After 10 hours sleep....
the world seems back in its place again!
I've had a bit of a week really :) The plane to Houston took off almost an hour late because we had to wait for the wings to be de-iced. Yes it happens to planes as well. Because of that, ours was the last European plane to land that afternoon; it is a curious thing in cross-atlantic travel that most European flights have slots within about an hour, so there is somewhat of a January Sales-esque scrum to get to the passport control desks once you land. Unfortunately, if you're on the last plane, you are at the end of the line, sorry, end of the queue (got to revert back to UK English now ready for work tomorrow). It took over an hour to get through immigration and collect my suitcase, but at least my friend Michelle was waiting for me.
It then took us 3 hours to get from the airport to her house, because of the confusing road signs. We got lost in as much as we couldn't work out how to get onto the road we needed. Of course, Beltway 8 naturally leads to I-45, even when it doesn't say so anywhere along Beltway 8. We had hoped to meet up with her friend for a drink, but in the end we met for dinner instead.
Wednesday we went to Galveston, the one Glen Campbell imortalised in song. Its also the one that gets completely destroyed every time a hurricane comes in from the Gulf of Mexico, yet in true American style, they can rebuild it (and do). I had imagined a typical theme park set up and was rather surprised to see a complete lack of fairground rides anywhere near the sea front. There are homes instead, mostly built on stilts (which you have to wonder, it must make them less stable in high winds even if it avoids the flooding). There is a pier which is being rebuilt after Ike damage, and another smaller one that was taken out by a previous storm and isn't being rebuilt anytime soon. We drove onto the sand at the far end of the town and I paddled for all of 5 seconds in the sea. Gods it was cold and the wind was blowing strongly. We found "sand dollars" and a jellyfish, before taking refuge back in the truck. (As in, a vehicle with a cab at front and space at the back like a pickup truck)
Through the town there are "historic" buildings. It is a strange place (as much of Texas is really) with houses and other buildings just seemingly thrown together randomly. In Galveston, there are several very large mansions in a pseudo-gothic style. These are open to the public for an entrance fee, but we were doing free things so we didn't go inside. To be honest, it was enough to see the outsides! The most famous is the Bishop's palace which is next to a large white Catholic church. They look out of place and completely at home at the same time.
We took the free ferry across the bay to Crystal Beach, which has an old lighthouse and a few houses but little else. We just wanted to ride the ferry. I tried taking photos of the Brown Pelicans, which Ray says were endangered for a while but are now making a recovery. Stupidly, we stood at the front of the ferry, and as soon as a wave hit, well you can guess the rest :)
In downtown, no, in the centre of Galveston there is a shopping district called the Strand so we had a wander along there for a while looking at some more "historic buildings". Anything older than 100 years, particularly in Galveston, is historic. I wanted to buy something with a Pelican on, but there was nothing that I could be certain would make it home in one piece in my case, so I just got some postcards for my penpals instead. Then we went to pick up Michelle's younger daughter from school and went home for dinner before heading out to get the tattoo done.
If Michelle had not recommended Mike, I would not have stayed to get the tattoo done. Arrogance oozed from every pore of this guy, he didn't look at me when I was being introduced and as I already knew he considers himself a bit of a player, I was struggling to see what the attraction could be (beyond money). Still, his assistant Karen was very sweet and she did the paperwork with me and sorted out the transfers for the design. When we went into the tattoo room, my concerns were disolved: on the wall was a print of a Hare. www.thought-full-art.com/images/GothicHare.jpg I just knew it would all be OK, but of course, my Lady never gives a free ride. We started the tattoo at just before 7pm and finished at 11.10pm. It really should have been done in 2 sittings as my foot began to swell up as soon as Mike started. By the time he began the colour work, it just felt like he was taking a hot knife and carving into my flesh. Michelle has pictures of my face, we were laughing between "cuts" that it was just like childbirth (maybe Jarmara and Elfie don't need to know this) in that the pain was the worst ever when the needle was working but as soon as Mike stopped, the pain stopped too. Between my foot and upper ankle was the worst bit, but around the back of my leg was bearable. Mike kept hitting a couple of nerves in my leg, and I was convinced I would have random lines where my foot and knee involuntarily were jumping. You'll have to wait a little bit for photos as it is all scabby and peeling at the moment, but everyone in the shop kept saying how pretty it looked and I absolutely adore it, especially my purple fairy :)
Thursday, I could hardly walk, but I made myself do it. We decided not to go into Houston, but to stay near to where Michelle lives. We had lunch with 2 guys she used to work with at a restaurant called Hooters. The waitresses wear hotpants and tight shirts. You get the idea. Then we had a wander around the Boardwalk at Kemah which is how I had imagined Galveston to be. There was an Aquarium where you could feed and touch stingrays; we didn't buy any food but we did spend a while petting them. They are slimy in a soft way, and I expected them to have a scaly feel but they dont, they are very smooth. They also appear to love being touched, and even try to jump out of the tank and on to the top of the ledge which was a real surprise. This is the second time I've been able to touch rays, and they are fast becoming one of my favourite creatures. For the rest of Wednesday we hung out at home with Michelle's older daughter and watched TV. My foot was really swollen and sore and I didn't want to do much else.
Friday we drove to Dallas. In the snow. Yes, Houston had it's first siginifcant snowfall in 30 years in my honour - well it felt that way. It took us forever to get through the city, but bizarrely just a few miles north of Houston the roads were dry and clear and you'd never have guessed it was snowing south of there! It took us longer to get to Dallas than we'd hoped, but luckily Samantha was still happy to meet us at Melba's so I got to spend half an hour with our grandson. It was lovely, but also sad, because he doesn't know me, and doesn't know Melba, and was very shy around us. When I told Ray later on, he agreed that it wouldn't be a good idea for Sam to take Jason to see him now until Jason gets a bit older. It would be just too stressful for everyone. Still, the blanket was a big success and I did take a couple of new photos of Jason - he was eating some sweets and his mouth was all blue, so hopefully the photos will look as cute as he did.
From Dallas we headed out to Palestine (pronounced Pa-le-steen, dont ask me why) to the motel. We ate at Applebys which is one of my favourite restaurants over there. Though it is a little expensive, they do at least have vegetables on the menu! As Michelle had driven almost 500 miles that day, we didn't party into the night, we just went back to our room and crashed out in front of the TV again.
Saturday was visit day. Right up until 10 minutes before we left the Motel, Michelle was undecided as to whether she would visit her friend at Coffield as well. They have been having difficulties, mainly due to his selfishness and arrogance (she attracts that kind of guys it seems), but in the end she came in with me and even managed to stay the whole 4 hours. The vending machines were broken within a few minutes of us getting there, so instead of 4 drinks machines and 5 snacks machines, there was 2 drinks and 3 snacks. For 60 tables. Ray and I had a great visit as usual, although we did get told off for feeding each other crisps. Well, it wasn't the feeding so much as the licking of fingers, but such are their random rules. It's not written down anywhere that we can't do that, but as Ray has so long to do it is not worth arguing with them over it. We had 4 photos taken, but the lady was standing too far away really so they may not scan very well (they are polaroids). Ray also loves the new tattoo.
After the visit we went and ate at Subway and then went back to the Motel and slept again. I can't believe how tired I've been all week. I did call another lady who we were meant to be meeting for dinner, she is someone I know from Oklahoma who also has a husband in Coffield, and arranged to meet up with her before our visits the next morning.
Sunday morning we met with Orenda, and as Michelle had a headache and didnt want to go in to visit, Orenda gave me a lift to the prison. She is funny, talks non-stop, and was good company. She told me that her husband was 7 feet tall. The photos I'd seen, I had assumed that she was just short! When Marcus came through, she wasn't kidding LOL Ray knew him by sight and reputation, and it was nice that we were on consecutive tables. Ray got told off even before he was in the visit room, by one of the guards from the previous day who said "you can feed yourself today". She said if she saw us do it again, she would move us to one of the front tables. It's just like being in school!
Our photos were better on the Sunday; the lady taking them was not TDCJ staff. The money from the photos goes to local good causes and this time it was the Cayuga School graduation project, so it was ladies from the school taking the pictures. She was was very nice and even said she would go as slow as she could :) She stood closer, and the pics would have been great if Ray had not closed his eyes, pulled faces and generally concentrated more (though on one of the pics it looks like he is concentrating, but on something completely different LOL). We do have 2 good ones out of the 8 though. We need to say thank you to ebren for the Twinkies, Fritos and Dr Peppers - Ray sends hugs too. Sunday was also our 3rd wedding anniversary.
The drive back to Houston was long, and we went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. I got a new calendar, and my fortune cookie motto was very sweet too.
Monday was just finishing off lose ends like buying stamps for my pals who are allowed to have them, and driving past the mansion in Kemah where Dusty Hill from ZZ Top lives. Then Michelle's older daughter drove us out to the airport and I was on my way home again.
I still don't like Texas much, but rather like a dotty old aunt who lives in the attic, Texas is becomming part of me. Or me part of it. Or both.
I've had a bit of a week really :) The plane to Houston took off almost an hour late because we had to wait for the wings to be de-iced. Yes it happens to planes as well. Because of that, ours was the last European plane to land that afternoon; it is a curious thing in cross-atlantic travel that most European flights have slots within about an hour, so there is somewhat of a January Sales-esque scrum to get to the passport control desks once you land. Unfortunately, if you're on the last plane, you are at the end of the line, sorry, end of the queue (got to revert back to UK English now ready for work tomorrow). It took over an hour to get through immigration and collect my suitcase, but at least my friend Michelle was waiting for me.
It then took us 3 hours to get from the airport to her house, because of the confusing road signs. We got lost in as much as we couldn't work out how to get onto the road we needed. Of course, Beltway 8 naturally leads to I-45, even when it doesn't say so anywhere along Beltway 8. We had hoped to meet up with her friend for a drink, but in the end we met for dinner instead.
Wednesday we went to Galveston, the one Glen Campbell imortalised in song. Its also the one that gets completely destroyed every time a hurricane comes in from the Gulf of Mexico, yet in true American style, they can rebuild it (and do). I had imagined a typical theme park set up and was rather surprised to see a complete lack of fairground rides anywhere near the sea front. There are homes instead, mostly built on stilts (which you have to wonder, it must make them less stable in high winds even if it avoids the flooding). There is a pier which is being rebuilt after Ike damage, and another smaller one that was taken out by a previous storm and isn't being rebuilt anytime soon. We drove onto the sand at the far end of the town and I paddled for all of 5 seconds in the sea. Gods it was cold and the wind was blowing strongly. We found "sand dollars" and a jellyfish, before taking refuge back in the truck. (As in, a vehicle with a cab at front and space at the back like a pickup truck)
Through the town there are "historic" buildings. It is a strange place (as much of Texas is really) with houses and other buildings just seemingly thrown together randomly. In Galveston, there are several very large mansions in a pseudo-gothic style. These are open to the public for an entrance fee, but we were doing free things so we didn't go inside. To be honest, it was enough to see the outsides! The most famous is the Bishop's palace which is next to a large white Catholic church. They look out of place and completely at home at the same time.
We took the free ferry across the bay to Crystal Beach, which has an old lighthouse and a few houses but little else. We just wanted to ride the ferry. I tried taking photos of the Brown Pelicans, which Ray says were endangered for a while but are now making a recovery. Stupidly, we stood at the front of the ferry, and as soon as a wave hit, well you can guess the rest :)
In downtown, no, in the centre of Galveston there is a shopping district called the Strand so we had a wander along there for a while looking at some more "historic buildings". Anything older than 100 years, particularly in Galveston, is historic. I wanted to buy something with a Pelican on, but there was nothing that I could be certain would make it home in one piece in my case, so I just got some postcards for my penpals instead. Then we went to pick up Michelle's younger daughter from school and went home for dinner before heading out to get the tattoo done.
If Michelle had not recommended Mike, I would not have stayed to get the tattoo done. Arrogance oozed from every pore of this guy, he didn't look at me when I was being introduced and as I already knew he considers himself a bit of a player, I was struggling to see what the attraction could be (beyond money). Still, his assistant Karen was very sweet and she did the paperwork with me and sorted out the transfers for the design. When we went into the tattoo room, my concerns were disolved: on the wall was a print of a Hare. www.thought-full-art.com/images/GothicHare.jpg I just knew it would all be OK, but of course, my Lady never gives a free ride. We started the tattoo at just before 7pm and finished at 11.10pm. It really should have been done in 2 sittings as my foot began to swell up as soon as Mike started. By the time he began the colour work, it just felt like he was taking a hot knife and carving into my flesh. Michelle has pictures of my face, we were laughing between "cuts" that it was just like childbirth (maybe Jarmara and Elfie don't need to know this) in that the pain was the worst ever when the needle was working but as soon as Mike stopped, the pain stopped too. Between my foot and upper ankle was the worst bit, but around the back of my leg was bearable. Mike kept hitting a couple of nerves in my leg, and I was convinced I would have random lines where my foot and knee involuntarily were jumping. You'll have to wait a little bit for photos as it is all scabby and peeling at the moment, but everyone in the shop kept saying how pretty it looked and I absolutely adore it, especially my purple fairy :)
Thursday, I could hardly walk, but I made myself do it. We decided not to go into Houston, but to stay near to where Michelle lives. We had lunch with 2 guys she used to work with at a restaurant called Hooters. The waitresses wear hotpants and tight shirts. You get the idea. Then we had a wander around the Boardwalk at Kemah which is how I had imagined Galveston to be. There was an Aquarium where you could feed and touch stingrays; we didn't buy any food but we did spend a while petting them. They are slimy in a soft way, and I expected them to have a scaly feel but they dont, they are very smooth. They also appear to love being touched, and even try to jump out of the tank and on to the top of the ledge which was a real surprise. This is the second time I've been able to touch rays, and they are fast becoming one of my favourite creatures. For the rest of Wednesday we hung out at home with Michelle's older daughter and watched TV. My foot was really swollen and sore and I didn't want to do much else.
Friday we drove to Dallas. In the snow. Yes, Houston had it's first siginifcant snowfall in 30 years in my honour - well it felt that way. It took us forever to get through the city, but bizarrely just a few miles north of Houston the roads were dry and clear and you'd never have guessed it was snowing south of there! It took us longer to get to Dallas than we'd hoped, but luckily Samantha was still happy to meet us at Melba's so I got to spend half an hour with our grandson. It was lovely, but also sad, because he doesn't know me, and doesn't know Melba, and was very shy around us. When I told Ray later on, he agreed that it wouldn't be a good idea for Sam to take Jason to see him now until Jason gets a bit older. It would be just too stressful for everyone. Still, the blanket was a big success and I did take a couple of new photos of Jason - he was eating some sweets and his mouth was all blue, so hopefully the photos will look as cute as he did.
From Dallas we headed out to Palestine (pronounced Pa-le-steen, dont ask me why) to the motel. We ate at Applebys which is one of my favourite restaurants over there. Though it is a little expensive, they do at least have vegetables on the menu! As Michelle had driven almost 500 miles that day, we didn't party into the night, we just went back to our room and crashed out in front of the TV again.
Saturday was visit day. Right up until 10 minutes before we left the Motel, Michelle was undecided as to whether she would visit her friend at Coffield as well. They have been having difficulties, mainly due to his selfishness and arrogance (she attracts that kind of guys it seems), but in the end she came in with me and even managed to stay the whole 4 hours. The vending machines were broken within a few minutes of us getting there, so instead of 4 drinks machines and 5 snacks machines, there was 2 drinks and 3 snacks. For 60 tables. Ray and I had a great visit as usual, although we did get told off for feeding each other crisps. Well, it wasn't the feeding so much as the licking of fingers, but such are their random rules. It's not written down anywhere that we can't do that, but as Ray has so long to do it is not worth arguing with them over it. We had 4 photos taken, but the lady was standing too far away really so they may not scan very well (they are polaroids). Ray also loves the new tattoo.
After the visit we went and ate at Subway and then went back to the Motel and slept again. I can't believe how tired I've been all week. I did call another lady who we were meant to be meeting for dinner, she is someone I know from Oklahoma who also has a husband in Coffield, and arranged to meet up with her before our visits the next morning.
Sunday morning we met with Orenda, and as Michelle had a headache and didnt want to go in to visit, Orenda gave me a lift to the prison. She is funny, talks non-stop, and was good company. She told me that her husband was 7 feet tall. The photos I'd seen, I had assumed that she was just short! When Marcus came through, she wasn't kidding LOL Ray knew him by sight and reputation, and it was nice that we were on consecutive tables. Ray got told off even before he was in the visit room, by one of the guards from the previous day who said "you can feed yourself today". She said if she saw us do it again, she would move us to one of the front tables. It's just like being in school!
Our photos were better on the Sunday; the lady taking them was not TDCJ staff. The money from the photos goes to local good causes and this time it was the Cayuga School graduation project, so it was ladies from the school taking the pictures. She was was very nice and even said she would go as slow as she could :) She stood closer, and the pics would have been great if Ray had not closed his eyes, pulled faces and generally concentrated more (though on one of the pics it looks like he is concentrating, but on something completely different LOL). We do have 2 good ones out of the 8 though. We need to say thank you to ebren for the Twinkies, Fritos and Dr Peppers - Ray sends hugs too. Sunday was also our 3rd wedding anniversary.
The drive back to Houston was long, and we went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. I got a new calendar, and my fortune cookie motto was very sweet too.
Monday was just finishing off lose ends like buying stamps for my pals who are allowed to have them, and driving past the mansion in Kemah where Dusty Hill from ZZ Top lives. Then Michelle's older daughter drove us out to the airport and I was on my way home again.
I still don't like Texas much, but rather like a dotty old aunt who lives in the attic, Texas is becomming part of me. Or me part of it. Or both.