Looking Forward to the Holidays - NOT!

There are many tales in the naked city...this is one of them. Folks have heard me talk about the often strained relationship between my mil and myself.... In the early years of my marriage to hubster, my mil went to several of the German Christmas markets (as she often does- in fact, she is preparing to go again this year) where she likes to buy charming hand-crafted German tree ornaments and other bric-abrac to give as Christmas gifts. The first time she did this, hubster got a little wood carving of a mountain man smoking a pipe. (Surely not an allusion to his hobbies in college...)The boys got soldiers or something. I was given a prune doll that was dressed as a devil. No lie : it had two horns on its head, a long, forked tongue, and a skinny tail with a triangle on the end.

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This kind of gift-giving has been going on for years. One Christmas, mil gave me a tiny zip-locked bag of hay. (A friend of mine, who is Polish, says this is a reference to the manger or something.) And nothing else. Hubster and boys continued to accrue Hummels and wood-carvings, little statues and toys, doo-dads to put on the mantle place. Mil always askes to see these items when she comes to visit, so I haven't had the courage to throw them out or pack them away yet.

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But the coup-de-grace ? Last year mil gave me, as my sole gift, a book (clearly a "free-bee" she got from renewing a magazine subscription) entitled Clear Out Your Clutter. Now who is it, just exactly, who gives me all the clutter?

What did Santa bring you for Christmas?

"Santa" brought the usual gifts at our house this year- what did he bring to you? ....Electronics and clothing for hubster (poor man, he gets winter clothes for xmas and summer clothes for his bday and that's most of what he gets, wardrobe-wise, all year long.) He also gets " novelty " items related to various college personas and hobbies from back in the day which I cannot mention here, as this is a family blog. Kids got more video game crap, some clothes, gift cards for music downloads and clothing and video games. They also got tablets for downloading books for school and all other cool stuff you can do with them. Hubster got me jewelry (I long ago trained him to shop from a carefully edited pre-approved list that I supply him before any major gift-giving holiday). Really, nothing was unexpected, everything vetted long before the holiday - my sons researched and chose which tablet they wanted- and we like it just that way.
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The wild-card in our holiday gift-giving each year is always my m-i-l, bless her heart. Not knowing what she will do, from year to year, always adds a little frisson of anticipation to our festive holiday mornings. Last year, she bought one 4-pack of "The Nature Channel" geography videos, and cut them up, giving each of us a different continent. They still had the plastic band that connected all four, attached. Hubster sometimes does well- clothing, books, and expensive tools or electronic things. Some years, the clothes are all the wrong size, or girl's clothing, or weird colors. It's a toss-up each year. One year she gave the boys 32 different G.I. Joes. One year she sent a giant bouncy horse that took hubster and me 10 hours to assemble, the night before, and we only just barely finished when the kids woke us up at 6 am. Joy! You have read about my interesting gifts from her over the years: the prune doll devil, the bag of hay, the Clear Out Your Clutter book. Well, m-i-law went to Germany again this year, to the Christmas markets to shop. Did she buy us more figurines, ( she seems determined that we will collect owls, Hummels, wood carvings- whether we want to, or not) cuckoo clocks, Christmas ornaments, knick-knacks, gimcracks, paddy-wacks? No. She bought us extremely expensive, hand-embroidered wool, velvet, and leather ,with hand-carved stag horn buttons, Tyrolean clothing. Suitable for wearing next time we stage a family production of The Sound of Music. In sizes that fit no one. Merry Christmas !

Summer Reading

Midnight in Peking:How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China
by Paul French
Found this one from an NPR reading list. Set in 1930's China, it's a sort of police procedural/mystery novel/historical non-fiction about the mostly British expat community living in Peking. Kind of dark and noir-ish, (some violence in description of the crime) it is an interesting glimpse into a time and place that I knew very little about. Couldn't put it down, read it all in one sitting.

Indigo: In Search of the Color that Seduced the World
by Catherin E. McKinley
Picked this one up on a whim in an airport bookstore, of all places, but really enjoyed it. It's a combination historical research/memoir/travelogue, recounting an African-American young woman's Fulbright research scholarship trip through various West African nations as she traces the history and modern day culture of the indigo trade routes- the growing/making/dying, as well as the fabric trade/colonialism/history that developed along with it. It's kind of slow paced and rambling, but also fascinating as she talks about women's cultural roles in the making, designing, and selling of cloth and clothing- as art. Thought all the folks who enjoy quilting and sewing would find it interesting. It has a memoir/anecdotal tone, not a scholarly one.

The Summer We Read Gatsby
by Danielle Ganek
Initially I selected this book just because I loved the title. The first time I read it, I hated it - not sure why. I think I wanted it to be more lyrical and deep. Once I accepted it as "chick lit" and a totally fun, non-serious beachy sort of read, I re-read it and loved it. It's a coming of age story, romance, and mystery all in one. The characters grew on me and I think I'm going to make it a tradition to read it, every summer, just for fun. Puts me in a summer-y mood. Also, acceptable for the school library - no sex or violence.

Traveling With Pomegranates: A Mother and Daughter Journey to the Sacred Places of Greece, Turkey, and France
by Sue Monk Kidd
Read this to fuel my wanderlust; it was an interesting book with alternating perspectives in alternating chapters- the mother, the daughter, back and forth as they each experience the places they go with their varied perspectives. Non-fiction travelogue woven with personal memoir/internal thinking, quite different from her other work (The Secret Life of Bees, etc).

Onion Bagel with a Schmear

Twenty  plus years back I lived in New York, briefly, where I became an aficionado of many NYC customs, habits, foods and proclivities. The one thing I absolutely cannot live without that has stayed with me all these years is a love of really great toasted bagel, preferably onion, with a "schmear" of plain cream cheese. (Although I must secretly confess that I prefer a thin schmear, "like buttah" I used to say, not a thick schmear which is what one normally is served. If I am served too much cream cheese, I just scrape off the excess, which I know is some kind of sacrilege.) Note: only an onion bagel with small caramelized onions on the outside is acceptable; onions on the inside, whether powdered or actual, are wretched and will be sent back with loud exclamations of disgust. If I can't get a good onion bagel I'll eat a plain one or an "everything". I really don't like fruity ones or cinnamon or chocolate - are those really bagels? They seem to me to be verging into some nebulous cross-over world of stale donuts.

Growing up in Dallas in the 1960's-1970's you'd think there were no bagels available locally, but you'd be surprised . I lived in a heavily Jewish north Dallas neighborhood where there were mom and pop delis and restaurants nearby that served decent bagels. When I moved back to north Texas after being away for a long time, suddenly there were chain bagel shops everywhere, and they were all serving pink, purple, blueberry, cinnamon, or chocolate bagels with strawberry, honey whipped, caramel cream cheese or some such crap. These chain bagel stores, (with names that evoke New York or Jewish sounding identities) didn't even toast them for you (an untoasted bagel is a raw bagel, and tastes like chewing on gummy tasteless stale bread.) In spite of the Popsicle colors and "flavors", these bagels have no real tasty bagel kinship. The best bagels have a sort of malted yeasty flavor that is hard to describe but you know it when you eat it. I notice a lot of people buying these bagels and bringing them to parties, and no one is eating them. They just sit there, looking pretty.

The very best bagel I ever had, bar none, came from a tiny Jewish bakery in a Hasidic neighborhood near where I used to teach school in Silver Springs, MD. This bakery was tucked away deep in the neighborhood and next door to the local yeshiva- I only found it accidentally when I took a wrong turn one day to avoid traffic. It had high ceilings, wooden floors, a long glass counter. Old man behind the counter, old fashioned cash register that chinged when they rang you up.You'd wait in line with young men in long black coats, black hats, and ear locks and they'd pretend not to notice you. These bagels were so wonderful that after I started bringing them in to work and eating them, everyone else I worked with wanted one, too, and soon my entire school was eating there - we increased their business about 300 %. There was something magical about those particular bagels - I still dream about them- larger than usual, a bit softer/chewier, not as hard, more malty/yeasty. Aaaaaaahhhhhhh, the memories.......

I've spent a lot of time lately- god knows why, it's not like I don't have enough things to do- looking for a better bagel in the DFW area. Why do we develop these ridiculous time-consuming quests for seemingly trivial things ? They give us pleasure, sure, distract us from our real life problems.....and I think I've found it. Ironically, it's from a neighborhood deli, just a few blocks from where I grew up, and it may have even been around when I was a kid living in the old neighborhood (the name seems familiar, although I had never been there). Deli News, below is their website. Some neighbors of ours, recently moved here from the northeast and hungry for the tastes of home, discovered it in Zagats and highly recommend it. I've started eating there- fabulous sandwiches and other deli foods as well. Yum!  I buy a dozen bagels at a time, bring them home, freeze them, then pull one out at a time. Zap in microwave for about 10 seconds, slice, then toast . I'm having one right now.

http://www.delinewsdallas.com/

Rediscovering One's Inner Child

While on vacay this summer, hubster and I rode bikes all over an exotic island, mostly while inebriated, riding from bar to bar. This was the perfectly normal and socially acceptable thing to do, as all the bars had bike racks out front. We had so much fun that when we came home, I decided I needed to get back into bike riding. I rode a bike as a child and well into my teens/young adulthood- traveling far and wide, country and city. Then I became a working mom and got too busy and forgot about it somehow.

I spent a lot of time researching which bike was the best one for me  - I highly recommend Lance Armstrong's website, (regardless of whether or not you think he was a doper and should have his Tour de France medals stripped from him; it's not a website about him. It's about cycling as a hobby.) His website has tabs that discuss all kinds of bikes, riding styles/locales/preferences matched with suitable bike choices, what features to look for and why, many different brands considered and discussed. It's a great starting point for the novice; I'm sure advanced cyclists have other sources of info. In my case, I looked up beach cruiser bikes, comfort bikes, best bikes for old farts - all criteria that applies to me. I compared features, brands, models and settled on the one I wanted : The Electra "Townie" model 7D ( bc I need hand brakes not coaster brakes) .Then all I had to do was find a local dealer. More internet research, as the make/model I settled on is from California, and was not easy to find locally. But eventually I did, and soon came home with a bike eerily similar to one I had as a kid, only new and improved with better construction and features. Once, a few years back, I did buy a cheap no-name bike at Walmart, but never rode it bc it was so poorly constructed that it hurt to ride it. Made me feel clumsy and sore. This new bike rides like a dream, plus it's cute to boot.

 http://www.livestrong.com/article/227657-the-best-cruiser-bikes-for-women/

The most amazing thing about this to me is that, in spite of my many health problems that make it difficult for me to exercise and get around most days, getting back on a bike has been remarkably easy. My legs have "muscle memory" that, even though they have not been used for this purpose or in this way in over 25 years, instantly picked right up and knew what to do. It all felt reassuringly familiar. (That's why I need hand brakes bc I kept instinctively squeezing the handle bars to stop.....could never remember to pedal stop.) Hubster and I have been going on bike rides around the neighborhood....now all we need is to find a bar with a bike rack out front !

Where I bought my bike:
 http://planocycling.com/

Whatever You Do, DON'T GO HERE !!!

 

Hubster and I were looking for a quick, easy vacation that gave us the "feel" of traveling internationally, without actually having to leave the country (because I let my passport expire and have not had time to go get a new one!) Our "key" criteria was that we must have a short flight (our long flight to Hawaii last summer gave me blood clots in my legs). We both like beaches and bars and the pleasures of the ocean plus those of a city. We settled on a destination - I am not going to mention where it is- and had one of the best vacations we've ever had. No kids, no mothers-in-law, no cooking, no driving. Just sunning, swimming, snorkeling, sex and cocktails. We even went swimming with dolphins in a coral reef. The place we went to we loved so much, we decided it is our new "go to" place, and plan to return every year just for a couples get-a-way. Great food, white sugar sand beaches, casual vibe, can walk/ride bikes everywhere, fun outdoor bars. Why am I not going to tell you where it is? I don't want too many people to go there and spoil it. It is perfectly charming, just as it is, and I intend to keep it that way. Selfish, I know.

 Top photo: Our mystery destination. Above: Hubster and I drinking alcohol in a boat, somewhere in the USA. Below: Swimming with dolphins.

Summer Pleasures

People ask me frequently about what I do during my summers off. The past two summers were especially hectic,as I worked, went to grad school, and took care of aging sick parents and rascally teenagers. Every year I take care of home repair projects, doctor's and dentists' visits, and travel.This summer I am trying to empty out my schedule just a wee bit, and am sticking to basically my core activities (which I've pursued for many years): reading, exercise, fresh gourmet cooking/gardening/wine, and staying up late at night.

Yes I do read constantly year round- I read professional journals/material for work, re-read novels I am teaching (every year,along with my students), and I read for pleasure; am in two book clubs, and read daily numerous newspapers and blogs.  But the best thing about summer is the ability to really sink into a book and stay up all night reading it if the spirit takes me. During the school year, I never have time to read for a long stretch- it's all bits and pieces. A little bit each night but I lose all continuity. I get up early for work, so I have to go to bed early, and my time feels limited and constrained. In the summers, I read all kinds of stuff- serious fiction, cheezy fiction, books reviewed on NPR or in the NYT book section as well as titles that caught my eye in the store. I particularly love lying in my wonderful bed and reading, with my dogs curled up next to me, all night long.

I wish I had the time, the energy, the self-motivation, the will-power to exercise more. I just don't. There are years when I walk a few miles every day, and years that I don't. I spent my 20's doing Jazzercise religiously -it's a great way to stay slender- and now have crappy knees that are about to give out on me as a result. Zoomba sounds like fun but I know it would cripple me in the first five minutes. A few years back I started doing yoga, and I love it. It keeps me supple and limber and in a positive frame of mind. During the school year, I can catch a class on Saturdays, but summers I take in several a week.

When I don't have the time pressures of work, I love to cook from scratch. I have a huge repertoire of Mediterranean (mostly Italian, little bit Greek), Southern comfort food, and Tex-Mex dishes that I can make from scratch and make well. I also collect and love to read cookbooks. "Food porn".But ten months of the year I come home tired and frazzled and it's dark and I need a glass of wine and so I grab a frozen lasagna or take-out. But summers ! Exploring farmer's markets and all the fresh offerings of the season is a sensual pleasure that is almost as satisfying as planning, making, and eating the produce. Caprese salad, anyone?

The very best thing about summer is that I take off my watch and lock it in a drawer until August. Likewise turn off the alarm and wake up naturally- don't even need sleeping pills to fall asleep. My entire working life is dominated by the clock: when to get up, how long do I have to eat breakfast? how long will my commute be to work today- will I be late due to traffic? how many more minutes in class for this lesson/activity? how many minutes between classes so I can go to the restroom? for lunch? till the bell rings? till the day is over? till bedtime? I go 185 days a year with only 20 min to eat lunch, 5 minutes to pee -if I run to the restroom- and never a spare minute for myself or to relax and do nothing. Weekends and evenings are filled with "must do's" (go to the dry cleaners, go grocery shopping, buy tires, get the oil changed, do laundry, clean the kitchen: errands and chores). I feel as if I gallop through each day and as a result, have difficulty winding down enough to sleep at night. It is a common complaint of most working moms. I know I am not alone in this. But I do know that folks in those corporate jobs can at least go to the restroom when they need to.

So in summertime, I just ignore the clock. Wake up when I want, eat when I want, stay up as late as I want, do what I want, whenever I want. I watch all the late-night tv reruns I miss during the rest of the year, do laundry at 2 am and eat at midnight, read till dawn. I never rush; I take as long as I need to do whatever I want to do. Put off anything I don't want to do. It is magical. By August, my personal "clock" is completely backwards; I have become a vampire. I just quit cold turkey and go back to the grind. I like it that way.

Bed "Porn"

Every night as I sink between my 800+ threat count luxury pima cotton sheets, deep into the comfort of my supportive yet cushy pillow-topped mattress, high atop my beautiful mahogany burled wood bed frame, I think to myself, "I LOVE my bed!" And I am apparently not alone, for I am inundated with ads for luxury bedding products everywhere I look. A dozen or more catalogs greet me in the mail each day with sensuous photos of inviting beds in beautifully decorated bedrooms - I call it "bed porn." Online ads clearly targeted to my shopping habits beguile me with photos of beautifully made fluffy looking bedrooms. Many companies that I shop from for clothing also seem to offer bedding as a sideline- even when they do not sell housewares, furnishings, or decor related items for any other room. It seems that there is an entire market demographic of middle aged women who favor sassy fashion forward clothing and who also are in the midst of creating truly luxurious bedrooms. "You will never buy another pillow!" shouts an ad from the Sunday New York Times. My tv shows are full of ads for mattresses, each promising to be softer or more supportive than the other- how to sort it all out? SOVN European Sleep Systems, Sleep Number, TempurPedic- so far my consumer reports handy product buying guide hasn't tackled this topic.

All this "bed porn" has made it increasingly difficult for me to leave home - and you know how much I love to travel ! It is difficult and expensive to book a hotel room with a bed as nice as the one where I nest. At home, everyone gravitates to my bed: husband, kids, dogs. We eat in the family bed, watch tv, work on computers, play with the dogs, read, even visit - my mother-in-law on her recent tour, came in and joined me ( even though I use "going to bed" as my excuse to avoid people, when I need a little "me" time.)

From "The Ballad of John and Yoko"
 Drove from Paris to the Amsterdam Hilton
Talking in our beds for a week
The newspeople said
"Say, what're you doing in bed?"
I said, "we're only trying to get us some peace"

"Dallas" vs Dallas

"Dallas" was a hit tv show in the late 70's and is experiencing a second 15 minutes of fame in the latest iteration, a summer replacement series (which should be your first hint that this is not serious drama). It was originally billed as the first nightime soap opera, a description that seems to be forgotten whenever I talk to people who are not from Dallas about what it is truly like to live or be from here. People seem to be able to watch "Days of Our Lives", "All My Children" , "Dynasty" or "Falcon's Crest" for years and realize that few people in real life experience the travails of Erica Kane or Crystal Carrington (and not be committed to an insane asylum as a result); yet otherwise intelligent folk from both East and West Coasts and places abroad for some reason take every aspect of "Dallas" to heart in some oil well-owning, pickup truck driving while fur coat wearing family-scheming Texas fantasy of what life is like in this seemingly glitzy modern city. I'm here to set you straight.

Growing up as a child in Dallas in the 1960's, my hometown was forever burdened with the moniker "the city that killed JFK". This was a colossal shame, but as a child, I was mostly only vaguely aware of the implications. All I knew was that it was hellishly hot in the summer, cold and windy in the winter, there were miles and miles of sprawling suburbs with very few trees, lots of churches, and our cultural experiences were very milk-toasty. Segregation ruled schools, movie theaters, courthouses and many public places until the 1970's. Movies that opened locally typically went up one degree of restricted rating: PG's went to PG-13 or R, R's went to X, etc. due entirely to the local movie rating board which pretty much did whatever it wanted. We had "blue laws" that forbade retail sales on Sundays, and liquor laws that forbade the selling of alcohol (either in stores or by the drink) in all but a few small areas (which were havens of iniquity) tucked away in "bad" parts of town. (Of course, this sort of zoning made it easier and more desirable for us to frequent these areas, as teenagers!) Our restaurant choices were pretty much limited to Tex-Mex and southern- there were no other sorts of ethnic eateries. Fresh seafood was unheard of until the late 1970's- after the building of DFW airport opened this city to the world. The only really fashionable, world-class tasteful thing we had going for us was the brilliant retail vision of Stanley Marcus and the luxury store his family ran, Neiman -Marcus. Dallas was, and still is, pretty much in the middle of nowhere and has little, naturally, to recommend it. Founded as a trading post on a largely unnavigable Trinity River (what other climes would call a creek), Dallas grew initially as a banking, finance, and retail center, and was a very conservative culture as a direct result. (In contrast to Houston, founded on a bay estuary and home to the oil industry/NASA/the Medical Center, which draws people from South America and the Middle East into a diverse cosmopolitan stew.) The added fact that for some reason, Dallas is the buckle on the Bible Belt, home of more Baptists per square mile than anywhere else on this planet, only adds to the overall conservative tone. (Classic joke: The Jews don't recognize Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Protestants don't recognize the Pope as the spiritual head of their faith. And two Baptist in a liquor store don't "recognize" each other.) My childhood friend Monica was sent home the first day of elementary school for wearing pants. Her mother was from Germany and never heard of such a thing; we girls weren't allowed to wear pants to school until the early 1970's, around the time I was in the 5th grade.

The building of the DFW "International" airport in 1972 really opened up this city to the world, and nowadays Dallas (and Ft Worth, all surrounding suburbs, and most Texas cities) function pretty much like any major city in America- but more like L.A. than NYC. DFW is now the fourth largest metropolitan area in the USA, according to the latest census information. (link at bottom of this post). It is a young city, only really growing since the invention of air conditioning post WWII. With unlimited land and a hot year round climate, it is more like Dubai than Chicago or Atlanta. Buildings are cement and glass or brick- we have too much rain/hailstorms/tornadoes for that charming stucco and red tile look found in other southwestern cities.

I have lived in suburban and urban areas in New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Houston, and can tell you the key similarities/differences: Commuter traffic is pretty much hideous everywhere, (but Washington is the worst). Nowadays we have the same chain stores and restaurants in Texas as anywhere else- boring! But we do have our own southwestern cultural flavor that shapes our music, food, arts, and way of life. Housing and the general cost of living is so cheap in Texas in general, compared to cities on the east and west coasts, that people live in much larger homes on much larger lots. We have more disposable income, as a result of our low cost of living, so we do shop more (there is very little else to do, esp when the hot weather sets in), eat out more, go to movies/arts/take vacations more, remodel our homes more, have maids and gardeners, etc (due to our inexpensive labor sources, mostly Mexican, and unlike Arizona, we don't complain about it), and drive more expensive/newer cars. This tends to foster a consumerist culture that is vapid and superficial, unfortunately. (That's why there are so many "blondes" with perfect teeth and boobs here, too!)

We do have many museums, theaters, and a great flourishing of the arts in general. LGBT individuals and PFLAGG members are welcome, unlike when I was a kid and diversity of any kind was kept hidden. We are still overly Baptisty but other religions have started a toe-hold. A tremendous influx of Asians from a variety of nations in the 1980's greatly enhanced our local culture, arts, restaurants, and are driving up the educational expectations in local schools, which remain fairly low compared to national norms.Texas remains at least mythically in thrall to "Friday Night Lights" football and a sort of generalized "good old boyism"-just look at the stellar performance our governor gave in the 2012 Republican debates for a shining example of what the Texas educational system can produce- that precludes the advancement of the intellectual in our local public schools. Great disconnect exists between the needs of our growing semi-conductor and other high tech industries and the educated manpower these same industries will need to draw from the local public.

There are a few trees now, mostly ones that were planted by people like my parents, 40-50 years ago. Don't expect forests or mountains like you find in Ca or NY/Pa/Va/NC- it's pretty much flat for 1000 miles in any direction. The weather is still hideous, hot six months of the year, and we tend to leave town as often as possible to get away from it. The land in north Texas is flat and ugly, and spreads forever in endless suburbs, many of which look exactly like each other. (Parts of east and south Texas actually are rolling and do have trees, if one is fortunate to live there.) One's neighbors in any urban or suburban neighborhood are just as likely to be from California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, China, or England as from Texas. The diversity of folk has brought in a wide array of restaurants and grocery stores, just like shopping (what used to be) the lower east side in Manhattan or San Francisco. People in Dallas have jobs in banking, IT, semi-conductors, finance, personnel, computers, education, health sciences, and work at a diverse array of corporations from Peterbilt to American Airlines to Sally Beauty Products to ExxonMobil to Texas Instruments- just like they do in all the other major U.S. cities. Pretty much no one owns an oil well or a ranch, drives a pickup truck while wearing a mink coat and cowboy boots. (Oil industry jobs tend to be centered in Houston.)

What have I missed the most, when I lived away from Dallas? The classic Tex-Mex enchilada plate, available at so many Dallas and Ft Worth area restaurants. Even living in Houston (home to a fajita-centric Tex-Mex variational cuisine) didn't satisfy that need and I had to come back and visit several times a year just to get my fill. It sounds silly, I know, but think of the word "home" and you will often think of special dishes that are meaningful to you. This lure pulls several childhood friends of mine, who live now far away, into this forgotten wasteland known as north Texas, just to eat our favorite, special foods. Did I move back to Texas, from points east, just so I could eat Mexican food? No, I did not. I moved here to have a life my husband and I could afford, so we could raise our kids in a middle class way on the pitifully low salaries we make as educators. But knowing that plentiful Tex-Mex would be available, sure sharpened the trade-off. I do miss the culture, the seasons, the many other beautiful parts of this country I have lived in. But I missed Texas cuisine, more, when I lived away.

Do I hang out with people like the ones in the the "Dallas" tv show? I can categorically and honestly state that I have never, in all my life, known anyone like the characters on that show. Being a sixth generation Texan, I do know some true characters. Some have owned oil wells, some have been wealthy, many have been eccentric in one way or antoher. Where does "Dallas" get all it's family-fighting drama? There really is nothing new under the sun: these are just old plot episodes resurrected from Shakespearean plays. "Hamlet", "King Lear", "Othello", "Coriolanus" , "All's Well That Ends Well" anyone?

Census data:
 http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/population/cb12-55.html

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Statistical_Area#Leading_population_centers

The Best Thing About Summer

The best thing about summer is fresh fruit. I know many people who live in cold climes think the best thing about summer is not having to wear 5 layers of clothes or shovel snow every day. When you live in a hot country, those aren't issues and summer can be as oppressive as winter in Vermont.(See my blog posting on that very topic. under "humor"). We have a vast agricultural region in Texas and all my favorite fruits, save one, can be found locally at farmer's markets and roadside stands. Friends and family grow them in their own back yards.

Fresh cherries, however, are my absolute favorite fruit, and they have to be imported from Colorado or Oregon or someplace. Their season is short -June only-and I simply cannot get enough. I know they are tres expensive and many cannot afford them- I am shocked each summer to see how the price goes up. When I was a kid eating them, there were often children around me who had never, in their lives, tasted one. (Of course, I shared!) But compared to many indulgences in life, this is still a relatively inexpensive one, and better for you than booze, cigarettes, fast food, or gambling.

I like the yellowish Rainier cherries best, but will eat the (more commonly found in supermarkets) dark red-purple ones, too. My bff who lives sometimes in Beynes, France, a tiny town just past Versailles on the commuter line, has a giant cherry tree that is just outside his garden wall, which backs up to the town's civic park. Last time I visited, the cherries where in full throttle- covering the tree, dropping on the ground over the garden wall. "Let's pick and eat as many as we can!" I said enthusiastically. "We can't," my friend intoned. "They do not belong to us". I was heart-broken, and secretly ate the windfalls when he wasn't looking.

I am also crazy about berries- mostly raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries, although I've been known to delve into the exotic: loganberries, cassis especially. (Love Kir Royales and cassis jelly/jam!). I'll eat a strawberry now and then- mostly in strawberry shortcake or trifle-but from some reason they often make me break out in hives. Strawberry jam makes me gag- I think it's the lumps. Lately I've been making mixed berry pies (easy to do: buy pre-made, rolled up pie crust dough, wash and prep fruit, lay out pie crust, dump in a pyrex pie pan, add 1.25 cups sugar, dash cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger, a little brown sugar if you like, 2/3 stick of butter sliced thin, cover w another pie crust- and bake for 1 hour! That's all you do ! Super easy, super delish!) I will eat raspberries in any form, raw or cooked, jelly, trifle, pastry, or drink. Blackberries, too, and often mix them with peaches to make a peach pie.Something in that combo is magical: it cuts the too sweetness of the peach, and the too tartness of the berry. Perfect!

Peaches are grown locally and are also one of my favorite things to eat raw, cooked, pie/pastry, jelly/jam, peach tea, Bellinis, you name it! While you can find berries growing by the side of the road or manage to grow some in your own backyard, peaches generally require an orchard and we have many of them around. They don't really come in to season till July, so I am eagerly anticipating them. As the peach season starts to fade, the nectarine season begins, and they are almost as good.

Many of these fruits are cliches associated with Southern culture, but there is a reason why. Watermelons are enjoyed by white folk and black folk and are so versatile. Mexicans make "agua fresca", a fresh natural fruit drink with them. College kids drill a hole into the melon, fill the watermelon with vodka, let it sit awhile (plug the hole back) and then enjoy the buzz. It's no wonder the flavor of watermelon has permeated candy, margaritas, you name it. Watermelons are cheap, ubiquitous, easy to transport to a picnic or backyard party. Every street corner and farmer's market sells them. My mother always used to say, "never eat a watermelon before the 4th of July. It won't be sweet and ripe." It's true we have watermelon for sale in grocery stores around here year-long, even in the winter. I guess they come from South Texas or South America. But mom was right about the locally grown ones; they just haven't ripened up/sweetened up till the first week of July.

In Texas we call these cantaloupes. I've heard them referred to as muskmelons, and in the south of France they are called cavaillon melons. Nearly a year-round staple for us, they get kind of tasteless in the winter but are wonderfully sweet in the summer. I don't know why more candies/margaritas etc are not made with their flavor; perhaps they aren't as widely eaten as watermelons. Their cousin, the honeydew, tastes bland and boring to me- can't stand them. I see a lot of honeydews in grocery stores up north; not as many cantaloupes. But the cantaloupe is the best; you can eat them raw, or made into a cold gazpacho type soup.

Bucket List

                                                               Dubrovnik, Croatia
I recently asked my friends "What's on your bucket list?" The replies were varied: some answered me earnestly, some ridiculously or with great fancy/fantasy, some with ridicule. I know this is a cliche from a movie, (Isn't the point of the movie to get out of your rut and try new things? How can that be all bad? Don't we celebrate the adventure quest in most of our great stories? Doesn't the on character in the film grow from an embittered old coot who has given up into an empathetic, loving member of the human race , as a result of his experiences? isn't that what we all want?) and maybe at this point folks are tired of thinking in those terms or calling it  "Bucket List". OK, let's call it something else. What's on your "To Do " list? What are your goals to be highly effective? A positive self-actualizer? Life goals? 5 Year Plan?

In my young adulthood I had life goals, most of which I have since achieved: 1) get accepted into a prestigious, academically rigorous university (check), 2)graduate from that prestigious university (check),  3)travel and see as much of the world as possible (check-in progress), 4) get a professional corporate American job right out of college (check-hated it-soon left), 5) find a career that is meaningful to me, where I feel I am contributing to the world, not taking from it ( check), 6) get married (check), 7) have kids (check), 8) own/live in a nice home (check), 9) own/drive a luxury car ( no check), 10) earn enough money to stop worrying about money (no check), 11) have a rich life full of family and friends (check), 12) earn a graduate degree (check), 13) teach at a university (check), 14) write a published novel (still working on that one). I am now at what is called "mid-life" and re-evaluating it all - although let's be real: given the health and longevity of my parents, I'm 2/3 or 3/4 done. Do the last last few years in a vegetative state really count? What do you plan to do with the rest of your life, when you have accomplished really pretty much all you set out to do ?

Having taken care of aging sick parents for the past several years, I have realized I may not have that many good years left. In spite of statistics that tell us that our life span ( in western nations) is expanding, many of those added years are not good years- full of mental health, with painless mobility, free from disease, full of loved ones, adventure, financial security, happiness. I fear that when I retire I won't have the money or the zest to do all the things I want to do, and maybe I need to try to find a way to fit them in, NOW.

I think I need to take a page from my m-i-law (yes, the very one I complain about so frequently), who spent the decade of her 50's taking painting classes, traveling to Europe every summer, driving fancy cars, and generally living life to the fullest. Good thing she did bc she is now incapacitated with rheumatoid arthritis and can barely walk. Her traveling days are over. My mom didn't know she would have a series of strokes in her 70's that would render her incapable of functioning independently. She put away several hundred thousand dollars for her old age- and will never be able to enjoy the funds. She is under medical care and will end up in a nursing home soon that is paid for with her social security benefits.

If you knew you had 10 years left, or 5 years left, what would you do with them? I was having this conversation with a gf the other day, and she decided there is no point saving money for some future disaster- she might as well put that pool in now, when she can enjoy it. Once I'm old, poor, senile, and enfeebled- all hospital beds look the same ! It won't matter if it's a "nice" one or not! (Note to my relatives: please just bring me some luxury sheets! That's all I ask!) I know I don't want to jump out of a plane, sing karaoke, learn to fly, perform at Carnegie Hall, meet anyone famous, scuba dive, or hike Mt Everest. I've already swum with the dolphins (and sharks and barracudas and sting rays) in the coral reefs on the Red Sea, have ridden a camel to the pyramids (It was hot, windy, and I was thirsty.The camel smelled bad and I was worried it would bite me with its giant gnarled yellow teeth. Riding a camel is not a smooth process- they rock and sway, and it rubs you raw. Still, it was a gas!), traveled to most major European locations and seen the sun come up over (fill in the blank...............Paris, Rome, Athens, London, Jerusalem.....) I am fortunate in that regard. I did most of these things as a young person, and my advice to anyone young is to go for it ! You will never have more available income to travel than when you think you are your poorest. The minute you get a "real" job, settle down, buy a house, have kids- the joke is over. You now have to pay for multiple people to travel, not just yourself, and you will never have the time to get away. My advice to all young people is to bum around and travel as much as you can, while you can, before you settle down.

So what is on my bucket list? I take stabs at the small tasks- painting, yoga, redoing various parts of my house, volunteering for causes I believe in- each summer.  Someday, when the time is right for my sons, I'd like to have grand kids. I hope to keep finding causes and activities that interest me, make me feel like I am contributing the the planet in some small way. I'd like to (in the words of Scarlet O'Hara) "be able to tell every old fat cat I've ever despised to 'go to hell' if I felt like it". I'd like to own one nice car in my lifetime. I wish I had a swimming pool too! (But probably never will.) I am grateful for the many blessings of my life: a wonderful husband, smart funny delightful sons, good friends old and new, a pleasant home . And yet I'd really like to be able to travel to a few more places before I have to stop, altogether. Many of the places I've been to before, I'd like to go back to again - especially Venice, Sicily, Greece, France ( Paris, Provence), London. There are also some new places I'd like to visit :

Dubrovnik (picture at top)
A UNESCO world heritage site, Dubrovnik was an ancient Greek colony along the Adriatic Coast (former Yugoslavia, now Croatia) and has been continuously inhabited for 1000's of years.  It has a unique mixture of Mediterranean and Slavic cultures. Hubster was slated to go to a conference there, last spring, which put it on my radar screen. Then the conference was cancelled, but my desire to go there was not.

Machu Picchu and the Galapagos islands.
When I was a kid, my bff and I co-wrote a series of comic book/kid stories called "The Gosharootie Gang", about a bunch of kids whose various escapades took them to foreign countries. It was kind of like Scooby Doo meets Captain Underpants, and we did a lot of research for each story we wrote through books and encyclopedias in our local library. I only recently realized that some of my wanderlust was formed by the places we wrote about in those stories. One of my favorites was the book set in Hawaii, and last summer that's where I took my kids. It just came bubbling up, out of the deep recesses, this desire that had lain dormant all these years. I didn't even know I wanted to go there, but once I realized it, the urge was powerful. Same with Machu Picchu, and the Nazca Plains. I think that came from reading Chariots of the Gods as a kid. I've also always wanted to see Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. Some of this interest was sparked by that childhood friend, whose mother had family in those places and who visited frequently, bringing back souvenirs and tales of sites.

Bali
I'd love to tour all of southeast Asia: Thailand, Cambodia, Viet Nam, and various parts of Indonesia. There are places from the evening news of my childhood, places from novels and dreams, places of interest from my Buddhist leanings.Many folk from these nations have settled in Texas, sharing their culture, food, music, art, religion and literature. It is interesting to me and I'd love to learn and experience more.

St Petersberg
Russia is the one major European nation I've never been to, and I've long been an aficionado of Russian literature, music, food, culture and art. I'd love to do one of those cruises that goes from Denmark to various ports o' call through Scandinavia, ending in Russia.

  

Africa- Tanzania , or Kenya

I'd love to go on one of those "no kill" safaris where you get to drive through the wild game park and see the flora and fauna. I might even consent to ride in a small plane to do this....I'd have to think about it (and pack a xanax!) Yes, I know I can do a facsimile of this experience at Fossil Ridge, just south of Dallas, but I'd like to see Mt Kilimanjaro, too. Just experience Africa one more time.

What's on your bucket list? Why?

Great Greek Adventure

                            View along the road from Thessaloniki to Ouranopolis
Hubster is off in Greece this week- I did not get to join him this trip. Several reasons: 1)We are saving money to pay for son #1's college tuition, 2)No one is around to supervise the boys ( back at home, who have jobs, and can't leave) if both parents are gone.It's that rough stage in our lives where the grandparents are too old/feeble/or dead to supervise them any more, and no one else can really stand to be around them for long- for love or money. So hubster, who hates to travel, is off exploring the world; while I, who love to travel, am stuck at home. Don't cry for me, Argentina : there's always another summer/ another trip!

                                                                     Ouranopolis beach
Hubster, who has never been to Greece before, is at a conference in Ouranopolis - a remote Club Med style beach resort in the far northeast section of the country. Undeniably beautiful, this place is so remote there is no plane/train or easy way to get there. He had to fly in to Thessaloniki, then rent a car and drive there. If I were along, you know I'd make him stay extra days, and see whatever was around nearby to see. I'd be at the beach during the day and the tavernas at night. Opa! Hubster, in typical fashion, went straight there, delivered his talk, and is planning to turn around and leave. He is not even going to the famous Mt. Athos Monastery, nearby. Pray for him , my friends. Life is too short to miss cool things.

                                                                Mt Athos Monastery

Map of Greece...Ouranopolis is on the third peninsula on the far right, under the word Khalkhidiki (Halkidiki). Top right section of Greece. Here is some info on the region:
http://www.gohalkidiki.com/en/history/history.asp

Reading Roundup -Mystery Novels

It's not ALL scholarly tomes around my house; I read for pleasure, too ! One of my favorite things to read for pure escapism is mystery novels. Not sure where to start ? There is a fabulous indie bookstore in Houston that specializes in mystery fiction (as well as horror, Gothic, espionage, and related topics, modern and contemporary) called Murder By the Book that stocks an extensive selection in these areas. Their knowledgeable staff are on hand to rec titles and authors to anyone who asks- online, by phone, or in person.
http://www.murderbooks.com/

Here are a few of my favorite authors/series:

Sue Grafton, "A" is for Alibi, "B" is for Burglar, "C" is for Corpse, etc. Spunky female detective Kinsey Millhone  is a detective who runs her own little detective agency, lives in Santa Barbara, (fictionalized as Santa Theresa) Ca, and often winds up in compromising situations where she must use her intuition and pluck to escape. Kinsey is folksy, warm, wry, and lovably quirky, moral without being preachy, full of human foibles, supported by a cast of realistically drawn adorable friends and co-workers. This all sounds like cliched truisms, but Kinsey grows throughout the series, confronts many demons from her past, and she is never perfect. The pacing of these novels is just right (not too frantic, not too slow) and Grafton's writing style has sharpened over the years. Kinsey's ruminations are often profoundly quotable meditations on life, love, guilt, death, human relationships. Grafton's voice is heavily influenced by her own personal background and values. What separates her novels from imitators (Janet Evanovich's One for the Money, Two for the Show, etc series) is that in Evanovich's books, after you've read about three of them, you realize the plots are all the same and the characters never change or grow. The pacing is so frantic as to leave me with a headache as I realize my chest is pounding bc I have forgotten to breathe. Most importantly, I get to the point where I start to shout "Don't do it ! " or "You idiot!" as I am reading Evanovich's work, and have to stop. Grafton's books I can read over and over again; they are like zen meditations on whatever the topic of the story is. Beautifully crafted, I never get tired of them. Grafton says she will finish the alphabet...we are already at "V"....what will we do when we reach "Z"?

Tony Hillerman's novels, set on the Navajo Indian Reservation which straddles the Arizona/New Mexico border, feature two main detectives. He started writing about the adventures of Joe Leaphorn, a traditional older Navajo policeman, then after a few books, Hillerman switched to a new detective, the younger more modern police officer, Jim Chee. Throughout theses stories of death and mayhem that happen on "the rez", Leaphorn struggles with the death of his wife/meaning of his life, and Chee with trying to combine his spiritual heritage with modern ways in the quest for his own unique identity. The last few books often combine the two detectives each applying their individual perspectives to a case. Hillerman's research on his topics (Navajo culture, history, art, religious beliefs) earned him a special award as "friend to the Navajo People". A delightfully extreme example of "local color" style of American literature, you will long to travel there and see these places and people for yourself. Sadly, Hillerman died a few years back and no more new novels are forthcoming. But I never get tired of re-reading the ones he wrote. The earlier ones in the series are my favorites.

Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels are the pen names of Barbara Mertz, who has a degree in ancient history from the University of Chicago. Her novels are filled with archaeological exploits and historical situations, are well-researched, and are a delightful, fun-filled romp that combines charming characters involved in historical or supernatural situations. Pure mind-candy of the best kind, well written and can't-put-down.

 Josephine Tey is the pen name for Elizabeth Mcintosh, a Scottish author of the 1930's, 1940's. Under this name, she only wrote six novels.  Tey has beautiful prose, character and place descriptions and is the master of psychological motivation/analysis. Two of  her books are my absolute favorites: Brat Farrar and The Daughter of Time. Brat Farrar tells the story of a long lost heir and a cold case mystery with a truly surprising twist at the end. The Daughter of Time analyzes a real life historical mystery, presented in a frame story of a detective doing some research while in the hospital. You will never read Shakespeare the same way, again.

Nevada Barr sets each story in a different national park. Her detective Anna Pigeon, is a park ranger who must investigate a variety of crimes unique to each locale. Well-written, well-researched, interesting and informative, you will learn cool interesting facts about a wide variety of our national parks. Barr picks parks that are not the "Top 10" (Grand Canyon, etc) so I truly enjoyed learning about these beautiful places I previously knew nothing about. I even managed to get hubster, not a reader in general, interested in this series.

Texas for Travelers

                                          The Alamo

To my devoted readers out there, stateside, who are wondering why I am including all this stuff the natives already know about, and why I've put a lot more "Texas" content on this blog- the simple fact is, I've been looking at my stats. I have readers from all over the globe- imagine that! and my most popular blog entries involve topics particular to Texas, especially geography, travel, culture, cuisine, and stuff like that. I think people are reading this blog not just bc of my title, but maybe to help them plan a trip here. To that end, I am going to offer my opinion and advice as to where you should go and what you should do if you are visiting this strange foreign country. Note: I don't get endorsements from anyone, and I took the ad feature off this blog bc it was just cluttering things up and a waste of time.This is a general overview, only...I have specific bog postings, with more details, on individual locales/topics.

First off, if you are visiting Texas for the first time, you need to be forewarned about the vast distances in this state- larger than France-and how to get around from place to place. Just remember: "Public" transportation in this state generally means airports/airplanes to fly you from one city to another. A few cities (San Antonio, Houston, Dallas only) have limited rail systems for commuters, but hey! this isn't Europe. Don't expect to hop on a train, go someplace, get off, walk around, see the sites, then hop back on a train and go somewhere else. You will have to rent a car to visit any place that is not in a major city- and probably most urban places even if you stick to major cities. Our infant public transportation systems are designed to move folk from the suburbs to the central core downtown area, and back, during work day hours, only. Many rail stops are not linked to tourist sites, and do not run on weekends or at convenient late night hours. I just experienced this with a dear friend visiting from New York, who wanted to stay with me in Denton, but be able to use the local rail public transportation to go back and froth to Dallas and Ft Worth, and be able to stay out late and eat dinner, then return "home" in the evening. While we are all darn excited to have a train at all that comes out this far, it did not run after the typical commuter rush hour, and does not go to Ft. Worth. So be prepared and plan to rent a car, unless you have friends who live here and will loan you one of theirs or drive you around.

The next most important topic for planning a visit to Texas is : when ? Our summers are harsh and last 6+ months of the year. I cannot emphasize this enough. It is typical and normal for daily temps to be in the high 90's from March through October, the 100's -110's from June through September, in most of the state. I liken it to Provence or Rome in August if you have ever been to those places. If you have never lived in this sort of climate, you cannot be mentally prepared for what it is like, even if you think summers are "hot" wherever you are from. My sister-in-law (who lives in the Mid-Atlantic East Coast) came to visit us the first time with a suitcase of what she considered to be summer weight turtlenecks and pants. We had to take her shopping to buy more suitable clothes. She about fainted when we took her to the local public pool to cool down on a day it was 112 degrees. The water in the pool was 99 degrees and there was no shade. A few years back I was driving through the old historic downtown square in Denton and saw a German family - mom, dad, two little kids- standing in a dazed and confused manner, on the sidewalk at about 3 in the afternoon. I figured they were lost and pulled over, rolled down my car window and asked if I could help. Turns out they were on the verge of heatstroke and needed me to guide them to a place with air conditioning and cool drinks. They were so prostrate they couldn't think what to do or where to go next. So my first advice is : come in the winter, spring, or fall. Our fall and spring are what passes for summer in most places of the northern hemisphere. Our winters are like Florida or California- mild.

If you must visit in the summer, June is better than July and August. Pack thin, sheer, lightweight light-colored cotton or linen clothing. Shirts, shorts, dresses, swimsuits. All indoor (and some outdoor!) spaces will be air conditioned (much stronger/colder than what passes for a/c in Europe) and can be chilly if you are not used to it - so bring a thin sheer lightweight sweater or jacket. If you are not used to this weather, pretend you are going on a safari in Africa- you will need a hat to block the sun, sunscreen, a bottle for water, good walking shoes, etc. I have been to touristy spots such as NASA or the Alamo and seen folk from all over the world sweltering and sick from the heat. If you are used to carrying a fan, do so. Be prudent : Go to outdoor places (the Alamo, Sea World) in the early morning or late at night. Go to indoor places (museums, etc) during the mid-day or late afternoon.

If you plan to visit Texas as a first -timer, or for a short time only, I would start with San Antonio/ Austin in the spring time. (Of course it all depends on what you want to see and do, and what your interests are. I will break down each region by typical and not-so-typical things to do.) One note: all Texas schools, both public/private lower (elementary, high) schools and colleges/universities, take a  week long "spring break" sometime in March. During these weeks (often "rolling", in the sense that a million people/schools will be off one week, and a different million people /schools off the next), typically beaches and resorts in the southern half of the state will be jam-packed. Book hotels before Christmas to get a room. It will not be hot enough to swim at that time, but will be a pleasant temp to walk around. Texans also typically take time off/holidays at Christmas and in the summer, but often flee the state. In the winter, we go skiing in Colorado-New Mexico, and in the summer to anywhere on the globe that is cooler than Texas!

San Antonio

See the Alamo, an old Spanish mission which Texans consider their most sacred site. Sure it's indoors, but the line to get in is outdoors, and can be long at peak times. Dress for the outdoor weather. It is within walking distance to the River walk ( pictured below), a pretty area with restaurants and hotels. All in walking distance of each other. San Antonio is also home to Sea World and Six Flags, a zoo and an old home historic district; you will need a car to get to these places on the other side of town. Day trips from S.A. are : Mission Tours ( historic old Spanish churches), Texas Hill Country (beautiful rolling hills with wild flowers in the spring), some local caves, grottos, San Marcos (See Road trips: Schlitterbahn on this website), Johnson City, Luckenbach, Blanco State Park- Places with historic ranches, presidential homes open to the public, scenic outdoor locales. You will need a car for all this. I have blog postings on this topic that include hotel and restaurant recs.

Austin

An hour north from S.A. by car  is Austin, the capitol of Texas and home to UT. This is an old-new city with a modern semi-conductor industry and a fabulous music counter-culture. The SXSW (pronounced "south by southwest") indie music fest is in March, and tickets sell out before Christmas. The Texas capitol building is historically interesting, (taller than the US capitol) and there is a Texas History Museum you can tour. Guadalupe Street is "the drag" where a few old hippies still hang out from the 60's. Sixth Street is a vibrant bar and restaurant scene.Road trips include; more hill country towns, looking at bluebonnets ( in March-April), Lake Travis (great restaurant: The Oasis on Lake Travis- incredible views), Bastrop. I have a specific blog posting on these topics.

                                         San Antonio River walk

South Texas
This is only for the true Texas enthusiast, and I would not rec it for a short trip. You must have a car to get to/see these places: 1)The King ranch -one of the oldest, largest, and most famous ranches, still in existence as a working ranch, and they do have tours, 2)Goliad - this is where Texas history really begins. Fabulous mission and presidio. Beautiful countryside. Nearby towns on the way ( Gonzales, etc) great for antiquing. 3)"The Valley" large agricultural region that flows south of S.A. to Mexico border. When I was a kid, people used to go to Mexican border towns and shop (furniture, silver, ceramics, veggies, booze, crafts) but with drug cartels encroaching, I wouldn't do that these days unless I were a native and could blend in. 4)Corpus Christi - Pretty little coastal city with a great aquarium and nice beaches. However, the best beaches are at 5)South Padre Island- entrance near the Mexican border, at southern tip. Beautiful beaches, but in recent years, over-built with condos and touristy restaurants. Avoid during March unless you enjoy being surrounded by millions of drunken semi-nekkid college kids.6)Lockhart- several restaurants here claim to be home to Texas BBQ. You can sample them all and decide for yourself. 7)Brenham/College Station- home to that other great Texas University, Texas A &M. A charming little downtown with B&B, and the Antique Rose Emporium nearby.

Houston

Houston would be my second choice for the out-of-town traveler with only a short amount of time to spend in Texas. You can see all that is modern in Texas (NASA space center, the oil industry, world class medical center, a fabulous museum district) and much that is old and charming in Texas ( historic homes, great restaurants, lovely parks and gardens, a zoo, some world class universities.) Spring comes early to this coastal town, and most things are blooming by late February.The humidity is always 100%, but that means the temp is rarely over low 90's, so you chose your poison. Hurricanes a common feature, generally in Aug-Sept. Road trips from Houston: Galveston (has a historic old section, and great Christmas and Mardi Gras festivals). Coastal regions nearby are world class for winter bird watching. Big Thicket - dense piney woods in east Texas.

                                          Houston

                                          NASA Space Center

But where are the cowboys? The wild wild west you ask? Well, the real versions of that stuff exist on real people's farms and ranches, way out in the middle of nowhere, sprinkled throughout the state and are not generally open to the public. I am unaware of any theme park that is configured like the wild, wild west or some one's ranch....You can shoot exotic game on special big game ranches - I'm not endorsing any particular provider, just providing info so you can search the internet for yourself. If you really must have an old west experience for the kiddies, then I rec Ft. Worth.

Ft Worth

This city, "where the west begins" has an old-timey part of downtown with some log cabin looking stores and a herd of long horns that walk up and down the street each day. This is a good place to go for those sort of photo opps. This little city is a gem, home to a great zoo,  a fabulous museum district, and a world class opera festival that hosts both traditional and cutting edge performances each May.

Dallas

Although I call it home, I would not call it interesting to the outsider. I see it as hot and flat and ugly, with wind that blows year round. Maybe there is some appeal that I just don't get. Lots of folk come here to see the grassy knoll and the Sixth Floor Museum that tells about the day JFK was shot. We have great sports teams: the Dallas Cowboys, the Texas Rangers, the Mavericks. Like all Texas cities, we have lots of shiny glass sky-scrapers and lots of miserable crawling freeways with too much traffic. Six Flags, museums, parks, flower fests, music fests, a zoo - like anywhere else. Personally, what I like about Dallas is this: it has some of the best fashion and house wares/furniture shopping outside of NYC and LA (due to the fashion mart, a wholesale source for the fashion industry) located here. Retail is king ! I prefer the variety of Tex-Mex food in DFW, (enchilada based, versus the fajita base of Houston) but that may be bc I grew up with it so it tastes like home to me. I think, overall, Houston has better restaurants, clubs, and an overall more interesting urban vibe. Day trips from Dallas: east Texas, a heavily forested region that is known locally for dairies, produce, small towns, and lakes. People often have their summer homes here. Historic towns include Tyler, Nacadoches, Caddo Lake. Shreveport or Oklahoma border towns if you like gambling.

West Texas

This region is not for the casual traveler. It is far flung, remote, desert-like, sparse in terms of towns and people. Many counties may have only one small town, if any at all, in them. You can drive ( at 70-80-90+ mph) for hours and never find a roadside gas station, restaurant, hotel/motel, or store. It will require research and planning on your part to figure out, in advance, where you will stay/eat/buy gas each leg of your trip through this area.  If you want to drive across America, and swing through some spots of local interest, I rec: Cadillac Ranch ( photo below) outside Amarillo; Palo Duro Canyon (similar to the Grand Canyon) outside Lubbock; Marfa ( famous for its "lights", an unexplained astral phenomenon), the Guadalupe Mtns and Big Bend National Park ( really, in south west Texas). Just keep driving and you can add White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns, and other famous sites in New Mexico to your tour.

                                          Cadillac Ranch

Friends out there reading my blog: Please add your own suggestions to this posting under comments. I don't claim to have a lock on Texas tourism.