I can not report this first hand, however, they say that last 200 yards is maybe the toughest in the whole 26.213 miles of a marathon. If it is so, then you'll pull out any stops to get you over the line. At the recent Houston Marathon, this man's whole family came out for that last two grueling blocks of running -- 26.2 miles behind you. Now it's the .013 miles left.
While we were standing around in Houston waiting for the marathon runners to come by, this scene unfolded across the street. The Methodist church is down by the museum district but looks like a scene from some European country, 1800's. The vestments that the service offerers were wearing hearkened me back to my younger years.
These lily pads get to play in the sun on the tranquil Rio Dulce (sweet river)in Guatemala. We took the boat ride up from Livingston two years ago. Along the way, scenery was amazing cliffs and hillsides along with waterfront bungalows where the locals lived and earned their living. Sweet River, sweet life.
The famous Soji Tabuchi Show in Branson Missouri is not just a delight for the ears. The show comes right at you with a cornucopia of colors and images. I have to admit I was skeptical going into the show. But I came out a fan.
--steve buser
It's an all-American tradition, the holiday parade (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukah, and more I guess) . However, when you have the mountains as a backdrop, it just seems a little more poignant. Certainly it has a more patriot feel to it. This is from Asheville around Thanksgiving a few years ago. We were visiting my daughter, Vicky and her family.
From the Stark House website : "Completed in 1894, the Queen Anne home of William Henry Stark and his wife, Miriam Melissa Lutcher Stark, stands alone in Orange, Texas, as an extraordinary statement of Texas social history.... Today the W. H. Stark House appears much as it did in the 1920s with rooms filled with original family furniture, carpets, silver, a collection of antique porcelains, and an outstanding collection of American Brilliant Period cut glass."
At the state line, as you cross from Louisiana to Texas on the I-10, they have a huge star at the welcome center. Of course it doesn't look like this. But I started with a picture of the star and said, "Now if I had designed that welcome sign, how would it look?" 
Guess what my grandson Sullivan got Papa for Christmas? 
It seems there are broadcast booths set up all over New Orleans for the BCS College Football Championship game here Monday night. In this photo, the Fox Sports Network were previewing the game at Artillery Park, across from Jackson Square and with St. Louis Cathedral as their backdrop.
Two old technologies together in one package are shown here -- they are from an old house we were in recently (the shot is from the floor looking toward the ceiling, and "up-door' view). The shot got me thinking -- a lot of old technology goes by the way side because it gets replaced by better more useful ways of doing things. For instance, the old key and lock in the picture. There's no doubt that modern locks are a lot more secure. What was good technology for its time has to give way to the new.
A quiet room. Subdued light. A comfy stroller. A tired child.
We ran into these berries while visiting our daughter's family in College Station over Christmas. I had never put it together that these berries were around for the holidays. I guess that cutsy saying, "Have a Berry Merry Christmas" was true to life.
You're big now. Four-years-old. Nearly a man. It's time to take the big leap. Grab that motorcycle by the handle grips and leave the bounds of earth. Mother Earth. Cut the strings. It may be only for a second or two, but you are flying into a place where only clouds and eagles live.
Looking back out the plane window as we jet out of Houston, the alluvial deposits sparkle in the late after noon sun. The City of Anahuac is in the lower left on the shore of Lake Anahuac. That lake is released through a dam which is barely visible into the Trinity River. The Trinity isa line come in from the right of the picture and taking a sharp turn toward the top of the picture right in the center. It spills through a channel into Trinity Bay.
The last rays of the sun capture this high flying streaker. Standing on the ground, it was obvious that the plain was zooming across the sky. The camera, lens however, looses track of up, down -- a sort of vertigo, loosing track of the horizon. The effect makes it look like a comet striking down.
This critter is one of the regulars at the Trinity River Mouth Waterbird Rookery on the east side of the I-10 bridge over the Trinity River. The Rookery has a parking area and a overlook pier that makes a favorite spot for bird watchin. Bring binoculars -- the view is incredible but the action is often on the other side of the lake. Look for Anhingas, White Ibis, Little Blue Herons, and Roseate Spoonbills in this area. It is incredible that a site such as this is available just off the I-10.
Another shot from the Downtown Aquarium in Houston. Our grandson, Sullivan, gets a fish-eyed view into a tank filled with sting rays.
The Christmas Village, where time stands still. Peace and warm lights. Snow, for sure, but not the messy kind. No traffic. No snarling faces. No fences. No jails. No crime. No run down buildings -- they're all ideal, architecturally perfect.
A walk along the waterfront in Victoria on Vancouver Island. The fog doesn't let distractions sneak in. You're fully in the moment. Strolling. Sharing the moment with friends. Even the cold seems more of a friend than an enemy. The water is only making soft rippling sounds. The birds are quiet. "Why sing when you don't know what lurks?" they think.
One of life's simple pleasures -- the ferry boat ride. The water and the waves. The passing ships. The eager seagulls. The sea breezes. Kids of all ages love it And why not. Fifteen minutes off from the regular world into a world which we share with explorers of yore. This is the ferry from the Bolivar Peninsula to Galveston Island, Texas.
Expecting some good eats, the sea gulls zoom in on a lad just wanting to see the ducks down in the water at Kemah, Texas. The Kemah Boardwalk had a bird feed vending machine just behind the rail here, so the gulls knew what the rules are and what to expect. They zoomed in and took a very close look over and over, wondering "what's wrong with this guy?"
Your guess is as good as mine what the four poles are doing out in the middle of Keith Lake. The lake is one of a handful of shallow lakes just to the north and west of Sabine Pass, Texas. The sun was doing one of its high value shows and so I pulled over to capture it. The black band on the horizon was a front passing through. The sun had to skip over it to find clouds to paint. Thus the sunset colors only start in the middle of the lake.
This guy came swimming up to our boat on a swamp tour in Orange, Texas a couple years ago. I think he was hoping one of us would hop overboard. He was about 4 1/2 foot long -- I guess that makes him a teenager or something. Tour guide Eli Tate of Adventure Tours 2000+ had a great command of the ways of the river and bayous and where to find these wild creatures.
The Aquarium in downtown Houston is the home for these two gallopers. The Sea Horse tank is at kids' eye level, so you will always see little faces pushed against the glass is wonder.
You've been there. The plane waits at the gate for clearance. You wait for the plane to board. The sun doesn't wait. When it's tired it slips below the horizon. It will be a dark flight through the night back home. And then a dark drive to your house. 
Okay. Here's the scenario. You take a large tube and spin it and then tell a bunch a kids to walk through to the other side. I suppose the idea is to give them a sense of what their clothes go through in the dryer. Anyway, it turn instantly into a jumble of arms and legs and body parts that come flying through.
It's getting late. The sun is sliding from the sky. The road is getting longer. You're out over the Atchafalaya basin -- the 25+ miles of bridge with virtually nowhere to get off. Up ahead the bridge at Whiskey Bay rises straight into the sun... what's left of the sun. 
It's just half the mountain it was when I was a kid -- and that's what's so fascinating about it. Unless you're a member of the X-generation or Y-generation, you remember how it lost half of the mountain in a huge explosion in 1980 -- the most significant event in recorded history (this link has a fascinating tale of the event). In the foreground, the two travelers do what people do every day -- stop to take a shot to remember it by. 
