Wacky wonderful Texas

It was great being back in Texas. The "welcome" mat is my daughter's who goes all out to decorate for Halloween. She has a pink Halloween tree with black garland and little stretchy skeletons hanging by the neck from black ribbon. She also has a big sign on the door that says "morgue." The black cat is my son's. His name is Winston. Z is living in a house with a couple of guys. The one who owns the house is a friend from childhood. The house is beautiful and spacious. About as unlike a boys' apartment as you can imagine. I also got to visit with Wrecks, Feynman and Mikey, the animals that keep my daughter company.

I loved the sky in Texas even if it was gray. And the parking spaces! Oh my goodness, they were so huge! There's just a lot of room there. The house in the photo was a surprise. Click on the photo for a close-up view. I was driving up Old North road toward the church building and saw this shack on the side of the road. It was in an area that had been laid out for lots and then abandoned. My thought was, "I don't remember a shack being there." Then I realized that it was a new construction. The whole neighborhood looks like sharecropper houses to me. Siding and weird shingles, tin roofs on the porches. You get the picture. It's the newest (oldest) thing. The houses reminded me of a lot of old houses here in PA, houses built in the twenties and thirties. Weird.

It was wonderful to see lots of old friends. I cried in the Kroger. I miss it so much. I brought back a suitcase full of Biskits. And I went back to Denton High and had lunch with my former department. That was also a thrill.

Also, there seems to be no recession in North Texas. Things are still booming which was pleasant to see.

I've been happy here in PA but the feeling I got when I left Denton was that it was a great place to raise our kids. We chose that town and Michael managed his career so that we would end up there. I realized this trip that we had made an excellent choice. It has everything: it's near a huge city with amazing museums and music, it has a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, there are two big universities that offered our kids a lot of opportunities, our kids got a fine public education and Denton is home to lots and lots of church members. I'm glad we were able to live there as long as we did.