Vacation's End

Sudoku Sam.




Entertaining Kent was a breeze, because he could entertain himself with his Sudoku book when we weren't entertaining him.

Kent really enjoyed the beach. He was fascinated by the marine life.

On Thursday we visited the Texas Museum of Marine History. It was quite fascinating. The view from the lighthouse was fabulous, and the wind whistling through the rigging of the sailboats in harbor was enchanting.

I was fascinated by a couple of the displays which many patrons strolled by nonchalantly. First, and near the beginning of the tour was an antique brass binnacle. The feature that astonished me was the Navigator's Balls, or Kelvin's Balls, not that they were there, but that someone (Kelvin, I suppose) was brilliant enough to figure out that the placement of magnetic balls in a certain way could serve to correct magnetic deviations on an ironclad ship.

The second attraction that piqued my curiosity was not astonishing so much as it was puzzling. There was a graphic/pictorial display of riverboat commerce in early Texas history. What caught my eye? The narrative of a side-wheeler which disappeared in 1832, "presumably sunk in the Brazos River." I have crossed the Brazos numerous times, and that fairly near the mouth of the river. It is an important river, but I cannot for the life of me imagine a boat sinking in that stream and no one knowing where. Doesn't seem credible to me.

At any rate, Kent's vacation ends this morning when he boards a plane to travel back to Indiana. We had a great week. Hope he would say the same.

Excursion to Corpus Christi

A short drive, and we were under the bridge and on the beach. We had lunch at Blackbeard's. Since I always have the gumbo, BBBH decided to order it, too. She didn't care for it, so I relished mine and finished hers!


Kent was all excited about the prospect of the tour of the USS Lexington. Since Beautiful and I have done that, we chose instead to go to the Texas State Aquarium while the son toured the ship. Now we have been to the aquarium on two other occasions, but I preferred not to bang my head on the bulkheads, and BBBH did not want the climb up the narrow stairways. Besides, the aquarium is endless entertainment. Well, not quite endless. We were exhausted after three hours or so, but Kent needed "just a bit longer" to finish his excursion.

Here are a few of the pictures Kent took. He is looking forward to showing his collection to his son, Alex.

Young Motherhood

This is the final chapter in the "Little Jo" series. It was originally entitled "Incubator."

The first order of business following the ceremony was to finish school. Well, perhaps that was just one of the first things that had to be done. Jo Ann had no idea how to be a wife. She did not know how to cook, or how to deal with the responsibilities she had assumed. Some good things did happen, though. She and Jep were able to get a small apartment over a storefront, so they had a place of their own. And her new mother-in-law was very kind and patient and more than willing to teach Jo the homemaking skills she lacked.

Some other things did not work out so well. Jep was studying to be a mechanical draftsman, thinking to obtain employment at the car shops. The railroad had forever maintained that facility in town; but just as the young husband was almost ready to step into what he envisioned as a life-long career in his hometown, the shops were closed forever and hundreds of people were thrown out of work.

It was the fall of 1955, and the first of the young couple’s children was born, a beautiful little girl. They cleverly combined Daddy’s middle name with Mama’s middle name and called her Bobbie Jo.

Jep was offered a job in a dry-cleaning establishment in a nearby university town. They made the move, and a few months later their first son was born. Their third child, a girl, was born in 1958. Juggling three tiny children, keeping house and trying to envision herself as a person in her own right more than a wife and child-bearer, Jo Ann found a good bit of frustration. The money was never enough and the routine was stifling. Marriage, she thought, certainly has put my problems behind me. See, there they are in a procession following along as I drag this stupid little red wagon to the grocery store. We don’t even have a car and no prospects of getting one. But children? That’s quite another thing. We get plenty of them. I’m pregnant again.
© 2008 David W. Lacy

This concludes the "Little Jo" series to be presented on this blogsite.
Previous chapters: 1 2 3 4 5

Nature Center

Port A

Went to the beach at Port Aransas on Monday.
Fantastic day. Some member of the party looks like a pickled beet.

I just wasted half hour trying to upload some images to Blogger. This is the only successful attempt. Maybe the morning will treat me better. Meanwhile, it is now my bed time.

Kent's Here!

Beautiful is ecstatic. Her "baby," her youngest child, Kent is here. She has been looking forward all winter to his visit. Well, so have I. Here they are on the pier at Rockport Beach. Kent was totally fascinated by even the smallest of creatures he espied in and along the water's edge. He nearly, but not quite, fell in when he slipped on a rock attempting to grasp a shell that contained a tiny hermit crab. "Look! he exclaimed as he held the object in front of his mother's face. "See the little leggies?!" She recoiled, and I smiled, for he is his mother's son. Wherever did he hear the word "leggies"? One guess.

Here was a beautiful little jellyfish going about its business. It worked the water around these mossy stones, giving me several opportunities to get a snapshot. This one is the best, even with the patch of bubbles riding over the top of the critter.

Later we all had much too much very good lunch at Jaliscos. It is going to be a great seven days!

Walk, Walk, Walk

My friend, Chester, does not know I snapped this picture because 1) he is a dedicated and intent walker, and 2) I was at my dining table inside, shooting through the screen door.

This gentleman walks around the park daily. He does three and a quarter miles in the morning, three and a quarter in the afternoon. He is more disciplined than I, and probably in better physical condition!

Chester and Elaine are here every winter. We first met them several years ago on our first camping expedition to Texas. The curiosity is that our permanent homes are less than fifty miles apart! Fellow Hoosiers.

Rockport Breakwater

On the right you may see the far end of the breakwater on which we are standing. This is a new structure which will form a safe harbor for many more boats. The building visible in center of picture is in the area of the current Rockport harbor, the breakwater for which is to the right and north of the new one.
To the left is the shoreline. There once stood a motel on this land, but it fell into disrepair. This year we find that it has been razed, which is a big improvement.

To the right of the new structure is an older wooden pier which is primarily for the use of guests at the beachfront hotels along the shore. The people on this structure are illustrative of one of the prime attractions to the area. Sport fishing is important to the local economy.

I don't fish. I used to fish. BBBH has no interest in fishing. She simply could not grasp the concept of "catch and release," so, as I said, I don't fish.