Surprise! Friends from South Texas in San Antonio

I saw Donna, a friend, on Facebook posting photos of San Antonio last night and sent a message to her asking where they were staying and suggesting we get together. We discovered they were parked right across from us here in Travelers World in San Antonio. We knew them from Bensen Palm Village 2 years ago. Like us they are on their way south for the winter. We had fun catching up and going to Mi Tierra's for lunch. Mi Tierra's was extremely busy! This weekend, locals were celebrating "Dia De Los Muertos" which means "Day of the Dead" - means they are celebrating and showing respect for family members who have died. Here are some photos of our day....
A view of the Tower of Americas in front of the Hyatt and also the Alamodome on the right peaking above the trees.

Donna asked the waitress to take this photo of the 4 of us.

Outside of Mi Tierra's .... There were lots of craft vendors for the special weekend.

Trevor October 2011

For all of you wanting to see an updated photo of Trevor, our grandson, here are a few that Vicky sent to me.
Above is the pet parade where Vicky and Deb, her friend, won grand prize. Aren't they all so cute!

Isn't he a cutie! And getting so big! She said he weighs 18 lbs.

Texas Clay and the Grist Mill in Gruene, TX

On Saturday, we went to Gruene (it is pronounced "green") to have lunch at the Grist Mill (another favorite restaurant) and to attend the annual Texas Clay festival. The photos below are in the "waiting area" for the restaurant. They write your name on the black board when your table is ready. The restaurant is in an old Grist Mill under the landmark water tower. It sits on the Guadalupe River.



The clay festival was quite interesting. It brought back memories of my "artsy" days and nightmares of the the 300 clay pot requirement for my first pottery course at Penn State! I had knee surgery so I had a cast on my leg from my hip to my ankle for 8 out of the 10 weeks so I spent the last two weeks of the term at the art building throwing the minimum of 300 pots in order to get a passing grade in the course. I actually got an "A" in the course so the prof either took pity on me or he actually liked what I made. ;-) God has a special way of working in all things.... It is a longer and more complicated story that I won't go into here, but..... If the prof had not had that massive requirement, I would never have met my future husband and the 38+ years of wonderful marriage would not have happened.

The booths and tents of the artists were scattered throughout the park area of Gruene and they also had demonstration tents and sessions going on continually throughout the day. We saw so many things we liked but being in a motorhome has its limitations as to how much "stuff" you can have with you! ;-)

I took photos of some of the silent auction items to show Tim how they were doing the silent auction. It is something we are considering doing at CHAP next year as a fund raiser.



I did love this large creche. They had used lots of gold and shimmer glaze on it in places. I could not have fired these in my own kiln since I discovered back in my art teaching days that these compounds were ones which gave me allergic reactions. That was one reason we were installing my ceramic kiln in our pole barn at our home before we sold it.

Mi Tierra, San Antonio

When we arrived in San Antonio last week, we naturally had to go visit one of our favorite restaurants, Mi Tierra. It is such an electic collection of Mexican decorations 24/7 365 days it always looks like Christmas especially since the Mexican national colors are red white and green. Here are some views:





Above the mariachi minstrels are singing at the next table.

The mural below is for our neighbors in Grantville, PA, Mike and Kristi. When they were in San Antonio a year and a half ago, we took them to Mi Tierra and the artist was painting this mural on the one wall of the restaurant. The tree in the upper right corner is a real tree that grew into the wall of the original building.


Mi Tierra's also is a bakery of many, many Mexican delicacies. Below, Doug is deciding what we should take home with us!

10.16.2011 Osprey and carved trees in Galveston

On our way into Galveston today, we saw a Osprey land on a telephone pole with a fish he had just caught in his talons.





Isn't he a beautiful bird!
This being our last day in Galveston, we wanted to drive the tree sculpture tour before we left tomorrow. In September 2008, Hurricane Ike covered most of Galveston Island in a tidal surge. More than half of the trees were killed by a combination of the powerful winds and waves uprooted many of the trees. A group of homeowners saw a opportunity to change the destroyed trees into sculptures. More sculptures are still being created. Here are a sampling of the East End Historical District Sculptures....

Click on the above photo to see the 17 birds carved in the branches.

A small dolphin sculpture above and a pod of dolphins down the street.

Many of the homes in this historical area are so beautiful. We especially like the home below. The owners said they chose Crested Herons to mimic their tall narrow house.





This homeowner must love guitar music.





The Tin Man and Toto stand in the front yard of a house where one of the directors of the "The Wizard of Oz" was born in the front downstairs bedroom of this property.


The pelicans sitting on the pilings are in the parking lot of the Mosquito Cafe - We didn't want to eat there just because of the name!



The Geisha and sister angels sit in the same front yard. The Geisha represents the owners love of Japan and their many trips to the country. She looks west - the direction you must travel to get to Japan. The Angels represent the homeowners two granddaughters.
Tomorrow we are off to San Antonio where we will stay for a month. It will be good to get back in a favorite city - Although, we have both enjoyed Galveston.

10.15.2011 Galveston Art Festival on the Strand

Today we went to breakfast at a lovely little restaurant called the Sunflower Cafe and Bakery. The setting was so beautiful as we ate outside on the patio and enjoyed the delicious food. Then we were off to the art festival on the Strand in old town Galveston.


We noticed that a cruise ship had come into port and took some photos of it.




On our way back to the motorhome to watch the Penn State game, we noticed an oil rig out in the Gulf of Mexico.

10.14.2011 Ocean Star Drillin Rig & Museum, Galveston Sailing Regatta

We had seen the Ocean Star Drilling Rig and Museum on the Galveston harborside the other day and decided we wanted to go back and tour it. Here are some photos.


The Ocean Star is a retired drilling platform and they turned it into a museum to demonstrate and explain how an well is drilled over water.


Below is a photo of the Ocean Star when it was in use in the Gulf of Mexico. The Ocean Star is a Jackup Drilling Rig. The museum tells the story of oil drilling and the three kinds of drilling rigs.















The pelicans were snoozing on the break water.










Today was the annual sail boat regatta in Galveston. It was a beautiful sight seeing the hundreds of different boats sailing down the coastline of the Gulf.