The next stop on our Landmark road trip was Galveston.
We have a soft spot for this seaside town, it was where we spent family vacations and made memories, enjoyed wild cyclamen,
and took lots of family photos.
We celebrated our arrival with a walk on the beach to see how the houses were doing after Ike in 2008,
“It looks cold,” Daughts texted. Too right it was!!
We collected seashells shaped like angel wings, hubs will do something with them I am sure. I found a winkle shaped one to go in my pocket for old times sake, to remind me of our favorite beach after Stone Beach in Broadstairs. I have a shell from there in my jacket pocket in London.
We shivered with the trembling seagulls!
We ate out the first night in Galveston.
We planned the following evening’s festivities, a movie and a second room picnic.
A visit to the fish market was in order, Katie’s did not disappoint.
I took a lonesome walk along the sea while hubs shopped for a grill and snapper accompaniments for our dinner.
I started close to the pier where a large hotel used to sit before Ike hit in 2008, it is now a fun-fare,
the rides would have captured the hearts of our children years ago. They feel they were deprived the pleasure of large theme parks, but rides do nothing for me so our children missed out.
I walked for as far as I could before a spill of rocks barred my way, I didn’t fancy clambering over them and risking a broken ankle, I had things to do, places to be.
The froth kicked up by the swirling water and wind reminded me of Broadstairs when my Perripoppins daughter and I ate an ice cream in the bitter wind and took photos of the foam, looking like rimy lap suds on wash day, left in piles against the sea wall.
A little pre-wash looking in Galveston!
I braved a walk along one of the five jetties I crossed enjoying the fresh air and the sound of waves around me.
I closed my eyes to count how many steps I could take on the deserted beach before my mind convinced me I was walking into a brick wall. I got to 80 a couple of times!
It was time to meet our agent who gave us some wonderful advice about the rising cost of flood insurance and what to look for in coastal homes, dampness being the main concern. Houses on the beach were attractive but out of our price range. The Victorians were stunning but some of them were so close together I could not squeeze between the houses and the backs overlooked squalid back yards that even I couldn’t call gardens, where dogs chewed the wooden sidings and corrugated make-shift roofs gave cause for concern!
This is a Painted Lady. It has to have three colours on its exterior, this one has four, or maybe that’s the evening light.
This one is all ready for Mardi Gras on March 4th, eager beavers!
This lovely house needs some tender loving care, check out the shack beside it!
I still would like an historic home, I love the hardwood floors, the high ceilings, not vaulted, the grand staircases that go on and on, the pocket doors and brightly painted walls. I don’t like the close proximity or bedrooms off the kitchen. I like the wrap around porches on the ground and first floors, and the enclosed sleeping porches for a through breeze in the summer.
When asked about utility bills the answer I got was typical,
“It depends how cool you like it in the summer…” I think our bill in Garland will always be one of the highest we’ll ever pay for a house of comparable size. Single paned windows are a downside of Landmarked homes.
Is there a kit and some land we could buy on a lake?
Think wedding venue y’all!
The film we saw? August: Osage County not a comedy by any means but a play that our reading group has selected as one of our selections this year.
Our hotel room picnic, a red snapper meal, cooked in the microwave because the grill wouldn’t light.
We were having fun making memories, creating news to write about and being on the road together.
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
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