by Phil Houseal | Sep 23, 2020 | All Articles, Education, Philosophy
Sept 23, 2020–At the risk of flogging this deceased pony called the pandemic, I’ve toted up some outcomes that I shall embrace: 1) The end of handshakes I never liked the tradition of shaking hands. Growing up in business and social circles, a handshake was like...
by Phil Houseal | Sep 15, 2020 | All Articles, History, Philosophy
Sept 16, 2020–I remember being quarantined. I was 8 years old. I had chicken pox. All kids did back in the early 1960s. But mine was particularly painful. Not because of the disease. But because it happened the week of our big farm sale. We were moving from the farm I...
by Phil Houseal | Sep 9, 2020 | All Articles, Philosophy
Sept 9, 2020–While pondering on my porch swing, it struck me about all the people we cross paths with in our lives, and how every one of those connections leaves an impression, one you might not even think about until 40 years later. While I was on the road playing...
by Phil Houseal | Sep 2, 2020 | All Articles, Events, History, Music, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy, Venue
9/2/2020–You can’t keep a good dancer down. Recently I heard there was a gang of dancing rebels operating a “dance easy” in Fredericksburg. Apparently this loosely connected group of five or six couples gather on a weekly basis to… wait for it… dance in...
by Phil Houseal | Aug 27, 2020 | All Articles, Philosophy
Aug 26, 2020–The other day I jumped in the pickup to run up our driveway to fix the gate keypad. Recklessly, I neglected to fasten my seatbelt. Of course, my mother the truck disapproved of this irresponsible behavior, and proceeded to remind me the whole way with a...
by Phil Houseal | Aug 20, 2020 | All Articles, Events, Music, Philosophy, Venue
August 19, 2020–After months of isolation, I am venturing out in public more often. It reminded me why I stopped venturing out in public. It has nothing to do with social distancing. It’s more about social “closening.” It’s not because of any virus. I have a fear of...
by Phil Houseal | Aug 12, 2020 | All Articles, Education, Philosophy
Aug 12, 2020–In my role as grand-pere I’ve had to dust off my repertoire of fairy tales. There is nothing as effective as a repetitious story for sending an 18-month-old off to naptime, and my standbys are Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Billy Goats Gruff, and The...
by Phil Houseal | Aug 5, 2020 | All Articles, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
Aug 5, 2020–“Bro. Why is there a pencil on your tree.” Because. Because I recently built a pencil. An 8-foot yellow pencil. It’s hanging on a tree above my mailbox. Why did I feel the need to do that? Isolation does weird things to you. When work is caught up, and...
by Phil Houseal | Jul 29, 2020 | All Articles, Education, Philosophy
July 29, 2020– Sir Christopher Wren Said, “I am going to dine with some men. If anyone calls Say I am designing St. Paul’s.” That is an example of a poetic form called the clerihew. I am stunned that as a writer it was today I learned about this absurd...
by Phil Houseal | Jul 22, 2020 | All Articles, Philosophy
July 22, 2020–My remaining role in life is to feed things. A wise man told me if you want to know who controls you, figure out who buys your groceries. For my menagerie of critters, that person now is me. How did I become a zookeeper? I mean, there was a time I only...
