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Just for fun – Summer Scenes on my Veranda

/ The Coastal Crone / 20 Comments

With the official arrival of summer on the calendar I thought I would post some pictures taken on my veranda.  It is a nice spot to enjoy a second cup of coffee in the morning and a glass of wine in the cool of the evening.  The golden-fronted woodpecker and his mate are gone, but one lone hummingbird is still hanging around.  (Click on the photos below for larger views.)

 

Fountain and Bromeliad

This bromeliad just opened completely this week and will last for several weeks.  Husband took the flower/fountain shots.

Close-up of bromeliad bloom

Do you see a face in this one?  I see a face, eyes, nose, hair and beard.  It  looks a bit  like Yosemite Sam from the Warner Brothers cartoons or perhaps King Neptune.

Wiccan in a pot by the fountain

I took this one of my cat, Wiccan, as she relaxed safely up high in a large pot on the left side the fountain.  She often leaps gracefully to the fountain for a drink of water.  She is twelve years old and will probably be my last cat.

June is the beginning of the hurricane season.  Will this be the year that a major one hits our area?  We have been spared for many years.  If one comes, we will bring Wiccan inside and roll down the shutters.  In the meantime I will embrace  summer.   May you enjoy the summer days wherever you live!

My Favorite Bibliophile…

/ The Coastal Crone / 32 Comments

A couple of years ago Husband and I took a road trip to North Texas to check out family history on my father’s side.  We visited small country cemeteries, a beautiful old courthouse, a log cabin and Uz, a town near where my grandfather was born.  All that is left of Uz is a state historical marker.  My great-great-grandmother, who is buried in the area,  kept a diary from 1876 to 1888.  Today I think she would have been a blogger and would have definitely embraced Facebook.  But that may be another post!

Since we were so close, I had to visit Archer City, where my favorite bibliophile – Larry McMurtry – lives.  He was born near Archer City and grew up in the area where his father ranched.  The first stop was the Royal Theater.

Crone at the Royal Theater

As a not-so-famous-bibliophile myself I love to visit used bookstores wherever I travel as I seek bargains and rare treasures, so a visit to Archer City was perfect.  The small town (population 1848) is home to Booked Up Inc., a series of bookstores owned by McMurtry.  They are right in downtown Archer City near the courthouse and scattered around in several buildings.  There is a guide to tell you what type of books are in each building.  The day we were there it was quiet and we usually found that we were the only customers.  When I found my first treasure, “The Golden Man” by Victor W. von Hagen, there was not even a sales person around  to take my money.  Then I noticed something posted by the front door directing me to go to building number one to pay.  It was like being in someone’s personal library with books stacked high on shelves (ladders for he brave) and organized loosely by category.  There were no other literary related items for sale.  And we would have to go elsewhere for coffee.   The other buildings were similar:  some smaller, some larger but all smelled of warm dust and old paper.

The last stop was building number one where indeed  I was able to pay for my treasures and encountered Leo, the bookstore cat.  Dare I think that since Larry McMurtry does maintain a home in Archer City not far from his book stores that he might actually be in town and stop by?  Alas, a sign read, “When will Mr. McMurtry be here?  At his whim.”  I confess that I did persuade Husband to drive ever so slowly by his home before we left town.

I have read  many of his books, fiction and non-fiction, and  it would be hard to choose my favorites, but these would be at the top of my list.

“Lonesome Dove”
“Terms of Endearment”
“In a Narrow Grave”
“Duane’s Depressed”
“Texasville”
“Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen”

Recently I was surprised to learn that at age 72 he had married the widow of fellow author and friend, Ken Kesey, on April 29,  2011.  James McAuley interviewed him last year for an article in The New Yorker titled “Larry McMurtry’s Dying Breed:  A Visit to Archer City.”

McMurtry, in addition to being a novelist, essayist and screenwriter,  has been a book collector for many years and has bought out the stock of several old and prestigious  bookstores.  In one non-fiction book he includes a chapter titled “Book Scouting” and explains it this way.

“I’m sure that I’ve had as much pleasure in the hundreds (or maybe thousands) of bookshops I’ve been in, going along row by row and shelf by shelf looking for a title or an edition that I’ve never seen, as my father did culling and inspecting the many cattle herds he bought from.  The process of selection, weighing the qualities of various animals, in his mind, was a work that required judgment, sophistication, experience, and – if you will- taste.

And that, essentially is what I try to bring to the composition of my book shops: taste, which if applied persistently will result in an interesting mixture of books, none of which is undesirable or unappealing.”

McMurtry has often written about the changing world of the dying breed of the cowboy and co-wrote the screenplay for “Brokeback Mountain.”  He also hints that  book collectors may be a dying breed as well.

How we read is changing.  I like the digital world for blogging, news, articles, shopping, reservations/tickets and some of the social media, but I must have my books.  They are comforting to me.  I can take them with me anywhere and anytime, touch them, make notes in them, mark them with a favorite bookmark, stack them on the floor or make room for one more in a book shelf.  When I give one as a gift, I write a dated message inside.

Perhaps I am a dying breed also.  Maybe I am in good company!

Books and Bibelots….

/ The Coastal Crone / 13 Comments

CURRENT BOOKS I MAY OR MAY NOT READ

“RATHER OUTSPOKEN ” by Dan Rather

Rather Outspoken: My Life in the News

One commentator call this Dan Rather’s “last hurrah” and at eighty years old it just might be.  His chronicling of the news should be quite a history as he covered everything from the Vietnam war to Iraq and Afghanistan; at home he reported on elections and hurricanes.  I was rather sad (pun unintended) to see him step down from CBS in 2004 for his reporting on George W. Bush’s time in the Texas Air National Guard.  From what I read in an interview Rather thinks he was correct in his statements about the Bush’s record and I suspect he will address that in his book.  I have read his book, “I Remember” that tells of his early years growing up in the Heights neighborhood of Houston and how he got started in journalism.  I think I will read this one. 

 

“THE WIND THROUGH THE KEYHOLE” by Stephen King

I confess that I have never read one of his novels, and I am a little guilty and ashamed to have ignored such a prolific writer.  I saw the movie “Cujo” and regretted it.  Yet I did see “Needful Things” and deemed it tolorable.  I did start one of his books – can’t even remember the title – but soon abandoned it.  It is part of his Dark Tower fantasy sagas and I don’t read fantasy.  Sorry, Mr. King, I will pass on this one but I know it will do well as usual.

“UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES ” by Edward Conard

I saw an interview with the author of this one on Fareed Zakaria GPS on CNN.   It appears current to today’s economics and political debates so I probably should read it. Some havedescribed it as “balm for the 1%” and “a defense of the rich.”   However, there seems to be plenty of discussions and controversy about the 1% in this election year.  Since I am not in the 1% yet I think I will pass on reading this one.    

                          “THE BOOK WHISPERER” by Donalyn Miller                                                 

The title of this one caught my attention.  This book was written by a teacher and appears to be more of a guide for teachers on how to  encourage children to love to read.  All teachers should do that.  When my daughter and son were small I joined a children’s book club (yes, that dates me) for them.  I still have all of their children’s books and read those to my grandson when he was small.  Today we still share a love for books and give each other books for gifts.  I even give books as gifts for newborns.  Maybe I did something right!  I may not have the opportunity to read this one but I hope many teachers do.

“THE YEARS OF LYNDON JOHNSON: THE PASSAGE OF POWER” by Robert A. Caro
 

 

This is the fifth and final volume of Caro’s series, “The Years of Lyndon Johnson.”   Long ago I read one of Caro’s earlier volumes on LBJ but I can’t remember which one.  I think I passed it on to my daughter.  Having lived through the Johnson years I know it will be informative.  With all of the bickering and power struggles in Washington  in an election year, I am not sure I am ready to read this one.  Perhaps I will save it for another year.

“Extra Virginity:  The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil” by Tom Mueller

This book I found on the Tin Man’s blog.  He read it and deemed it “marvelous and a must  for anyone who likes to cook.”   Recently I have been using extra virgin olive more and more.  A friend has an olive farm in Tuscany and last year I purchased six bottles of his liquid Italian sunshine.  It was outstanding!  (I confess to adding  his olive oil to a bowl of red beans and rice but I would never tell him!)  Last year I wrote a post called “Crude Oil vs. Olive Oil” that was about the production of olive oil in Texas.  Yes, most definitely I will read this one!

“Death Comes to Pemberly” by P.D. James

This one I have already read as I was able to pick it up at the local library book sale in hardcover for $1.00.  I have read all of the novels of P.D. James and was excited when I saw that she had a new mystery out as I needed a London fix.  Her novels are generally set in and around London in modern ties, but this one borrows from Jane Austin’s “Price and Prejudice.”  James takes up the lives Austin’s characters a few years after “Pride and Prejudice” ends and throws in a murder in typical James style.  I did get my British fix but it was a 19th century fix.  I also enjoyed her book, “Time to Be in Ernest:  A Fragment of Autobiography” that was a memoir in the form for a personal diary.  P. D. James will celebrate her 92nd birthday in August of this year.

“You Have No Idea” by Vanessa Williams & Helen Williams

Often a celebrity will write about  how he or she was treated unfairly by a parent.  Remember “Mommy Dearest”?  Here is a celebrity teaming up with her mother to tell all about childhood secrets, beauty pagents, lost love and Hollywood glitz.  One has to  admire the comeback Vanessa Williams has made since she gave up her Miss America title when her photos for Penthouse surfaced.  Instead of slinking off to oblivion, she launched a career as a singer and actress.  Probably her best know role was in the television series Desperate Housewives.  I wish them literary succes but I  don’t think I will be reading this one.

Right now I am reading “A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare” by James Shapiro.

Next from my stack of books to read will be “Growing Up a Sullen Baptist and Other Lies” by Robert Flynn. 

Update on Texas Hummingbird…

/ The Coastal Crone / 14 Comments

Huey and Henrietta

A couple of weeks ago I posted Texas Hummingbirds-Baby Huey with a close-up picture of a Golden-Fronted Woodpecker feeding on one of our hummingbird feeders.  Since then Baby Huey has been back several times every day to  feast on the sugar-water that the real hummers grudgingly share with him.  Now his mate has joined him  We can tell it is a female because Henrietta (we had to name her also) is smaller and does not have the red cap that males have.

The above photograph captures them both feeding.  Huey is on the left; Henrietta is on the right.  He is hanging awkwardly while Henrietta perches daintily much the way a hummingbird does.

According to John L. Tveten in his book, “The Birds of Texas,” a pair will share pecking out a nest for their young and describes it this way.

“Working together, the pair will take a week or more to excavate their nest, and they will then share in the incubation of their four to seven eggs and the raising of their young.  Starting with an opening about two inches across, they dig straight back and then down, perhaps for a foot or more, finally enlarging the cavity at the bottom and leaving a few woods chips as the only pallet for their pending brood.”

Daily we hear them pecking on our metal chimney.  Why?  Is it rusting?  Do they think it is a tree?  There is a  perfectly fine oak tree near the feeders, and there is a wonderful old mesquite tree next door.  We may have to inspect our chimney!

Texas Hummingbird – Baby Huey

/ The Coastal Crone / 16 Comments

Texas Hummingbird

For the past three weeks we have been feeding four hummingbirds that stopped by our back yard to refuel.  They have fought over the sugar-water in the two feeders we put up and enjoyed the natural nectar of the flowers and  herbs that are blooming.  They provide great entertainment as they zoom around like tiny Star Wars Jedi starfighters and occasionally buzz the cat, Wiccan. 

A woodpecker has been hanging around for some time also and we hear it making its churr-churr and kek-kek-kek calls.  Once we heard it pecking rapidly on our metal chimney.

Then Saturday morning we looked out to the veranda to discover that he was helping himself to the hummers’ sugar-water.  He flew away as soon husband grabbed his camera, but then he kept coming back and husband was able to get this shot.

I  named him Baby Huey, but he is actually a male golden-fronted woodpecker.  They are described this way in John L. Tveten’s book, “The Birds of Texas.”

“Ten inches long, and with a black-and-white barred back, the golden-fronted woodpecker has light under parts, a white rump and an all-black tail.  A large golden orange patch ornaments the nape, and there is a smaller yellow patch above the bill, the “golden front.”  In addition, the male sports a small, round red cap that is lacking on the female.”

Baby Huey was back Sunday morning for a little Sunday brunch.  He has not kept the hummers away, but they do not challenge him when he is feeding!  The hummers will soon be gone and won’t be back until around September.  We will enjoy them and share our space with them for now.

Acknowledging Awards

/ The Coastal Crone / 10 Comments

When it rains it pours!  Last Monday we had rain, hail and a tornado all in one morning.  The rain was almost 12 inches resulting in some flooding; the hail was brief; the tornado was on the other side of town with some minor damage and no injuries.  We lost power in the early morning.  I was glad the coffee had been brewed before that!  Since we don’t have cell phones with access to the internet and all those apps, we were reduced to listening to the news on National Public Radio via a small radio that runs on batteries. 

After the long drought of last summer we were grateful for the beautiful rain.  The week before we had bought a 58 gallon rain barrel to capture water from a down spout for my herbs.  It was overflowing and worked perfectly!

By the afternoon power and internet were restored and the storm had moved on out into the gulf.  We were saved!  The coffee was gone and we were considering switching to wine! 

A pleasant award shower came that night when I checked my e-mail and found that I had been nominated for two awards.

My thanks to The Tin Man for offering me the Versatile Blogger Ward  and the Sunshine Award! 
Check him at his blog,  Tales and Travels of  The Tin Man. http://talesandtravelsofthetinman.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/the-versatile-blogger-award/
The Tin Man shares his knowledge and travel adventures with us.  Recently he even shared his medical adventures.  This Tin Man has a big heart!

The Sunshine Award came from Airports Made Simple.  Thanks so much!
Check out this blog.
http://airportsmadesimple.com/2012/04/17/paying-it-foraward/
The founder of this blog is about the practical side of getting to where you want to go if you have to fly.  There are all sorts of tips for the traveler, humor, nostalgia,  aviation history, and current stories about the adventures of travel today.  Even if you are not a frequent flyer you might enjoy checking it out.  The writer even makes me think that the glamor days of flying might be coming back…well maybe not!  That possibility was addressed  in my September 24 blog, “Flying in Black and White.”

In lieu of nominating others for these awards I am suggesting you check out these two blogs and their other nominations for these awards.  I haven’t checked them all out but there is something there for everyone.  It is always fun to explore recommended blogs.  Muchas gracias to both of you!

The weather was great last weekend for the local 39th Annual Windfest, but hurricane seasons starts June 1.  We’ll be ready to bring in the cat and roll down the shutters if one comes our way.

Next Year in London!

/ The Coastal Crone / 18 Comments

“There’s the Texas Embassy!  And they’re celebrating Cinco de Mayo,” I blurted out from the back of the classic black London cab.  My fellow passengers, husband and son, looked at me as if I had drank one too many pints of ale with my lunch.

It had been an American Express moment.  Husband had lost his wallet on our second day in London, and we were retracing our steps back to a shop near Trafalgar Square.  Fortunately, a salesperson had found the wallet where it had been left behind when he was paying for some items.  Counting out those pounds and unfamiliar coins was still new to us, tourists that we were.  Once the financial crisis was over I explained that the embassy was actually a restaurant called Texas Embassy Cantina, and because it was May 5, they were celebrating Cinco de Mayo.

When Texas was an independent country, from 1836 to 1845, an embassy was established in 1842 in London in the offices of Berry Brothers wine store at #3 James Street.  With Ashbel Smith as the new country’s Minister to the Court of St. James, diplomatic relations were friendly between the outspoken Texans and the reserved British.  Texas joined the Union in 1845 and the embassy was closed.  Today a small plaque marks the location:

TEXAS LEGATION

 In this building was
The legation for the
Ministers from the
Republic of Texas
to the
Court of Saint James
1842 – 1845

Erected by
The Anglo-Texan Society

     British novelist Graham Greene founded the Anglo-Texas Society in 1953 and served as its first president.  The group’s    main objective was to foster closer social and cultural ties between Britain and Texas.  Greene’s biographer, Norman Sherry, recounts the more light-hearted origins of the society and relations between the stiff British and the  rowdy Texans in his book, The Life of Graham Greene, Volume II.   In 1976 the Anglo-Texan Society was offically dissolved.

     Over 150 years later Texans visiting the city can feel right at home the moment they walk into the Texas Embassy Cantina at No. 1 Cockspur Street, only a short distance from the original embassy.  Located in the impressive and historic Oceanic House with the Lone Star flying proudly outside, it could be mistaken for a real embassy – this is London after all.  Not far away are Buckingham Palace, No. 10 Downing Street, Parliament, Westminster Abbey and the National Portrait Gallery.  The building itself has historical links to America as it formerly housed the White Star shipping line that owned the Titanic.  After the Titanic sank on its way to New York, relatives and friends came to the building to check the list of survivors.

tx-cantina

The inspiration for the restaurant in the heart of London came from Texas oilman Russell J. Ramsland, Jr. and attorney A. Hardcastle, both of Dallas, who missed Tex-Mex food when they traveled.  With a successful Dallas restaurateur, Gene Street, and a former Lord Mayor of London, Sir Alan Traill, the group planned for three years.  Dallasite Thom Jackson is the general manager today.

The decor is typical Tex-Mex restaurant style found in many Texas cities and towns – fiesta lights, border town atmosphere, weathered doors and windows, faux plaster walls, serapes and the mandatory tortilla factory.  Upstairs an 1880s saloon has been recreated with a 29-foot bar and the obligatory nude painting hanging above it.  Texas icons and flags complete the illusion of being in the Lone Star State.  One could easily imagine a couple of tall, tough, Texas Rangers swaggering in at any moment, the jangle of spurs, the scrape of a boot on a bare wooden floor, the scent of liquor and dusty heat.  Or maybe Chuck Norris.

Dishes on the menu will satisfy the cuisine cravings of most any homesick Texan, from chips and salsa to fajitas and flan, Mexican beer and margaritas with familiar sounding names like Hill Country Peach and Padre Island.  Yet the food has a certain English twist that one can’t quite explain.  I suppose it is to pacify the local and international palates also. But for Texans far from home and tired of ale and plowman’s lunch, it is a haven.

Texas Embassy Cantina

Crone and Son in London, May 1995

Returning to the restaurant that night for dinner and the celebration of Cinco de Mayo, we did feel at home as we enjoyed Tex-Mex cuisine served with London panache. Mariachis dressed in authentic black attire and sombreros, appearing suspiciously British, sang “El Rancho Grande” upon our request as they strolled among the tables.

Despite the differences of the past, the people of Texas and Mexico continue to share more than just the Rio Grande.  Today Cinco de Mayo is celebrated across America in many cities by those of Hispanic descent and other U.S. citizens who support freedom and liberty for all people.  Relations continued strong between America and Britain when Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George W. Bush, the former governor of Texas, met and agreed on many issues.

Now each Cinco de Mayo I vow, “Next year in London!”

Straight from the Heart…what would Ann Richards have to say?

/ The Coastal Crone / 9 Comments

Ann Richards at a 1994 fundraiser in Houston

As I have written before,  I don’t want to get into political controversies as I see enough of that on the daily news.  In July of last year I did post a piece titled “What Would Molly Ivins Say if She Could?” 

Now that the Republicans candidates have been winnowed down and President Obama has officially set his campaign machine in motion by raising big bucks, I wonder what the late Ann Richards, former Democratic governor of Texas, would have to say.  She certainly would speak her mind on the issues of women.

Richards was state treasurer of Texas in 1988 when she delivered the keynote address at the Democratic Convention in Atlanta, Georgia and came to national attention with her dry humor at the expense of then Vice President George H.W. Bush.  She became governor of  Texas in 1991 when she defeated Clayton Williams Jr, a wealthy rancher who made a joke about the weather and rape during the campaign.  George W. Bush regained the honor of his father when he ran against her in 1996 and won to become governor of Texas.  Some say that is what propelled him into the White House.  I tend to agree.

Her life was not without controversy.  She spoke out on women and minority issues.   Her marriage to David Richards fell apart as her involvement in politics took a toil on her personal life.  She admitted a problem with alcohol when confronted by family and friends and sought and received successful treatment for it.  She and Molly Ivins were friends and enjoyed sharing a drink or two together when they both lived in Austin.  Ann Richards died of complications from esophageal cancer in September of 2006 at the age of seventy-three.

It seems ironic or perhaps appropriate that one of her daughters, Cecile Richards, has been president of Planned Parenthood since 2006 and has been drawn into politics via that organization.  I think Ann and would be cheering her on! 

HERE ARE SOME QUOTES FROM ANN RICHARDS

I’m not afraid to shake up the system, and government needs more shaking up than any other system I know.

Teaching was the hardest work I had ever done, and it remains the hardest work I have done to date.

The here and now is all we have, and if we play it right it’s all we’ll need.

Jill Buckley on Ann Richards: She’s sort of the female good old boy.

I have very strong feelings about how you lead your life. You always look ahead, you never look back.

I also wrote a piece in August titled “Run for you life!”   The political scene will be hot this summer and won’t cool down until the results of November 6 are in.  Exercise your right to vote and respect the views of others.  Remain civil…after all it’s only on election!

Straight from the Heart

Simple post on a sick day…

/ The Coastal Crone / Leave a comment

I don’t like to run out of things.  It’s not as if I live forty miles from the nearest mercantile store and only come into town for supplies once a month in a buckboard.  I live in a  small town (population approximately 17,000 ) with a very adequate grocery store and even a Wal-Mart if I get desperate.  A Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods Market would be nice, but that’s not going to happen here!  I just don’t want to run out of toilet paper, cat food, laundry detergent, coffee, olive oil, chardonnay, bread flour, etc. and have to run to the store for one item.  That’s why I keep a list on my refrigerator so I can add things as I need them and so I won’t forget!

What did I run out of?  A completed post for my blog.  I usually have one or two ready and several drafts in process, but mid-week I came down with something that has me congested and cranky.  Maybe it was caused by all the tassels falling from the live oaks or something else blowing in as spring comes early.  I only post once a week, but I couldn’t seem to get a draft completed.

So I have provided a link to a video that I received via e-mail a couple of weeks ago that I thought was worth sharing.  I love cats!  Enjoy!  I think I will have a sip of Wild Turkey American Honey – exceptionally smooth liqueur blended with pure honey and bourbon whisky – for medicinal purposes only instead of cough medicine.

http://www.slothster.com/3005-Worker-At-Lion-Park-Gets-Hugs-From-Sweet-Lion-Cubs.html

Here’s another link for more great cats.   http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/GreatCats/LionUpdates/cubphotos.cfm