Tag: houston

Waves…waves…waves…

You can, if you wish, go back and revisit this post from October in which I went off on a little rant about one of my favorite artists Bruce Springsteen (honestly, VERY high on my list, higher even than maybe a Beatle or two) and how I once taught his song “Thunder Road” to my college freshmen as a fine example of the carpe diem theme, wherein I told them “Mary’s dress waves,” then years later, I was faced with what I was told was hard evidence that “Mary’s dress sways.” I apologized to my students all these decades later if I had misled them.


Wait. Let me pause here for a photo that recently landed in my social media feed. Taken in 1970… this lovely Irish/Italian/Dutch boy, name of Bruce… What? He was twenty-one and legal!

I, however, was not. I’ll enter the Bruce plea: Not guilty of inappropriate thoughts because it IS hard to be a saint in the city.


Moving on from all that, a couple of weeks back, Tim told me about a new used bookstore in the Heights that’s pretty cool, KABOOM. Since our two closest Half Price Books shuttered during This Pandemic™, a new used bookstore was good news to me. On my weekly outing, I went browsing.


I took several photos inside and out, and bought several books, and sooner or later, you’ll probably see a lot of that one way or another on the blog. Here is one of the books I bought, and it’s not quite as elaborate or detailed as the Paul McCartney books I recently featured here.


Then again, it’s 24 years old. Bruce has released a lot more material since then. But it is authored by the Boss himself. So….


Here it is, that song that remains forever lodged in either the first or second spot of my all-time favorite songs.


Wait, do I need to zoom in on “Thunder Road?” Her dress is WAVING? You don’t say.

I rest my case. (ETA: But y’all should read my answer to Marika in the comments.)

A few shots featuring Bruce and more of my favorite things.

I wore the album The River out when I got it. It still blows me away. Saw him on tour for that one.


Lovely, hand-scribbled lyrics for “Glory Days.”


Song “Born in the U.S.A.” misunderstood and misappropriated by political candidates. Because their teams don’t read the lyrics. Or ask Bruce.


Bruuuuuce! One of my two favorite Jersey-born boys.

Tiny Tuesday!

Last night, I did a new moon intentions ritual using information from Kevin at Body Mind and Soul. He does videos each month during new and full moons on the store’s Instagram account that are always fun and informative. My intentions were mostly about writing, but also making inner peace with a few things.

Pictured are the Star card from the Muse Tarot, the last candle burning from the shelf everything had been on, and stones and crystals including kyanite, moonstone, malachite, turquoise, amethyst, amazonite, tourmaline, and clear quartz.

I like starting February with creative energy and serenity.

Tarot Etc. Thursday No. 2

The Muse Tarot, published in 2020, is a new-to-me deck. If you read here, you know the concepts of the Muse, and muses, are important to me as a writer and a creative person in general. I won’t belabor this; it’s my own system that works for me around inspiration, imagination, and action. It might have nothing to do with traditional stories of muses or anyone else’s perception of what a Muse or muses are.

Some of the struggles I experienced with writing in 2021 were on my mind when I left the Hall to pick up a box of nag champa incense to replenish my supply. And I knew, I just knew, I needed to go to Body Mind and Soul to do it. When I went inside, my first goal had me picking up their lone box of my brand of incense, which felt fortuitous.

As I walked toward the cash wrap, I spotted a display of kyanite, a favorite stone, and among many, I picked up the one pictured under my incense holder/burner in the photo. I knew it was supposed to come home with me. Kyanite has a high vibration, making it an amplifier of only the positive, and it corresponds to the throat chakra, which has to do with communication and using one’s voice. Writing is my voice, so kyanite is a good helper. Kyanite also helps with sleep and dreams, so at night, it now rests with several other stones on the table next to the bed.

Then I glanced toward the shelves with all the various decks of cards, including their tarot decks, and there it sat: The Muse Tarot. There may have been two there, I don’t remember, but all I had to see was “Muse” to know I was getting the deck. Thank you, Christmas cash and gift card givers. =) Also, the staffer who checked me out was a highpoint of the visit; when he struck the three-toned chime as part of the ritual of clearing the shopping bag with my purchases before handing it to me, his eyes and mine widened with surprised delight at the tones we heard.

The Muse deck is a little different from more standard decks. For one thing, in the suits, there are no Kings. Those have been replaced by Muse cards as the highest card of the suit. Also, in place of Pentacles are Materials, and in the other suits, Wands have become Inspiration, Cups have become Emotions, and Swords are Voices.

The author/artist does not provide the traditional Tarot spreads in the guide, assuming a user will know those or can easily find them. I rarely lay out any of the more detailed spreads; again, I use a system that seems better suited for what I want to contemplate with the cards’ help. I shuffled the deck and pulled three cards face down. Before seeing them, I had a specific question for each card (no need to blare my questions to the Internet).


The Major Arcana card the Magician was there for my first question. Briefly: She’s a reminder to bring one’s desires into form, in a way that creates something healing for others and is rooted in love. The guide also explains some of the other symbolic significance of the art on the card.

For my second question, I pulled the Knight of Materials. The Knight is the third highest in the suite, indicating I may be far along on this particular question. The keywords attributed to the card include productivity and diligence paying off, determination, and planting and tending seeds for the future.

Even without reading about the card, pulling the Muse of Materials for my last question was visually a resounding answer to the either/or question I asked. The Muse sends a message about manifesting and abundance. Please note that for both of these cards for which I drew Materials, I wasn’t asking questions about money or worldly success but about something more intangible. So while keywords include prosperity and wealth, more relevant to my question are the keywords gratitude, health, comfort, and happiness.

I see the Muse Tarot as being a great deck for creative people or for anyone needing guidance about any journey or choice, really, whether related to vocation, spirituality, or relationships.

Button Sunday


Buttons included in Timothy’s Christmas gifts to Tom and me for Cactus Music in Houston.

Those are Tom’s, and the ones below are mine; both came with gift cards to Cactus (this is one of three of my most-visited locally-owned record stores, the others being Vinal Edge and Soundwaves).


Also included was this canvas tote, because it held special prints of Houston spots by artist Jim Koehn.


KPFT Radio station where Timothy and I were once interviewed after It Had to Be You was published. I don’t remember much about the interview except when we were asked if any of our characters were based on real people, I quipped, “Yes. I’m Aunt Jen. Without the money.” (I chose the word quipped because Aunt Jen was a quipper.)


Lucky Burger is closed now, but it was one of Tom’s and my favorite takeout spots when we lived in Montrose. I still miss it.

I became aware of Jim Koehn’s work thanks to Cactus’s Instagram account, and I’m already starting to order prints to give for holiday and birthday gifts over the next year, for friends who’ve moved away, and friends who’ve visited and have their own favorite Houston spots. This will be fun.

Revisiting a tasty memory

Back in the age when my friend Steve R was alive, he had a favorite Tex-Mex restaurant on Kirby in the River Oaks area called Jalapeños. Here’s an old review that describes it better than I could:

A visit to this bright Upper Kirby cantina decked out in eye-popping colors and playful artwork on the walls is always a fiesta. It hops at happy hour, which features more than 40 tequilas and most every Mexican beer. We like the innovative menu items like crawfish quesadillas, quail frito or outstanding spinach enchiladas—a dish that’s creamy and garlicky, with just the right amount of bite from poblano peppers. They’re evenly matched on a combo plate with corn enchiladas that are sweet yet spiked with onions. Seafood fans go for the extensive fresh fare from the Gulf, including snapper and shrimp Cancun, baked in a banana leaf. Traditional fajitas are even done right here: charred and tender with rosy centers and sizzling onions and peppers on the side.

One of the things not mentioned is that you might spot President George HW Bush and wife Barbara dining there (not a selling point for us, particularly at the height of the AIDS epidemic).

Back in those days, I didn’t eat Mexican food, or Tex-Mex, but I’d go with Steve and get something basic like nachos. One day, he persuaded me to try a bit of his spinach enchiladas, and I was hooked. It was the cilantro white sauce–not overly spicy like the red sauce usually on entrees, and I liked it so much.

Tom and I were sad when Jalapeños closed in 2005, because it became a favorite place to go with friends and for him to take his father when he visited Houston. I don’t know if it was last year or this year that I had reason to research it and discovered that one of the former chefs, Seco, had his own Mexican-Latin fusion restaurant in the Rice Village area called Seco’s, where it’s possible to get spinach enchiladas based on the old Jalapeños’s recipe.

We were in the area on Tuesday and picked up carryout that included the enchiladas, rice, and beans (I got the refried black beans; Tom had the charro beans). The spinach enchiladas don’t taste exactly as I remembered them, but they’re better than those I’ve gotten at any other restaurant, so I was full and happy.

It’s not near us, so I don’t know how often we’ll get food from there, but if you’re in Houston, it’s neatly tucked behind the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream shop on Kirby. Give it a try!

What a week

This week was a little crazy. I’m not even sure why. I did have to get a new phone after I launched my previous one on the river to ruin, and that was the same day I also had my car in for its regular maintenance.

Let’s see. We voted. We went over to RubinSmo Manor for an hour or so for a photo shoot and got to meet Honey the foster kitty, see Pepper, and hug Lindsey and Rhonda for the first time in SO LONG–especially Lindsey, because we have been able to see Rhonda two or three times since we last saw Lindsey.

ETA: I forgot the tornado warnings and the power outage. That sucked up some of the time I’d normally be productive.

I’ve been out of the house running errands more frequently than usual this week. But none of this seems like a lot, and I don’t watch TV unless Tom and I watch something while we eat dinner. So other than cooking, housecleaning, and spending time outside (the weather is so nice) with dogs, I guess most of my time has gone to this art project I’ve embarked on and writing. I sure don’t get more than six hours of sleep a night, so who knows where all the hours go.

Today while I was working on stuff I had an overwhelming urge to listen to Peter Gabriel’s album Us. There used to be a record store next to the bookstore where I was an assistant manager, and I was in there browsing one day when they played a song. It sounded so much like Dennis Wilson or a song he’d have written or sung that I remember walking to the cash wrap in a daze and asking, “WHAT OR WHO IS THAT YOU’RE PLAYING?” It was Peter Gabriel, and the song was “Washing of the Water,” which I’ll include below. A moving song, and I can understand why it caught my attention and still gets to me.

Another noteworthy thing about the album is the song “Fourteen Black Paintings,” which he wrote about Mark Rothko’s paintings installed in Houston’s Rothko Chapel. They are among my favorite works of art, and Mark Rothko is one of my favorite painters in the world. Just some Becky trivia there. =)

Weird Wednesday

Woke up this morning just as the power went down. We were under a tornado warning because of a front moving in. It had lots of cold air behind it. After the rain and wind stopped, it became a gorgeous day like the fall weather many of you have but we seldom do (until sometime in November, maybe).

Electricity was out until afternoon, which propelled me from the house to get a few errands taken care of. Those had me driving through the city with my sun roof and windows open, blasting music and keeping me far from the Internet. Consequently, I’m behind on a few of today’s goals. Like writing.

Here’s another snippet showing items I may be using as part of my current art project.

Thanks to the cooler weather, our dinner was of homemade chili and cornbread. Yep, don’t tell the Texans, but those are beans with the turkey meat in the chili. Texans prefer no beans in chili.