When I was a child, every summer my mother enrolled us in the Summer Safari program at Glady’s Porter Zoo. I loved going there and learning about the animals. We would do many different activities and walk the zoo. It was literally the best part of my childhood.
The Glady’s Porter Zoo is in Brownsville TX. It is considered one of the best zoos in the country. The zoo has a strong conservation program and they have seen the birth of many wonderful animals over the years, helping grow endangered species’s populations.
One of the best parts of the zoo, is the way that the animals are housed. Unlike many zoos, Glady’s Porter designs the enclosures to mimic the animals’ natural habitat. The zoo has a large spread of land which it can use and has been given more by the city.
As a child, my favorite part of the zoo was the giraffes. I still love giraffes. I don’t know why they are my favorite animal, but they are. I love wolves and I love sharks and others as well, but the giraffe is the best. They are so peaceful and tall, and ungainly. You wouldn’t think they were beautiful when you look at the oddness of their body shape. Yet they have grace and poise and kind faces. Maybe, thinking about it now, that’s why I connected with them.
Glady’s porter has an aviary. It’s kinda frightening going in there. All those birds, flying free, all around you. Very Hitchcockian. But it is also pretty cool. I don’t know how recent the changes have been, but they added a butterfly enclosure. Filled with flowers and free flying butterflies, it is kind of like a wonderland area. They also added a new activity center where they display some fossils that were excavated in the Rio Grande Valley area. It even hosts a playground zone now.
Since my birthday is in July, we had several parties at the zoo. As I walked it during my recent visit, I stopped at the area where we would have the celebration. It is still an eating spot.
I was sad to see that the polar bears are gone. I don’t know why. I remember one summer, as we walked past their enclosure, we caught them swimming. I have always been a fan of bears. Though they seem cuddly, they are actually very dangerous. The dichotomy of it appeals to me.
I didn’t see the elephants during this visit. I recall that the zoo had some issues when I was younger with the male elephant. He apparently had tried to kill the baby that was born to them. I remember seeing how they had built a wall to separate him and how the female and baby would come lean against it while he was leaning on the other side. There’s something about that which stirred me and even recalling it now gives rise to sadness.
My biggest regret is that my family moved to Houston during the summer of my sophomore year in high school. This meant no more summer safaris. But more than that, it meant not being able to be a part of the conservation side of the zoo. Only the junior and seniors who participated during the summer, and even during the school year, got to be in the baby zone and work with the staff on that part of the zoo’s program. Wish I had been able to stick around for that. But, I can enjoy going back and seeing all the work the zoo has done. If you are ever in the area., you definitely should visit the Glady’s Porter Zoo.
I have heard that there are some people who think that I go a little over the top when it comes to Halloween. However, I can assure you that I do not. It is not possible. I have spent years cultivating Halloween Culture that is good 365 days a year. Yes, I have decorations up all year. There is my large collection of witches, skeletons, and grim reapers. Of course if I am going to have a large selection of skeletons, then they must have a wardrobe that can adjust to the various holidays and weather conditions. As you can see in this picture, sometimes the skeletons just like to relax and chill out indoors. The witches have their own hutch and an ample supply of books and grimoires. They don’t go out much preferring to spend their time developing spells and potions.
Yet, every so often, I cross paths with another creative person who gives me exciting ideas for taking my Halloween lore to another level. Have you ever heard of Urban Fairy Doors? While attending the monthly WiVLA (Women in the Visual and Literary Arts) meeting this week, I heard a fascinating presentation by Elissa Davis. Apparently there are fairies that set up shop around the city. Sometimes they are accessible from a public street and sometimes they are located inside businesses. This door was made by Elissa and remains in the neighborhood where she lives. The fairy who lives here is seldom seen, but does communicate with folks by exchanging notes and trinkets.
After reviewing several pictures on this topic, I realized that I had walked past an Urban Fairy Village right in my own neighborhood. Every time I strolled past, I was fascinated at how the different aspects of the Village would change. Sometimes little creatures were added and sometimes another door appeared.
During my last blog post, I wrote about the quick trip I took down to Brownsville with my parents. The weekend after that visit, I returned having booked a nice Airbnb to stay there for a long weekend. It was a time of refreshing, healing, and writing.
Back on the highway, I drove along singing loudly in my car. You absolutely must have a good playlist when on a road trip. I have one I labeled as Karaoke and it is great for in car singing. The trip from Houston to Brownsville takes almost six hours without stops.
One afternoon, she asked me if I had completed my math homework as I and my mom walked past her during carpool. I told her yes, that it was in my notebook. 
Here is your first warning sign that you should notice when going to Hermann Park in the second half of April. It’s close enough to Earth Day that all the schools from all over everywhere bring gaggles of children to appreciate nature. Yellow buses line the streets.
It appears as though the children gather in packs. Each group is identified by their colors. Is this similar to a bunch of gangs? I did not get close enough to find out. The group in this picture is heading for Miller Theater. I could hear music playing until all the munchkins got seated for some type of program.
Another batch of gaggles also were observed heading into the Museum of Natural Science. This picture was taken from the top of a hill in the park. I made sure to keep my distance, in order to ensure my safety. I did not venture anywhere near either the theater or museum. Fearless adults communicated with all of the multicolored T‑shirts by bullhorns. That was very brave of them and I think worthy of combat medals.
This is the mountain I climbed up to view the hordes while staying out of harm’s way. There were even safety rules for this vantage point. They included: No bicycles. No swinging from the rails. Please stay off the plants, and most important for today situation: Mind children and dogs. On the way up, I did not see many other people so when I reached the top, I could bask in the fact that it was a cloudy day, and did not swelter in bright sunshine. I didn’t even need to wear my sunglasses.
Walking the trail that wound around this mountain was quite pleasant and since there was a waterfall on one side, much of the noise of the school-age gremlins was literally “drowned out”. This worked for some time until some other grownups discovered my sanctuary. It was at that point that lots of people showed up who actually had the audacity to enjoy a fun-filled conversation amongst themselves. How rude. My silent haven then turned into a party venue and I decided it was time to move on back down the hill. More and more people were heading up to the top of the hill and I apparently made my escape just in time.
There was one last sign that should have clued me in. Even the ducks were aware of what was going on today. These two are far from their normal pond habitat. I found them trying to hide amongst the bushes and trees so the children would not find them and chase them.
I guess I can no longer deny it. Spring is here. The vernal equinox has come and gone. Everyone who celebrates anything during this time of year has celebrated. What more is there to say? While most folks get very excited to welcome all of the pretty flowers and warmer days, I do not. What excites me is that April is halfway to Halloween! Now that will get me excited! However all of my skeletons are resting right now, so I am giving you my annual obligatory picture of Texas Bluebonnets. There are lots of them this year and they actually bloomed early. While temperatures have reached daytime highs in the 80’s, here where I live, Becca, my niece in South Dakota is still dealing with lots of snow.
April is also known as National Poetry Month. I write very little poetry myself. My muse occasionally inspires me to write Haiku, but that’s about it. However, I own many books of poetry. One of my favorites is Devotions by Mary Oliver. And there are any number of poetry readings and festivals around town all month long. The Women in the Visual and Literary Arts (WiVLA) is holding their annual poetry reading on Saturday, April 22nd. It’s called Poetry By The Bay and takes place at the La Porte Library from 11:00 a.m. — 1:00 p.m. If you are a member of WiVLA, there is still time to sign-up to read your own pieces. Or you can just plan on attending this event to hear the wonderful work created by other WiVLA members. I look forward to seeing you there.
However, if you are like me and are excited that we are halfway to Halloween, I will leave you with this picture. Hopefully scenes like this will hold us over until October returns. I’m already working on plans and stories for the annual Haunted Holidays reading event that will be held in November. I know I am looking forward to it. How about you?
Take downtown for instance. How often do most of us go there?
I was aware, vaguely, that there was a downtown tunnel system, but I never had occasion to venture there.
Once in the tunnel we walked a ways. I felt a slight concern being aware of the fact we were walking under ground and all. The tunnel is wide enough for many people to walk in both directions, but it still felt a little tight for me. Then we arrived at a juncture.
Before us lay a wide expanse of tables and chairs around which an array of eateries had storefronts. It reminded me of the mall food courts of my childhood years. There are maps posted at certain intervals. Sadly, I didn’t take a picture of them since I, at that moment, hadn’t thought to write up the excursion for the blog.
We walked further and found an area with loungers and sofas, ping pong and corn hole, and even a table shuffleboard option. Sadly, they had no wax, so we couldn’t throw any weights. Plus, it is a short version and not the 22 foot long that is the official length for serious shufflers.
Anyway, if you are curious and want to enjoy a fun adventure, head over to downtown, park, and do lunch in the tunnels. Buzz me and we can make a day of it. I’m not sure which building uses these Star Wars inspired elevators, but I plan to find out on my next outing.
I’m one of those who has been very hesitant about getting back out there since the pandemic. I’ve been moving slow. Still haven’t gone back into the movie theaters; thank goodness for streaming services. Anyway, when my friend Sabina Gartler decided to take a weekend away at Galveston to look at cemeteries and tour some of the sights, I decided to go. I used to go to Galveston all the time. This was my first visit in three years.
For those of you who aren’t aware of the Old City Cemetery, it is one of the oldest in Galveston and actually is made up of seven different cemeteries that were merged into one. It is at least 200 years old, but I suspect older since I saw one gravestone that was dated in the 1700s. After the Hurricane of 1900 when so much of the city and the coast was destroyed, the ground of the cemetery was raised as was the entire sea wall. That’s one of the reasons why some of the graves go down three burials deep. Families were given the chance to move loved ones before the ground was raised. Most loved ones took advantage of this, some did not.
Some of the graves are new and spotless and some do show their age. It is obvious that surviving hundreds of years and several hurricanes since 1900 takes its toll on grave markers. But I think they are kept up as well as any other historical cemetery I have seen. Several years back I took a ghost tour of this cemetery at night around Halloween. I didn’t see any ghosts, but still found the stories of the inhabitants fascinating. As one can imagine, Galveston is one of the most haunted cities in America and there are many ghost tours scheduled throughout the city.
Later when the sun came out, I did venture down for a walk on the beach. I collected some shells. Why? I don’t really know why. I collected 5 of these marine specimens. Is there some gene within the human body that compels us to collect shells whenever we are at the beach? This must be true for me.
But I also found this creative structure on the beach. It fascinated me and I studied it for some time. How was this made? And by whom? My first thought was that this was a Galveston version of Stonehenge. But what genius mind did this? In no order whatsoever, here are my guesses for the builders: Architects, Engineers, Pagans and/or Aliens.