Thanksgiving 2011

Luis and I enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with Luis' cousin Waleska and her husband Ellis who live in Humble, Texas, near Houston. There was food for an army and all of it delicious. There was even coquito to top off the evening. We spent the night in downtown Houston and walked around the city the next day.































Later that day we drove to Galveston Island and spent the rest of the holiday weekend at the San Luis Resort (in honor of Luis of course). The hotel was decked out for Christmas to such an extent that it was an all out assault rather than a feast for the senses. Galveston is very different from the other coastal islands that we have visited. There is a lovely downtown and there are many neighborhoods filled with Victorian homes. The ocean isn't that pretty so it's a good thing the buildings are.

Japanese Tea Garden

I've taken many visitors to the Japanese Tea Garden in Brackenridge Park since moving to San Antonio. Luis went for the first time last month and was as impressed as I was the first time I saw it. The Garden was built about 100 years ago out of a former quarry. A Japanese gardener designed and maintained it. He and his family lived there until World War II when all things Japanese fell out of favor. His family was evicted and the city renamed it the Chinese Tea Garden. Cooler heads prevailed after the war and it is the Japanese Tea Garden once again. The family, however, never returned.