Today Greg and I went to Galveston to check out the damage from Hurricane Ike. While there I found the beach house my family use to own when I was little. It sure use to seem larger. It looks a little sad, but is still standing after 50 years. This part of the island didn't seem to have a lot of damage. On the seawall Murdock's is completely gone as well as the restaurant that was next to it. The Flagship Hotel is a wreck and has holes in some of the walls. One of the ramps going up to the hotel is completely gone and the other one is almost gone. The 61st St. pier is gone and almost every single store on the Strand is closed. There was a line drawn on one of the buildings showing the water level and it was over the top of our truck. Other than that the main damage we saw on the island was just where people were cleaning out houses that had had water in them. I had it pictured a lot worse than it was, but of course it has been four months. The real damage was on the Bolivar Pensisula as you can see below.

These were two houses on the beach in one of the subdivisions.

These four pictures are just various houses around Crystal Beach. There was more left there than I had pictured. Gilchrist was a different story though there was only one house left in Rollover Pass. There was debris every where as you can see below.

This is on Highway 87 just as you turn on to it coming from High Island. Use to there were sand dunes here and you couldn't see the ocean much. Now it is just flat and sand is everywhere. On the entire peninsula that is what looked so strange; very little greenery just sand.

Books

These are the bookshelves in our living room. The books are only a part of my collection; others are strategically piled here and there. Sometimes I sit and look at the books on the shelves, remembering when I bought them and the events of my life around that time. Some of the books other people have given me and it is an opportunity to remember them and the part they have played in my life. So basically, my bookshelves are an historical account of my life.

I have books that were my mother's when she was a child, and others that were mine and finally those that were Courtney's. There are books on gardening, sewing, building, others that were used in home schooling. We have Bible study books, biographies, christian living and more. I don't just buy a book and stick it on the shelf. I quite regularly pull out a book I have read before and go through it again. I don't care much for fiction, so I can learn something from most all of them.

There is one book that is a copy of my great great grandfather's autobiography. Colonial Alexander Horton; first sheriff of San Augustine, TX and aide to General Sam Houston at the Battle of San Jancinto.

Courtney has developed a love for books as well. She collects a lot of children's books and has quite a few signed copies. She has two books signed by the famous author and illustrator, Tasha Tudor and one book awaiting signing by an up and coming author, Rees Pearson.

Christmas

The tradition around our house for years has been, Christmas Eve in San Augustine with my family and Christmas day in Kirbyville with Greg's family. Well, I can see a change in the future; with Courtney getting married we now have a whole other family to consider. So, by next year Courtney and Darrell will have to decide where they want to go when. Even though all of our families live within an hour, they are still not going to want to stay on the road the entire holiday. I told Courtney I didn't care if we had our time together Christmas Eve, Christmas day, or some other time; just so we have some time. This year we got together on Saturday after Christmas and had breakfast. Darrell wanted him and Greg to do something together on this day, but the weather prohibited much, so, they put up a motion detection light in our backyard. Now, when Chisum barks I can see if there is anyone in the backyard.

The table is the table I set for our breakfast. I like to decorate with winter decorations and snowmen, that way I can use them on into January.

For breakfast we had normal breakfast food and one dish some of my black students taught me. The recipe goes like this.

Sausage, eggs and rice

1. Cook a cup of rice.

2. Cook a pound of pan sausage.

3. Combine the rice and sausage in a pan with oil.

4. Scramble several eggs in a bowl and add to rice and sausage mixture.

5. Cook until eggs are cooked.

It may not sound good, but is quite tasty.