A little over a year ago, early in December of 2014, I read on a website that Mission Espiritu Santo in Goliad was hosting a Pastorela, a Shepherds’ Play, for Christmas, and knew that was my next trip. I’d learned about Pastorelas some time in the Long Ago, but never …
Busy week coming, of course. Off to Goliad as soon as I log off here, to see Los Pastorales – a reproduction of an old play/performance the monks at Mission Espiritu Santo and the other early Spanish Missions used to teach the Christmas Story to the Mission Indians. Supposedly it …
A few years ago the Texas Historical Commission started doing some research and documentary work on the old highways in Texas. Several of them still exist, it turns out, at least in bits and pieces and little sprinklings of history across the state. The Bankhead Highway, one of the first …
Went over to the Night Market at the Asia Society Texas Center the other night… Had a blast. Shot a few pictures. Brought them home. Now you can see them too. [click pic. They’re back there.]
I have to admit I’ve never put any significant time into studying the Hindu religion. It’s always seemed sort of like the protocols of the British Monarchy: Complex, convoluted, multi-layered, and something I wasn’t ever likely to need to know. But like the British Monarchy, when it comes time for …
It’s like St. Patrick’s Day, but without the green beer. It’s what a national holiday looks like when it’s celebrated in another country by large groups of people, most of whom have at best a marginal tie to the Auld Sod or La Patria Hermosa. In short, it’s an excuse …
This week I caught a ride on another of my favorite time machines, just down the road from Fanthorp Inn. I hadn’t been to Barrington Farm over Christmas before, so when I learned there was a spare seat to their Christmas festivities, I grabbed cameras and jumped for it. Y’know, …
Been a little slack around the TOT disk drive lately…. lots of other things going on, not much time or money for chasing down stories. It’s eased a bit, though, so I decided to take a little jaunt back to Fanthorp Inn, which is still hanging out in the vicinity …
Galveston, Texas, 19 June 1865 Major-General Gordon Granger, USA, arrives in Galveston to assume command of the Federal Department of Texas. Within hours, he announces, via General Order #3, that slavery has ended in Texas and that all formerly enslaved persons are now free. “The people of Texas are informed …
Once again I headed over to the San Jacinto Day Battle Re-enactment. Once again, the Mexicans held to their old failed tactics. Once again, the Mexicans lost. Badly. I talked to a couple of the survivors after the event and they told me they were hoping to deploy some secret …