Texas style

Our trip to Texas has come and gone. Two 14-hour days of driving and two days spending with family. Although it is a long haul, I do enjoy those trips and a little time away from home: the place looks different when you come back and you get to appreciate what you have. Visiting family is always good as both of us are apparently isolationists. And then there are the two dogs, Zach and Jessie, who love to see us and so love to be loved.

Texas itself is far removed from our home in the wilderness. It is an artificial world where everything is BIG. Big cars that seem to dwarf our little Subie, especially at 70 mph on some Dallas freeway, the roads are wide, the houses expansive, the shopping malls and stores beyond huge and there are more of them than I can imagine people might need. The interesting thing is that a sense of community is attempted to be developed in the new style shopping mall, which is a "village". Not a covered mall, but an assembly of shops where outside parking may be more than 5 steps away. There is even a community garden. The growing there should be great as all "the village" was built on prime agricultural land.

To my Arizona eyes, Texas knows nothing of recession: people in restaurants and people spending money in all those new shops. I added my bit shopping at a brandnew 42,000 square feet Whole Foods store within a mile of La's house. We were back home in 5 minutes!

All that artificiality is not really for me. Too much uniformity, too much forcing of nature. Manicured lawns, lollipop trees, big fences, way too much indoor living, lack of movement and not enough air. Still, Emma and Shawna may be dreaming of a roll on that luscious grass. I think we, or at least Dan, will be back sometime this winter. We ARE part of a family.