October is Pumpkin Month at First United Methodist Church

Texas celebrates the month of October with all the goodness of pumpkins. You can drive to Dairy Queen and get pumpkin blizzards, you can go to any coffee shop and get pumpkin spice lattes, and you will find pumpkins decorating porches and tabletops.

The best place to find pumpkins in Seguin is in the front yard of the First United Methodist Church.

  *     *  WELCOME TO THE PATCH  *   *  

There are mini- pumpkins and gargantuan pumpkins….

Lots of volunteers are on site from October 1st through October 31st to assist pumpkin shoppers and pumpkin lovers. The church sells pumpkins each year to help fund their outreach ministries. Some of the money helps their preschool programs, some goes to a local food ministry, some helps youth work and mission work, and all of it goes to worthy endeavors.

This year, there were several new treats to entertain the kiddos including a scavenger hunt and a coloring station.

*   *   *  ARE YOU A PUMPKIN?  *   *   *

Did you know that pumkins float? Mr. Helpful Volunteer showed me a pumpkin floating in water.

He took me to a pumpkin that had been cut open and held up the top so I could see the pumpkin flesh and seeds.

Then I looked inside the pumpkin and saw all the empty space in the middle. That is why they float! They are filled with air.

Along with a variety of pumpkins, there were also some colorful gourds for sale. These gourds look like ducks, don't they? I don't know their latin name, so I am calling them duckhead gourds. Go figure.

 I hope I get to return to the pumpkin patch on a day when children are visiting. I would love to watch them have fun as they listen to pumpkin tales, hunt for pumpkin scavenger tokens and as they pick out their very own bright orange pumpkin to take home.

2014 Guadalupe County Fair Parade Flags, Floats, Tractors, Clowns

2014 Guadalupe County Fair Parade Shows Off Local Youth

 Why are there so many spectators lining the streets to watch a local parade? Why, it's the kids, of course! Parents, family and friends stand proud and cheer as their young ones pass by. Whether they are marching in a band, showcasing a school play, cheering for their school teams or just riding a float, everyone loves to see the children and teen-agers.  So what do we have here?

Matador trumpets, a Seguin High School drama student dressed as a witch, Mighty Matador Cheerleaders, members of the Navarro Panther Band, and youngsters on a float. If you see someone you know, let them know you saw there picture on Wild About Texas's blog.

By the way, have you noticed the ads on the sidebar now? Click on them once in a while to help support your faithful blogger. Little pennies add up after a while, and my CEO says I ought to make a few coins once in a while, lol.

2014 Guadalupe County Fair Parade Begins

As 10:00 approaches, the folks lining the northern side of Austin Street, the side which gets the morning shade, patiently wait. The mid-term elections are a matter of weeks away, so Republicans were out canvassing for votes as they passed out hand held fans. This gent with his Buffalo Bill mustache wore an NRA shirt and sported a Greg Abbott campaign button. 

Since the whole purpose of the fair and the parade are to celebrate agriculture in Guadalupe County, it is fitting that young people from Guadalupe County 4-H and FFA (Future Farmers of America) lead off the parade.

Looking at the State Bank and Trust Clock, one of the icons of Seguin, it is easy to see that the parade is now a whole 15 minutes old. Hard to believe that there are only going to be another fifteen minutes before the entire parade has passed. That's not too bad, though for a farming county in rural Texas.

Parade Marshalls this year are past presidents of the Guadalupe County Agricultural Fair going back to the 1950's. Here are several of them riding in a place of honor.

Texas parades always have beautiful young women dressed in fancy western wear. Many Texas pageant queens don't wear a traditional tiara crown. Instead, thier tiara sits atop thier Stetson hat.

I wonder if there is a class on giving proper royal waves to the fair royalty? Princesses, Duchesses, Runner-Ups and Queens all same wave as they travel the parade route.

2014 Guadalupe County Fair Kicks Off

Since 1859, folks in Guadalupe county have celebrated the harvest season with an annual fair and the fair now kicks off with a parade. Ah, small town parades are the best. The kiddos get out of school for the day, the main street though downtown is blocked off, and folks meet and greet each other as they wait for the parade to begin.

A rare thing happens right before the parade starts. Traffic is rerouted along Austin Street. There are no cars parked on either side of the street. For a brief few moments, a photographer can capture the beautiful old buildings of downtown Seguin in all their glory.

The stark lines of the American Bank of Texas provide what will be a dramatic backdrop when the parade participants pass by, but for now, the gleaming white and harvest orange building stands clean and proud for all to admire.

The awning of the Lone Star Barber shop provides a shaded spot for folks. Some have brought their own lawn chairs, some sit on the curb and sidewalk, and some stand, but all are comfortable.

The parade starts at 10:00. Get ready!

 Come back in the next few days to see more of the parade and the accompanying carnival at the fair grounds.

From Blue Skies to Jet Contrail White Skies

Deep in the Heart of Texas

The stars at night, are big and bright,

deep in the heart of Texas,

The prairie sky is wide and high,

deep in the heart of Texas.

The sage in bloom is like perfume,

deep in the heart of Texas,

Reminds me of, the one I love,

deep in the heart of Texas.

The coyotes wail, along the trail,

deep in the heart of Texas,

The rabbits rush, around the brush,

deep in the heart of Texas.

The cowboys cry, "Ki-yip-pee-yi,"

deep in the heart of Texas,

The dogies bawl, and bawl and bawl,

deep in the heart of Texas.

(June Hershey, 1941)

Deep in the heart of Texas,

 the skies were blue, the clouds were white, 

until the jet contrails began to make

 a tic-tac-toe pattern across the sky.

While travelling from San Marcos to Cleburne, last week, I watched as the clear blue skies were lined with a myriad of jet contrails. Straight lines ran across the sky and then were crossed like the letter T, then as more lines ran up and down, right and left, the blue sky became more like a patchwork quilt.

The contrails gradually expanded, no longer pencil thin lines. The contrails became more like long, fluffily pieces of yarn floating across the heavens.

As the day worn on, the fluffy pieces of yarn expanded and stretched, pulled apart into hazy mats of white. The sky was covered with old and tired contrails. No longer looking anything at all like the exhaust from jets, the condensation now resembled or became clouds. I am not sure which….

Goodbye blue skies, hello clouds….