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 | 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 | 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...
by Phil Houseal | May 23, 2019 | All Articles, Events, Food, History, Music, People of the Hill Country, Venue
May 22, 2019–I first came to the Texas Hill Country in 1978. Yet I’d never visited Castell. Last weekend, I fixed that. The Castell General Store–which is essentially Castell–was celebrating its Testicle Festival. As auspicious an event as any for finding out...
by Phil Houseal | Feb 21, 2019 | All Articles, Events, People of the Hill Country
Feb 20, 2019–One January morning as I made my weekly trip to Pioneer Memorial Library to pay fines, I was distracted by a gaggle of adults and children running and jumping and cheering around the gazebo. They were way too enthusiastic for this early on a chilly...
