Maundy Thursday

We somehow missed stopping at the Mercado (Mexican Market) the day we were at the Alamo, so Peg drove us back downtown on Thursday so we could see it.  Not surprisingly, everything there was “made in Mexico” and it was all very colorful, but not as cheap as actually buying it across the border.  They get a lot of tourists there and the prices show it.  I bought a cool silver star that I somehow felt I couldn’t live without.  There were many other things I would have liked to buy, as the selection was large and it was fun to look around, but we just brought one carry-on piece of luggage so we had no way to get anything home.  I really wanted to buy Texas BBQ sauce or Mexican hot sauce, but even getting liquids on board a plane these days are impossible, so my options became very limited very quickly.  It was still fun to look.

Peg’s favorite Mexican restaurant was calling her name, so we stopped there and had lunch - again, a big challenge for Kory.  Even the black beans were cooked in pork, so there wasn’t a thing on the menu that he could eat.  He ordered the “Taco salad” hold the meat, hold the cheese, hold the sour cream and avocados and hold the dressing and taco shell it came in.  He was given a plate of lettuce with no dressing and charged full price for the Taco Salad – lesson learned there.  They didn’t even have steamed vegetables so he walked away from that lunch good and hungry.  I had the veggie fajitas and they were yummy, but not fat-free.  We’ve just got to figure out how to live with these new diet restrictions because we are gone from home a lot.  Uff da.

Kaleb begged us to take him to the Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum but I put my foot down.  I reminded him on Tuesday when I wanted him to learn a little about the history of the Alamo and he was being a bit of a pill and intentionally NOT wanting to listen to any of it, he sealed his fate.  I wasn’t interested in doing something only he wanted to do when he wasn’t interested in doing what I wanted him to do – and part of the reason we made the trip to San Antonio in the first place.  Turnabouts fair play.  I also reminded him that he’s free to choose how he behaves, but he’s never free from the consequences of his choice, and not going to Ripley’s was his consequence.

Peg volunteers every Thursday afternoon at a local no-kill animal shelter so we tagged along with her after lunch to work down there.  It was a big treat for Kaleb to be able to play with the puppies and walk the older dogs.  I love dog walking, but that afternoon it was in the high 90s and so hot that even the dogs didn’t want to leave their kennels.  We made about three different runs before our faces all turned red as tomatoes and had to call it quits.  There were many more dogs to walk but I was worried we’d all have heat stroke. 

Kory at an extra large dinner that night at Peg’s house.  I made roasted veggie pizza using pita bread as the crust, ketchup and salsa as the sauce and BBQ roasted veggies on top.  He ate three of them and they were yummy.  Kaleb and Peg shared a full fat Hawaiian pizza with lots of cheese on top.  Those were the days.

Peg’s church had a cool Maundy Thursday service we attended with her.  They set up huge tables in the front of the church leaning down from the top step to the bottom.  They were fashioned in the shape of a giant cross and there were over a hundred candles perched on them.  They turned out all the lights in the church and had the pastor and his wife behind a wall reading scriptures intermixed with the congregation singing songs.  The scriptures followed along with the creation of the world, the fall of man and on up to Jesus being born.  Two women slowly lit the candles one by one as the story was unfolding and when Jesus was born, the whole cross was glowing with the “light of the world.”  Then the story turned and began to tell of Jesus’ arrest and path to his crucifixtion.  The candles began to be snuffed out one by one and when the last candle went dark the voice proclaimed “It is finished.”  It was a very moving experience and every one left the church without saying a word.  It was a great way to feel the power of Jesus’ death.  Then Easter morning of course, the joy returns as they celebrate the resurrected Christ.

Back at Peg’s house Don brought out his gem collection, which captured Kaleb’s interest right away.  Kaleb loves rocks and gems and we’d already purchased the Texas state gem – Palm wood – when we were in Gruene.  Kaleb likes collecting the state gem from every state he visits.  Don has the precious gems all cut and polished so his collection looked a little more refined that the one Kaleb has at home.  But it was fun to hear the two of them yacking away about different gems and rocks and how they are formed.  Don is a member of Mensa so he had an answer for every one of Kaleb’s questions.  He even gave Kaleb a few of his gems to take home.  I thought that was a bit too generous of him, but he insisted.  Kaleb’s face just lit up.   Lucky boy.

Actually, we all felt lucky as it was a great day.  We had another laugh on Peg again today when we were on the freeway and some guy went zipping past us at an unsafe speed.  Peg yelled out a quick prayer, “Lord protect that person and everyone he comes in contact with.”  Kaleb caught the irony of that statement right away – obviously Peg was praying a prayer so he WOULDN’T come in contact with anyone, but the way she said it just cracked us up.  She is one funny woman.

A Gruene Wednesday

On Wednesday last week, Peg drove us north into the “Hill Country” of Texas, where the wild flowers were in bloom and displaying their full colors across every field and roadside we passed.  It made me realize why so many flock to Skagit County to see the tulips in bloom, except the only “farmer” in Texas is God.  What a show.

Our first stop was the Natural Bridge Caverns.  Kory and Kaleb took a little tour “down under” to see all the stalactites and stalagmites under the ground we walked on.  Both Peg and I felt a bit claustrophobic for such a trip so we wandered around, taking photos of the pretty flowers that sprouted up on top of the caverns.  We also did a little souvenir shopping while we waited.  Kaleb loved the caves and felt badly I didn’t join them so he took no less than 200 photos to show them to me when he returned.  I thought taking 25 pictures of the exact same scene was a bit much but he thought it was so breath-taking he needed to be sure he got a good one.  I’ve been in several caverns already and based on the photos he took, it looked a lot like other ones I’ve seen.  I was happy to save a few bucks and not go along.  I was also thankful we had a digital camera and all those photos he took didn’t cost me anything to develop.  Delete, delete, delete.

Peg intended to show us several of the cute little tourist cities that dot the Hill Country, but we spent so much time in the first town we visited, that we didn’t make it much farther than that.  The town of Gruene (pronounced “green”), reminds her of LaConner.  I can understand why.  It was very photogenic, quaint and full of specialty stores. We could have stayed all day.  Oh wait, we almost did.  As it was, we had lunch there at a famous restaurant alongside the river down below.  As we ate outside, we watched a red cardinal flit about in the tree next to us.  Then along came a green gecko up the tree but he changed his color to brown to match the bark on his way back down.  It was magical.

Poor Kory, all he could order on the menu was a salad with no dressing and some steamed vegetables.   I also just had a salad but at least I got to steal a few of Kaleb’s French fries.  Eating out is impossible on this fat-free vegan diet.  If it weren’t for Peg letting us have full control of her kitchen, Kory would have starved to death by the end of the week.  I guess that’s one way to keep from dying of a heart attack.

After we’d visited all the stores in Gruere, walked around town and let Kaleb climb every tree in sight, we drove on down by the riverside and dipped our toes in the cool water.  It felt so good in the heat of the day.  We were treated to seeing many local inhabitants while we were there.  There must have been about 25 turtles out sunning themselves on various logs and rocks, along with some local birds and squirrels.  Little minnows darted around our feet and a bright green gecko even showed up at the river’s edge.

Kaleb had been bugging me just the day before about getting a pet lizard.  I told him NO, but he kept pestering me.  He knows that a dog is out of the question because of how much we travel, so he was looking for a pet that might travel well.  He really wants a lizard and wouldn’t you know, a wild one that usually would scurry away from humans, just cozied right up to him and climbed up on his hand when he extended it.  He was thrilled.  He walked all over carrying it around like they were the best of friends.  He was impressed by how “smart” it was.  I told him how great God is to give him the desires of his heart, even if it’s just temporarily.  And besides, it wouldn’t be fair to the lizard to pack it up and take it home and keep it in a cage when it’s been used to such freedom.  He still wants one.

We all loved seeing the nature of Texas because it’s so different from what we have in Washington.  Even the trees were cool with Spanish Moss hanging from some, air plants attached to others and leaves unlike anything we have at home. 

To further satisfy our hunger to know more about the region, we drove out a long country road to see the local dam.  The road runs all along the river, which was dotted with camping grounds and river rafting rental places.  I guess it’s quite the place during the summer with high school and college kids floating in an endless drunken sea downstream.  Glad we missed that.  There was no one around when we were there so the road wasn’t jammed with other cars and the empty river provided even more photographic opportunities.  There was no shortage of wildflowers there, either. 

At the end of the road was the dam, and a lake on the other side of it.  About 10 years ago 36 inches of rain fell in a week so the water exceeded the dam’s height and cascaded over the spillway, which caused historic flooding downstream.  It was catastrophic but the only evidence of it we saw now were all the new buildings that had built since that time.  All others just washed away.  It was quite the deal when it happened.

Peg was a gracious and energetic hostess and spoiled us with lots of local trivia and history.  After her embarrassment from the day before, telling us all kinds of (untrue) facts about the Alamo, she prefaced one of her lectures with “most of what I’m about to tell you is true.”  We got a good laugh out of that line and we used it repeatedly the rest of the week.  She’s a hoot.

Don't Mess With Texas!

Monday morning, April 2nd we were up early driving to the airport to catch a flight to San Antonio.  My friend, Peg, moved there ten years ago.  We used to attend a Bible study together when Kaleb was just a baby.  She’s been good about keeping in touch ever since and at Christmas she wrote to us asking when we’d come down and visit her.  I figured, “Why not now,” so we booked tickets to visit during Spring Break.  What a good choice that was.

Our flight was without incident, which is always the way travel should be.  She picked us up right on time and drove us to the nearest Whole Foods Market so I could buy food that Kory can eat.  I’d done my menu planning before we arrived, and even made out my shopping list.  I told Peg I’d do the cooking all week because of Kory’s dietary restrictions.  She was fine with that and we ate comfort food like spaghetti, tacos, burgers and pizza – but all with ingredients that contain no fat.  Poor Kory, he needs some fat on his bones, but certainly not wrapped around his heart, so the challenge to feed him continues.

Tuesday morning Peg took us along to the food bank where she volunteers once a week.  It runs a little like Love, Inc. where people have to register and take some basic classes before they are able to get food and free clothing.  She is the intake person and has the sweetest disposition of anyone I know.  She is bubbly, enthusiastic and can turn any situation into something positive.  She’s a good one for people to encounter when they are down on their luck.  She put me to work sorting through donated clothes and Kory and Kaleb worked in the kitchen unloading food from trucks and making lunches for the homeless.

That organization is smart with their resources.  I had to decide in which pile to put each piece of clothing.  If it was nearly new and could easily resell, it went in a basket they took over to their thrift store so they could sell it for cash to get money to buy more food.  If it was slightly used but everything else was fine on it, I put it on a hanger and hung it up in their shop for people to take for free.  If it had stains or was otherwise not too nice, it got recycled to send off to Mexico or other charities, and if it was really terrible, it got thrown out.  Some people just use charities to dump their stuff rather than pay to haul it away.  It was good to be on the other side of donations, as I often purge and leave boxes of things on my porch for charities to pick up.  Men’s clothes are the most needed item as the woman that works there said, “Men wear their clothes until they are thread-bare but women will get rid of things they’ve just worn once.”  It’s true.  Kory still has clothes in his closet from the 1970s.  Every time he puts them on, I have a hissy fit and make him take them off, but he still won’t get rid of them because they still fit and they are “perfectly good” in his opinion.  Oh, brother.

Kaleb absolutely loved his work in the kitchen, sorting and putting away food, then making sack lunches.  It was such a good experience for him and makes me realize how much more our vacations need to have added meaning to them.  I think our days of  just being tourists are soon over.

We zipped home for lunch before heading downtown to see the Alamo.  I was expecting this trip to be another homeschool fieldtrip for Kaleb, but he looked at it like he was truly on vacation and he shut his brain down from actually trying to learn anything.  I wasn’t too thrilled with his attitude but we made him go through the Alamo grounds and read some of the plaques anyway.  We were hoping Peg’s husband Don could join us since he’s an expert on all things Alamo, but he wasn’t feeling well that day so he stayed home.  Peg tried to fill his very big shoes, as it were, and tell us details about the battle.  She answered many of our questions as we were standing in front of the replicated miniature battle scene.  All the employees/volunteers were busy so she was happy to tell us all she knew.  Many folks gathered round to hear her talking with such authority on the subject.  Only when we got home and talked with Don did we realize all her information was bogus.  Boy did we have a good laugh about that wondering how many school children might write up their report on the Alamo based on the woman they heard talking about it while they were there. 

The Alamo itself can be viewed in just a few minutes, so afterwards we walked around in downtown San Antonio along the River Walk, which is a lovely asset to the city.  Sidewalks run along both sides of the meandering “river” (it’s more like a large creek in my estimation but then again, not every river is the Columbia).  Arched bridges cross over every so often along the three and a half mile course, and artwork hangs down from under some of the overpasses.  Small tourist boats take people up and down and all around and many nice shops and restaurants make it a great place to spend the day.   

We walked on over to the cultural museum where an old lady helped Kaleb spin some wool into yarn.  He made an itchy bracelet from the wool, which had been dyed in Kool-aid.  Funny.  It was an interesting museum – highlighting all the different people groups that make up the great state of Texas.  The Norwegians were well represented but I think we have more Norwegian artifacts in our house than they had in that museum, but it would be hard to find any place with more stuff than we have in our house.

Peg drove us all over town, which was great.  She drove us through all the cool neighborhoods with awesome houses we’d never see on our own.  Kory and I had visited San Antonio twenty years ago but we only saw the River Walk and the Alamo, so it was very nice to see so much more of the city – all from a local’s perspective. Overall, my big surprise in Texas was how green it is.  They’ve had a two year drought so we came at the right time now as they had rain this past winter so the whole countryside was green and lush and the wildflowers were everywhere.  How sweet it is.  The heat also felt nice on our bones - in the 80s for most of the week.  We needed that.  

(Stay tuned for more posts about the trip.  I’ve just been super busy since we got home and we had no wi-fi connection in Texas so I couldn’t post anything.)