The Old Dutch School Desk

There is something "new" at The Bunny Bungalow.

There it stood in the doorway of the antique shop, an old pine school desk. Its tag told us, "Child's school desk, Dutch, circa 1920". We could just imagine a small dutch child sitting there to learn his lessons and we could wonder if he were still somewhere in the world, quite old and wondering what ever happened to his first little school desk.

Perhaps it was its simple, honest lines or its aged, raw pine that aroused our emotions

Who put that scratch there and there?; and who executed the crudely-cut ink well? And a square one, at that!

The 1920's Dutch School Desk is from Installations Antiques, Houston, Texas.

What about all the other school children who also sat at this desk? Did a child hide under the desk when enemy planes screamed overhead?

So, the small pine desk with its stories, imagined and real, had to come home with us, Tall Husband and me. Here it sits in the music room of The Bunny Bungalow.

Pumpkin Patch

After breakfast with friends last Saturday morning, Tall Husband and I headed back to The Bunny Bungalow but spotted... pumpkins!

Now nothing says "Autumn" like a pumpkin patch on a cool weekend morning.

And what did Tall Husband discover in the pumpkin patch!?

A sweet little pumpkin with his blogger mom!


Click on photos to enlarge.

Vietnam in the Houston Heights

What's this? It's great news! The small but wonderful restaurant, Vietnam, is about to get bigger.

Vietnam Restaurant is at 605 West 19th, Houston, Texas 7008

Danny Luong, owner of Vietnam Restaurant, oversees the expansion of his popular establishment in the Houston Heights.

Vietnam's expansion is scheduled to be completed in November 2008. Meantime, I recommend arriving for dinner early to beat the crowd, ordering the spring rolls with peanut sauce and the beef with ginger & onion (#32.)

Click on photos to enlarge.

Houston, We Have Another Old House to Save

The Farnsworth House by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

As if our hearts weren't bruised enough by Hurricane Ike, news comes from Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois that the Farnsworth House, the famous modernist masterpiece by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, was flooded by the remnants of Ike. Above is a photo dated 9/14/08 from their website. As the water has now receded, the clean-up and preservation work will begin. You can make donations and/or keep up with the progress via the Farnsworth House site.

I made my on-line donation this morning, as this is one of the places I want to visit before I die and I've told you previously, I'm vintage verging on antique; so the work has to be completed soon!

Oh Boy, Jury Duty!

Jury Summonses; same court, same month, times 3.

Looks like I won't be spending much time at The Bunny Bungalow next month. One of the summonses above was rescheduled for October, then last week I received two more summonses for the same month.

There was a time when I thought that serving on a jury was my civic responsibility and to be taken on with good humor. That was before I served on three different juries. That was before I helped find a school principal guilty of resisting arrest (i.e., beating the heck out of a sheriff's deputy); finding a young woman guilty of urinating in a public place at 2 a.m. and finding a young man too psychotic to stand trial.

People who go to trial are supposed to have a jury of their peers. But I don't beat up cops, piss in the streets and I'm not crazy, so am I really their peer?

Oh well, perhaps this will be another excellent adventure.

Frankly Georgia, I Don't Give a Damn.

Houston Mayor Bill White

According to several media sources, the Governor of Georgia wrote the Governor of Texas complaining about our Mayor Bill White's use of expletives yesterday when he spoke to FEMA workers from Georgia.

Apparently Mr. White had visited a POD where thousands of people were waiting for supplies that had not been delivered. White then went looking for the boondoggle and discovered FEMA trucks that had been sitting at Reliant Stadium all night with the ice and water. In redirecting the FEMA workers, Mayor White was quoted to have said, "Get those [expletive] trucks moving." and "You better get your [expletive] act together."

Then came the exchange of letters between the Georgia and Texas Governors concerning Mayor White's expletives. That exchange has had a strange effect on me: I have a sudden urge to go to the polls to vote for Bill White for Governor of Texas! But I guess I shall have to wait until the actual election.

So for now, having witnessed the excellent manner in which Mayor White has handled Hurricane Ike, I add my voice to the voices of thousands, "You go, Bill!"

“Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands and goes to work,” Carl Sandburg told the New York Times in 1959. In true Sandburg style, Mayor White's expletives got the work done. Take it from this little granny: any word that rhymes with "trucking" happens to be my favorite word when it is deserved by the recipient and accomplishes the job.


Note: This is my first posting through Comcast since Hurricane Ike blew into Houston. Thanks to all of you who provided Internet access for The Bunny Bungalow and My Ranchburger during the absence of my Internet connection.

Hide!

"Hide" a painting at The Bunny Bungalow by Linda Hickerson-Hofheinz

There are still widespread power outages in the Houston Heights. We are lucky, as we have My Ranchburger and the electricity was restored there two days ago. However, our neighbors at The Bunny Bungalow are still in the heat, as they have no power and our "cold spell" has passed. It is now in the 90's (Fahrenheit) and humid. The air smells of rotting meat and other grocery items since the neighborhood supermarket was without power and threw away perishables which have not been hauled away. Tall Husband and I were searching under the bungalow for a dead animal before we realized we were downwind from the supermarket's dumpsters.

Our friends who were with us during Hurricane Ike now have electricity and have gone home. So I will find some Bunny Bungalow neighbors to stay with us at My Ranchburger until they have power.

Friends and Family have been wonderful to us. When we were without water and power they took us in. Thanks to all of you! We couldn't have survived without you. Also, thanks to our mayor, Bill White, for leading us in the "can do" recovery; thanks to AT&T for never going down; thanks to Entex (gas) for my hot showers in the dark; thanks to Centerpoint Energy for the super human task of powering us up again; thanks to our postal carriers for delivering the mail every day; thanks to the City of Houston for continuing garbage collection at our homes; thanks to all the thousands of workers who came from out-of-area to help mend our cities; thanks to our Houston Police and other law enforcement; thanks to KTRH radio station for your excellent service before, during and after Hurricane Ike. You all have families that you had to leave so you could help our families. Thank you and your families!

Comcast Cable and Internet: you may have noticed you are not on my "thank you" list. During all this Ike aftermath your radio ads told us how we should clean debris from around your equipment to make your job easier, then you sent us e-mails (e-mail I could only read when I used another provider's services as you are "down" in most areas) warning about your "Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)...AUP outlines acceptable use of our service..." Have you not noticed AT&T's new U-verse equipment for Internet and cable that has recently gone into our neighborhoods?