Return from Texas!

Ricardo Ruiz, "On the Border"

We got back from Texas late last week and have been trying to recuperate from the road trip ever since. It took us two days of solid 11 to 13 hour/day driving to get there and the same coming back. It was worth it to spend the holiday with my brother and sister, Joey and Kathy, and to finally meet Debra, Joey's girlfriend, and see his new house. We took our dog, Marley, with us and he was the best passenger of all times (much better than me.) We hardly knew he was there and he never made a peep in the back seat over four days of driving. He had a ball with Kathy's dogs, Dexter and Winston. I was worried he'd be depressed over leaving his new friends and he was down for a while. But, once he got back home and Grady enthusiastically greeted him (his best cat friend), he overcame it. Kathy and Luis took us for a tour of the city and we were very impressed with their art museum, The Art Museum of South Texas. It has a stunning view overlooking Corpus Christi Bay and an impressive collection of artwork. I especially liked the artwork of Ricardo Ruiz (above) who had a mural in the local library. We also stopped in at the Art Center of Corpus Christi, which is right down the street, and admired several exhibitions by members of the center. I was impressed by the quality of art by the various members of this active group and their hospitality. The center is very active in promoting members' work, conducting workshops and classes and providing community outreach for artists and the community. Such a community resource is invaluable and I'm somewhat jealous that we don't have anything comparable here in Orlando.