Tuesday, September 8, 2015

September 8 – “Holiday musings”

Lots of talk going on in the paper and around town about the anniversary of the 1900 Storm.  Pretty horrendous event in the history of Galveston.  Worst natural disaster in the history of the United States, in fact.  It developed a healthy respect for hurricanes and a certain pride of resiliency among the citizens of the city that has continued to this day.  I for one have certainly bought into the respect for the storms, and the house I live in is a monument to that resiliency.  Galveston is just a great place to live.  There is nothing quite like getting the sand between your toes, because once it’s there, it never quite goes away.  There is always the call of the Gulf somewhere in the back of your mind, and the sweet aroma of sea water embedded in your nostrils.  Makes you proud to be a Galvestonian.

OK.  So much for my Chamber of Commerce rant.  But yesterday was, after all, the last holiday weekend of the summer season.  And the beaches were filled to the gills with tourists.  And we … stayed home.  Yep, that’s the usual local response to the massive influx of visitors to the Island.  Well, at least those of us who are not directly involved in the tourist industry.  Since my water therapy ended on Friday, and Monday would have been my next session, Chris twisted my arm to go on a walk with her.  I actually made it a mile.  I know she could have gone much further, but my back was tightening up, so she stopped with me.  Little did I know that meant we were going inside to continue the workout doing the core exercises the physical therapist sent home with me.  I know.  My wife loves me.  Not so much my back, though.  Especially after I followed up the exercise session by mowing the grass.  Made it through the back yard without too much trouble.  The grass was really high, though, after all the rain we have had.  That led to trouble in the front yard.  This mower just stops when it gets overheated.  No warning or anything.  It just stops.  And it won’t start again until it feels like it can continue.  I know that must have been the case at least fifteen times.  I did get the front and a lot of the side finished before the rain started.  Yep.  More rain.  I only got a small bit of the weed eating done because of the downpour.  No edging at all in the front yard.  Chris did get some plants repotted, though, so she was happy.

Once inside and showered I did some more work for the church, and then retired to the couch for my Labor Day holiday to truly begin.  We watched the bulk of the Astros game, of course.  10-9 loss after falling behind 8-2.  We also kept switching back over to watch the Labor Day marathon showing of the entire season one of The Librarians.  It was a show we discovered last year, so we had seen many of the episodes.  The Librarians are a group tasked with protecting the world from the incursions of dangerous magic and weirdness.  Starts back up again in November.  It’s a fun show. 

We also watched some of the Ohio State-West Virginia football game.  We saw the play where the West Virginia quarterback was run over by an unobstructed 300 plus pound freight train of a defensive tackle.  Injured his collarbone when the massive vehicle landed on top of him.  Ouch.

Galveston pride.  Happy wife.  Well-exercised body.  Astros baseball.  College football. That’s a great holiday. 

1 Timothy 6:6 says, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.”


Father, thank you for the spirit of resiliency that makes Galveston special.  Amen.

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