Jesus in Cowboy Boots and Other News

I had to start this off with one of those oddities of life that could only be found in Texas. If you're ever near Paris, TX, stop on over at Evergreen Cemetery to view the very interesting grave statue known to the locals as Jesus in Cowboy Boots. Nice snakeskins! Actually, I don't think anybody knows who is supposed to be depicted in the statue... just a guy in boots leaning on a cross I guess. The melancholy cowboy... but I wonder what the magdalene conspiracy folks are saying about this!

On our way to Houston, we stopped to spend a couple days on San Antonio's famous RiverWalk. A most excellent time! We visited the ancient Cathedral of San Fernando, strolled the city, and saw the Alamo, of course. And we recommend the Hotel Contessa on the RiverWalk and also Las Ramblas, the Spanish restaurant located downstairs. Good eatin'! Also, be sure to check out the riverwalk... especially at night.

Things are settling down here since we moved in. We've almost completed our unpacking, and we've got some new furniture on the way. I went back to work after my timeoff this week, and I love it! I will be working with some really interesting technology (compilers - programming language translation), and I'm on a great team with some great people whom I look forward to getting to know.

And just to know, it wasn't too long ago that our new home town of Sugar Land, TX was named the #3 best place to live in the nation by CNNMoney magazine. We really like living here as one can find just about everything within 15 minutes of our house, including tons of stores and restaurants, and a couple of very large movie theaters. And if you want a lot more culture and the arts, it's only a very swift 30 minutes into the city of Houston where you can find museums as well as the infamous theater district. We're planning on seeing Mozart's Don Giovanni there in the Fall.

We're also happy to be in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. Our new parish of St. Theresa's in Sugar Land is very solid, and we're not TOO far from the Anglican Use parish of Our Lady of Walsingham! About two weeks ago we attended one of the Cafe Catholica young adult events sponsored by the archdiocese. We were quite impressed not only to see more than 300 young adults there, but also to see that their ages were quite spread out. Prior to going, we were a little concerned that we would be the oldest ones there (as happens frequently in California groups). But we saw many young adults with their spouses and even their children there, all coming together to demonstrate their love of the Church and their interest to learn about it and each other. We also met the speaker, auxiliary bishop Joe Vasquez, for the first time.

Just last weekend, we took a little trip down to Galveston Island to visit the beach and to see some sights. It was good to see the ocean again, but it was rather crowded. This time, we have a busy weekend planned... and tonight, Shakespeare in the park!

If you're ever in the area and can stand the heat, drop me a line!