Last Saturday, I went to Houston’s Bayou City Art Festival Downtown with my sister, Jean. I recently discovered that this festival had a former life as the Westheimer Art Festival, which I attended over 30 years ago. Jean had never been to either incarnation of this festival but remembered hearing tales of the Haight-Ashbury-esque ambiance of the Westheimer fest. I can attest that all traces of patchouli, tie-dye, and overall weirdness were pretty much absent at the Bayou City Art Fest. In its place, I found art at its finest in many forms—whimsical sculpture, exquisite jewelry from beads to jewels, purses carved from wood, paintings in various media, including scratchboard, a favorite technique I learned back in art school.

The food has come a long way from funnel cakes and turkey legs. I sampled a tasty ceviche at “Epicurean Adventure”— where chefs from some of the city’s top restaurants like (the aptly named) Artista serve up food tastings throughout the day.  I also had a chance to meet the very cordial chef David Cordua, who is also director of restaurant operations for Artista, Churrasco’s, Amazon Grill and Americas.

I learned from festival board members Nadia Troutenko and Bien Tran that the spring component of the Bayou City Art Festival, held at Memorial Park, has a much different feel, and different roster of artists than the more urban, street-fair vibe of the downtown fest. I may have to find out for myself next spring!

I just returned from an out-of-state vacation, and while I had a fantastic time, I was glad to get back to Texas. A sign of a good trip, I think—and perhaps a certain level of satisfaction with my day-to-day routine. In general, I like hotel rooms—the mini-soaps and cute little packets of cotton balls, the comically out-of-proportion flat-screen TVs, the color-coordinated pillow shams, the wake-up calls, the luxury of room service…. But please, WHO thought it was a good idea to invent a single-cup coffeemaker? You’ve seen them, probably—they’re ubiquitous. I’ll concede that the concept SEEMS reasonable—pop a little coffee “pod” into the machine, along with six ounces of water (no more or the machine will shut off!), and several minutes later, you have a single cup of coffee. But I’d argue that these devices are not practical AT ALL for two people traveling together. What with the pouring and the podding and the parceling,  we wasted a colossal amount of time getting out the door in the morning. Oh, good grief I sound like Andy Rooney. Write me to share YOUR hotel pet peeves and maybe I won’t feel so ridiculous.

Our friends at Lubbock’s American Wind Power Center have sent an update to E. Dan Klepper’s windmills story in the September special issue. On October 17, the center plans to unveil a 5,500-square-foot mural created by artist La Gina Fairbetter, an instructor in the Department of Architectural Art at Texas Tech University. The two-year project illustrates American windmill history, from 1700s Dutch-style windmills to today’s massive wind turbines. All of the whirring wonders depicted are represented in the center’s collection. Another good reason to make the AWPC part of your next High Plains adventure!