Houston and Charleston

Although I couldn't be with my children this Mother's Day I did get to speak to them by phone and received beautiful cards from both.  The history of Mother's Day has a backstory that took place prior to Woodrow Wilson signing the proclamation in 1914 creating the holiday, so I guess even for Congressmen there's no greater champion and worthy of the honor.  

 

This week closed out the Inprint Reading series with Geoff Dyer.  I've had a lot of fun attending these sessions at the beautiful Cullen Theater in downtown Houston. 

 

 

 Geoff it is said,  

 "is to essays what Anthony Bourdain is to food, that is, according to the Los Angeles Times any way.  He's the author of four novels, and this day he read from his newest work, Another Great Day at Sea, which chronicles his adventures during two weeks aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. George H.W. Bush.   He has a British dry humor and explained to us that growing up as an only child and being the age he is now (beyond 50), that he found the idea of having to share a room while onboard "a bit horrifying".  His sensibilities couldn't be any further removed than those on ship but he found a way to make it work and chronicle it all.  The sections of the book he chose to read were all interesting including the fact that in spite of his atheism he looked forward to daily prayer and actually ends this book on one.  His humor cracked me up and I'm looking forward to reading this.

 

 

 

And then a quick trip to Charleston with a massive surprise visitor at the airport when I arrived - took my breath, and that night Jake and Gina took us to a Riverdogs game:

 This is the local minor league Single-A baseball team that plays in the South Atlantic League.  They're an affiliate of the New York Yankees and their field is called Joseph P Riley Jr.  Although not the majority owner, it's rumored that the comedian Bill Murray is one of the partial owners and will sometimes make an appearance.  I wasn't exactly sure what a "RiverDog" is so I had to look it up and found out it's not a specific type of dog, rather, it's any type of dog that lives within a half-mile radius of a river.  (Gem could become a RiverDog.) The story goes that in the late 1970s, the Goldklang family, the majority owner of the team, purchased a chocolate lab they named Taco.  After their neighbors began calling him a "RiverDog," the family took a liking to that name and decided to change the name of the baseball team to that.  To this day, the team mascot, "Charlie T. RiverDog" is loosely based on the Goldklang's late and beloved, Taco. 

And we got a kick out of the fact that the concession workers wear T-shirts which on the front reads, "In dog years I've only had one" and on the back says "Textual Mealing".  Someone in the organization has a sense of humor.  Go Dogs!  Good Dog!

The primary reason for this trip to Charleston was to check out some property.  Of the houses I saw this one seems most like home to me.  I will attempt an offer . . .  we'll see.

Some things I like about this place is it's located in a "walking" community, it's easily accessible from the main road, has a master bedroom on the 1st floor, wood burning fireplace, a great kitchen, lovely screened back porch, plenty of storage space, requires no maintenance to move in, and access to lots of amenities.