What to do--part 2

Well, in the last post you saw my thoughts as of a couple of weeks ago. So I was thinking it might be fun to live in the city--I have friends who live in Denver, Manhattan and San Francisco, so why not live in Houston? In order to help with this thought, Lorrie and I spent an afternoon with an excellent, experienced and tolerant realtor looking mostly at high-rise condos. And I must say that I hated it. The problem is, I think, that Houston is not a walking or public transportation city. So if you lived downtown, you would still have to drive wherever you might want to go--and that is not what I had in mind. So for now I have decided to kind of look around but not with any hurry to it. If I can find something that I like somewhere around here, I may decide to sell the house, but I don't see that happening any time soon and probably not in time for the family that is interested in buying. When I got home from the "condo hunting" trip, I went around the house and decided I was really pretty ok with everything. So, in a way, I feel more calm than I was. I was developing a feeling of anxiety looking at the condos which I didn't like--and they are outrageously expensive in Houston--many cost much more that this house, and that didn't make any sense to me.

I've done a couple of fun things. Last weekend I joined a neighbor and some of their friends at the Renaissance Festival. I had never been to one and it was quite an amazing spectacle. There is a permanent setup out in the middle of nowhere about 70 miles from here. The people are all dressed up in strange and wonderful costumes. We all ate stuff like turkey legs and apple dumplings while we wandered around.

Today I went out to Brazos Bend State Park, which I have mentioned

before. It was Sally and my favorite local area to visit. There were many demonstrations being shown by the Texas Master Naturalist programs. I learned again about snakes,

bugs, bees, and other critters. I then took the walk that we used to take. As

I thought, it brought back a lot of memories and some sadness, but the good memories prevailed. The weather was perfect, about 70 and crystal clear. Saw at least 10 alligators. Most were on the banks as usual, but there were a couple swimming around. I didn't see any of them getting a duck or anything but it looks like there is a lot of food around for them if they want it. Only had my phone so the picture is not as good as I would like.