Friday, January 2, 2009

How we started the New Year in Brackettville and on Fort Clark Springs.


At 11:30 or so last night I went to where my husband's band was playing so I could give him a kiss at midnight. Thus began my New Year.

After ringing in the New Year with kisses and many hugs, I stayed to take a few pix. The gig was on Fort Clark Springs, a gated community across the highway from Brackettville.

Fort Clark Springs is a great place to live if you're on a fixed income. The cost of living is low, there's a par 9 that's free to the residents and an 18-hole with low rates, especially if you're a resident. There's a nice, big, spring-fed pool that stays at 72 degrees year round. Fort Clark Springs is an ideal place for retirement. As a result, parties on the Fort tend to wrap up pretty early. By the time I arrived there weren't so many people left, but they were dancing up a storm!


Above are the members of 32 Miles. From left to right: Hubby a.k.a. Wes (rhythm, lead guitar, backup vocals), Mike (bass guitar, backup vocals), Cindy (lead vocals), and David (percussion, backup vocals). Notice what looks like dust on David's cymbals? Nope, not dust. See below.


Above: I don't know what they do in other states but in Texas, if there's a dance, there's corn meal on the floor. Someone always shows up with a bag of cornmeal which gets spread around the dance floor before the dancing begins. I think it has something to do with making two-stepping easier. This particular building is the Post Theater. It's a historical building with terrible lighting, no room backstage for performers, and lots of rickety floorboards. You may remember me complaining about the lighting in this building when I blogged Alash Ensemble's Fort Clark performance.

Every song last night brought dancers to the floor and the better the beat, the more they stomped. STOMPED! That old floor shook so much that I kept having flashbacks to the few years I spent living in Bakersfield, California. Imagine all that vibrating wood with its coating of corn meal which the dancers had, by the time I arrived, pulverized into a fine powder. I didn't take a single photo with the flash that wasn't full of "orbs." If I were among those who believed that all orbs in photos were spirits, then I'd have sworn up and down that the Post Theater was full of ghosts last night.

At the bottom of this entry you can see the Texas Hill Country Reporter video clip of Fort Clark Springs.



Above: We enjoyed a New Year's Day dinner with hubby's family out on my mother in law's farm. Fried turkey, yea! Terrible photo, yes, but the guys had only pulled it out long enough to check it for doneness and it was a 13 pound lump of molten HEAT. No time to mess around with it to get a good shot. Fried turkey is pure deliciousness. The skin is crispity crunchity and the inside is moist and delectable. Once the turkey was done and set on the table, I was too hungry to care about photos. I've blogged my turkey frying tips HERE if you wanna know more.

Below: They lit a couple of little ground spinners in the shape paper tanks. We've been under drought conditions here for months and months. You have to be a real idiot to light any serious fireworks right now. So here's my one and only photo of fireworks since I began this blog. Pretty pathetic, eh?



Below: Behind the house the moon was setting. It was so beautiful, I don't get to see it set very often but out on the farm there is a relatively clear view to the west. When I saw that there was Earthshine on the moon I raced inside for my camera and tripod but only got one shot before that fantastic light on the moon's night side was no longer visible to us.



So that's how Wes and I started the New Year. 2009 has been good to us so far.

5 comments:

Pat said...

Sounds like you had a GREAT time !
Would love a sound clip of the band. :D
Your moon shot with all the clouds is awesome.
Sorry, the video clip kept pausing while playing so I couldn't watch it all.
Best Wishes,
Patsi

Genie said...

Hi Patsi! We had a very nice day, I hope you did too.

The current band hasn't recorded in the studio yet, but hubby's last band put out a cd. You can hear some of their stuff at: http://www.myspace.com/wildride It was, by far, the rockinest band he's ever been in.

Sorry the video wouldn't play, oh well. Thanks for trying! And thanks for the nice compliment!

Bob Johnson said...

Genie I love fried turkey that way, the video was very cool and interesting, a lot of history, maybe those orbs were ghosts,lol.

Your fireworks was pretty good for what you had to work with,lol, don't you guys get any real fireworks down there,lol. Your Earthshine is getting better all the time. I'm off to check out Wes's band.

Unknown said...

Sounds like you had a fun New Years Eve and New Years Day! Best wishes for 2009!

Laura

Genie said...

Bob--oh how I'd love to capture a ghost on my camera! I want to do some ghost hunting. Yup, I believe! You're such an inspiration and you've got me looking up more than ever before. Thanks for that!

Laura--it was a very pleasant New Years. I hope yours was lovely! Best wishes for 2009 right back at you! Thank you for coming by.