For our friends and family while we are retirement roving ... and maybe some other stuff.
Texploration II and III
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We were back 'home' (as in where our current address is) for the 2022 Hallothanksmaseve holiday period. Mostly we spent time getting caught up on various financial, health, and writing activities. We were present during TAMIU's concert season, so we were able to get to some performances - fun! - and participate in holiday activities. We made a short trip to Houston, as well as a longer trip to Austin and the Texas Hill Country.
We returned in summer 2023 to finish up some final business so that when we return to Sicily this Fall we can maybe stay for good! (I covered some of the issues related to that in a previous blog.) Now, we were expecting Laredo to be hot, but we were not expecting to be caught in an extra-hot heat wave during our entire stay!
An example
We managed to get out and do a few explores, but mostly it was staying inside. Let's just say I made some real headway on genealogy projects, LOL! I also made a dent in my backlog of blogs. Unfortunately, Emily could not get away for a proper vacation, but we were able to have a short staycation in Houston, as well as to do some staycation activities around Laredo.
Laredo
We were in town for Hallothanksmaseve 2022, so there were many opportunities to participate in events as a family, with friends, and at TAMIU.
Diwali
TAMIU is good at providing celebrations for a variety of holidays. We happened to arrive just in time for Diwali, and Emily had volunteered to play her sitar as part of the celebration.
Fun food, dress, and decorations for the holiday.
We enjoy the opportunity to see Emily perform live.
Halloween
TAMIU all festive for Halloween. Different student groups and departments had made displays that were scattered all around campus.
Traditions
We got to hang with the cool kids for Emily's Halloween party.
Why is there so much cheese?!
Partially because I was making minner cheese. Some of Emily's friends had never had it before.
The Material Girl. Emily ended up teaching Madonna around Halloween, so she got to wear a very relevant costume to class!
Dia de Los Muertos
Flower petals to show your ancestors the way to your door.
We weren't certain that we'd be with Emily for Thanksgiving, so we encouraged her to go ahead and have a planned dinner with friends, even though we ended up being in Laredo. No worries - plenty of time to make special dinners.
More cheese?! Emily made our friend Martha's mac and cheese recipe. Check out her food memoir and get the recipe. Delicious!
Pre-Thanksgiving dinner
Watching and playing along with Concert for George: Another November tradition.
Thanksgiving means time for the Christmas tree. I'm especially fond of the ocean-themed decorations.
We all agree Emily might have an ornament addiction!
Tapas with Friends
We kept trying to get-together with friends Lisa and Trace at the Tapas restaurant, but our schedules never aligned with the restaurant's hours. So we made tapas ourselves. It turned out well!
Good food, good conversation, good times.
Christmas and New Year
Christmas on campus is pretty, and it's fun to walk around and see all of the decorations.
It wouldn't be Christmas without Frank's Chocolates. And, I was excited to find the Collin Street Bakery fruitcake at HEB. I used to sell these for Lion's Club fundraiser when we lived in south Georgia. It's actually delicious fruitcake! Despite that, John and Emily aren't huge fans; I may have eaten this whole thing myself. *Blush* Good thing fruitcake lasts a long time!
Raising Cane's always has fun Christmas decorations. This year they featured one of our annual favorites, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Squirrel! And, sorry Zaxby's, RC makes the best chicken fingers!
The holidays means Cherry Hershey's Kisses. Emily and I decided to try making cherry thumbprint cookies. Yum! A keeper. We didn't do a lot of baking this year, as our trip to Austin (more on that later) fell between Thanksgiving and Christmas
We moved the turkey to Christmas so John and Emily didn't miss out on their dad and daughter tradition.
We toasted in 2023 on Italy time with wine from our Austin trip.
Campus Visits
We were in town for the end of the semester musical performances, and it was fun to attend so many concerts.
Emily sang with TAMIU's choir Fall 2022. Their concert was really fun, especially this arrangement of Ob‐La‐Di, Ob‐La‐Da.
The guitar ensemble concert was very nice as well. Sadly, the link to it seems to have disappeared, so I cannot share it here.
We got to visit Emily's new office on the first trip. For her second year at TAMIU, they moved her into an office in the Fine and Performing Arts Building, so she is now housed with her colleagues. This Fall she received title Assistant Professor!
Emily's office is past the art studios, so there is always fun and interesting artwork in the hallways from students' projects.
A gift from one of Emily's students.
We are glad that Emily has a career she feels passionate about!
It wouldn't be a visit to campus without a javelina sighting!
In the Student Center. True. Important and life-changing things happen on a campus.
Summer
Unfortunately, upon arrival in mid-June we saw that the pool at Emily's apartment complex has suffered from a lack of care, and it was unusable. Oh, dear. We weren't sure how we were going to handle exercise, especially since the city water aerobics class only allows registration at the beginning of the month. We tried going to open swim at a city pool, but the hours are only in the afternoon. It was like being in a bathtub!
Even though it wasn't terribly refreshing, it was still fun being in the water.
Fortunately, Emily's colleague friend came to the rescue by inviting us to use her complex pool through June, until we could get into water aerobics. It was a real life-saver.
A well-cared-for pool, with a bonus fountain that helps lessen the heat in the water.
Water Aerobics, 7 a.m. class!
The city pool near Emily's place that hosts water aerobics has a very pretty mural by a local mural artist.
I liked her inspiration and theme.
Our water aerobics group is really nice. They've made us feel welcome, including inviting us to the lifeguard appreciation party. Aren't the decorations cute? There are a lot of talented people in the group. We're going to miss them!
While John and I chose water aerobics, Emily decided to give Tae Kwon Do a try. Right before we left, she passed her test to move up to yellow belt. One component of the test was breaking the board with a kick. Congrats to Emily!
International Sister Cities Festival
Laredo sponsors an annual Sister Cities Festival, with vendors from all over different parts of Mexico. We had a fun time trying lots of different delicious foods, looking at products from talented artisans, and enjoying some free entertainment.
Wow! At this stand I tried a type of agua fresca I've never had before, but Emily and I drank it all down before I remembered to take a photo. It had ground up corn and cinnamon. Emily said it reminded her of horchata.
The decorations were all very colorful.
There were so many vendors with beautiful products. Good thing Vagabonding puts a limit on purchases. Emily and I did buy two small bags from this artisan based in San Miguel de Allende. Did you know this town's population is about 10 percent expats?
We sampled many different foods, but lunch was tacos. My favorite was the cactus tacos. I've had cactus once before, and it is quite tasty. The blue corn tortilla tacos were yummy too, but I had to have mine without the salsas - way too spicy! I'm not sure if they were technically tacos. The sign said antojitos, which is a general term for snacks or street foods, which includes tacos, but also other things.
While we ate lunch, we were treated to an impressive Flamenco show!
We brought home some delicious cheese and fresh pecans, which have been put to good use in many recipes and snacks. Yum!
Casa Ortiz and San Augustin Cathedral
Casa Ortiz and the San Augustin Cathedral are located in the San Agustín de Laredo Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This area reflects the architecture and style of early Laredo, which was established in 1755.
Casa Ortiz, c. 1829, was the original home of Don Ryes Ortiz, recipient of a land grant from the King of Spain. Now it is an arts and education venue. We visited as part of a day celebrating music in Laredo, and we enjoyed pieces by several talented student musicians. In addition, we had time to explore some of the art in the galleries, as well as the Spanish Colonial architecture of the building and its grounds.
The Casa sits on the bank of the Rio Grande. Hola Mexico!
Original elements from the building. The tiles, in particular, were lovely, and they reminded me of tiles we have encountered in Portugal.
San Agustín Catholic Cathedral, c. 1872, recently underwent significant renovations. In 2000, it received the designation of cathedral, and it became the mother church of the diocese of Laredo.
Emily had the opportunity to sing there with a choir earlier this year.
A unique feature in the cathedral is an exact replica of La Pieta, a gift from the Vatican.
We had the opportunity to admire this beautiful sculpture in Vatican City in 2007.
Cathedral details. We would love to have gone out to explore more of the historical buildings around the square, but the heat was so oppressive, it was only possible to be outside for a few minutes. The cathedral, thankfully, had excellent air conditioning!
Living Life and Vagabond Prep
On the street leading to Emily's apartment is a small wetlands area, with many different types of birds. Laredo is on an important migratory path for many types of birds.
The lack of rain all summer really had an impact on the wetlands area. The overflow area was completely dry, and this area was down to just a couple of inches. I don't know if you can tell, but those taller birds barely had their feet covered; we could see the entire leg!
Thanks to the effects of a tropical storm that was developing in the Gulf, we finally got some rain (and a couple of days of temps under 100). This really helped out the water levels.
Some of Emily's cat friends. They come and go, but she's a kind hostess to all.
This summer we replaced some of our clothes and shoes. It's a bit challenging to find our size in Italy, so being in the States is a good time for this activity. I really like my new raincoat; my old one dates back to at least 2012! (Vagabond rule: Any new purchase must replace an existing item!) Around Prime Day, I also got an excellent deal on a refurbished Kindle Paperwhite - less than $40. Yes!
I'm not yet ready to replace my fabulous Keen sandals (they have a lot of miles on them but still some left!), but I thought I'd get a new pair to store away while they were available at a discount in my favored shade.
During our holiday visit we went to see the film The Menu. (Great 'horror' skewering of foodie culture, and many parts were filmed on Georgia's coast.) Emily wanted to try making "a very good, very traditional cheeseburger" from the movie, so I picked up the ingredients, and she cooked them up. Delicious! Emily representing with il grembiule we brought back for her from Sicily.
During our summer visit, we did the Barbenheimer. What a funny phenomenon!
We enjoyed trying out some different restaurants around town. When you can't vacation, staycation!
Dad and daughter beer at a local brewery. Nice mural, in the style of the famous Austin mural.
Tapas at a Spanish restaurant, celebrating Emily's birthday, our anniversary, and Father's Day.
Emily says this restaurant has the best al pastor* tacos in town. I forgot a picture, because I was focused on this beautiful embroidered tapestry! *If you aren't familiar with the subtleties of the myriad of taco types, I highly recommend the fascinating Netflix series, The Taco Chronicles.
Thai food in a beautiful building downtown. The owners have created a lovely ambiance, and the food was artfully presented and delicious.
Houston
We made an overnight trip to Houston in November to go to the Italian Consulate - for Emily's passport appointment. Finally! While her Italian citizenship was approved in March, it took quite some time to secure an appointment to obtain her passport. However, once the appointment was done, the passport arrived quickly in the mail.
Emily was flying into Houston from her professional conference in New Orleans, so John and I were on our own for leg one of the trip. We stopped for lunch in the cute small town of Beeville (if you read last year's Texploration, you may remember Beeville is home to the only Amish community in Texas). The Beeville Diner has an interesting backstory, having been opened by a Greek family. I certainly wasn't expecting to have a delicious Greek salad and warm pita bread for my lunch in Beeville, Texas. Win!
At the Consulate
While in Houston, we took the opportunity to eat at Chicken Salad Chick. This is a Southern chain I miss! In addition to the yummy selections, I have fond memories of going there with my Georgia friends Veronda and Marilyn. Emily had never had this deliciousness before and gave a 'thumbs up.'
Italian Citizens!
Austin and Fredericksburg: Hill Country
Normally we take a family cruise in December, but I just couldn't find one out of Galveston at the right time and price. So, we decided to do a week road trip to Austin and Fredericksburg, exploring what the Hill Country has to offer. We spent 4 nights in Austin and 2 nights in Fredericksburg.
Where we went. Austin is just shy of a 4 hour drive from Laredo. Austin to Frederickburg is about 1.5 hours, and Fredericksburg to Laredo about 3.5 hours.
Marina hit a major milestone on this trip!
Traveling around this part of Texas always involves a border control stop.
En route to Austin we had two items on our bucket list. First, we wanted to make a lunch stop in San Antonio to try their other famous puffy taco. This time we tried Ray's Drive Inn, which also claims to be the home of the original puffy taco.
Ray's had a lot of memorabilia to explore while we waited on our order.
The puffy tacos here, served with a pepper, were quite delicious. However, we all agreed that Teka Molino was the best of the San Antonio puffy tacos we sampled.
Back on the road toward Austin, our second stop was at the largest Buc-ee's in Texas. 66,335 square feet.
If you've never been to a Buc-ee's, I'm really not sure how to describe it. It's like some weird mix of a mega gas station and Wal-Mart. They are known for their very clean bathrooms. I've never seen the show, but this t-shirt was very funny. Since it was Christmas, we got to take our picture with the Buc-ee himself.
Our mega-Christmas playlist was the entertainment for this road trip. Since it was playing in alphabetical order, we were able to confirm that Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas is the song we have the most covers of. I think it was seven. What's your favorite Christmas song?
Austin
Usually our hotel is just a home base, but this Best Western we stayed at was really nice. The pool and outdoor area looked great, but we never got to use it because of the weather. It offered a clean, comfortable room, nice breakfast, friendly and helpful staff, and a good location for exploring a lot of different areas of the city. Highly recommend!
The hotel has a musical theme. The wallpaper in our room had famous Texas musicians. Do you recognize any of them?
For our time in Austin, we wanted to go to the annual Austin Trail of Lights and to visit the Johnson Presidential Library. We also had some ideas about restaurants, wineries, trails, and museums, depending on the weather. Emily's friend Tim suggested that we visit the rooftop of the downtown library to get a nice view of the city, and we were interested in seeing some of Austin's famous murals.
I think this mural, by Todd Sanders and Rory Skagen, is the iconic Austin mural.
This is a popular mural in East Austin, unknown artist.
I loved this mural that was at the Johnson Presidential Library. A Dare to Dream, by Chris Rogers, 2019, was commissioned by the LBJ Foundation for an exhibit on Motown. Represent Detroit!
We Rise, another mural by Chris Rogers, has an interesting history. How many people do you recognize?
Detail from We Rise
Not a mural, but another type of outdoor art we wanted to see. The Cathedral of Junk is in the backyard of its artist, Vince Hannemann. Unfortunately, the day we had time to check it out was not one when touring was available, but Emily was able to get some shots from the sidewalk. Interesting!
The Austin Public Library downtown branch is a real jewel. I'm glad Tim suggested we go there.
The library is very modern, yet maintains a welcoming environment. One cool item we found was a short story machine. You select your desired reading time, and the machine prints out an original short story for you. What a great way for authors to get exposure! There is a lot of great artwork inside the library, in addition to the beautiful rooftop garden.
Nice views of downtown Austin from the rooftop. I spy another mural!
We had a couple of chances to explore the extensive trails. A very nice feature of Austin!
Well, speaking of Lady Bird, one of my favorite activities of our trip was visiting the Johnson Presidential Library on the campus of UT Austin. There was so much to see, we had to break for lunch and return! Later on our trip, we drove through Johnson City and visited the Johnson family homestead and Lyndon and Lady Bird's ranch. Again, so much to share! On our Houston trip we visited Johnson Space Museum. So, with all of that material, I decided it would be best shared in a future blog on All Things Lyndon B Johnson. But, I'll share a few pictures now from the Presidential Library as a preview.
Johnson came into the presidency under the worst of circumstances. The pens are from legislation he signed on a vast array of social programs from which we still benefit today.
Lady Bird is famous for her work with environmental causes.
We planned our visit so that we could attend Austin Trail of Lights. This is a mega-light display inside of Austin's large Zilker Park. Perfect for getting into the holiday spirit!
It wouldn't be a trip to Austin without some BBQ, so we headed a short distance southwest of Austin to visit Salt Lick BBQ. This one had really high ratings, plus we were intrigued by the Salt Lick Cellars next door, which produces wine to pair with BBQ.
Where the magic happens!
Everything was delicious, but Emily and John thought the sausage was tops.
After lunch, onward to the winery side. We saved a little bit of each type of meat to 'pair' with the two BBQ wines - a red and a white. We all agreed the white was better with the meats. Emily's HEB now sells their wine. We also sampled a Viognier, since that's one of my favorites.
Salt Lick had pretty grounds and fun holiday decorations. We definitely recommend a visit if you're in the area.
Bellies full, we decided to return to Austin and spend the afternoon walking around the UMLAUF Sculpture Gardens. Charles Umlauf was a sculptor and professor of art at UT Austin. In 1985, he and his wife Angeline gifted their Austin home, studio, grounds, and many of his sculptures to the city of Austin. In 1991, the grounds were opened as a sculpture garden featuring Umlauf's sculptures (waxed, so they could be touched) and native Texas plants.
Outside the entrance are 3 muses representing the daughters of Zeus. These were cast in Italy (where he worked every summer) and shipped to Austin. Umlauf spent a lot of time in Italy, and he was originally from South Haven, Michigan, so there were two extra meaningful connections for us.
The grounds are an oasis in the middle of the bustling city. There were some pieces featured by other artists, as well. I liked this 2014 work by Margo Sawyer, Circle (Synchronicity).
The Garden and sculptures encourage interaction.
This piece, part of Design Shine 2022, was very fun. Introspectacle by Michael Koernig & Omar McClung.
Bambino su Cuscino, titled in Italian, to reflect Umlauf's connection with Italy.
St. Francis with Birds and Wild Boar (aka Javelina!)
We happened to visit the Garden on a community art day (they have many educational outreach efforts), so Emily decided to do the rock painting activity. It also mean we got free admission. Bonus!
Austin has a Central Market store, which is owned by HEB, but is a gourmet market store (similar to Whole Foods or Fresh Market). We definitely wanted to make a stop here for some fancy food. While there, I found this bottle of wine. For those who follow my genealogy pursuits, you might recognize that Pillitteri is one of the variations of John's maternal line name, Impellizzeri.
Pillitteri Estates Winery is located in Ontario, Canada. You know I could not resist learning about their history! The family is originally from Sicily, from a comune called Racalmuto in Agrigento province. There is a short story on the website about the history of their Sicilian cart logo.
John's Impellizzeris are from Alcamo in Trapani province, so we might doubt that these families could be related. However, the Alcamo patriarch was originally from Calabria and found his way to Alcamo, via Palermo. It is not impossible to think that another branch of the family could have worked their way to Agrigento province. It's fun to think about.
Fredericksburg
Our time in Austin over, we took the day to leisurely make our way to Fredericksburg (about an 80 mile road trip). This is a really pretty part of Texas. John and I had driven through it in 2020 when we made our pandemic relocation road trip from Florida to California. Six days, what a drive! For a break from I-10, we veered off and drove through Austin and some of the hill country. There are many fun activities along this stretch. Here's what we did.
First stop up, Texas Hill Country Olive Co. We enjoyed a nice olive oil tasting and strawberry balsamic lemonade. Did you know that flavored balsamics are excellent on ice cream? Try it!
Next up was a stop in Johnson City to see the Johnson Settlement (homestead of LBJ's grandparents) and, hopefully, to catch a glimpse of some Longhorns. As mentioned previously, I'll cover Johnson stuff in a separate blog, but here are a couple of piccies for now.
LBJ's boyhood home from age 5 through high school.
James Polk Johnson Barn. James was the nephew of LBJ's grandfather. He grew a successful ranching business, and Johnson City is named after him.
Mission accomplished!
Further down the road is the LBJ Ranch District, including the Texas White House Complex. We wanted to have enough time to explore, so we returned the next day. Very interesting, and so much to see and learn about. More on it in the future.
Graves of LBJ and Ladybird
Scenes from the Ranch. It was very peaceful.
We were in Fredericksburg just two days. Our primary purpose was to come and see their famous holiday decorations. We also made time for some winery visits - it is wine country after all!
Emily and I shared a tasting at Hye Meadow Winery. We enjoyed spending time meandering around their pretty grounds.
We had to make a stop here, because the name. It was very quirky. They made fun wines. Emily found those to represent music. (The silo is the potty!) We didn't do a tasting here. It was a little too party oriented. But we did bring a bottle home.
Nearby, we had a great lunch at Leroy's Tex Mex BBQ. Fusion of Tex-Mex and BBQ, the best of what Texas offers for the palate.
Our final winery was Sistercreek Vineyards. This one is inside of a restored cotton gin. Emily had a tasting, and we brought a bottle of their Muscat home for our New Year's toast.
Are you familiar with the Weihnachtspyramide? It's a traditional German decoration and reflects the heritage of the town of Fredericksburg.
The Fredericksburg holiday decorations did not disappoint. I enjoyed them just as much as the much larger Austin Trail of Lights.
This road trip was fun. We recommend exploring this area if you happen to find yourself in Texas!
Houston Redux
Since it was so hot during our Summer 23 stay, and we didn't have much motivation to go out, we decided in July to have a Harry Potter marathon. This reminded me that I have had on my 'bucket list' for several years to attend a Harry Potter film with a symphony playing the score. I tried many times to pull this together, but John and I were never in the same place as Emily when these events were occurring. On a whim, I thought that I would check to see what was on offer around the country. Lucky! There was a scheduled showing of Philosopher's Stone with the Houston Symphony scheduled for July!
Emily was unable to get away for a summer trip this year, so I thought we could build a nice long weekend staycation around this activity. After doing some research, we decided that we would also like to go to the Johnson Space Center and the Houston Museum of Fine Art. As well, John needed to get an updated International Drivers License, and going to the actual AAA office (of which there are none in Laredo) was much easier than trying to do this by mail.
While we were waiting for the license at AAA, John and I were telling Emily about TripTiks. The clerk overheard us and said, "I have an old one in the back," which she brought out to show us. Blast from the past! Times sure have changed.
The symphony show was great. Lots of people dressed up in their Hogwarts clothes. The acoustics were good, and Emily said the symphony did a great job queuing with the film. There was even an interesting short documentary about composer John Williams beforehand.
You forget how little the actors were in the first film! We had all read Tom Felton's book earlier in the month, which covered a lot of material about growing up making these films.
Some of the outfits, including Emily's. She opted for a subtle show of her house - Slytherin.
The local Barnes & Noble was merched out. John and I showing our favorite items. Buckbeak is from my favorite movie - #3. I like many things about this film, but most of all I love when Hermoine hauls off and punches Malfoy! What's your favorite Harry Potter film?
We decided to go to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston because they had a special exhibit on Impressionist and Post-Impressionist pieces. I also realized that they had a Bouguereau painting that I have not seen before in their collection. What I didn't realize was that it is among the largest art museums in the U.S. It's a sprawling complex connected by multiple tunnels, which themselves contain cool installations. Definitely recommend this spot for a visit if you find yourself in Houston.
Entering the art museum complex from the garage, we went through this fascinating tunnel, that turns people passing through black and white (sepia, if you prefer). As people were walking past, they looked like an old photograph! That was fun.
After getting our tickets we were through another tunnel to head toward the special exhibit. This one was interesting, too, as it plays with ideas about perception of color.
I discovered an unfamiliar artist in the special exhibition: Chaïm Soutine. He regularly made pictures of everyday people - workers - in Paris. I found this Portrait of a Woman compelling.
Another Soutine piece was the first obtained for this private collection.
The exhibition, of course, had the usual suspects like Paul Cezanne (Provençal Manor) ...
... and Vincent van Gogh (The Rocks) ...
... and Mary Cassatt (Susan Comforting the Baby) ...
... and Claude Monet (The Windmill on the Onbekende Gracht, Amsterdam) ...
... and Edgar Degas (Russian Dancers - instead of ballerinas!) ...
... and Pierre-August Renoir (Nude in a Landscape). Gorgeous!
This was my favorite piece from the exhibit. I like how the artist, Robert Delaunay, applied strokes of color to create the look of a mosaic. A portrait of his friend and colleague, this one is called Jean Metzinger.
Next we decided to check out a portion of the museum's extensive Asian art collection. This includes a large holding of gold pieces from Indonesia. Pictured: A kris (a weapon with mystical associations and symbolism) and kris heads from Bali, a Balinese Queen's Crown, Javanese pectoral and waist band, and a burial mask (Java).
This impressive piece, Untitled, immediately caught my attention, as I was certain it was by an artist whose work I saw at Tate Liverpool several years ago. Subodh Gupta is known for creating art works that incorporate everyday objects from life in India.
From the collection of Chinese ceramics, a beautiful bowl, with calligraphic markings, from the Qing dynasty.
Contrast: A traditional Buddha (Unknown artist, 8th century, Sri Lanka, bronze with inlaid crystal) and a modern Buddha (artist Noh Sang Kyoon, 2007, Korea, Sequins, polyester resin, and fiberglass). Absolutely beautiful!
Next, off to the European art section to find my favorite artist. The Elder Sister by William Bouguereau.
Nearby, I liked this painting by George Braque (a contemporary of Picasso) called Fishing Boats.
Another Renoir, from the museum's permanent collection, Jean Renoir, portrait of the artist's son. Wait! Jean Renoir the famous filmmaker was Renoir's son? I never knew that. Did you?
Before heading out, we took the security guard's suggestion to go check out the view from the rooftop of the Glassell School of Art. The view was fabulous, and there is a very nice garden there. I'm sure it would be lovely to enjoy in cooler weather.
Our last big adventure for the trip was to the NASA Johnson Space Center. As with the other Johnson related activities, I'll save the more in-depth explore for a future blog. However, here are some piccies. It was a fun activity and worth the visit if you're headed to Houston.
Mission Control. The flag on top is flown as long as there is an American in space. It has been flying since 2000!
Touching a piece of the moon. Cool!
Scenes from inside the astronaut training facility.
Mural painted by astronaut-artist Alan Bean.
Texas Pride (aka obsession)
Continuing collection of examples of the Texobsession ...
😄😄😄
There's some Texas merch I can get behind!
Next Up
Our next stop is cousin Jim's and Billibob's in Cape Coral, Florida in early September. We'll visit for a couple of weeks before heading to Orlando and Cocoa Beach for short visits with friends Iris and Roberta and John. From Cocoa Beach (Port Canaveral), we'll board Carnival Freedom for our transatlantic cruise back to Europe. From Barcelona, we fly to Sicily and expect to be back in Capo D'Orlando Oct. 4 or 5. We will, hopefully, find a place to live this round.
We're excited to visit Bermuda, as we've not been there before.
This is also a bit of a nostalgia trip for us, as Carnival Freedom was our very first transatlantic cruise back in 2007, on her maiden voyage to the States. Now we are going the other direction. Here we are getting ready to board in Civitavecchia, Italy. We were all a lot younger then!
Benedetta Adamo and Giuseppe Ciacchella This blog is a continuation of my project of balancing up John's tree a bit by attempting to get every branch to the level of 5th great-grandparent (in other words, 4 generations back from the 8 people in the top row of the graphic below, or 128 people). This blog focuses on the 4 ancestors on the left side of the top row. Part 1 covered the Impellizzeri and Milano branches (the 4 ancestors on the right side of the top row), where I identified 60 of 64 5th great-grandparents. Was I as successful in the Ciacchella and Adamo branches? Read on for my discoveries. Sebastiano Ciacchella, father of John's paternal grandfather, Giuseppe Ciacchella For these next two sections, we're moving from Alcamo, in Trapani province, to Augusta, in Siracusa province. Augusta in relation to Alcamo and our town of Capo D'Orlando (blue dot). Unfortunately, there is a big hurdle with research in Augusta. Only civil records are available for researc...
Buon Natale - Merry Christmas! It's our first year not sending any holiday cards, and probably not receiving any either. Very understandable, given our living situation, but it still makes me a little sad. I know I'm in the minority here , but I still love the tradition of sending and receiving cards during the holiday season. It's a lovely - and increasingly rare - experience to receive a handwritten note from special people in one's life. So, this year I find myself reverting to a 'virtual' format. I hope you enjoy our photos and updates, and I hope to hear from you. Happy Holidays! John Probably you all know that this has been a rough year for John, with two surgeries, three transfusions, and months of rehabilitation stays, after falling and fracturing his femur in June. Things seem to be moving in the right direction. Everything looked good at his last check-up in late November. The doctor said to expect a recovery period of 6 more months before 'normal...
Emily made her final decision to leave the States and relocate to Europe while she was visiting in June. So we began the planning of her transfer during her stay. While she was divesting of many things (including a car and furniture), it was still a complicated experience to plan, as she was bringing along two guitars, as well as needing a second pair of hands to close her affairs. The original plan is that John would accompany her by airplane. However, John really wanted me to come along. Some of you may know (or have ascertained from our multiple transatlantic crossings) that I do not do long-haul flights. So, I told him if I was to come along, we would have to make the larger portion of the trip cruises. Everyone agreed that this would be a nice way to break up what would inevitably be a hectic time. So I began the long process of planning a trip with multiple segments: flights for me and John from Sicily to England, and New York to Texas, two transatlantic cruises (our ...
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