In Which I Spend Time Outdoors

Today was my synagogue's annual Mitzvah Day.  This is essentially a day of community service; a day when we go into the community and lend our time towards any of a number of projects.  This year, for the third time, I led a group to the Nature Discovery Center, a small park and (as the name suggests) nature learning center in Bellaire, TX.  It is a delightful little place, which I highly recommend visiting.

We were originally going to dig up a path in preparation for repaving, but circumstances changed, and the naturalist asked us to do some different projects.

First, we planted (or, rather, 'sowed') seeds in little tiny pots.  We lined the little pots in plastic trays, and filled them with a mix of soil and vermiculite, which is white stuff that sort of fluffs up the soil and improves the drainage properties.  Let me tell you, the soil needs fluffing up.  The local soil is known as "clay gumbo", which seems to be a mix of clay and rocks.  We would encounter clumps which we tried to break up, only to find that they were really soft, sculptable chunks of clay.  (I even made a dreidel!)
We then sprinkled each pot with a few seeds.  My table had Rudbeckia (black-eyed susans), and the other table had Gaillardia (firewheels).  And then we watered the pots.  There is an older lady who used to be a very active volunteer at the park, though her health does not let her do as much anymore, she takes care of the little seed-starting pots and waters them until they are grown enough to go into the ground.

After we filled all of the trays with planted pots, we still had an hour and a half left of our scheduled work time. (We were simply too efficient!)  So, we spent the remaining time digging up monkey grass from a patch of lawn.  Let me tell you, this is tricky.  The monkey grass is challenging to distinguish from the rest of the grass types (at least, for me).  Additionally, it has runners that tangle up with the runners of the other grass species, and untangling them without breaking and losing them is hard.  We didn't finish (not possible in one go!), but we removed a lot, and totally plowed up the corner of the lawn.  It was fun.

The whole morning was fun, really.  The weather was perfect, the work wasn't too hard, and we got to contribute to a local organization.  Success all around. :)

An Afternoon in Downtown Houston

I did not bring a camera.

But, yesterday, I took a walk around downtown Houston with some friends and this is what we saw there.

Just behind the Wortham Center, there is a bridge over Buffalo Bayou.  It is a nice bridge, with beautiful columns with what appears to be children's art cut into metal panels.  

I don't know how the art was selected, or what the children were asked to draw, or how old they were: the drawings included, among many things, musical instruments, a drawing of the med center, a 'say no to drugs' poster, and a computer monitor on tractor treads (that's what we decided it was, anyway).  

Under a pair of these columns is a little brick alcove -- only accessible by foot or bike.  In this alcove is a red button.  (This alcove is at the corner of the bridge closest to the Wortham Center.)  Push the button, and then run out to the middle of the bridge, and look down.  The button bubbles the water! It is not nearly as exciting as it sounds, and yet it was delightful.

Back up and across the street is a small park called Sesquicentennial Park, with a statue of James A Baker (I don't remember which one) and a monument to all of the James A Bakers who served Houston and the United States (which is all of them).

At Market Square, there is a clock.  A real, mechanical clock, but it was not running.  City of Houston, why is the clock not running?  There is even a window where you can see the mechanism, and everything!  

But right next to the clock is a tapas restaurant, called Batanga.  When one of my friends saw the phrase "Platanos Maduros" on the menu, he pushed the other two of us into the restaurant.  We shared 5 plates and a dessert between the three of us.  All of  it was good.  The highlights for me were the Eggplant Fries and the dessert.  The eggplant fries were not like french fries.  They were chunks of peeled eggplant fried in batter and topped with mint, honey, cumin, and cheese, and it was so good.  The dessert - I don't remember the name - was dollops of chocolate mousse with olive oil and flaky salt and toast.  It was a peculiar combination, but very, very good.  Also, the service was excellent.  Our waitress joked around with us. The whole experience was very pleasant.

And then we walked back to our cars in the rain.