With good weather continuing the activity in Houston remained high. First there was the Homecoming. Unfortunately I cannot explain exactly what it is or why. All I can offer is a handful of superficial observations. It happens every year in the fall at the end of a mysteriously selected match of a high school football game (the game itself is quite mysterious to me). In theory, I think, it is a game your school is supposed to win and so a particularly weak opponent is selected. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not, this year it did not.



In any case, the football game does not seem to be all that important anyway. There is a lot of ritual during half time, such as announcement of the Homecoming queen and king. I was impressed by the king they chose this year. He listed as his hobby "sleeping". Smart kid! And then there is the dance. It is quite a production. Monica this year wore a Chinese dress which Kumiko made herself just by following instructions she found in a book. That is something I could never do. I could not follow instructions on a can opener. In addition to a dress, there is also a mascot that boys and girls exchange and wear on their arms. Most people buy them (they are actually quite expensive) but Kumiko decided to make one and ended up with quite an elaborate product.

The other big event in town was the quilt show.
Kumiko did not show anything this year (submission deadline is earlier than in Dallas and she missed it) but she already has a piece for next year). I took a day off and went to look as well. As always it was impressive but a little bit too much for me. I took advantage of being downtown and incorporated a little bit of sight seeing. It was a good day to walk around and I found a couple of interesting spots. But an American downtown is typically not that exiting.



Unless, there is a cow show.
Every year close to a hundred fiberglass cows are decorated by the local artistic community, exhibited around town and then auctioned with proceeds going to charitable causes. Many of the cows were quite funny. I cannot show them all, but if you want to find out more, or perhaps even buy one, click here.

Speaking of downtown - we had an unusual look at it the other day. We went on a canoe trip down Buffalo Bayou, which is a creek (river would be too generous) flowing through Houston. In fact it is the reason why Houston is where it is. During the last century, when cotton was the number one export from Texas, big sea going ships came to Galveston to pick up cotton which was delivered by river boats. The river boats went up the Buffalo Bayou as far as they could, and the city of Houston was founded at the spot where water became too shallow.
You can, however, navigate it in a canoe. We put in at Loop 610, which is circular highway essentially circumscribing the central part of Houston and paddled downstream for about 6 km to the point where skyscrapers start. Most of the afternoon we could not tell we were in the central part of US fourth largest city. We could have just as well been somewhere in northern British Columbia. The reason is very simple, large park on one side and mansions of very wealthy people (on extra large, forested lots) on the other.

Meanwhile, on the home front, the fall harvest is approaching. The lemons are almost ripe, hechima is getting larger even though it continues to bloom and attract lots of bees and some kind of a super-bee.
The papaya seed I threw in the ground in August is now a meter high plant which started to bloom. Let's hope the winter is mild and it survives. If it does, we might even have our own papaya next year.








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