Barack Obama and his Chicago Home - Woodlands resident

Getting out and about the neighborhoods often reaps surprising stories. So it was with this little 87 year-old lady. Sitting outside on a bright beautiful typical spring day here in the southeast, she was watching me as I passed by, so I decided to go over and talk to her. After a few normal greetings and introductions, she goes into the garage and pulls out this heavy iron chair, picks it up and puts it next to hers. "Here! You sit down and relax for a while."

I was out trying to get people to vote in the coming May election. So I took a break. We talked about families of course, and then she breaks out with "I like Obama. I am going to vote for him. Do you know that I used to live in his home?" Hmmmm I thought, this is going to be unusual. "Yes, we used to live by a church and they held Sunday School in our home. That house now is Obama's home in Chicago. We lived close to the water and shared this home many years ago with others. Our children attended that Sunday school.

She told me to wait a minute and and she would get a photo of it. So she went in the house and brought out two photographs. "Now look at this", as she pointed to a house from a newspaper clipping. When I saw this in the newspaper, I told my son, there is something familiar about this house." He said, "isn't this our home in Chicago?" "Yes, it is. Now look at this", as she points to the same house in an old photograph she hangs in her house. "It is not much different. They added some windows on this side of the house and re-did the front porch, but not much more." So now you are a celebrity. "Oh no! I am just a person here in The Woodlands, enjoying this beautiful weather."

You can't help but love to get to know people like this lady. She was a delight to talk to, but I had to get on with the business at hand. One of these days, I will pass by there again looking for her. And by the way, she insisted on moving that heavy iron chair herself. She told me about the chair she was sitting in. She said nowadays, someone converts this exact web chair into an expensive leather strapped chair. "Mine just falls apart over time."

Liv'n the early Spring Season in The Woodlands Texas

To see a larger and clearer view of pictures in this blog, you may click on the picture.

What a beautiful place we live in here! We can walk or drive in the village streets and observe Azaleas and other early flowering plants. One can almost hear the plants yelling for joy as the bees pass over the blossoms. So everything begins to multiply, leveraging its beauty to reproduce itself.

To supplement those abundant colors in our neighborhoods, we have the Texas and Eastern Redbud trees. But the white Dogwood tree is a striking and prominent under garment of the forest. The Dogwood is considered a jewel of the east Texas forests because of its brilliant white blossom clusters, contrasting so much against the new fresh green and yellows of the towering pines and hardwoods, which simultaneously start budding new growth and bloom. The Dogwood is a small tree. Its place in the forest ecology is normally found in partial shade due to its size. It loves the marsh bogs found throughout east Texas. An appreciation of this tree is found here in many yards and park areas here where homeowner, developer or association has planted the tree. We also have other varieties of the Dogwood, but this one is native. Each spring in Tyler Texas, a festival is held honoring this diamond of the forest. That festival is underway as I write this blog article.

So feast you eyes. These colors go away quickly as summer approaches.

Lov´n under-privileged children in Venezuela

We live in a community of many nationalities, especially from South America. This article is provided to help understand some of the culture from where they came and also to relate to our own own.

Some 30 children of various forms of poverty and health gave us new insights into life today. Like my wife said, ¨this is reality where the real world connects to fantasy. We do not live in a perfect world." Don´t we all learn more each day? This was such an exceptional experience for all of us that I had to share it! Here in Venezuela, the children´s rights are protected by the government, so we could not take any photographs. I will outline a few memories to note what we did and what benefits unfolded for us and these children.

We brought new toys from home to give them and had arranged a visit to this special home before we left the states. The toys had to be special for these special children from little babies to a fourteen year old. Most of them were incapable of opening their packages so we did so for them. The event was a party of about two hours duration. When we arrived, several of the children were curious why we were there and what we had with us. Two of them came out to the lobby to mix with us and see what we had. They were fascinated with our eyeglasses, the camera which I was not allowed to use and all the packages we brought. After working with the social workers to put names to the gifts and see that the toys were distributed appropriately, we went into the children´s area and fed them the sandwiches and juice that we brought. We needed to help a few with their lunch but generally they were able to feed themselves. Mostly they came and asked for help when they needed it, but for some we had to go offer our help. I remember one child in particular who seemed starving for affection. She was about 4 years old and was not happy when we arrived. I picked her up and hugged her. She did not allow me to put her down for about 15 minutes. She grabbed me around the neck and held her face tightly next to mine. She was precious, and my heart pained to see any child like this. She finally settled down and was happy and participated in the event like the others, but we remained close after our initial emotional acquaintance. Another child that my daughter got attached to was the little girl without arms and legs. My 19-year-old daughter fed her while she was in her lap on the floor. Of course the little girl loved her attention. That girl was quite adept with her arms, managing to put on her cap and arranging it on her head very quickly. She also was able to walk well using her stub legs. Another little boy with black curly hair wanted me to pick him up and love him several times while we were there. He is about seven years old, and I could not hold him for long. But I gladly helped him every time he came to me.

One room was dedicated to tots and babies, with baby beds lining the walls. We went in there to visit them, but only one of them could interact with us and that interaction was only one-way affection. Most seemed to be be suffering from autism

After eating, the children were instructed to sit down in their chairs and wait for their names to be called to receive their gifts. They did so very well, quite behaved! Some wondered after a while if they would get a gift, so we had to speed up the process. They were excited. Some received dominoes, others dolls, others little cars, and other gifts. We had to cull the doll packages to remove the little hair brushes and nail files that came with them. The packages were difficult to open and the children wanted the little extras in the packages, but for safety sake, we had to remove those extras. It might have been better to open the packages beforehand, but part of the experience was the interaction with the children in opening their gifts. That gave us an idea of their skills and a better appreciation of who they are and their plight in this life. Some or all of the older children go to school. We were told that it is very unusual to receive visitors. Some say that the general population here does not have a conscious for these poor little ones. It is very rare for a man to visit them. Two called me ¨papa¨ and called the social worker ¨mama¨. I was not the only man there. A male family member also accompanied us. The older girl was also quite special. She was in a wheel chair and was not sociable until I went a talked to her like an adult. She wanted to know where we came from and why we were there. She opened up to me and soon she joined everyone else and enjoyed our visit. I noted that they tended to look after one another, especially the older ones to the younger ones. One little girl took the gift of another little girl and told her to keep it in the paper bag that we provided. She helped her put it in the bag when we left.

All in all, it was an event of love and compassion. I would have taken one home if I could. I have always wanted to do this here and was so glad when my wife's family arranged it. The responsibility for these children rests with the government and that is sad. Yet it is comforting to know that all children have protected rights here, even though the general population chooses to ignore the children and their plight.

I recommend that other people do this if they can, anywhere in the world including here.

Lov'n those darn chocolates - Chocolate Passion Conroe

Yesterday, I had the privilege to attend the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony of Chocolate Passion. This is aptly named from the craving attitude of South Americans, this case of Venezuelans. Now I know many north Americans who also crave chocolate, so I am going to share this with all my readers, especially knowing how healthy chocolate is for us. OK, maybe that is an emerging trend of thought, but seriously, dark chocolate is being touted as an excellent antioxidant.

Chocolate Passion is located in Conroe, a well-spent short trip from The Woodlands area. Yes, I know! The highway department has a big construction project that sometimes creates a bad bottleneck. Well, I suggest avoiding I45 north on Friday afternoon. Other than that and at 5PM daily, I'd say the construction is not typically a big issue.

You just cannot miss out on at least sampling the products of this establishment! Nestled in a little quaint shopping center on SH 75, it is easily accessible from the SH 105 exit. When you enter the place, immediately you know you have found something different, on the order of a small town store, that is comfortable and luring. It is like a shop you might see in Old Town Spring. On entry, you are already wanting to taste their stuff. Go to the meeting room and relax like it is your own living room! Go to the cuisine enjoyment room, sit at a table on the wooden floor, and listen to the live singing entertainment that is often present on weekend nights. It is like a modern coffee shop of the 60's on a wooden floor with rustic decorations. And you can enjoy it all with your laptop connected to the Internet! Click on the title above to see their website. It has plenty of information.

Now shall we talk about the cuisine? These folks make a rare specialty chocolate, of pure (and rare) imported cocoa from Venezuela. At their grand opening, they had a wide variety of chocolates which you can pick out of the showcase by what looks good or even by product name if you really know your stuff. Of course they will help you sort out what to choose by your likes and dislikes as well. The owner is an expert Chocolatier. She has been making candy for many years and brought her expertise with her when she moved here from Venezuela. She makes her chocolate products right there in her store.

Chocolate is not all that is served, by far! Their coffee beans are also imported, freshly roasted and ground right here in the Houston area. They sell the beans and serve this coffee. You know it is always fresh! They serve Lattes and other coffee drinks, just as you would find in other coffee houses.

I do not know if they sell it or not, but I noted fresh baked Venezuelan bread, a famous Venezuelan Ham bread made for the Christmas holidays. I sampled it and it was authentic. Delicious stuff!

Breakfast and lunch are now served there as they have partnered with a catering service who prepare sandwiches and soups. I had a salad which was very tasty.

They rent out rooms for special events. It is amazing what this little place can do.

I highly recommend everyone try out this place, especially if you like chocolate. Although they do not serve alcoholic beverages, they did conduct a free wine tasting event on their opening day, to demonstrate how well certain wines will augment the taste of their chocolates and how the blend of the two together make an excellent tasting treat for the palate. I was thoroughly impressed and my passion will be Chocolate Passion, as it has always been. I guarantee that will not be the last visit there for Indianspringsguy !

Tell em I sent ya.

Liv'n Christmas Decoration Evaluations

And how do you choose the best decorated home? Or the best decorated neighborhood? I am challenged with participating in the selection of a the best neighborhood and home this year. Here are my criteria to consider:

1. Content Theme - is the neighborhood or individual home themed well? How well? This indicates a team spirit which presents a neighborhood concept instead of an individual concept of what is valued by spectators to gain group recognition. For an individual home, the theme must be recognized and consistent to be recognized. I will lean toward community or higher abstract themes more than technical or mechanical.
2. Colors - are the colors pleasing to the eye? Of course this is the reason the people who are challenged as a judge are called judges - to figure this out. And no two people see it the same way. Color themes are sometimes part of the content theme but are judged independently. For a neighborhood, I am looking for transitions from one home to another in addition to an overall color theme. Colors usually provide primary evaluation significance to the common spectator.
3. Ingenuity - the thought behind the decorations is very important. When the judge can say "wow, great ideas went into this", the recognition is likely to be higher.
4. Gaudiness - too much of a good thing is not a good thing. Minus points on this front. Christmas decor should be in good taste and in the spirit of Christmas. It is not in motor horsepower drawing Santas' reindeer 100 feet over the neighborhood. It is not spending gobs of money to be the best display. It is in the human aspect of presenting a message.

Lov'n the little lady who sold her property

One little country lady has been our customer for years. She raised her children here, saw her home burned by fire, went through the death of her husband here, and at the end sold her home to The Woodlands Development Company. She will move on to new pastures. Some commercial center will rise up from her land in the bustling new village of The Woodlands in Harris county. Moving away but staying in her state, she will be remembered for her fishing stories in the rain forests of Vancouver, her dog stories, her "better than nuthin" response when we would ask her "how are you today?". In fact right after she had a significant fire in her home, she came for a pedicure with a very sullen face, and when asked how she felt, she responded "Better than nuthin". We will miss her for many reasons, but most of all because a long time resident will leave and along with her - part of the country of horses, small ranch estates and good people in the Tomball area.

Happy fishing to ya Jenny! May the bass leap right into your pockets!

"The Woodlands Development Co. has purchased 3.6 acres at 26619 Kuykendahl from Jenny Huber. Charles Underwood and Carson Underwood of McDade, Smith, Gould, Johnston, Mason + Co. represented the seller."

Houston Chronicle November 25th, 2007, "Real Estate Transactions"