Taliesen West

Frank Loyd Wright's Taliesen West is a dump!

The architecture is superb but the condition is horrendous. He was broke and moved to what was then a remote corner of the desert near Phoenix. Got his students to pay him tuition to build their own sleeping huts and build his house. What a deal. If he hadn't been such a brilliant architect, he would have gone to jail for fraud. As it was, he used local materials that were not able to withstand the desert environment. Many of the walls and ceilings have been replaced.

All of the above said, it is beautiful. It blends in with the desert, like it was made by nature.

Floating the RV

No the GPS is not confused. We are in the water. Actually the water is all around us.

We took the Galveston to Port Bolivar Ferry today. We skipped the giant "race track / parking lot" call Houston. Took a short cut across the mouth of Galveston Bay.

As you can see from the windshield, we also took a bath in salty sea water. Not worried about rust because tomorow morning we get freezing rain. That should clean off the salt from the ocean and add a layer from the road salt.

Life is just great down here in the sunbelt.

Now we are going to eat Crawfish. Sharon just talked the young lady next to us into showing how to tear off the head and clean the scales off the tail.  I'm glad I ordered mine grilled not boiled. I can just eat them not clean them

The Big Tree

Goose Island State Park is just north and across the Copano Bay bridge from our campground. It has this huge Live Oak Tree. Trunk is 11 feet in diameter. The branches are 90 feet from side to side. And the tree is estimated at 1000 years old. If this tree was growing in my yard, it would cover the entire yard and part of each neighbor's yard.

We visited there again today. A pair of endangered  Whooping Cranes ( only 250 remain alive today in the world ) nest near the tree. They had a juvenile with them. It was probably hatched this spring in a Canadian National Park near Alaska, where the birds summer. They migrate here for the winter. I couldn't get any good pics of the 5 foot tall birds with 7 foot wingspans.

Kidney Stones are NO FUN

Well I survived 3 days of kidney stone pain, nausea, 4:00am emergency room trip, middle of the night trip to nearest open pharmacy (40 miles one way) for pain pills and anti-nausea pills.
As I said, "I survived'.
Barely!
I still feel like left over flu.

We have said our good byes to Care and we will return to volunteer again. It was a very uplifting experience. I met a number of very positive people who have not had the same hand dealt to them that I got. I met some other people that made me reinspect my attitude. In any case I think I am a better person for having spent a month helping others.

Self inspection (and kidney stones) can be painful!

New Years

It almost 9:00pm and I'm beat. We came on duty at 7:00am. I'm not going to make midnight.
Happy New Year to all!

Party started at 5:00

Christmas Dinner

We had dinner with 80 of our close friends at Care. We cooked, served and ate. I made my world famous Italian Beans. Sharon added a pinch of just the right seasoning.

In case we ever get lost

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