Phisch's blog

Wildflower Center

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 23:32:34 -0500

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Originally uploaded by Phisch

Pictures here. Many pretty pictures!

It's definitely wildflower season here in Central Texas. It's not hard to find patches of bluebonnets, primroses and black-eyed susans along the sides of roads and freeways.

Hubby decided to take off from work tomorrow and deal with taxes instead so we could have an afternoon outing today. We had planned to drive out to Fredricksburg since the road there is one of the better places to see flowers. No doubt, since the biggest proponent of wildflowers, Lady Bird Johnson lived in Johnson City which is on 290 near Fredricksburg and on top of that there's a big wildflower seed farm somewhere there. We didn't make it far. There was a marquis set up announcing an incident on 290. It had to be bad for the sheriffs to take the time to set that up (second bad accident we saw today...so sad*).

We turned around and headed to the Ladybird Johnson National Wildflower Research Center instead. The last time we went was in the middle of winter. It was nice, if a little stark and grey. This time, it was like pretty exploded everywhere. Hubby had a blast taking the camera away from me to take photos. It was nice because NM and J kept asking to get their photos taken, too =)

+ + +

*The first bad accident of the day was on the way to church. Hubby had to let a police car go ahead of him and that guy did a U-turn on the freeway. We look to our left and on the other side of the freeway was a white minivan and there was a guy who was laying a tarp or sheet over something. Judging from the condition of the minivan, it was probably a person he was covering up. I hope it was to keep them comfortable. There were several other cars stopped nearby as well, probably to help.

At church, Bunjee's message was about witnessing. The thought of forever in hell is so awful. If we don't have compassion for others enough to share Jesus' love to them, in a very real way it's cruel.

When I saw the accident I just about cried because my first thought was for that person and to pray for the ones around him or her. What if they didn't know who He is? Forever is such a long time.

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Gross

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 12:29:12 -0500

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The day before we headed out to Houston, we decided to go for a hike at Town Lake/Zilker Park again. It was a very nice walk, but because of it, I wasn't the only one who ended up with some skin issues.

During our time in Houston, hubby noticed red marks on his left arm. Not long after he noticed it, the marks developed the tell-tale signs of exposure to poison ivy (little tiny blisters). Here's the kicker: the marks are shaped like fingers. There's even a thumb mark on the opposite side of his arm, like he was grasped the same way you would a soda can.

J was brushing his hands in and around plants by the trail before I could remind him that he was touching poison ivy. Looks like he was! The thing is, he has no sign of it, neither of the kids do. That's a God thing.

I took pictures of hubby's arm because he asked me to. Ick. I won't post them unless you ask and the most likely candidate would be E'sa who probably sees worse things on a daily basis at work. Hubby got some stuff that claims to get rid of the poison from off your skin and makes it possible to wash off in water. He did the first treatment and the package says it takes at least two. If not, we get our money back!

This time, he didn't opt for the treatment he used the first time he got poison ivy. He, a friend of ours and myself went hiking in the hills of Laguna Beach once two weeks---two weeks!---before our wedding. His remedy was to shave off the rash/blisters and then pour alcohol over them. It was awful, awful, awful. But it worked, go figure. No signs of it at our wedding at all.

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Houston Vacation: Day Three

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:34:32 -0500

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Originally uploaded by Phisch

Photos here.

Short this time. By now, we are all pretty tired---sleeping in strange beds, though comfortable, still doesn't give you the right amount of sleep---but the boys are troupers so they are excited.

We had another great bagel breakfast at Einstein Bros. I tell you, I want a Southern someone to adopt me. Yesterday, the manager happily offered to pour us some whole milk for NM then didn't complain (or charge us) when we switched to lemonade. Today, she let us have a lemonade after NM dropped the first and wouldn't let us pay. I sure didn't mind being called honey or sweetie by her, she meant it!

NASA was great fun and the boys again had a good time. A lot of it was over J's head but so long as he got to do the tram tour and the interactive exhibits, he was fine. Since there was a shuttle launch at Cape Canaveral, we missed the part of the tour where they take you into mission control, more commonly known as the Houston of "Houston, we have a problem." As our tour guide liked to say, "We're like Oz, the guys behind the curtain" of every launch and landing that NASA does. We did get to tour the facility that houses the scale model of the International Space Station plus their tools and equipment used for astronaut training.

We also got to see the only Saturn V rocket around. The mission it was meant for, Apollo 18 was scrapped and it was donated to the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian lent it back and assisted NASA in building a facility to house it. NASA just left it out in the open and it was deteriorating from all the exposure. It's laying on its side, which is good since it would be easier to build a warehouse 300+ ft. wide vs. tall, don't you think? The thing is massive and impressive in its size, though. And the vast majority of it is for its propulsion systems. I guess it just takes that much to get you 25k mph so you can escape Earth's atmosphere.

After the tram tour, the boys did the exhibits. I skipped some like sitting in a scale model of the module that the astronauts came home in, for instance. Claustrophobia pretty much nixes any desire for me to become an astronaut. Imagine days in a closet? I can't. Movies like Apollo 13 are horror films to me! They boys didn't mind in the least! Good for them. They enjoyed all of that stuff. They really enjoyed the really tall playscape as well. J only got lost from his brother once but he didn't really remember that as much as all the fun he had. The science exhibits were all so hands-on that the boys both got something out of them.

We had lunch and since my shrimp bisque (I can still eat shrimp!) was so hot it took me a while, hubby took the boys to see the space shuttle scale model. They both got to sit in it and take photos. There's an amazing number of buttons in the cockpit of that thing.

We left early afternoon for home so we could avoid traffic and have some time left over for hubby to relax since he had to work the next day. That turned out to be a good plan since we were all so tired. It was so nice to sleep in our own beds, the boys were even talking about it on the way home.

What a blessing it was to get to spend three days together doing so much fun stuff. We'll have to plan another trip down there since there was so much left to see that we didn't really get to do.

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Houston Vacation: Day Two

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:31:13 -0500

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Originally uploaded by Phisch

Photos here.

We managed to find an Einstein Bros. Bagel shop and had breakfast there. Mmm...is there any bagel sandwich better than capers, cream cheese and lox on an everything bagel? I'm not sure. I would have been happy to eat there at lunch. It turns out we all would have been...read further.

So from the area where our motel sits, it turns out Galveston is about 30 minutes away. It is an island, but apparently a long on and still not that hard to miss a sign when you are looking for it in a less-than-earnest manner. Sorry, houses in bright colors that sit on stilts are a big distraction for me. Besides, I didn't think three pyramids would be that hard to lose. It's easier than I thought.

Anyhow, we drive to Galveston Island proper and find that getting there is an interesting mix of industrial facilities, water, farm land and ranch land. Throw in some homes and you get an idea of what it was like. After we lost sight of Moody Gardens (the pyramids) we decided to go ahead and park and play on the sand. The first place we stopped at was a state park and charged $5 per person since it was really a camping facility. We did find a lot of places where you can get to the beach for free. We even parked on the sand! The temps were low 80s but the wind was very cool so we adults hung out in the truck while the kids ignored the weather and built their sand structures Pools, it turns out. How can you not think of a resort when you're at the beach? There were a couple of jelly fish but the boys could care less as I poked at them. The sand was very fine and the kind that sticks to you for a while so I was happy to have flip flops on (that kind of sand makes me grit my teeth if I touch it).

After a while of chasing waves and pool building, we decided we were hungry and drove in search of a place to eat. Lo and behold! We come across a pastel-colored palace called China Place. A decent Chinese place would have said "Palace" and that should have been our first clue. It was a buffet and at under $7 per person. Both clues. Both ignored. I must say, I've never had such an awful meal. It's up there with the meal we had at Denny's in our BC days that stayed with us for much longer than the aftertaste it left in our mouths. China Place in Galveston, TX does not get our vote. There were paramedics there who had partially eaten their food. They got a call while they were there and left...who knows if they ever came back. If they didn't, it's because something didn't agree with them. There were people coming into the parking lot asking us something and we warned them the food was no good. No elaboration, but maybe they could see it in our faces. They left really quickly. They deep-fried their rolls! Their sauces were an unearthly shade of red orange. My children were saints: they didn't ask for seconds.

Onward to Moody Gardens. It was a collection of huge displays plus a hotel, convention center and Vietnam Memorial. I got the distinct feel that Galveston is trying to recoup a good image it once had and the Gardens were a part of that effort. To visit everything---aquariums, Titanic exhibit, IMAX theaters, ride movies, ride a riverboat, etc.---would have cost $45 per person so we opted to visit just the rain forest pyramid exhibit for less than $40 for all four of us. We chose wisely, almost making up for eating at China Place. The boys enjoyed going inside a pyramid building and on top of that, there were lots of rainforesty things to oggle, touch, hear and, unfortunately, smell. They were careful to place signs everywhere, explaining the residents of particular rainforest habitats as well as the plants that they live with and in. I loved it! I've never been up close to a poison dart frog before, and they're kinda cute behind glass.

After we left the rainforest, we decided to drive down to The Strand. Since J instantly fell asleep--and fell hard---we didn't get out and walk around. As far as I understand it, The Strand was the wealthy, bustling part of Galveston a century and a half ago. While it's undergoing a lot of obvious attempts at upgrading and renovations, you could tell that at one point what was a really pretty collection of buildings had become run down. It could be that one or two particularly bad storms hit the island and people just didn't want to rebuild. But it had a custom house like you'd see in an old port city along with other grand government buildings. Yet another thing to make me wish I had a better camera :)

Instead of seeking out more food in Galveston, we drove back to Kemah and had dinner at a barbecue place we passed up in favor of seafood. The brisket sandwich I had was great and so was the peach cobbler for dessert. Yes, NM was off the diet...some things are unavoidable. But the kids enjoyed dinner very much, even the intentionally bad karaoke :D

The boys did go to sleep more quickly than the night before, however. I told them 50 cents would go to the one who fell asleep first. ;)

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Houston Vacation: Day One

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:55:38 -0500

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Originally uploaded by Phisch

Photos here.

First day, we had planned to visit NASA but instead opted for the Children's Museum and park areas instead. Turns out to have been a great plan.

The first stop was Houston's children's museum which both boys really enjoyed. When we first walked it, I could tell NM was apprehensive. After all, there were several buses full of little (K & 1st grade) kids. But after we wandered around the science and cultural exhibits, he changed his mind. Everyone had fun! The thing I enjoyed the most was watching the boys go nuts in the museum's "grocery." You load up your baskets with stuff from the store then take it to check out were you have to key in the prices yourself. There was only one (tired) guy to put all the things back on the shelves. I told the boys to put everything away and they didn't mind doing that.

Afterwards, we wandered around the Hermann Gardens which seems to be the city's version of a central park. There was a Japanese garden, a mirror pool with monuments at both ends, for Sam Houston and the city's pioneers, a little railroad (we rode), an amphitheater (under construction) lots of play areas, a man-made lake where you can rent paddle boats, fountains, an exhibition garden with sculptures (including one of Jose Rizal) and a lot of other stuff we didn't get to see. This is in the area that's close to the Rice University complex which is huge and very pretty. It looked like there was a lot of recent construction/reconstruction and improvements continue. We plan to go back.

After a day at the museum and the park, we headed off to Kemah Boardwalk where there are rides and restaurants. We didn't do the rides though we took photos (we'll go next time). The kids enjoyed walking around the boardwalk anyhow and we ate dinner at a place called The Flying Dutchman. Dinner was good for me, even if overpriced (tourist area, have to expect that). But, sadly, I learned that I am allergic to something on the broiled seafood platter. I had yellow rice pilaf, shrimp, scallops, red snapper and crab. I think it's the crab since I had everything else recently. How did I find out I was allergic? Around midnight, my back was burning and I thought maybe it's just hot. I realized that it was burning because I must have scratched in my sleep. Then the itch spread to my belly. It drove me nuts! I actually got up and had a super hot shower to get temporary relief after tossing and turning for over an hour. I had a serious case of the hives and it spread to my arms and legs the next day. Sad...I love crab!

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Did you enjoy your Easter?

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 21:52:29 -0500

We did :) Pics for family here.

Church was the first order of the day and that was very nice. We had a short little video that incorporated bits and pieces of Borne Identity and the Easter Bunny and Bunjee managed to tie in the titles of all three movies to the message and in a very good, non-gratuitous way.

We came home, had a snack, started cooking dinner (ham, veggies, potato, sweet potato bread, rice) and then the boys did an egg hunt. J had a small head start (I was sure 30 secs. was good enough) but it turns out he needed a little more time. They both ended up with about the same number of eggs so that was good. That was a lot of candy! And some toys, too. Can't just have candy. They were very good and only ate a few, the rest are stashed in the pantry. I can't believe they have the will power! They spent a lot of time putting the Legos together (of course). Later we had cheesecake (see below) then headed for Zilker/Town Lake so we could walk. Turns out the park is full on Easter Sunday but we still had parking and the path wasn't so crowded; everyone was picnicking on the grass or flying kites.

Spring is very much here and most of the trees that were grey and leafless not long ago are now covered with very bright green little leaves. The birds are going bonkers and we even witnessed a cardinal wooing a female. They have such a pretty song! The dog walkers were also out in force so we saw quite a few of those.

Now we're tired and I better be off. We plan to get up before dawn tomorrow and drive to Houston and stay for a few days. The joys of homeschooling and no ties to a school schedule*!

*Interesting, when NM and I chatted for a bit about the Houston trip this evening, he reiterated to me his routine and how he was going to try and stick to it while we were away. In the last couple of weeks, we'd hit a really nice routine and things have gone on so well. Last Friday, we started our vacation and the first things he said were "Oh, well, maybe I can still do some math and some cursive, you know? Just so we can still keep doing work (we didn't)." It's really apparent that a routine is really comforting to have and sometimes stepping out of it can be just as much leaving one's comfort zone as it is going off on a fun diversion.

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Gooeyooeysticky!

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 21:20:29 -0500

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Originally uploaded by Phisch

I used Chantal's New York Cheesecake recipe and topped it with home-made lemon curd. The crust is made of crushed ginger crisps (about 1 1/2 c.), some sugar (a bit less than 1/4 c.) and butter (4 tbs. melted).

It's so good but so crazy rich. This tiny sliver is almost too much (but hey, who am I to waste a bite?). I only wish the photo were better because it's not all that convincing.

The cheesecake is more tart than the recipes that call for heavy cream (I don't like the taste of dairy cream). The lemon curd is a bit sweet for me, but it's very tart and that is a good foil for the cheesecake.

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Austin Zoo

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 14:51:43 -0500

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Originally uploaded by Phisch

Photos over here.

Last Friday, I took the kids to the Austin Zoo & Animal Sanctuary which turns out is really, really close to where we live. I'm still amazed at how much open space is around here and I have to make myself stop thinking that in a few years it will all be developed. Maybe not!

Anyway, the boys would have had a better time if I'd brought them more food. Hehe. My bad...next time I'll do better.

Actually, it's really more of an animal sanctuary than a zoo. Many of the animals here are rescues from people who keep exotic pets then decide they can't or injured animals or similar situations.

The main reason I wanted to go was so that we could go over this week's science topic: primates. We did get to see most kinds: monkeys, apes (well, one kind of ape) and prosimians (ever-cute lemurs). There was also a huge petting area and J really enjoyed feeding the sheep and goats, but he really got a kick out of the axis deer (and not just because mom squealed "cute" but he said so, too). There was also a little train ride through the trees, not the animals. Both boys enjoyed that.

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Beautiful

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 07:49:45 -0500

I am yours, NSA

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith;
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God. Hbr 12:2

Thanks, Pixiemom, for sending this to me on Facebook.

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Gathered Pullover

nobody@vox.com(Phisch) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:50:54 -0500

Gathered Pullover
Originally uploaded by Phisch

All I need are sleeves and a collar. I wish it were done! It's cold today (33 degrees at almost 8 a.m.) and it feels so nice to wear it :)

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