevard, the State Capitol in the style of the nation's Capitol, and the Union Pacific (RR) Depot in California Spanish Mission style, including a very tall clock tower. And when I was about 6 or 7 years old my family took a vacation trip on the Union Pacific's "City of Portland" or "Portland Rose" passenger line to upstate New York (this was before Amtrak). It was a very exciting experience for a little boy, and I remember that it led to my first goal of what I wanted to be "when I grow up": a railroad engineer.
Well, other things happened, other things came to my attention, other things intervened. Actually, I went thru several versions of what I wanted to be "when I grow up". But now that I'm working on the train at Fiesta Texas RR, it's almost like I've come full circle back to my boyhood dream! This insight came to me the other day, as I approached the depot that is the train crew's office of sorts, in the company of one of the older fellows who works on the train. I shared this insight with him and we both smiled at this.
Also, a day or two before this insight, I was doing my usual M.O. upon entering the park for work, which is to go first to a food shop just inside the Guest Entrance (i.e., the main entrance) to get my mug filled with ice water and then proceed down the main pedestrian pathway under the tracks and hang a left to ascend the steps into that depot. The train was just about to depart for the other depot and thus the whistle was being blown. In response I chimed in, "Choo, choo!" A family of Guests was passing me as they left the ride, and the dad stopped me to ask if the guys on the train crew were retired railroad engineers. I smiled as I replied, "Oh, yes, we all are! I'm retired from fifty years on the Union Pacific." Then I quickly added with a bigger smile, "I'm 52". The man took me in good humor, "I tho't you were pulling my leg when you said 50 years on the railroad!"
Ha, ha! All in a day's work on the Fiesta Texas Railroad. "All aboard!"
I'm working a new job this year at Fiesta Texas, Conductor and Depot Agent on the Fiesta Texas Railroad. This is a train ride very similar to the train ride in the now-defunct Opryland. And there are other amusement parks and even a few public parks, e.g., Brackenridge Park here, that have train rides. Folks, it's a barrel of fun to work on the train!
Possibly this fun aspect of my work is because trains (particularly of the passenger sort) have been a prominent part of my life since early childhood. Back then there were two very dominant buildings in downtown Boise, at opposite ends of a major, scenic boulevard, the State Capitol in the style of the nation's Capitol, and the Union Pacific (RR) Depot in California Spanish Mission style, including a very tall clock tower. And when I was about 6 or 7 years old my family took a vacation trip on the Union Pacific's "City of Portland" or "Portland Rose" passenger line to upstate New York (this was before Amtrak). It was a very exciting experience for a little boy, and I remember that it led to my first goal of what I wanted to be "when I grow up": a railroad engineer.
Well, other things happened, other things came to my attention, other things intervened. Actually, I went thru several versions of what I wanted to be "when I grow up". But now that I'm working on the train at Fiesta Texas RR, it's almost like I've come full circle back to my boyhood dream! This insight came to me the other day, as I approached the depot that is the train crew's office of sorts, in the company of one of the older fellows who works on the train. I shared this insight with him and we both smiled at this.
Also, a day or two before this insight, I was doing my usual M.O. upon entering the park for work, which is to go first to a food shop just inside the Guest Entrance (i.e., the main entrance) to get my mug filled with ice water and then proceed down the main pedestrian pathway under the tracks and hang a left to ascend the steps into that depot. The train was just about to depart for the other depot and thus the whistle was being blown. In response I chimed in, "Choo, choo!" A family of Guests was passing me as they left the ride, and the dad stopped me to ask if the guys on the train crew were retired railroad engineers. I smiled as I replied, "Oh, yes, we all are! I'm retired from fifty years on the Union Pacific." Then I quickly added with a bigger smile, "I'm 52". The man took me in good humor, "I tho't you were pulling my leg when you said 50 years on the railroad!"
Ha, ha! All in a day's work on the Fiesta Texas Railroad. "All aboard!"
Friday, June 02, 2006
The Trees - from Boise to San Antonio
As I've mentioned in earlier blogs, including my initial blog back in March, I was raised in Idaho's capital city of Boise. My original hometown got its name thanks to a French-Canadian explorer, Captain Bonneville, who was leading a party across the dry semi-desert north of the Snake River, a thirst-spawning region indeed. Then they came to the top of a crest looking down on the tree-lined Boise River, and Capt. Bonneville excitedly cried out "Les bois! Les bois! Voyez les bois!" or "The Trees! See the trees!" - a sign of flowing water close at hand for drinking. (Hence, I learned a bit of French long before I began my years of study and teaching of español.) So from my early childhood trees have played a major role in my life. I'm hardly a "tree-hugger" if such means a nature-worshiper. And yet I mourn whenever I see a vacant spot where a once-large, healthy tree used to give shade.
In Boise and environs there are plenty of species of shade trees and other trees. There are lots of ponderosa pines (this is just one of the pine's names) in the nearby mountains, maples (I don't know if they're indigenous, but I suspect not), weeping willows (another I suspect isn't indigenous, but there was a huge one in our front yard when I was a little boy), Douglas firs (popular, if I remember correctly, for Christmas trees, and we would go into the mountains to harvest one each year for the holiday), etc. Among other trees I remember well from my Boise boyhood (in addition to the above-mentioned) are a cottonwood (an indigenous species?) I would pass on my way from elementary school to my grandmother's house, and an apricot tree in our back yard when I was in high school. I delighted to got out back and pick an apricot off that tree when the fruit was in season; apricots remain my favorite of all fruits!
But. . . I'm no longer in the "City of Trees", as Boise is nicknamed. Haven't even visited in many years. I'm living in the "River City", to give one of San Antonio's nicknames (also "The Alamo City" or "The Mission City"). And yet, these two cities dear to my heart share this, both sit at the northern edge of a stream-scant flat semi-desert with a river flowing thru the heart of the original city - a tree-lined stream with abundant water. And both cities share their names with the rivers which are their raison d'etre. (Some more French, which I used also in an earlier blog, meaning "reason for being" or "reason for existence".)
Trees! South Texas, which received over-average rainfall from the middle of my first year here (A.D. 2002) to early last year (A.D. 2005) had been suffering a drought since (see my "Wildflowers" posting of April). But since the start of May we've been blessed with some good rainfall. En'uf to green the grass, prompt the flowers to perk up their blooms and return the flowery color to S.A., and livening the green leaves of the many trees here. Here is a list of some of the native trees I especially appreciate in S.A., and the surrounding area, including the Hill Country:
Pecan. This, the State Tree of Texas, gives its name to the Nueces River south of here (the south and southwest boundary of Spanish and Mexican Texas). In my first residence here the courtyard of the former motel featured very mature pecans; in the summer evenings I delighted to go out and lie in a lounge chair listening to KKYX-AM 680 broadcasts of the S.A. Missions Texas League baseball games and gaze up at the twisted branches of those towering pecans. Thru those writhing branches the sky would fade from sunset into star-spangled night. Beautiful!
Cypress. I suspect these are a different species from the cypress I was acquainted with during my year of residence in Tallahasseee, which had prominent "knees" sticking up out of the water beside or in which they grew. But whatever specific of cypress these are, there are plenty along the San Antonio, the Guadalupe, the Medina and other rivers flowing abundantly from the springs of the Hill Country and the Balcones Escarpment.
Live oak (encino in Spanish). These carry small dark green oval leaves (rather than the typical oak-leaf shape, but these DO bear acorns) all thru the winter and lose the old ones just before the new leaves sprout in spring. They are especially plentiful in parts of San Antonio adjacent to the Balcones Escarpment and the Hill Country. In fact, some book I read about San Antonio pushed the tree as THE tree of S.A.
Palm. I'm not sure that palm trees are indigenous to the immediate San Antonio area, but they definitely are native to the lower Rio Grand Valley to the south. In fact, the first name Spanish explorers gave that river was Río de las Palmas. And there are certainly numerous palms around here! Plus fairly old neighborhoods with names like "Las Palmas" or "Palm Heights". When palm trees are properly cared for, they have a distinctive beauty that compensates for their not being a very shady tree.
Hackberry. Well, I'm not sure I "appreciate" THIS tree! I had considered that a large tree near my room at La Fiesta Apartments was a weeping willow. But then I remarked about a very similar tree in the yard of a fellow church member, and was informed that the tree wasn't a willow but rather a hackberry! The main difference that I can detect between a hackberry and a weeping willow is that the former has multiple trunks of large size growing up out of the ground (a willow tends to have a single trunk). From what the church brother said, I get the impression that the hackberry is a difficult tree to kill off. The next tree has a similar reputation.
Mesquite. This small tree (some would classify it as a shrub due to its multiple trunks) strikes me as an attractive and emblematic plant of the South Texas area, at least in the spring. Then its new leaves of pale green in bipolar pinnate shape look very delicate - a natural lace if you will - against the ragged, rugged, deeply-scored dark brown and usually very twisted trunks and branches.
Huisache. Smaller than the mesquite and more definitely a candidate for classification as a shrub. Indeed, every element and proportion of the huisache seems to mark it as a shrunk version of the mesquite. However, it bears bright goldenrod-yellow balls of flowers which at once distinguish it (for me) from the other.
Mountain laurel. This is another plant that I might have classified as a shrub, but I recently saw a photo of the largest (oldest?) laurel in the city, and it definitely looked like a tree, size-wise. There is a beautiful Mexican song called "Los Laureles" about these laurels, which are very beautiful and fragrant with blossoms in early spring. I only wish the laurels bloomed for a longer season, as do the myrtles (which are still in bloom thru'out the summer).
Trees! I delight in trees, and I remember the poet's words, that "only God can make a tree." And what a work any and every shade or fruit tree is! Thank you, Lord and Creator!
In Boise and environs there are plenty of species of shade trees and other trees. There are lots of ponderosa pines (this is just one of the pine's names) in the nearby mountains, maples (I don't know if they're indigenous, but I suspect not), weeping willows (another I suspect isn't indigenous, but there was a huge one in our front yard when I was a little boy), Douglas firs (popular, if I remember correctly, for Christmas trees, and we would go into the mountains to harvest one each year for the holiday), etc. Among other trees I remember well from my Boise boyhood (in addition to the above-mentioned) are a cottonwood (an indigenous species?) I would pass on my way from elementary school to my grandmother's house, and an apricot tree in our back yard when I was in high school. I delighted to got out back and pick an apricot off that tree when the fruit was in season; apricots remain my favorite of all fruits!
But. . . I'm no longer in the "City of Trees", as Boise is nicknamed. Haven't even visited in many years. I'm living in the "River City", to give one of San Antonio's nicknames (also "The Alamo City" or "The Mission City"). And yet, these two cities dear to my heart share this, both sit at the northern edge of a stream-scant flat semi-desert with a river flowing thru the heart of the original city - a tree-lined stream with abundant water. And both cities share their names with the rivers which are their raison d'etre. (Some more French, which I used also in an earlier blog, meaning "reason for being" or "reason for existence".)
Trees! South Texas, which received over-average rainfall from the middle of my first year here (A.D. 2002) to early last year (A.D. 2005) had been suffering a drought since (see my "Wildflowers" posting of April). But since the start of May we've been blessed with some good rainfall. En'uf to green the grass, prompt the flowers to perk up their blooms and return the flowery color to S.A., and livening the green leaves of the many trees here. Here is a list of some of the native trees I especially appreciate in S.A., and the surrounding area, including the Hill Country:
Pecan. This, the State Tree of Texas, gives its name to the Nueces River south of here (the south and southwest boundary of Spanish and Mexican Texas). In my first residence here the courtyard of the former motel featured very mature pecans; in the summer evenings I delighted to go out and lie in a lounge chair listening to KKYX-AM 680 broadcasts of the S.A. Missions Texas League baseball games and gaze up at the twisted branches of those towering pecans. Thru those writhing branches the sky would fade from sunset into star-spangled night. Beautiful!
Cypress. I suspect these are a different species from the cypress I was acquainted with during my year of residence in Tallahasseee, which had prominent "knees" sticking up out of the water beside or in which they grew. But whatever specific of cypress these are, there are plenty along the San Antonio, the Guadalupe, the Medina and other rivers flowing abundantly from the springs of the Hill Country and the Balcones Escarpment.
Live oak (encino in Spanish). These carry small dark green oval leaves (rather than the typical oak-leaf shape, but these DO bear acorns) all thru the winter and lose the old ones just before the new leaves sprout in spring. They are especially plentiful in parts of San Antonio adjacent to the Balcones Escarpment and the Hill Country. In fact, some book I read about San Antonio pushed the tree as THE tree of S.A.
Palm. I'm not sure that palm trees are indigenous to the immediate San Antonio area, but they definitely are native to the lower Rio Grand Valley to the south. In fact, the first name Spanish explorers gave that river was Río de las Palmas. And there are certainly numerous palms around here! Plus fairly old neighborhoods with names like "Las Palmas" or "Palm Heights". When palm trees are properly cared for, they have a distinctive beauty that compensates for their not being a very shady tree.
Hackberry. Well, I'm not sure I "appreciate" THIS tree! I had considered that a large tree near my room at La Fiesta Apartments was a weeping willow. But then I remarked about a very similar tree in the yard of a fellow church member, and was informed that the tree wasn't a willow but rather a hackberry! The main difference that I can detect between a hackberry and a weeping willow is that the former has multiple trunks of large size growing up out of the ground (a willow tends to have a single trunk). From what the church brother said, I get the impression that the hackberry is a difficult tree to kill off. The next tree has a similar reputation.
Mesquite. This small tree (some would classify it as a shrub due to its multiple trunks) strikes me as an attractive and emblematic plant of the South Texas area, at least in the spring. Then its new leaves of pale green in bipolar pinnate shape look very delicate - a natural lace if you will - against the ragged, rugged, deeply-scored dark brown and usually very twisted trunks and branches.
Huisache. Smaller than the mesquite and more definitely a candidate for classification as a shrub. Indeed, every element and proportion of the huisache seems to mark it as a shrunk version of the mesquite. However, it bears bright goldenrod-yellow balls of flowers which at once distinguish it (for me) from the other.
Mountain laurel. This is another plant that I might have classified as a shrub, but I recently saw a photo of the largest (oldest?) laurel in the city, and it definitely looked like a tree, size-wise. There is a beautiful Mexican song called "Los Laureles" about these laurels, which are very beautiful and fragrant with blossoms in early spring. I only wish the laurels bloomed for a longer season, as do the myrtles (which are still in bloom thru'out the summer).
Trees! I delight in trees, and I remember the poet's words, that "only God can make a tree." And what a work any and every shade or fruit tree is! Thank you, Lord and Creator!
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