Last month

Nothing is guaranteed in life except death  & taxes so we took a trip up to Texas City/NASA area to Frye's to buy Turbo Tax.  It was discounted about $20 less than Wally World next door.  Besides we need to get out and about and keep moving, don't we? 

This memory is for my Star Trek fan friends and family.  We missed the turn into Frye's driveway and had to go around "the block".  (FYI, the blocks are Texas sized as well so it was probably a quarter mile round trip to get back to the driveway.)  Here we are on the NASA Parkway and we had to make a right on to - here it comes!!!! - Kobayoshi Drive.  If you are a Star Trek fan of either the original series or the new prequels, you will get this thanks to James T. Kirk's Star Fleet Academy days.  I have to admit I was bouncing in my seat and laughing that the folks around NASA have such a great sense of humor.

We met our landlords, Bob and Maureen, this past week when they stopped by to change the filters on the furnace. It was nice to have faces to match with the phone calls and correspondence which were necessary to arrange our stay here in Galveston.  They live about an hour northwest of the island.

When we were chatting Maureen mentioned going to Scotland to spread her mother's ashes when we were explaining our travel life style.  Interesting fact is along the Galveston seawall there are slab granite jetties jutting out into the ocean.  There are also many slabs stacked south of 80th street to build up beach.  When Maureen was in Scotland in the Hebrides Islands, she was told one of the islands has a large granite quarry and the majority of the granite they ship out of Scotland goes to Galveston.  The Scots didn't know why Galveston Texas was purchasing so much of their granite so she enjoyed explaining to them exactly what their granite was placed to do.  You really can learn something new every day if you pay attention!!

So this past week we finally made it to the train museum here on the island.  The trains were originally brought to the island to by-pass Houston.  There was a amjor rivalry between business men on Galveston and Houston.  We enjoyed the scale trains set up similar to my ex-boss' collection.  I worked for David in Sacramento and he has built a layout of the Sierra foothill towns and their trains.  The ones here in Galveston were multi-level with tunnels and trestles.  Two older men were looking at them and saying "Gee I wish we could see them running" so I pushed the large button which said "Push Here to Start Trains"!  It was their DUH moment.  Out on the old tracks by the train station, we could look into the private train cars but were not permitted to enter.  We were able to climb into a caboose, an engine, a fully restored mail car and a Pullman car donated from Canada.  It was a nice morning trip and we got some really good pictures from there. 

We are beginning to pack to leave Galveston and I will be very sad to go.  I have enjoyed exploring this area and just kicking back for the past 3 months.  On to Ohio, WV, & NC

Spring in East Texas

Blooming Redbud

Well, spring has come to East Texas and the redbud trees, pictured above, are blooming all over!!  The other trees have a faint light green glow to them as their new leaves are coming in now too.  When we lived in Ohio, I always looked forward to seeing those redbuds but not until late April to early May and then I would know that winter was finally over.  I think East Texas has the same kind of winter season my friend Stephanie tells me they have in costal North Carolina.

Last week we took Mike's cousin Terry to Hobby Airport for her return home to PA.  She was able to visit us for 5 days and her visits are never long enough.  We didn't do much more than show her the island and relax/veg during her visit.  We did find two other restaurants in our search for gluten free menus.  They are Mario's Seawall for pasta and wood fired pizza and Nick's for seafood.  Terry says Nick's makes a wonderful mojito too with lots of fresh mint and I can vouch for their Grilled Mahi Mahi with mango salsa.

After driving up to Hobby, and since we were half way there, we decided to continue on north to Livingston to pick up our mail, instead of having it shipped to General Delivery here in Galveston.  And since Texas votes March 1st in the Super Tuesday primaries, we dug out our new Voter's Registration Cards and took them with us too.  Texas is another state which now allows you to vote early and not wait for election day.   I hadn't checked into absentee ballots so I was happy we could stop by the Justice Center in downtown Livingston and cast our votes.  Not saying who each of us voted for and both chose different candidates.  I am already sick unto death of all the political rigmarole.  By the end of October, as the political ads overtake the air waves, I will probably stop watching TV, listening to radio, checking the Book of Face, etc.  For November's general election, we will request absentee ballots as we will be somewhere in between Colorado and Tucson.

One of our meal stops in Livingston is either Manny's for Cajun food or the Whistle Stop Café across the street from the Polk County Courthouse.  Yesterday it was Whistle Stop.  We'd had breakfast at Denny's by the airport after dropping Terry at Hobby so we decided Whistle Stop would be the perfect spot for a snack.  Both of us had Bean & Andouille sausage soup with Mexican cornbread (nice and spicy with jalapeño peppers).  For dessert I had a slice of very tart lemon meringue pie and Mike had peach cobbler.  I like the Whistle Stop because its atmosphere reminds me of Griffin's Bar-B-Que run by my Aunt Griffie (Martha Ellen Griffin) and Aunt Peg Anderson on Shinnston's West Side.  Whistle Stop is obviously a local restaurant in a small town with waitresses who know most of the customers and what they usually order.  And the pies are almost as good as my Aunt Griffie's  but the crust just isn't as good.  There is also a gift/antique shop connected to the restaurant and it's always fun to explore.

Whistle Stop Café

We are still really liking Texas and Galveston.  This winter has been the best in many years!