Of Opera and Mac and Cheese

So, Babs and I flew up to D.C. last weekend to see the Diva perform in Tales of Hoffman at Wolf Trapp. Of course she was fabulous!

The next night Catherine picked out a very nice seafood restaurant for dinner. They had lobster mac and cheese on the menu. Of course we were all about that!

The waiter said he would give us a free dessert if we could guess the "secret cheese" in the macaroni which he said had several different cheeses. After one bite I said, "Velveeta". I was right! The waiter said he had made that offer 10 times and I was the first one to win.

Quoth Babs: "We're Texans. We know our queso!"

Texan to Your Toes

So I'm taking a moment away from grandparenting to report that OPI, a company well known to those of us with a fondness for the mani-pedi, has a new line of nail polish celebrating the great state of Texas and coming to a nail salon near you!  Woo-hoo! 

With names for the colors like "Houston We Have a Purple", "Do You Think I'm Tex-y?", "I Vant to Be a Lone Star", "Guy Meets Gal-veston", "Don't Mess With OPI" and of course "Ya'll Come Back Ya Hear?", there is something for everyone. Check out the collection here.

I'm partial to "Big Hair Big Nails", myself.

Matagorda Bay History: Indianola

Saturday afternoon El Jefe, SIL, BIL and I took a tour of a couple of historic sites along Matagorda Bay.

We drove to Indianola, which the second largest port in Texas (after Galveston) between 1844-1875.

The large granite statue you see in the photo is located in a little pocket park on the bay there. It depicts the explorer LaSalle, whose French fleet sailed (way) off course and instead of landing in New Orleans, came ashore between Indian Point and Indianola, Texas in the year 1685.

The expedition established Fort St. Louis which was intended to be a temporary settlement while they searched for the mouth of the Mississippi River. Too bad they didn't have a GPS! Besiged by unfriendly natives, bugs and bad weather, the little colony struggled. LaSalle left to seek help in 1687 but was killed by Indians along the Trinity River. The settlement perished.

This statue was erected in his honor during the Texas Centennial celebrations in 1936 on the site where his expedition landed.

Indianola was founded in the days of the Republic of Texas. The area was the primary entry point for European immigrants and American colonists seeking to move west. The army even brought camels through the port in an experiment to replace horses and mules in the southwest.

Indianola was hit by a major hurricane causing extensive damage and loss of life in 1875 which was followed just 11 years later by a catastrophic hurricane that literally wiped the town from the face of the map. It was never rebuilt. Today all that remains are a few fishing shacks and historical monuments and memorials to its former days of importance.

Just Rattlin' Around the Bay

Ahem. Sometimes one can get TOO close to nature. Case in point: this weekend El Jefe was enjoying a cigar and a good book on the lawn of our bay house when he heard a weird rattling noise.

Looking up, he spied this large rattlesnake coming straight at him, poised to strike and rattling its tail in warning. Jumping up, he rushed to the garage, grabbing a fishing net and managed to scoop the snake into it without harm to himself.

Just then I came down the stairs to go to a neighbor's house and he hollered at me to get my BIL from inside to help him kill the snake since it took two hands to carry the net.

BIL ran to the rescue with a shovel and the two of them trapped the snake on the ground with the net and dispatched it, as you see. This was no baby--it was about 3 1/2 feet long.

~shudder~

Rattlesnakes are known to hatch in the spring, so we fear there is a nest around the bay house somewhere. A relative suggested that we strew the garage and yard with mothballs and said that would keep them away. If the stiff winds down there don't blow them away first!

All in all, more excitement than we bargained for this weekend!

Spring is Springing!

Finally there is evidence of springtime in my garden! It's been the coldest winter for many years down here and we've been whining a lot about it since winter is usually our best weather.

I'm hoping we'll see lots of bluebonnets in a couple of weeks!

Honoring Those Killed at Fort Hood

The Texas Governor ordered all flags flown at half staff in the state in honor of the soldiers killed yesterday at Fort Hood by one of their own officers. (And yes, he has the authority to do that.)

Yesterday we also learned that my nephew, who is a surgeon in the US Navy, will be deployed to Afghanistan early in January. His wife is expecting their first child in mid-December. We are proud of his service and will do everything we can to support his family while they are gone.

My prayers are with all of those families who had loved ones killed or injured yesterday.

You Know Its Hot When....

Texas History Review for the Guv

Memo to Governor Rick Perry--

The state of Texas did NOT negotiate the right to secede from the Union when it joined the United States. And I believe the issue of secession in general was settled at Appomattox, if memory serves.

Texas WAS given the right to divide itself into up to 5 states by the Joint Resolution admitting us to the United States in 1845. This was given in the context of the pre-Civil War struggles on slavery. The idea at the time was that, if divided, areas above the Missouri Compromise line would be free states and those below would be either slave or free based on popular vote. Read this from the state historical archives, if you don't believe me.

Technically, Texas still has the right to sub-divide. Practically, although it might be nice to have 10 Senators instead of 2, I doubt proud Texans across the state would stand for it.

Here endeth the lesson.

The Prom Queen of Love

Because we all need a feel-good story right about now, you'll want to read about the Texas high school that elected a young lady with Downs syndrome as the prom queen: Prom Queen of Love.

Tx Court Intervenes

Late yesterday the 3rd Texas Court of Appeals (Austin) handed down a ruling that the state of Texas had no right to remove children from the polygamist religious sect at the Yearning For Zion ranch in far west Texas. Presumably the state will appeal that decision to the state's supreme court. Meanwhile, it's unclear whether the state will have to return the children to their mothers and life at the YFZ ranch while an appeal to the supreme court is pending. More than 400 YFZ children are scattered across the state in foster care facilities.

I haven't read the decision, but it seems to me that the problem here is that the state is acting under child protection laws which address abuse and neglect in traditional families. Under these statutes, the courts are constrained from interfering with parental custody without a compelling showing of immediate physical harm to children. The rights of the parents and the goal of keeping the nuclear family together are the paramount goal.

These laws weren't written to address situations like those reported at the YFZ ranch where young girls are "married" to much older men,"wives" are routinely re-assigned by the head of the cult, and the teenage boys are run off lest they challenge the authority of the male elders. Although there are laws against polygamy, they aren't enforced and don't address situations like this. Unlike Utah and the four corners area of the southwestern US, Texas does not have a history of dealing with polygamist cults. I don't know if these other states have legislation that specifically addresses child protection issues in polygamist cults.

The Houston Chronicle reported the reaction of a young woman who escaped from this cult and is advising the state's child protection workers on how to work with these children. It is disturbing.

The case involves conflict between the protection of civil liberties and the need to protect children from what appears to be a predatory cult. It seems preposterous to apply the traditional view of the sanctity of the family and parental rights to this situation. On the other hand, the precedent set in this case might be applied to others less egregious.

Once again I see the wisdom in the old adage: hard cases make bad law. Hopefully the state supreme court will stay the enforcement of the appellate court's order until it can decide the case, allowing the children to remain where they are until a final decision is made. Pray for them.

Pray for the Boys, Too

Following up on my post yesterday about the children from the polygamist ranch near Eldorado, Texas, blogger Beau Weston noted the disparity in numbers between the teenaged boys and the girls in this community: authorities found the numbers of boys and girls roughly equal for those under age 13 , but remarkably skewed in favor of girls for those ages 13-17.

Where are the boys? Apparently teenaged boys are kicked out of these communities so they will not compete with the adult men for "wives". Weston speculates that some of them may be found on the streets of Fort Worth (or other cities in Texas).

Remember these boys in your prayers, too, wherever they are. Christ have mercy.

Thoughts on Eldorado

Since once upon a time I represented a Child Protective Services agency in Texas as an assistant district attorney prosecuting child abuse cases, I've been following the developments following the raid on the FLDS compound near Eldorado, Texas very closely and trying to decide how to post about them.

The Houston Chronicle has done a good job of continuing to follow the developments, which I haven't seen duplicated in the national news media which seems to have reported the sensational raid then returned to its coverage of presidential primary minutia.

Here's some of what the paper has reported, since the mass hearing in San Angelo:

• Twenty-five of the adult women were reclassified as minors after further investigation
• Forty of the adult women chose to request placement in domestic violence shelters rather than return to the compound
• 31 out of 53 of the teenaged girls at the Yearning for Zion Ranch were pregnant or had given birth--some more than once
• Group homes that are sheltering the children around the state have been advised to keep them isolated from other children and will conduct school for them on the premises rather than traumatizing them further by sending them to the local public schools (this is a big exception to the usual regulations which require prompt enrollment in the local public school)
• Workers in the homes are urged not to wear red (because the children have been taught to believe that this is a color reserved for Jesus' robes when he returns) and the men are to be clean-shaven and wear long-sleeved shirts so as not to alarm the children
• Social workers report the children have had very little education and their skills are significantly below grade level
  
• The children will not be exposed to television, radio, music, etc of the "outside world" for the time being to minimize the trauma of their removal
• Presbyterian Children's Homes and Services are caring for a significant number of the FLDS Children (see their story here) Hat tip: Classical Presbyterian
  

As I read these reports, I regret that we have set up our legal system makes it so difficult for authorities to rescue (yes, rescue) these women and children from the exploitation and oppression of a cult like this.

Recall that the complaint that triggered this raid has been shown to be fraudulent, which is going to be a big legal problem. Yet authorities in the area KNEW what was going on here for years and have not been able to intervene because there was no complaint or probable cause to go in there. If you saw any of those interviews with the women involved on television, you were probably just as creeped out as I was by their demeanor and obvious fear and oppression.

This case sets up a dramatic conflict in the courts between legitimate concerns about infringement on civil liberties and the responsibility of the community to protect minors and women from sexual abuse by those who are stronger and more powerful than they are. And of course, those children who were removed from the only home and family they have ever known and thrust into a world they have been taught to fear are suffering major trauma.

Still, some things in this fallen and sinful world are just wrong and dressing up false teachings in the guise of religious practice doesn't change that fact. Kudos to Judge Barbara Walther of San Angelo for taking on this case.

Sunday Roadside Hymn

ALL THY WORKS SHALL PRAISE THY NAME
IN EARTH AND SKY AND SEA...

Texas spring wildflowers on State Highway 190
near Richland Springs, San Saba county.

Snow and Bluebonnets

Sign of the Apocalypse? Thanks to my brother W for sharing this picture from Easter weekend in the Texas Hill Country.