Cars, Ferry,Train,Planes,Security Issues, Tornado Shelters, Brave Little Toaster (this would be my Hostess's Element:), Lost in Woods, Flash Flood stuff, Oh Deer, Prickly Pears, Mockingbirds, BIG boots, Longhorn in Residential Areas, Swarming Masses, Oom Pa Pa, Beer, Pretzels, Faux Bosoms, Dancing Bananas,FRIENDLY Texan Men, Flying Pigs, Deep Fried Pickles and Many Meats on Sticks.
I'm sure I missed a great many things somehow.
That's all for now....
Kidding !!! Ha!! That'd be just cruel really wouldn't it?
Yesterday started with an extended walk through the Leon Creek Parkway System http://www.sanantonio.gov/sapar/?res=1366&ver=true
Please note that , for certain people (you know who you are ;) I will TRY to make this little space actually Educational in future )
Said walk was 'extended' because, despite being new and very impressive, this is one of the most poorly marked trails I've ever seen. Put two geographically challenged people in the woods with multiple and repeated forking off options and ?........you go for a LONG hike !!
That said, it was beautiful and I still haven't mustered up the words for the WOW that accompanies seeing Prickly Pear cacti, Lantana, Agave and Yuccas literally growing ,en masse, as weeds basically(!) Toss in a Mockingbird and some Cardinals and the contrast between here and Home is astounding really.
Short break for an absolutely sinful and incredibly fat laden late Tex Mex lunch and off to:
http://www.wurstfest.com/
Ten DAYS of Oktoberfest, in TEXAS. They take this very seriously here and, being a German/Prussian Canadian via Vancouver Island had more than a few chuckles over just BEing there in the first place !
Absolutely massive crowds, which, oddly enough, did not completely freak me out. Perhaps my various phobias are mellowing with age (feel free to comment on this one Mr. Matrix ;) I have now, in less than 48 hours done public transportation repeatedly AND voluntarily submitted to the crowd of cattle in a chute syndrome. Maybe it's Just Texas ? I am LOVING it though !
Several hours of flash backing to a childhood frequently spent hanging out with musicians at the Edelweiss Club in Toronto (still thinking of you Mr. T :) wearing itchy pink wool Dirndl Dresses and praying to Jesus I never, ever had to do the Chicken Dance again later........WOW. I had no idea that we were capable of quite that much recall !! Scents, sounds......faces.......all the way back to when I was about 4 years old and being swung around on the dance floor by some kindly and seriously portly musician who's name eludes me entirely. Back in a FLASH it all came :)
Sentimentality aside, it rapidly became time for a good stout Oktoberfest Lager to wander amidst the masses with. That we did, taking in a good many different bands and talking to a good many different people. FOOD was absolutely everywhere.....most of it Many Different Kinds of Meat On a Stick and/or deep fried.
I had what I think was THE best soft pretzel, covered in mustard, in my life......followed later by another favourite and long lost treat, The Funnel Cake.
Funnel Cakes were nearly as popular as the potato pancakes (I will NOT stand in line, for anything, ever, for more than 10 minutes) and I managed to run into a family of Dancing Bananas. They were actually kids with dancing bananas, frogs and a Medusa Wig too but,no matter. There were SIX of them ,accompanied by clearly brave parents, also in The Funnel Cake Line. Lovely people and highly entertaining. He was an MD and she was a little teeny weeny, very cute, blond.... former MARINE with a degree in Psychology who said "you just KNOW you've lost it when you're in the bathroom with two Giant Bananas and you have to ask a complete stranger to hold your banana so you can pee".
Precisely !
Said Funnel Cake eventually acquired,then I proceeded to put my foot in it again, Texas Size,by asking a fellow who was admiring it if he'd 'like a piece?'. Traffic stopper for sure. I then had to share said cake with two seriously amusing Texan gentlemen who's only real indiscretion ( likely due to serious beer intake ) was to actually brush some of the icing sugar off my shirt (!)
No worries, our Canadian reputation for civility remains unscathed....so far anyhow ;) and said taker of liberties remains breathing with all his limbs intact LOL.
It was, overall, GREAT fun !! I've crossed boundaries and borders in epic fashion in a very brief period of time. I am both absolutely amazed and Blessed to be in the company of such wonderful people, current provider of shelter no exception. (YOU are one seriously impressive woman Pekes :)
The magnitude of my new environment and the kindness, generousity and overall grand humour of the 'natives' is overwhelming.....................
I am, quite simply , LOVING it !!
Off to get up to something else now.....hopefully that doesn't involve any form of meat on a stick, flying pigs or deep fried pickles....I'm just getting too old for that sort of thing !
Tschus.
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| the Cattle Chute |
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| Fine Dining |
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| Primed Texans & yes, that IS a flying pig on his head..... |
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