Archive for April 2008
Rotary Honors Its Best
Each year Rotary club presidents may nominate one member for induction to the District 5910 “Roll of Fame.” 
As club president, I was pleased to nominate someone who is not only the essence of “Service Above Self,” but also a very good friend and club leadership comrade, Doris Lockey. The Rotary Club of Conroe, as well as District 5910, have benefited greatly from her leadership skills and love of Rotary. This past Saturday, Doris was recognized at the Annual District 5910 Conference in Beaumont.
The evening saw many Rotarian friends honored, two of which have worked with me to form the core preparation & training team for Group Study Exchange, Bets Anderson and Don Taylor. Although I knew Doris was to be honored, I was pleasantly surprised to also witness their recognition. Congratulations to these most deserving friends and Rotarians! I’m honored to know and learn from each.
kenne
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Image: Friend’s Celebrate Gary & Janet Milleson’s birthdays at Bernhardt Winery – kenne (Photo Set)
Porch Concert Series Starts at Bernhardt Winery
If the large crowd attending the first porch concert Sunday evening is a sign of things to come, this is going to be a busy successful concert series for Jerri and Jerry Bernhardt. The air of the large crowd was one of release from the winter doldrums, the series welcoming spring. 
Of course, having Dana Cooper to kick-off the series helped draw many in the crowd.
Since many of our friends share a common interest in the winery and the porch concert series, this first concert was a perfect opportunity to celebrate the April birthdays of Gary and Janet Milleson. With plenty of cake to share, the numbers of April birthdays grow in numbers.
A tradition with the series is to toast the sunset. Located on a hill in the rolling country-side east of Plantersville, the view from the winery allows everyone to capture the moment.
kenne
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Image: Little Joe Washington at iFest – kenne (Photo Set)
Annual iFest in Houston
I must admit that Joy and I have become “fair-weather” festival-goers. We still attend many festivals since it remains in our blood, but we tend now to use the weather as our excuse for not taking in some of the many area festivals. We are fortunate to have many great festivals in Southeast Texas each spring and fall, and this spring, the weather has been wonderful. 
One that always includes great local and international musicians is the iFest, and this year is not an exception. (This coming weekend will be the final weekend of the festival.) As always, with several stages and two weekends, it’s not easy to see all the entertainment at the iFest.
Since we regularly support our local musicians, especially Blues, we could see Sunny Boy Terry, Gloria Edwards, and Little Joe Washington. Little Joe is a real crowd-pleaser, and many would say the craziest Bluesman alive. Because of our friend, Art Dietz,
we have been able to follow Little Joe’s career. And, it was not surprising that we ran into Art selling CDs for Little Joe.
We were also able to see the iFest New Artist of the Year, Carolina Chocolate Drops, a super African-American String Band from Durham, North
Carolina. The group carries on the tradition of black musicians who played fiddle and banjo music common to the southern Appalachian Mountains. The group also plays great Blues!
— kenne
Image: Carolina Chocolate Drops — kenne
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Image: Waterway Art Festival – kenne (Photo Set)
Spring Time On The Waterway
Our local art festival continues to grow and attract quality artists from around the country, and this year’s festival was blessed with beautiful spring weather.
Joy and I became interested in several pieces of art, but after revisiting the booths several times, we took business cards deferring our decision to another day.
In addition to art, there were many areas with children’s activities. To our surprise, one such activity included our step-granddaughter, Stephanie. 
She was busy spray-painting children’s hair. Not to be left out, Joy had her hair sprayed.
While attending the Festival, we watched the official opening of the water display along the Waterway. 
The water display is one of many new attractions on The Woodlands Waterway, which has come a long way from being a ditch south of the Pavilion.
kenne
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Image: What Happens When Sand Dunes are Washed Away By the Sea! — kenne (Photo Set)
Five Days On the Outer Banks — Part VIII
Before heading north, Joy called to make reservations for the tour and was told that the only time available was the 6:00 p.m. sunset tour. I started laughing hysterically. Sunset tour??!! Since we had only briefly seen the sun in five days, it seemed so absurd, let appropriate to end our visit to the Outer Banks on Bob’s Wild Horses “Sunset Tour.”
Such a tour should be a natural for taking photos, but I knew the lateness of the day and the dark cloud cover would not make for getting some good photos of the wild horses. Yet, in the end, it was the total experience of seeing the northern part of the Outer Banks that made our decision a good one. I say this since it is my observation that many of the Outer Banks inhabitants are still making the same mistakes of their forefathers by not understanding the forces of nature as did the indigenous people of the Americas. The best way to perceive the Outer Banks is to know they are a series of sand dunes that create a barrier along the North Carolina coast.
“Yet the time will soon come when this simple people must be driven from their homes, pursued by a fate as irresistible as the deluge of old, living behind them all the associations of their race, of their customs and their occupations. . . . Powerless against this tidal wave of sand they must flee away and hide themselves from its fury in a part of the island below the cape…” — John R. Spears, 1890
We are glad that we could see firsthand the continued stupidity of human greed, which is so dramatically displayed on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Maybe it was a case of timing or the more just the rolling hills of the northern Outer Backs, but when we arrived in Duck, the strong winds we had experienced for days seemed to have disappeared. What a relief! It was almost as if we had entered another world. Plus, Duck is an attractive, more residential community with less of the tourist commercialism of Nags Head. As our waiter at dinner, that evening said, “ . . . Duck is less “seven-elevenist.”
After stopping a few places along Duck Road, we continued north to Corolla, then about three miles north to Corolla Light to Bob’s Wild Horse Tours. As most normal people guessed, no one else was taking the sunset tour, so we had our own private two-hour tour.
All paved roads end about two miles north of Corolla Light, at which time continued access should only be with a four-wheel-drive vehicle. Shifting into all-drive, our driver headed over the sand dunes onto the beach and continued north while watching for the partially covered stumps of an ancient petrified forest. The forest used to be well offshore, but the continued encroachment of the sea now makes the stump remains a natural hazard to vehicles using the shore for a highway. Although we were taking this tour to see the wild horses of the Outer Banks, I was beginning to observe that we were, as if going back in time, experiencing what it was like before paved roads existed on the Outer Banks.
“Back in 1936, a bewildered motorist, struggling through the sandy ruts of the Outer Banks, stopped on top of the great flat near Pea Island where a WPA worker was building sand fences.
He wanted to know which road to take to Hatteras.
‘Take road 108,’ he was told.
A half-hour later, after following one auto track in the sand after another, he had circled back and approached the same man.
‘Which road did you tell me to take to Hatteras?’ he asked.
The boy wearily pointed to the maze of ruts.
‘Take 108. There’s 108 roads to Hatteras.’” (Hatteras Highway, Bill Sharpe – 1952)
As we continued north, I thought we would stop seeing the large beach houses typical to the southern Outer Banks, but I didn’t take into consideration the cowboy mentality that exists about as far east as one can get.
“Never mind that there’s no road. It doesn’t matter that few banks are willing to finance. And even though it costs an average of 20 percent more to building a house because building materials must be brought in by four-wheel drive . . . property values in Carova Beach have increased in the past four years, in some cases by almost 500 percent.” (Lorraine Eaton – 1989)
I’m not sure how far north we drove on the beach, but the driver kept referring to the North Carolina/Virginia state line. Regardless, I had already decided that this might be a great place to visit, but definitely not to live. I was even more convinced of my conclusion when we drove up to two large three-story large beach houses literally sitting on the beach. (Later, on our return at high tide, the sea was up to the structures.)
Shortly after passing the two beach houses, the driver turned west over the dunes into an area subdivided by rutted sand roads searching for wild horses.
“In applying the term wild to these horses, it is not meant that they are as much as deer or wolves, or as the herds of horses, wild for many generations on the great grassy plains of South America or Texas. A man may approach these within gunshot distance without difficult. But he could not get much nearer, without alarming the herd, and causing them (to flee for safety to the marshes, or across water, (to which they take very freely), or to more remote distance on the sands.” (Edmund Ruffin – 1859)
It seemed that we were driving in circles since the gray skies with little light remaining continued to challenge my sense of direction. When we came upon another tour group, we might have continued this uneventful quest to see the wild horses. After the drivers discussed the possible sighting, our driver set off following the other vehicle in the marshes.
In a short time, some horses were spotted, at which time everyone set out on foot to get a closer look. Having little light and needing a tripod, I leaned up against a small tree to steady the camera. Still not having enough light, I increased the ISO and began to take a few photos. Any good photographer knows that one of the essential factors of taking good photographs is timing, so after making the best of the situation, all was now in the hands of Photoshop.
I may never have another opportunity to photograph the Outer Banks, so I remain pleased with what I was able to capture. Unfortunately, so often, life’s most memorable images are not filled with beautiful skies.
Before driving back to Nags Head, we stopped for dinner at a little restaurant and raw bar, “North Banks,” in Corolla’s shopping areas called TimBuck II. Yes, TimBuck II! The food and atmosphere were the best we experienced on the Outer Banks. This is a great way to bring closure to our Five days on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Having come to these shores for April and Jason’s wedding and having done some online exploring of things to do and places to go, we leave with memories that I hope these words and photos will make for lasting first impressions. (Please note that I have avoided referencing April’s wedding in April. But it could have generated a poetic ring if one was poetic!)
“Few travelers take the time to write down descriptions of places they see for the first time or of the people they encounter there. However, something about the Outer Banks causes many visitors to feel that they had better make a record of their first impressions while the memories are fresh. This has been going on periodically for more than four and a half centuries since 1542 to be exact when a Florentine adventurer anchored off the Banks and sent a party ashore for water.” – David Stick, “An Outer Banks Reader.”
kenne
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Image: Hannah with Her Grandparents — kenne (Photo Set)
Five Days On the Outer Banks — Part VII
The next day we took Hannah to the Aquarium on Roanoke Island, after which Joy and I headed north on the Outer Banks to the communities of Duck and Carula, with the intent of taking the tour to see the wild horses of the Outer Banks.
kenne
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Five Days On the Outer Banks — Part VI
On our forth day the weather continued to be the same. But, since we had planed on taking Jill and Greg to the Norfolk airport, weather was not an issue. On the way back we made a few stops to check out the local tourist shops designed to get people like us to pay high prices for cheap junk. We did stop at a vineyard, for a little wine tasting and conversation with one of the owners – of course we bought some local wine. (Okay, so the main reason I bought a bottle of “Wild Pony White” was the label design taken from a photo of ponies on the shore. The image taken by the wine maker’s wife was black & white, then using Photoshop to make one of the ponies’ white. So, it doesn’t take much to impress me!) As usual, having an opportunity to talk to some local people resulted in our obtaining better information than and of the free tourist flyers, magazines, etc., some of which did help us in determining what we would do before leaving the area.
Alone the way back to Tags Head, I bought a very interesting anthology entitled, “An Outer Banks Reader,” edited by David Stick, The book covers four and a half centuries of accounts that help one better understand why some people would want to spend their lives on the Outer Banks. This book truly became my reader during some of the remaining weather bound time housed on the beach. In Stick’s words:
“The reader should understand that life on the Outer Banks isn’t always idyllic, as Orville Wright made clear in a 1901 letter fro Kitty Hawk to his sister back home in Dayton, Ohio, complaining that the mosquitoes had chewed clear through his underwear and socks, raising lumps all over his body ‘like hen’s eggs.’ In another letter, however, he told her the sunsets at Kitty Hawk were ‘the prettiest I have ever seen,’ and he waxed poetic about the multicolored clouds.”
kenne
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Five Days On the Outer Banks — Part V
In addition to venturing out to see parts of the Outer Banks, we also spent time in various indoor activities.
kenne
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Image : Joy & Jill @ Cape Hatteras Light House — kenne (Photo Set)
Five Days On the Outer Banks — Part IV
By Monday morning, most of the beach houseguests had left, or were in the process of doing so. Chase, Jodie and Justin would be leaving late morning to catch the afternoon flight back to Houston, however, just enough time remained to take in one of the Outer Banks’ major historical sights, the birthplace of American aviation at Kitty Hawk. As steady misty winds remained blowing out of the northeast and a temperature in the upper forties, we drove the short distance from Nags Head to Kitty Hawk. With weather not unlike what the Wright brothers probably experienced on that historical December 17, 1903, we limited our walk alone the field of flight and spent most of our visit inside museum area.
“In those days flying machines were the big laugh of all the crackerbarrel philosophers. Langley’s and Chanute’s unsuccessful experiments had been jeered down with an I-told-you-so that rang coast to coast. The Wright’s biggest problem was to find a place secluded enough to carry on their experiments without being the house laugh of the countryside.
They hit on Kitty Hawk, on the great dunes and sandy banks that stretch south towards Hatteras . . . “
After seeing Chase, Jodie and Justin off, we finalized our plans for the reminder of the day. As it turned out, Greg’s hangover was getting the best of him, so only Jill headed off with Joy and myself to Roanoke Island, then down the Outer Backs to Cape Haderous. Along the way we dealt with blowing sand crossing the highway resulting in accumulation in some places, with notable signs that plows had been required to remove the sand. Admittedly, we spent a lot of the time in our car just to see and photo some of the historical Outer Back lighthouses. But we endured with the same commitment as the kite-boarders taking advantage of the strong wind to generate max-surfing speeds. Stopping to take a few photos, one could tell that such adventurers were paying a toll due to the cold temperatures, even wearing a wetsuit.
kenne
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Image: Relaxing After the Wedding Ceremony — kenne (Photo Set)
Five Days On the Outer Banks — Part III
The remainder of the afternoon’s reception was back in the beach house with those lodging there changing into more casual attire, dancing, playing pool and for the brave ones, playing house shoes, a Morris family tradition. Before leaving Houston, my thoughts of being on the beach included an image of sitting on the deck smoking a fine cigar and drinking a glass of Maker’s Mark. So, I decided to pass on playing horseshoes and make the image real. Even though I located a chair in a somewhat protected part of the deck, no one was interested in sharing the moment – an experience “better than a $100 shrink or hooker.” (Tom Russell) Of course, I could have waited to share the moment, but with the weather showing signs of continuing to get worse, I lit-up and watched the turbulent waves coming farther ashore with high tide.
Occasionally I would get up to watch the guys playing horse shoes, mostly to take my mind off the fact that the wind and cold were beginning to take its toll. Since smoking is not a regular habit of mine, it was only a matter of time that the cigar was tossed and I went inside to finish the Maker’s Mark. I now know that this attempted at doing the cigar-bourbon thing was the only opportunity I would have during our stay on the Outer Banks. So much for anticipated expectations.
With evening coming on, the entertainment of chose became either playing pool, playing with the children, playing poker, or dancing. Even though much food still remained, most still at the beach house were interested in snaking on chips with their drink of choice. By the end of the evening everyone seemed to have forgotten the weather, especially since the wedding day had been very special for all, effectively capturing many memorable moments for the wedding couple.
kenne
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Image: Joy On the Beach On the Morning of the Wedding — kenne (Photo Set)
Five Days On the Outer Banks — Part II: The Wedding
By the morning of the weeding, the weather remained the same, so it didn’t take long to decide on moving the planned beach wedding inside. Inside, the wedding would overlook the beach, still providing an attractive backdrop for this very special event. Obviously, this was not a bad tradeoff since nature’s early spring conditions would provide many challenges to participants in a beach ceremony. The move, however, meant that the expected images of the wedding on the beach would not be captured for future memories, unless creativity was allowed to prevail.
White folding chairs were arranged for approximately thirty guests, with the cello and violinist placed to the right rear of the great room over looking the beach. Jason and I discussed a few last minute details in the ceremony before starting the wedding procession down the abbreviated isle, when as if on cue, the sun began to break through the grayish sky. This being my first opportunity to conduct a wedding ceremony, and after stumbling a few times in the beginning, I was quick to lay claim to having orchestrated the sun’s timely arrival. Such a moment has to be an omen!
It was easy to tell that the sun’s timely arrival would be short lived. So, after the ceremony the wedding party and immediate family headed out to the beach to capture those much-anticipated images. Although the sun was providing some additional heat, the wind was picking up out of the northeast, but not enough to stop our capturing those much wanted beach photos. I spent time moving around capturing the more “situational” photos of the photographers taking photos, and others watching the wedding couple as they continued to brave the cold northeast wind off the ocean.
kenne
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Image: Night In Nags Head North Carolina — kenne (Photo Set)
Five Days On The Outer Banks — Part I
(This entry is the first of eight parts on our trip to the Outer Banks)
We knew we were almost there as we drove on the Wright Memorial Bridge to the Outer Banks. A light rain continued to travel with us from Norfolk. By most expectations, the next five days of rain would result in an uneventful time. Of course, the one obvious exception would be April and Jason’s wedding, which was the real reason we were on the Outer Banks in early April when only rain and a northeast wind seem to profile. However, there is something about the Outer Banks that makes for lasting impressions, regardless the conditions. There is something very tentative about this part of North Carolina that generates the basic ingredients for adventure and romance.
“There seems to be something about the Outer Banks that attracts all kinds of people, a good many of whom have stayed around long enough to make their distinctive marks.” – David Stick
Arriving in Nags Head Saturday, April 5th, about 8:30 p.m., after most of the guests had arrived, we warmed-up hamburgers prepared earlier and grabbed a cold beer, or glass of “Three-buck Chuck” wine. Since a light rain continued, eating out on one of several decks facing the ocean of was not an option. Neither would it come to be during our five days on the Outer Banks, which in many ways was not surprising, given the late winter/early springtime of year. In the end, the weather met one’s realistic, but surely not hopeful expectations. Yet, these barrier islands that continue to under go change of position provide the makings for a collage of human conflicts with the forces of nature. Such conflicts can, and do, generate twisted human conflicts that often become the sources of classic literature. One can only truly know someone through understanding his or her connections with others.
Food and drink selected, we seat down to eat in the open great room/dinning/kitchen area (party area), with plenty of windows facing the night sea. Outside a light rain continued falling with a wind, although strong, turned out to be light compared to days to come. Inside, guests were scattered throughout the house, some watching the NCAA Final-Four Playoffs and/or playing pool on the ground level, while others were moving furniture and selecting salsa music in preparation for some serious dancing on the third level. (As we would learn, several of April and Jason’s friends all met while taking dancing lessons.) If there were guests on the second level, it’s anyone’s guess, since it housed most of the beach house bedrooms.
Before arriving at the beach house, we stopped to get some Maker’s Mark. So, it didn’t take long after our arrival before many of those in the pool table area switch from beer to whiskey. Now we had the serious dancers on the third floor and the serious drinkers on the ground floor, of course, not necessarily exclusively. Although the house had an elevator, most of us traversed the three levels of stairs making new acquaintances and greeting old friends.
kenne
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Recognizing Houston’s Great Ladies of The Blues
As they have for several years, Mrs. V and Nancy hosted “Ladies Day” in KPFT’s backyard. This annual event is a beautiful example of the magic that happens when the right people for the right reasons get together to share their appreciation for the ladies of The Blues. For one Sunday afternoon each spring, KPFT’s backyard becomes the center of the universe. (Photo Set)
kenne
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Image by kenne
When “Bad Voodoo” Is Good!
It seems that people in power always use humanity, in the form of fundamental beliefs, principles, shared values, commandments, etc., to control the less powerful. One case in point is that of getting young people to fight an illegal war for the reason of humanity. Meanwhile, the same doctrine is pushed on the remaining citizens as the patriotic thing and therefore provides support to the cause while remaining disconnected from the sufferings of the engaged.
In a recent PBS “Frontline” captured the realities of war in a segment titled, “Bad Voodoo’s War – 2008.
The Wall Street Journal — Nancy deWolf Smith
“… What kind of person can face months of such danger,
day in and day out? Only the brave, undoubtedly.
Beyond that, it is difficult to say much more specifically
about the men of Bad Voodoo Platoon. Of its 30-something
members, only two have been chosen to speak at length here.
What they have to say is disturbing on many levels. …”
You can see it online.
— kenne
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. . . somewhere around the bend
Do you hear it?
See it coming?
Coming,
somewhere,
somewhere around the bend.
Gently,
as on Kiko feet
coming,
somewhere,
somewhere around the bend.
Cat whispers
peacefully moving the trees
longing to be heard,
somewhere,
somewhere around the bend.
Is it real?
Or only a hypnotic beat,
of the dark rhythm,
somewhere,
somewhere around the bend.
So soothing, so real,
let mesmerizing,
creating visions of hope,
somewhere,
somewhere around the bend.
Listen to the stories
without them
life is pointless,
somewhere,
somewhere around the bend.
See it?
Not if you don’t feel it
linking the mind’s destination,
somewhere,
somewhere around the bend.
So, relax,
come with me
catch the blue train.
somewhere,
somewhere around the bend.
Time’s wasting,
Don’t hesitate!
Opportunity is on the move,
somewhere,
somewhere around the bend.
If you feel it
you can see it
in the mind’s eye,
somewhere,
somewhere around the bend.
So, catch the blue train,
ride the edge,
see tomorrow’s vision,
somewhere,
somewhere around the bend.
Locomotion,
a blues riff,
Coltrane changes,
somewhere,
somewhere around the bend.
Face to face with humanity,
going all the way
to the end of the track,
somewhere,
somewhere around the bend.
Forget the plans
of broken dreams,
seek the truth,
somewhere,
somewhere around the bend.
Smokes rising
signaling a change,
if you are riding
The last train to Clarksville…
Memphis,
Chicago,
somewhere,
somewhere around the bend.
— kenne
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As club president, I was pleased to nominate someone who is not only the essence of “Service Above Self,” but also a very good friend and club leadership comrade, Doris Lockey. The Rotary Club of Conroe, as well as District 5910, have benefited greatly from her leadership skills and love of Rotary. This past Saturday, Doris was recognized at the Annual District 5910 Conference in Beaumont.
Image by kenne
