La Grange - Quilts - Huntsville

Here it is the first of October - ghost and goblins lurking in the shadows.   As they might say in Alcoholics Anon  ( I can't spell anonymous with confidance or is it confidence? )  as they say:  it has been 3 weeks since I last entered a comment on this page.   Does this mean I am not addicted?
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Certain family members told me to write a blog - instead of sending them email stones.  I bit and began.  Now they don't read the blog either.  Tho  ( sic:  so ) I will continue wallowing in my self, alone pity.  Can anyone hear me out there?
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anyway, nuff of that stuff
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We made a motorhome trip about a week ago to  La Grange, TX.  They have = what is billed as = the Texas State Quilt Museum.  Our daughter Christine drove down from Round Rock - great name for a town - and stayed in the M.H. with us for a couple of nights.  If you have not been through La Grange, and stopped, you should.  It seems to be a very nice little town with things to do and see.
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1st:  the quilt museum has its limits.  It is housed in two downtown bldgs which have been redone quite well.  The quilts are pretty and the folks are friendly.  Every 3 months they change their display of featured quilts.  Oct. 1st will be the new display; I guess I should say that Oct. 1st was their new display.   The Sept. one was a display of art type quilts.  Scenes made from cloth and swirly things made from cloth.
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My family is into traditional quilts, so this was not the best thing.  Yes they were pretty; but, they were not traditional quilts.  We enjoyed the viewing however.   As it turns out, while we were in La Grange it was festival day.  Every small town has at least one day of festivities.  This was their county's 175th birthday.  That's a  long time in Texas.  They fired a cannon off on the hill top, they did this, they did that.  At 4 on the courthouse square the party began.  Politicians recited at 4 as well as local well-respected folks who probably have been politicians.
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A crowd gathered beneath the courthouse balcony and listened to - at least - 45 minutes of speeches about the wonderful day.   Yes, it was a Wonder, Full of speeches and the crowd stayed.  They had an oldie car display, little ole ladies sitting and quilting in costume, a guy making cornmeal with the help of eager children and and and..
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but my favorite was the Round Top Brass Band which struck up after the speeches.  I don't know who they were  .  .   .  .  a bunch of old guys and gals in black pants, white shirts, and  cute, little, period-black box hats - reminding me of olden days fireman hats when they weren't working.  Some were terrific players; others could have done with another rehearsal or two.  While they were a brass band, two clarinets sat in and warbled beautifully.
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What I noticed is:  the band played a song.  Then, the band sat around a talked for a while;   then the band played a tune.  Then, the band sat around a talked for a while;   then the band played a tune.  sat around a talked for a while;  played a tune.  My guess is, they only knew about 6 or 7 songs.   The drummer on a trap set started each tune with a woodblock  knock knock.   All in all, it was a fun group, and I would be please to play with them if asked.
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Our motorhome park was right on the Colorado river.  It had rained the day before - as we drove that way, all day, rained, drove, more rain - I had not experienced this much driving fun since we drove through Pennsylvania one year as part of a hurricane blew through.  Rain rain rained.   Back to the river:  it was flowing with all sorts of tree litter flowing as well.  We walked along the shore with the 5 dogs and looked for squirrels and other deeply hidden critters.  I can say, that I believe La Grange would be an excellent place to retire if you are tired of the big city.
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One last thing - my wife really enjoyed the streets.  It seemed that all over town, they built streets that left giant trees standing in the middle.  The street would just go around both sides of the tree - put up a warning marker - travel on.  I suppose that was nice.  It might be a hindrance to a certid dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd  ncvvvcvv

let's stop here for an explanation.  I was typing along.  I wanted to type "certified."  The "F" was stuck in the down position.  How's that happen?  Must I quit eating and drinking while I type?  I just went in between the keys with my handy dandy pocket knife and removed cracker crumbs, cheese, hair, garbage, and elephant dung. Maybe I should take the back off the keyboard and blow the thingy out.  Or maybe I shouldn't.  Let's leave air compressors to the professionals. 

back to original paragraph.   trees in road.   It might be a hindrance to a certified drunk.  And I would think in a Czech/German community - there might be a few.
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move on
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We decided to take two days to get home.  Our next stop was in Huntsville on I-45.  They have the Huntsville State Park.  Now this is a nice State Park.  You should go see. Trees and Water.  Lovely picnic area.  Really nice.  Next morning, we took our time and loaded up.  Walked the dogs 4 different times to empty certain body parts, and took off for town.  Finding a place to park the motorhome, pulling a car, at an eating place was hard.  Eventually we squeezed into an area behind the Golden Corral of Huntsville.
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I have been in thousands, if not millions, of Golden Corrals.  I believe this one is in dire need of refurbishing.  I thought it was a tad scuzzy.  The food was the same.  I know, some of you think the food is scuzzy at all G. C. or buffets, in general.  it was okay.  We sat in a secluded area beside a group of 6 adults.  Next to them was an elderly Spanish man and his wife, who had their laptop opened on the table.  The screen showed their playlist and the music was being played through those little tiny speakers.  Yes, this couple had brought their own elevator music to enjoy as they feasted at Golden Corral.
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Wanna guess what kind of music?  Go ahead.
You're wrong.
It was music from the 40s and 50s.  All of the stuff I truly enjoy.   Good big band sounds, old songs and dances - all pop.  It was a pleasure having this gentleman sitting near with his playlist emitting the golden sounds of a golden era.    Is this a trend for the future?  Little kids bringing in laptops to play Barney music while they eat?  Some acid punk rock dude playing his trash for the world to hear?  Think about it for a moment.  Why not?  They left, leaving us alone in the area with the 6 adults.
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A phone rang; the lady picked it up and started having a conversation.  She was not obnoxious or anything...very pleasant.  She passed the phone around the table.  Finally it reached this one low-middle age guy who talked briefly.  Then he said:  "Yes, I just got out."  He described who was there:  his mom, his brothers, and so forth.
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I'll cut to the chase.   "I just got out."   Huntsville.   Gray uniformed individuals picking up several containers of food to go.   Where are we?  Huntsville.  Home of the State Prison - one of them.  Yes, this guy behind us with all his family had just been released from prison.  And, where did he choose to go eat lunch with his favorite people?  You got it.  Golden Corral.   If you had been in jail for any period of time, you would choose Golden Corral too, I imagine.  None of that fancy Mexican or Italian food for you.  Go to the trough.  
so with that I close.  It was nice to get home.  It was nice to leave home.  Soon we will travel again.  Y'all take care now.
m