Tuesday January 28 2014    9 pm cst     39 degrees, very cold with blowing wind

If you have  read this blog for a while, you might remember that I have a thing about cemeteries.  Can't remember a thing that I read in history books, but somehow these cemeteries breathe life (so to speak) into history for me.

Yesterday we went to the Guillen Community Cemetery in Brownsville  which is in an older, run down section of town.

The cemetery, however is well maintained  and has somehow avoided the vandal destruction that almost every cemetery I have ever been to has suffered.

This old marker is for Rafael Morales who fought with Santa Anna and is now lying here among  soldiers he fought against.

Self made man didn't want to be forgotten

These tree-like monuments were a benefit of an social organization, Woodmen of the World.  Their goal was to provide life insurance to their living members and  an honorable burial to their members when they died.  They stopped providing these big trees in the late 1920's but there a lot of them in this cemetery so I'm thinking they had a big following here in Brownsville..  The organization still exists today as Woodman Insurance but now only issues emblems to attach to an existing marker. Of all the possibilities,  I am not sure I would want one of those huge stone trees for a marker.......kind of big clumsy things.

Wonder what you had to do to warrant a cross.  Katherine didn't get one.

Here's a nice understated above ground burial with one plastic rose .

  No Fuss.....

Also no name

Someone added to the inscribed words for her/his Daddy.

How do you suppose that statue lost her head?  It's pretty high up so I don't think vandals could have done it unless they were vandals with ladders.  Sorry, bad taste joke.

This hole is very deep.......an escape route?

OOPs....Forgot to post  last night so it is now Wednesday January 22 2014, along about 10 am cst  and 67 degrees

I want to show you some of the many murals of Harlingen.

Bill Haley, rock and roll singer of the 50's, native son.  This was created by John Aretakis and is on the side of a downtown building.  I had to go looking for it as it is in a part of town we  winter Texans seldom see.  

Another John Aretakis depicting the  1950's road trip down route 77

This one, also by Aretakis, I am less thrilled with as it depicts the relationship between Southwest Airlines and Harlingen.

Love the outside of this BarB Que place.

This is the inside of that  downtown restaurant   Both are painted by Chris Valdez who, the waiter tells me, went on to be very successful in New York.

Large plaza downtown depicting the history of Mexico and mankind using 905 handcrafted ceramic tiles. Very pretty but in a difficult place to stop and view. Raul Esparza Sanchez

.

I could look at this one by Benjamin Varela and Celeste De Luna for hours and still see something new. 

Homage to The Day of The Dead by eRic Luplow.  The female figure is Katrina leading the musicians and farmers  through the  cemetery.  Now one of those figures is supposed to have a rooster and there are supposed to be sacks of cotton somewhere in the pic both of which show the rich agriculture of the valley.  Guess I am not educated in the appreciation of the arts cause I just can't see it and........

this blue face lady..I have no clue what it is supposed to represent if anything. I am just too literal to understand artistic representations.

These are just a few murals that are so beautiful and diverse even tho I don't understand them all; but this one

at Alicia's restaurant evidently is out of favor with the owners and is overshadowed by a large screen TV.....................  OR........maybe it is a comment on art today being eclipsed by technology..........I told you I am just too literal to understand.

January 2014   8pm cst  55 degrees

How can you spend a better weekend than attending a festival celebrating Elvis 79th birthday?

 10 Elvis' were there.  They call them Elvis tribute artists.  

Rob Carter..had a real good Elvis sound

Eddie Carson

Eddie also did some Roy Orbison (Far left pic), and some martial arts...notice his wife's face as he struck the board.  He hit it a few times before she discovered that the board was supposed to be turned around.

Luis Salazar

Luis gave the most energetic performance.  I kept watching the stage floor because I thought it would cave in he was so animated.  Couldn't say that he really did Elvis type moves but then, he's 19 what would he know about that?

 

Henry Vasquez

Henry threw out teddy bears and scarfs and had a really nice costume.

Chad is a local boy.  That is his mother in a pink poodle skirt and in case we didn't notice that she looks very young to have a boy Chad''s age, she told us that she is often mistaken for his sister or wife. Another nice costume...... very similar to this one

that belonged to Elvis and recently sold for $300,000.  Chad's costume, however I don't think is all hand embroidered but is still  very beautiful.

Johnny Gonzalez...an  ex Brownsville police officer.  He also did Freddy Fender which was a big hit because Freddy came from San Benito.  Every so often he would holler  aye  aye aye!   I guess it is a Freddy Fender thing.

But Domingo was the crowd's hands-down favorite.... the only one called back for encore.  Close your eyes and you cannot tell you are not listening to Elvis.  He also does other tributes.

  A local restaurant owner has asked him to come back in February and do some of his other acts...including the Everly Brothers. If he comes, I'm going!

That lady that is hugging his neck is an older lady (I know I can't believe her either) who was married to a  recently deceased World War 2 Vet .

When Domingo announced the song he said he would have to stand back because she loves that song and would probably come up on stage and dance.  She did...and did it like a  20 year old.  I don't know how old she is but she is is great shape.

She is not the only one to jump up on stage.  These gals started out in the audience and  they just ran up on stage and did some impressive dancing.  Not part of the act....I don't think.......just spur of the moment.

Sometimes the acts went out in the audience too.  This performer Jorge Corona,  gave me a scarf but Neil didn't take a picture.

Not everyone was having fun.  This lady complained that the speakers were too close and blasted her on one side but they didn't change them for her.  I  guess it didn't occur to her to move, she just sat like this for about an hour.  As you can see, no one else sat over there because it was hard to see and it was in the sun.

Well, almost no one.

These people were sitting where they couldn't see anything but the backs of the performers heads.  If I  didn't know that we were not in New England, I would think they were having a stubborn Yankee disagreement.  

" You get up first and move and I will follow."

"No, YOU get up first and I"LL follow."

"

This is Mr. Simon Vega who presents the show and owns the museum called Little Graceland.  He was  good friends with Elvis  when they were stationed in Germany  and has many memories and stories that he tells about those times but he usually tears up and his voice cracks a little when he tells them.  He is a retired school teacher and in 1993 he turned his house into this museum.

He has this sign up but I find it hard to believe because we go by this very humble cottage many times and there is never a crowd there....but then,,,,what do I know about who visits there. Maybe this is supposed to be humorous.

Well, we were there from 10 am to 3:30 and couldn't sit any longer but I would have loved to see the other 3 or 4 performers.

Saw this on the way to Little Graceland.  Did you know that  JEEP  upside down spells beer?  Sort of..

 Someone asked why there were never any pictures of me so here is one taken with Neil's new camera he got for Christmas..It takes selfies.

p

January 7, 2014 9 pm cst 48 very chilly degrees

The fish must have been plentiful  when we were watching these pelicans.  They would circle for a bit and then head straight down head first into the water to catch fish. Of these three I caught on camera, only one came  up with  a fish.

Thought this was an unusual way for a tree to grow......Sort of like a turnip with a big round root branching up to the greenery on top

For some reason the owner of this cactus has bound it all the way up this palm tree and looped it around a few times. Maybe decorative, but I just don't get it.

These are vegetable pears.  The lady tells me you cook them just like potatoes and they have a mild cucumber taste.  I bought a few but haven't cooked them yet.  Those spines are very sharp....everything that grows in Texas has spines.....I don't know just how to peel them without injury.

probably not an unusual sight but where else but Texas will you find a place to get your ten gallon hat refitted?

And where else would you see this monumental sized gorilla statue ?

We went to a place where you can pick your own grapefruit...$4 a 5gal. bucket. Look at all the fruit  on the lower branches but we pick the ones that are hardest to reach..
  These kids in a really nice neighborhood are carrying high powered air rifles.  Hey, you kids got parents??!!

This kid comes down from Wisconsin to visit his great Aunt here during Christmas vacation and has taken a liking to Neil.....or maybe it is the Ipad that he is so fond of, but he spends most of his day with Neil and I ...He is 13 years old and talks  a mile a minute and laughs at our inability to play Angry Birds and  Angry Granny.

Thought it funny that this house is on Rockefeller Street

oops, someone needs parking lessons.