More Photos from Cat Spring

Sunset at the IXL Ranch

Marlis & Ralph at H Mart, Asian market

I mentioned the fabulous Asian Market - H Mart - that we went to last week.  Here's one aisle.  Marlis gave me cooking lessons for Miso soup. We got miso at H Mart and baby bok hoy, dashi (a soup base), daikon radish, shitake mushrooms, organic tofu.  Wonderful, healthy soup and easy to make with many variations. One drawback - most everything in writing  is in Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese. But the store personnel are helpful and we found the sesame paste.

A rainy, cold day and some of the horse stand with butts to the wind, against the house to get out of the North wind.  This photo is looking out our kitchen window.

Jesse, the ranch manager, has a female peacock who visits once in a while. She likes to fly up and sit on the porch rail. This time she flew to the top of the Tundra, scratching and pecking and looking for bugs.  She hangs out with the chickens who come by to look for handouts. The peacock has an outrageous squawk that has two tones and is LOUD. 

Tough Life. This is Fairchild.

Cat Photos for no good reason, just because they're cute and thriving in their new home.

Her favorite spot in the living room. 

Midnight's spot in the living room.

Wintering

We are enjoying our vacation and really delight in having little on our schedules.  Cloudy-rainy days are for reading. I've discovered ebook lending from the Bellville library and am reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks about a black woman's cancer cells that were/are used in all kinds of medical research and her poor black family got nothing monetarily from the buying and selling of her cells. It is thought provoking and I recommend it. John is reading one of his favorite spiritual authors -- Thomas Keating. The book is Reflections on the Unknowable. He's read me excepts. It's quite good.

One thing that strikes me about living here for a while is the amazing amount of resources available as opposed to the poor, rural community where we live in Oregon.  I was in an Asian super market recently that was bigger than a super Walmart and had nothing but Asian food. It was like a trip around Asia in one big place.  Houston has a lot of top ranked medical institutions like Herman, Memorial, Methodist, Baylor, and Children's hospitals that we pass on the way into the city. Of course, the fossil fuel industry is what fuels most of the growth in the state not the least of which is the nation's fourth largest city - Houston.

I got a chance to visit St. Christopher's Episcopal church in West Houston, which has a beautiful healing chapel with a stature of the mother and child which looks more like Christ and child. See below.

Of course, the sunsets and sunrises are spectacular which the sun decides to visit us.  After mass on Sunday John and I went to a local favorite restaurant called Tony's in Sealy. John got pie and Blue Bell ice cream for breakfast. Hey! We're on vacation!  Hope all is well with you.

Healing Chapel at St. Christophers's Episcopal Church

 Sunrise

 Cherry Pie and Ice Cream for Breakfast

 View from the deck

Happy New Year from Texas

GF chelate cake I took to the party

View from the deck

The place we are renting

John and I wish  you a very Happy New Year. We celebrated with the IXL ranch family and their friends and boarders on New Year's Eve.  Steak and Lobster and the rest was pot luck. Really good food. I ate lots of desserts. Nice people, all wrapped up in horses and dogs. Most of them have known the family for years.

It's been raining a lot here and today's no exception. Road flooding has been an issue but that doesn't keep us at home. We explore the surrounding towns. We excel at being lazy and just sitting on the deck in the sun. Have seen some of our friends which is always great. Found some great Mexican restaurants. And there is always the Long Horn Saloon in Brenham Texas.  We'll get around to some day trips one of these days.  Have a wonderful, healthy and happy new year.

Fairy the cat enjoying a snooze

What retirement looks like

Winding down the New Year Eve Party in the horse barn, with horses

Tack room that served a dessert room, with dogs