by Phil Houseal | Jan 27, 2020 | All Articles, Education, Events, Food, History, Music, People of the Hill Country, Venue
Jan 29, 2020–Musketeer, fire breather, or wizard, it’s always fascinating what motivates a person who leads an otherwise conventional life to don the garb and persona of a character living in the middle ages. To help me understand, Cathryn Harper agreed to talk on...
by Phil Houseal | Jan 9, 2020 | All Articles, History, Music, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
Jan 8, 2020–I’m reading Willie Nelson’s autobiography. And it’s distressing me. Because everything he did in his journey to country music sainthood, I did the opposite. He was a rebel and a rounder. He would skip school. I was teacher’s pet. We both share a love of...
by Phil Houseal | Dec 12, 2019 | All Articles, Education, History, Philosophy
Dec 11, 2019–‘Tis the season for holiday programs and pageants. Every parent, grandparent, and squirmy sibling will spend at least one evening packed in a school auditorium or stuffed in an undersized classroom chair watching a parade of plays and eating potluck. That...
by Phil Houseal | Nov 20, 2019 | All Articles, Education, History, People of the Hill Country
Nov 20, 2019–For a state perceived as largely desert, Texas has an “insanely diverse” number of water habitats. That includes approximately 1,100 public impoundments covering 1.7 million acres, and 191,000 miles of rivers and streams. All of these waters are potential...
by Phil Houseal | Sep 5, 2019 | All Articles, Events, History, People of the Hill Country
Sept 4, 2019–Descendants of artist Lee Ethel are on a scavenger hunt, and they need your help. Anyone who has spent any time living in or visiting Fredericksburg and surrounding towns has seen the work of Lee Ethel, even if they didn’t realize it. For two...
by Phil Houseal | Aug 8, 2019 | All Articles, Education, Events, History, People of the Hill Country, Venue
Aug 7, 2019–As an elementary science teacher, I was perennially fascinated by the fascination dinosaurs held for all students. I now have a granddaughter who requested a dinosaur theme for her 3rd birthday, and she was talking Triceratops, not Barney. So when I...
