Sunday, February 13, 2011
Sewing
I've been playing with the ol' sewing machine a lot this past week. I made 2 headbands and started on another skirt. I discovered that my skill installing zippers has improved only marginally.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Blessings on Foot
I normally drive everywhere. Part of this is a byproduct of living 25 miles away from work, part of it is that I always feel like I am rushing and I need speed. Much of the time things just seem further away than they actually are. Today I decided I'd better go to the library here in Castroville to turn in some items that were overdue. Since it was an awesomely beautiful day and since my preliminary research told me that the library was only 1.2 miles away, I resolved that it would be worth my while to walk there. I was not disappointed! Castroville is a lovely, interesting town which not only labels its historical houses with the name of the original owner, but it also provides many many plaques which explain the history of this and that site. It's got a nice river running through the center of town, and a town square flanked by a 150 year old Catholic church with maintained grounds with oak trees and a prayer garden with benches. Many of the pioneer homes I strode past I have admired before, but never to such a degree to see the details.
I also learned that Castroville is extremely bipolar when it comes to pedestrians. On the one hand the city provides walking tour information which describes each of the old habitations and the history behind them. On the other hand there are very few sidewalks. One major detractor is that there is a major highway that cuts the town in half so that the north and the south sides of town are divided by 5 lanes of traffic. There are not very many stoplights in town with crosswalks. Getting from my apartment complex (which is on the extreme East end of town) to the historical district over the river is difficult because there is not any sidewalk flanking the highway, so the brave pedestrian must either walk on the shoulder of the highway (eek!) or stumble along in ditches and through parking lots. A sidewalk does not appear until you get to the bridge, but at this point the generous shoulder of the road shrinks and puts traffic in closer contact. The bridge trembles when big vehicles pass through, and this is Texas so this happens quite often.
Other than these complaints, I did have a very satisfying day. Here are some sights.
I also learned that Castroville is extremely bipolar when it comes to pedestrians. On the one hand the city provides walking tour information which describes each of the old habitations and the history behind them. On the other hand there are very few sidewalks. One major detractor is that there is a major highway that cuts the town in half so that the north and the south sides of town are divided by 5 lanes of traffic. There are not very many stoplights in town with crosswalks. Getting from my apartment complex (which is on the extreme East end of town) to the historical district over the river is difficult because there is not any sidewalk flanking the highway, so the brave pedestrian must either walk on the shoulder of the highway (eek!) or stumble along in ditches and through parking lots. A sidewalk does not appear until you get to the bridge, but at this point the generous shoulder of the road shrinks and puts traffic in closer contact. The bridge trembles when big vehicles pass through, and this is Texas so this happens quite often.
Other than these complaints, I did have a very satisfying day. Here are some sights.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
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