DAD'S NEW SWING ~ HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I'll break my 'never see me' rule just this once to show you our wonderful new (and early) Christmas present. Here's my Dad on the swing that he made. It took over 100 hours to build including the frame, roof, and the swing. He's quite a handyman when it comes to tools and craftsmanship.
Thanks, Dad, for this wonderful addition to our home.  Our tropical garden here in Houston is in the background.

VIA COLORI 2010 HOUSTON FESTIVAL

It's FREE, family friendly, and the parking is easy.  The Via Colori Art Festival happens each year in Sam Houston Park adjacent to downtown Houston. It's always the weekend just before Thanksgiving. Street artists are at their best creating chalk drawings on a couple of streets while onlookers get to watch in amazement. We went yesterday and here are some of my favorites.
I love this festival since it's for a good cause (The Center for Speech and Hearing) and it is still relaxed and just the right size for a festival. So many festivals get so outrageously expensive and crowded it's hardly worth the effort. This one is perfect.

                                             This one made my laugh!

                                          A Classic from a famous Japanese Artist

                                                     Starry Night by Van Gogh

                                                  Norman Rockwell entry

                                                    Created by one of our famous artist groups...unreal!

                                                          Watch out! Bam!

                          For a small donation, children can try their hand at art.

GARDEN BUNGALOW BLOG AWARD

Every now and then I just have to stop and give a tip of the trowel to a bungalow gardener. I don't know who the gardener is, but it ALWAYS looks this good. It's the most cheerful yard in my part of Houston!
BEST SMALL BUNGALOW GARDEN in HOUSTON is my award to you! Great job.

MODERN BUILDING WITH TREE ALOE

I have kept to just the Bungalow theme for the first few months of this blog, but I love too many aspects of architecture to remain in a single genre`.  Houston has the weirdest zoning laws of any major U.S. city. Except for some of the historic districts and some of the outlying master-planned suburbs, most of Houston is a free for all.  Just a few blocks from the cute Dog Bone Bungalow (see last post), I found this very cool dwelling. If you love randomness, you should probably move here. Our architecture is beyond random, but always interesting. I'd like a little more order and planning, but I'm not in charge.

THE DOG BONE BUNGALOW ~ near Cherryhurst Park

It takes a LOT to catch me off guard, but I nearly dropped my camera in delight when I found this garden.

The dogs get to have their own colorful fire hydrant, and the huge dog bone hanging from the front porch would give any member of the dog family something to fantasy over. I guess I just need to get more creative with my gardening. So, what do you think? Too crazy or not? One thing's for sure; Houstonians are not boring gardeners!