Texas, Part 1

Returning to Texas brings a flood of memories—often memories of things I have not thought of for a long time. What kinds of things? Well, the weather, for instance. Tuesday was warm—really warm. Like 85 degrees warm (and I am wondering why did I bring anything made out of wool). That evening N and I drove to San Antonio for a production of “Oklahoma!” by the high school troupe at the San Pedro Playhouse. A has been associated with the San Pedro playhouse for years as musical director on a number of productions. We had always wanted to see one of his productions and we finally got the opportunity. The presentation was polished and delightful, with a number of the young thespians belting out those Rogers and Hammerstein numbers like pros. It took us back to the productions at Shawnee Mission East when our kids were in high school. When we came out of the theatre, it was snowing! We had sleet and snow all the way back to New Braunfels. We had big temperature changes at times in Connecticut, but I had forgotten how the temperature could drop 50 degrees in a matter of hours.

And then there is the Texas wildlife. N went down to the cluster of mailboxes that serve our rural area and found a sign posted by a helpful neighbor warning that rattlesnakes had been spotted in the community pavilion and restrooms! Needless to say, that was a good reminder that we were no longer in New England.

Finally, the Texas boast about everything being big in Texas. We went out for a quick bite with A at one of his favorite diners in San Antonio that has won the community award for the best chicken fried steak three years running. There was no way that I was going to pass up an award-winning chicken fried steak. Imagine my surprise when I saw what came out of the kitchen! Not having a tape measure with me, I did a quick mental calculation and determined that the steak (hanging over the sides of the plate) was approximately 12” by 8” ! That is a lot of chicken fried steak. In fact, it was dinner two nights in a row. A said that the diner was also famous for its cinnamon rolls, so we ordered one to go. See for yourself what a Texas-sized cinnamon roll looks like.