“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

Where does it go? The good Lord only knows It seems like it was just the other day I was down at Green Gables, hawking them tables And generally blowing all my hard earned pay - from “Honky Tonk Heros” by Billy Shaver

It doesn’t matter where it’s gone. It’s gone. As you reach a point in life you almost can’t help but look back and ask where is my life? Where did it go? Seems like just the other day I was a promising young college grad or just out of the army and looking forward to setting the world on fire. Now I’m 40, 50 or 60 or more years old and did I really accomplish anything? Was I supposed to accomplish anything and if so, what? One guy sits in a corporation and saves his money and now he’s retired with a million dollars. Is he better or more satisfied with his life than the bum who has traveled the world, skied the highest peaks, surfed the biggest waves and fished the greatest oceans of the world and doesn’t have a dollar to his name and not a thing to show for life except memories and pictures. About the only way to decide is to determine if you did what you wanted to. If so, then you’ve had a pretty successful life.

On the other hand, if you don’t feel satisfied, the good news is that “it ain’t over ‘til it’s over.” It’s where you go from here that matters. I suggest a list. I’ve got one and I’ve checked a few items off in the last few years which is quite satisfying though I still have quite a few to go. Have you ever heard of John Goddard? He is most known for his amazing “Life List” of accomplishments. At the age of fifteen John Goddard listed 127 goals he wished to experience or achieve in his lifetime. The list is impressive and audacious, but the results have been truly incredible. You can see his list and learn about his adventures at: http://www.johngoddard.info

You might also rent the movie “Bucket List,” if you haven’t seen it yet. These guys have a lot of money to follow their dreams but try not to let a lack of funds stand in your way. There are a lot of adventures close by and often times are free. Enjoy them!

Vol 01 Nr 01 October 2009

“Where Did It Go?”A Fun and Informative Rag for Those Who Have Been Around the Block and Attended at Least One Rodeo

The Renaissance Festival is Truly Entertainment for All Ages

Hear Ye, Hear Ye, all you wenches, pirates, fairies, dragons, Kings, Queens, knights, dwarves, beggars, thieves, belly dancers, pipers, handsome squires and beautiful ladies. It’s almost time for the Faire.Having reached seasoned citi-zen status myself I can person-ally attest to the fun I have each year at the Texas Renaissance Festival near Magnolia. I be-lieve I attended the first year in the mid 70’s and recall it being “fairly” enjoyable but for some reason I never returned. Then about 20 years ago someone talked me into going again and I’ve been hooked ever since. I look forward to it all year long and usually go 2, 3 or even 4 times during its eight weekend stint. Part of the attraction is the architecture and all the fun buildings, stages and gardens. If you like “quaint” then you’ll love just hanging out in the

middle of it imagining how it would be to live there amongst the castles, cottages, sailing ships, haunted chateaus and dragon lairs. This particularly happens if you have been sam-pling the Kings Brew.

In addition to all the usual jousting, musical groups, ex-otic foods, beverages and col-orful characters; the festival now has different themes each weekend:

Oktoberfest - The Festival starts the first weekend in true Bavarian and Black Forest style as the air echos with traditional German music and dancing.

1001 Dreams - Magical fanta-sies come alive as wizards elves and fairies enchant the streets of New Market Village

Pirate Adventure - Set sail for a swashbuckling weekend as the crew of the Pride of Bedlam invade the shire. Enter the Talk Like a Pirate competition.

All Hallows Eve - Ghouls, goblins and spooks abound as all things creepy emerge from the mists to pay homage to our Queen on Halloween. Admire the carved Jack O’lanterns that glitter in the moonlight bedeck-ing the village shoppes.

JOUSTING AT THE TEXAS RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL, MAGNOLIA, TEXAS

Where It Went Really

Doesn’t Matter

CONTINUED, PG. 7

Inside of every older person is a younger person asking,

2 WHERE DID IT GO October, 2009

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Thursday:Our family sized dinner of Spaghetti & Meatballs.

Friday:Jim’s Hand-Cut Steaks served just the way you like them.

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Arrrrggghhh! Pirates, yes, the pirates have taken over. Pirates of the Caribbean “The Black Pearl”, “Dead Man’s Chest,”and “At World’s End” opened in recent years to record numbers, supposedly completing the tril-ogy, but a fourth has now been announced. As a matter of fact , the Texas R e n a i s -sance Fes-tival has a whole sec-tion now devoted to pirates. So with “Talk L i k e a Pirate Day” just over, it’s time to heave to and get out the pirate dictionary to get ready for next year.

It’s hard to believe this bit of foolishness started on a raquetball court in 1995 and is now celebrated almost like a national holiday in over a dozen locations nation-wide. Actually a lot more than a dozen, probably hundreds and possibly thousands. A couple of guys, now known as the “Pirate Guys,” named John Baur and Mark Summers got into using

The Original Pirate Guys

pirate lingo instead of their usual ordinary cursing while playing their raquetball game. By the time their session on the court was over, they realized that lapsing into pirate lingo had made the game more fun and the time pass more quickly. They decided then and there that what the world really needed was a new national holiday, Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Mark and his ex-wife’s birth-day was on September 19th and since nothing else major was going on that day, that became it. For seven years, it stayed amongst themselves and some good friends. Sometimes even they couldn’t remember what day it was supposed to be. Then, as fate would have it, in 2002, they stumbled upon Pulitzer Prize winning humorist and columnist, Dave Barry’s email address, so they sent him their idea. They surprisingly heard back from him in just a few days and he asked if they had actually done anything about this idea. They came clean and admitted it

was a pretty small time dealbut he liked the idea and wrote a column about it anyway.

It garnered international atten-tion and the guys became instant celebrities with requests for personal appearances and inter-

views. The main ques-tion is why a “Talk Like a Pirate Day.” The answer is because it’s fun. With the blockbuster “Pirates of the Carib-bean” movies out these past years, the interest in all things piratical has become a phenomenon, so this year’s event is likely to be the big-gest of all. Let’s face it, a

lot of us like to dress up in cos-tume s and look for an opportunity.

So where do you go to join a pirate tribe or whatever a group of them are called? The most natural spot was the Buccanneer Bar in San Leon but it got wiped out by Hurricane Ike so the event was scrapped in 2008. It was not rebuilt so this year the fesi-tivities were held at Katie’s Bar in Bacliff on September 19, just a couple blocks from Jean LaFitte’s Galveston Bay. It’s more fun to be a participant, not just a specta-tor. Wear your pirate outfit and colors and practice the jargon. There are competitions for all of that or you can just sip on your grog and watch. My personal sug-gestion is to rent the 1950 version of “Treasure Island” and listen to Robert Newton (aka Long John Silver) who should have won the Academy Award for the best pirate talk ever in a movie, had there been such a classification. Also check out the official www.talk-likeapirate.com web site for a lot of information on how to prepare for this event. Remember, you can use the same costume for TLAPD, Halloween, the Texas Renaissance Festival and Mardi Gras, so it’s a good investment.

So load up the square-rigger, lift aboard some rum and hardtack, prepare the cannon and navi-gate for the nearest “Talk Like a Pirate” party next September. And remember, ”Them’s that dies’ll be the lucky ones! Arrrrggghhh!”

Still Talking Like a PirateLong John Silver eat your heart out

Visit our New Expanded Showroom

The Original Pirate TalkerRobert Newton as Long John Silver

October, 2009 WHERE DID IT GO 3

1. Try everything twice. On Madam’s tombstone (of Wayland’s and Madam) she said she wanted this epitaph: Tried everything twice...loved it both times!

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down. (keep this in mind if you are one of those grouches)

3. Keep learning: Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain get idle. ‘An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.’ And the devil’s name is Alzheimer’s!

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. And if you have a friend who makes you laugh, spend lots and lots of time with HIM/HER.

6. The tears happen: Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. LIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love: Whether it’s family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don’t take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity. I love you, my special friend.

11. Forgive now those who made you cry. You might not get a second time.

12. Lost time can never be found.

13. Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

14. The golden rule is more golden than ever.

Letter from EditorDid you ever read “Tropicalatti-tude Magazine?” It was a fun little magazine that we published several years ago about celebrating the wa-terfront lifestyle. Everybody tells us how much fun it was to read and to look out for the weird and unusual little items that turned up throughout it. It was also fun to produce until I lost my brother who was the graphic artist, ad sales person deserted her ad sales job for real estate and Hur-ricane Rita knocked us out of exis-tence.

I have since sat around in semi-re-tirement until recently when I de-cided that with all the bad news with which we get constantly bombarded, maybe it was time to turn out anoth-er publication that stressed the posi-tive aspects of life rather than allow-ing ourselves to get just positively stressed.

Though I feel like our nation is living in dangerous times from a number of standpoints, we still have to get up each and every day and remind ourselves of just how lucky we are to be living in such a great country.

For the most part we change as time goes by and as the slogan under the title above implies, this publication is primarily for the crowd that’s been around. On the other hand, we’re going to be avoiding such inflama-tory and annoying terms such as “se-nior” and “elderly” and “old goat.” Discussing this little venture with two different friends on two differ-ent occasions, I mentioned another paper that is distributed for the older crowd but has one of those words in the title and they said that when they see it, they avoid it like kryptonite. We know the feeling. We are all growing older but that doesn’t mean we have to grow up.

So let us pledge here and now that our goal is to entertain you, perhaps educate and inform, maybe some-times even incite some anger or in-dignation, but we will try to never, ever condescend to or offend you. Of course, that doesn’t mean we won’t offend someone, just not you. Let us know if we do: WDIG2009@gmail.com.

Gene Rutt - Publisher/Editor

HOW TO STAY YOUNG

Entrepreneurs and their small

enterprises are responsible for

almost all the

economic

growth in the

United States.

-

- Ronald Reagan

DO ELEPHANTS REALLY HAVE MEMORIES? AN INTERESTING STORY

In 1986, Mkele Mbembe was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University.

On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air.

The elephant seemed distressed, so Mbembe approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant’s foot and found a large piece of wood deep-ly embedde d in it. As carefully and as gently as he could, Mbembe worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot.

The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense mo-ments.

Mbembe stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but be-ing trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.

Mbembe never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Mbembe was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Mbembe and his son Tapu were standing. The large bull elephant stared at Mbembe, lifted its front foot off t he ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Mbembe couldn’t help wondering if this was the same elephant.

Mbembe summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Mbembe’s legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn’t the same elephant.

Where Did It Go?P.O. Box 1460

Dickinson, TX 77539832-265-5691

WDIG2009@gmail.com

Editor/PublisherGene Rutt

For Advertising Info:

Dale Ware281-734-9316

“It Ain’t Over ‘til It’s Over.”

A Fun and Informative Rag for Those Who Have Been Around the Block and Attended at least

One Rodeo. We are essentially targeting the 40+ reader but plan to have enough fun

for everybody no matter your age.

Age, afterall, is only a number.

IF YOU WANT TO MARKET TO THE GROWN UP MARKET YOU MIGHT WANT TO CONSIDER “WHERE DID IT GO?”

WHY SHOULD YOU ADVERTISE? Marketing is the name of the game and advertising is one of the most important marketing tools available to you. You can be sure your competition will be advertising so if you want your share, you had better also.

HOW SHOULD YOU ADVERTISE? Consistently! You must advertise and you must keep on advertising. Don’t run one time then quit because you didn’t get results. Most buying decisions are influenced by the subconscious mind, which in turn, is mostly influenced by repetition.

WHEN SHOULD YOU ADVERTISE? You should al-ways advertise, good times and bad. You’re trying to sell your products and services no matter what is happening to the economy. Hard times are not the times to quit advertising.

WHY TARGET THE MATURE MARKET? 40+ citizens are the fastest growing market today, now compris-ing over 45% of the U.S. adult population and rising to 52% by 2015. They control over 70% of all dis-posable income with $1.6 trillion in spending power; have a cumulative household value of $21 trillion; purchase more than 45% of all new cars and over 85% of the luxury new cars; account for more than 85% of leisure travel and purchase the majority of Recreational Vehicles; buy most of the insurance and financial services in the country and purchase 77% of all prescriptions.

4 WHERE DID IT GO October, 2009

October, 2009 WHERE DID IT GO 5

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A Brief HistoryOne Lakewood Yacht Club Friday-bar-night following a long Board

of Directors’ meeting, the often discussed subject of “we need to use our boats more” led to a new twist in the discussion: “We need to sail off-shore more.” Sail maker John Cameron piped up saying, “The best sails I’ve had were late in the fall in the Gulf after the summer doldrums are over and the winter Northers haven’t started.” Ed Bailey, a competitive racer, said he agreed and missed the old TORC offshore sailing events. John Broderick, a dedicated cruiser and club officer, also agreed from his offshore sails and said, “Why don’t we organize something?” With a few more Bacardi drinks and some wild ideas to think about, the bar talk was over for the night.

Bacardi-flavored bar talk about Gulf of Mexico sailing didn’t die that night as many bar ideas do. Instead, it quickly germinated into plans for “an all sailors from the Bay area event” to accommodate as many sailors as possible for late fall offshore sailing. This idea to maximize boat use for the fun of it was shared with HYC, TCYC and GBCA as well as the LYC Board of Directors. After several meetings and lots of discussions, many of which took place at Frank’s Shrimp Hut where Hooters stands today, it was determined that LYC would spearhead the effort and the Harvest Moon Regatta® was born.

Year one (1987) the regatta was designed to run for about a week, sailing from the Galveston jetties to Port Isabel for race #1, then back up the coast to Port Aransas (Port A) as race #2. Then there was Port A to inside the Galveston jetties for race #3 and on to the Seabrook marker two for race #4. Seventeen yachts sailed that first year. In 1988 the regatta changed forever when Hurricane Frederic blew away the facilities in Port Isabel and the start of Harvest Moon Regatta®, year two, was delayed for three weeks. This began the tradition of sailing to Port Aransas under a magnificent full moon each October.

Thanks to Mother Nature and her Hurricane Frederic, the Harvest Moon Regatta® steadily grew from the 17 yachts of 1987 to over 260 yachts in recent years due in large part to the perfect destination, Port Aransas. This ideal Texas port allows yacht owners and sailors to use minimal days from work to join in on what can be a most memorable overnight sail down the Texas coast during traditionally the best offshore sailing time of the year. And we can all do this in relative safety shared by some 250 other yachts.

John Broderick, Past Commodore LYC 1987

THE HARVEST MOON REGATTA

The start of the Harvest Moon Regatta viewed from the Poop Deck overlooking the Flagship Hotel.

You can realisitically watch an offshore regatta from only two places, the start and the end. By the time the competitors have spread out all over the Gulf of Mexico for 24 to 36 hours and start trickling into Port Aransas every few hours or so, the end does not make for much excitement except for the participants who have completed the trek. Many years ago after observing the proximity of the Poop Deck Bar in Galveston to the beach in front of the Flagship hotel, we decided that that would be an ideal viewing spot for the start of the race. It proved to be right and we’ve been there for the last six or seven years though we skipped 2008 because we were not sure it would even be held after the marinas suffered so much damage from Hurricane Ike. We normally purchase a bucket of chicken or other sustenance and with our binoculars, handheld VHF radios, cameras and cold beverages nearby, we watch the magnificant vista of over 200 sailing vessels vying for position to begin the 157 mile race to Port Aransas. We usually know some of the racers and the radios are to communicate with them. So if you don’t have plans on October 1 around noon, come on down to the Poop Deck and join us. There is no charge except for your drinks. It is a fine, relaxing and enjoyable way to spend an autumn afternoon and maybe make some new friends in the process.

Watching the Harvest Moon Regatta by Gene Rutt

San Leon

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Someone once noted that a Texan can get away with the most awful kind of insult just as long as it’s prefaced with the words, “Bless her heart” or “Bless his heart..” As in, “Bless his heart, if they put his brain on the head of a pin, it’d roll around like a BB on a 6-lane highway.”

I was thinking about this the other day when a friend was telling about her new transplanted northern friend who was upset because her toddler is just beginning to talk and he has a Texas accent. My friend, who is very kind and, bless her heart, cannot do a thing about those thighs of hers, was justifiably miffed about this. After all, this woman had CHOSEN to move to Texas a couple of years ago. “Can you believe it?” said her friend, “A child of mine is going to be “taaaallllkkin liiiike thiiiissss.”

Now, don’t get me wrong. Some of my dearest friends are from the North, bless their hearts. I welcome their perspective, their friendships, and their recipes for authentic Northern Italian food. I’ve even gotten past their endless complaints that you can’t find good bread down here. And the heathens, bless their hearts, don’t like cornbread!

I have a friend from Bawston, bless her heart, who thinks it’s hilarious when I say I’ve got to “carry” my daughter to the doctor or “cut off” the light. She also gets a giggle every time I am “fixin” to do something. And, bless their hearts, they don’t even know where “over yonder” is, or what “I reckon” means!

My personal favorite was my aunt, saying, “Bless her heart, she cain’t help being ugly, but she could’uh stayed home.”

Just because you move to Texas does not make you a Texan. After all, if a cat had kittens and moved them to the oven, that wouldn’t make them biscuits.”

Now you run along, Shuger, and share this with ANY females aspiring to be GRITS--Even the northern ones, “Bless Their Hearts”… and also with any men who think Texas women are precious. Just because you move to Texas does not make you a Texan. After all, if a cat had kittens and moved them to the oven, that wouldn’t make them biscuits.”

GRIT(Girls Raised in Texas)

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6 WHERE DID IT GO October, 2009

HANGING OUT WITH GATEMOUTH In the midst of the losses of Hurricane Katrina, a musical legend was also lost. Louisiana-born, Texas-raised multi-instrumentalist Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown who has been dishing up his unique blend of blues, R&B, country, jazz, and Cajun music for more than 50 years. A virtuoso on guitar, violin, harmonica, mandolin, viola, and even drums, Gatemouth has influenced performers as diverse as Albert Collins, Frank Zappa, Lonnie Brooks, Eric Clapton, and Joe Louis Walker. He had been fighting cancer for over a year when he was evacuated to his hometown of Orange, Texas when the storm threatened his current home in Slidell, Louisiana, outside of New Orleans. Reports are that his home and many of his possessions were blown or washed away and who knows if he was devastated and just lost the will to live. It was in Slidell that I spent a memorable New Years Day afternoon with Gatemouth a few years ago. I’d gone to New Orleans to listen to my friend, Steamboat Willie, on New Years Eve. I don’t remember which venue he was playing at that time, but we wandered in and out of the club and up and down Bourbon Street absorbing the unique ambiance of the French Quarter. At the time, Steamboat had an apartment in the quarter and a home in Slidell. He, his then wife Rose, and his piano player, Bayou Betty, invited us out for New Years Day. After a magnificent breakfast of eggs and corned-beef hash, we drove to Slidell, just a few miles across Lake Ponchartrain. They had a little enclave there, with a cabin for Betty and a nice house on stilts for Steamboat and Rose. This was classic country living, with woods and even a fishpond. We settled in and visited a while. Steamboat announced he had to go carry on some banking activities, even though this was New Years Day. Some ATM deposits and withdrawals had to be made so the band could be paid. We went to the bank, drove around Slidell for a while then returned to the house. Sitting under the big house was

an old black 1977 Cadillac. Steamboat commented, “Hey, I think Gatemouth is here.” Apparently, he was an old friend and this was no big deal but I was pretty impressed. I’d been listening to Gatemouth Brown play “Okey Dokey Stomp”

since I was in high school. That song defined guitar playing to me back then. (Coincidentally, very coincidentally, I had gifted my guitar playing son, Charles, with an old Gatemouth CD that included “Okey Dokey Stomp,” for Christmas, the week before, with a request to learn that song. Hmmm.) So we went upstairs and sure enough, bigger than life, was Gatemouth Brown talking with Rose and my friend, Kala. He was puffing on his ever-present pipe and enjoying the ladies’ company. Introductions were made and we talked about music and old times when I was a kid crossing the Sabine River to listen to Gatemouth, Guitar Junior and other great Louisiana musicians at the Big Oak Club or LuAnn’s near Vinton. I jokingly said something about what Gatemouth was smoking and Kala jokingly said something about hoping the police didn’t show up. Gatemouth jokingly pulled a badge and a pistol out of his pocket, explaining he was the police. I’ve never smoked pot but don’t mind if someone else does, especially if they have a gun and a badge, so we jokingly dropped the subject. Gatemouth brought out a copy of his then new CD, “Gate Swings,” a collection of big band songs he’d recently recorded with a 13 piece band

in Lafayette. He said these were some of the finest musicians in Louisiana and he proceeded to go through the album song-by -song, with a play-by-play commentary on each number. As we listened, I noticed that everyone but me and Gate (as I now called my close personal friend) had faded away to take a nap. I truly enjoyed the music and having grown up on Count Basie, Benny Goodman and the other big bands, truly dug the arrangements, particularly with the accompanying remarks. This was a musical happening for me. I was more impressed than when I had met Robert Plant a few years before. I let Gatemouth know how much I enjoyed the music and the afternoon and he said, “Follow me.” We went downstairs and he opened the trunk of his Cadillac. He gave me his business card that says “The Man” then reached in and brought out a copy of “Gate Swings” and handed it to me. I said, “Man, thank you, I really appreciate this.” Gatemouth said, “No problem, I’m glad you dig the music like you do. That’ll be fifteen dollars.”

************ Gatemouth was buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Orange, Texas by his mother on Sept. 17, 2005. A week later, the eye of Hurricane Rita passed through and blew the temporary marker off his grave, along with the flowers. Then, last Sept. 13, 2008, Hurricane Ike flooded the southern part of Orange County, including Hollywood Cemetery. The water pushed concrete tops weighing hundreds of pounds off the tops of vaults and caskets floated out. Brown was in one of them. In October, local funeral home director Wayne Sparrow, who worked to identify and rebury the caskets, said Brown “never left the cemetery.” The Texas Historical Commission has granted the late Grammy-winner a state marker, even though the usual 10-year wait for an individual to get a marker hasn’t passed.

October, 2009 WHERE DID IT GO 7

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Renaissance Festival (contd)

Roman Bacchanal - Friends, Romans and Countrymen. Toga! Toga! Toga! Join the Ital-ian court in an extravagant Ro-man Bacchanal.

Highland Fling - Throw on your best kilt and enjoy a scotch egg. Listen to the pipes and drums echoing in the woods.

Barbarian Invasion - The Bar-barian King and his band of rowdies invade the world of civilization.

Celtic Christmas - The years festivities conclude as thoughts turn to Christmas and the gates open for a three day celebration starting the day after Thanks-giving.

There’s a bit of all that every weekend but the shows and dé-cor are aimed at that particular theme on those particular days with costumes, contests and events planned around them.

The festival started in 1974 and consisted of three stages on an old 15 acre strip mining site. It has grown to a 54 acre themed park site over the years from vendors selling trinkets on a blanket under the shade of a tree to a comprehensive festival grounds full of perfor-mance stages, food booths and Renaissance-era shops. Patrons now stroll down shaded cob-blestone pathways and interact with jugglers, minstrels, and fortunetellers while en route to over 330 shops brimming with works of pottery, sculpted met-al, woodcarvings, jewelry, and other treasures from throughout the realm. Rose gardens, may-poles, and dragons enhance the atmosphere for festival goers as they stroll through the grassy meadows and enjoy continu-ous entertainment on 21 stages, including a Greco-Roman Am-phitheatre where the popular jousting competition is held four times each day. The festi-val continues to grow, from its’ humble beginnings of 33,000 patrons that first year to a cur-rent yearly attendance of over 300,000. It is the largest renais-sance theme-park in the coun-try.

For the kids there is Sherwood Forest with rides on elephants,

camels and llamas as well as hundreds of renaissance-themed rides, a maze and carnival games. For adults there is a wide variety of shows with harem girls, pirates, birds of prey, jousting, a couple of young ladies singing bawdy ballads and a hilarious skeletal ventriloquist dummy named Ded Bob. Kings Brew (beer) and Meade (wine) are available at a number of stands as well as sev-eral actual pubs, the Sea Devil Tavern, the Prince of Wales Pub and a new one whose name I for-get near the Prince of Wales.

If you have a disability or trouble getting around, don’t let that dis-courage you or be a reason to miss the Festival. There are plenty of places to sit and rest and people watching is probably more fun here than most anywhere else you have ever been. Wheel chairs and scooters will get you just about anywhere and there are even rick-shaws and other types of public conveyance that can move you about to some interesting view-ing areas. The shows last about 30 minutes each and with the schedule provided you can plan to move from one performance to another, minimizing your walk-ing or standing around.

If you’ve been before, go back. It grows every year. If you’ve nev-er been prepare yourself for an overload of sensory delights. You can learn more about the Texas Renaissance Festival at www.texrenfest.com.

8 WHERE DID IT GO October, 2009

A new retiree greeter at Wal-Mart, just couldn’t seem to

get to work on time. Every day he was 5, 10, 15 minutes

late. But he was a good worker, really tidy, clean shaven,

sharp-minded and a real credit to the company and

obviously demonstrating their ‘Older Person Friendly’

policies.

One day the boss called him into the office for a talk.

“Charley, I have to tell you, I like your work ethic, you

do a bang-up job, but your being late so often is quite

bothersome.”

‘Yes, I know boss, and I am working on it.”

‘’Well good, you are a team player.

That’s what I like to hear. It’s odd

though, your coming in late... I

know you’re retired from the

Armed Forces. What did they

say if you came in late there?”

‘’They said, ‘Good morning,

General. Coffee this morning,

sir?’’

9th Annual D’FeetBreast Cancer Run/Walk

• Enjoy the memorial dove release• Pink Rose presentation to

Survivors

SATURDAY OCTOBER 24, 2009

10K & 5K RunsCERTIFIED

5K Adult Walk1K Kids Run/Walk

at Moody GardensGalveston Islandstarts at 6:15AM

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“Celebration of Life”

Reverend Boudreaux was the part-time pastor of the local Cajun Baptist Church and Pastor Thibodaux was the minister of the Covenant Church across the road.

They were both standing by the road, pounding a sign into the ground, that read:

As a car sped past them, the driver leaned out his window and yelled, ‘You religious nuts!’ From the curve they heard screeching tires, and a big splash...

Boudreaux turns to Thibodaux and asks, ‘Do ya tink maybe da sign should jussay.....’Bridge is Out? Thanks to John Garnett

‘Da End be NearTurn Yo SefRoun Now Afore it Too Late

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Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).

The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.

During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four

hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.

The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of “bobbing” for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints’ Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints’ Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints’, All Saints’, and All Souls’, were called Hallowmas.

As European immigrants came to America, they brought their varied Halloween customs with them. Because of the rigid Protestant belief systems that characterized early New England, celebration of Halloween in colonial times was extremely limited there.

It was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies. As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups,

as well as the American Indians, meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The first celebrations included “play parties,” public events held to celebrate the harvest, where neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other’s fortunes, dance, and sing. Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories and mischief-making of all kinds. By the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities

were common, but Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere in the country.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new immigrants, especially the millions of Irish fleeing Ireland’s potato famine of 1846, helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally. Taking from Irish and English traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today’s “trick-or-treat” tradition. Young women believed that, on Halloween, they could divine the name or appearance of their future husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings, or mirrors.

In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers, than about ghosts, pranks, and witchcraft.

At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of the season, and festive costumes.

Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to take anything “frightening” or “grotesque” out of Halloween celebrations. Because of their efforts, Halloween lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the twentieth century.

By the

1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular, but community-centered holiday, with parades and town-wide parties as the featured entertainment. Despite the best efforts of many schools and communities, vandalism began to plague Halloween celebrations in many communities during this time. By the 1950s, town leaders had successfully limited vandalism and Halloween had evolved into a holiday directed mainly at the young. Due to the high numbers of young children during the fifties baby boom, parties moved from town civic centers into the classroom or home, where they could be more easily accommodated. Between 1920 and 1950, the centuries-old practice of trick-or-treating was also revived. Trick-or-treating was a relatively inexpensive way for an entire community to share the Halloween celebration. In theory, families could also prevent tricks being played on them by providing the neighborhood children with small treats. A new American tradition was born, and it has continued to grow. Today, Americans spend an estimated $6.9 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country’s second largest commercial holiday.

History of Halloween from The History Channel

October, 2009 WHERE DID IT GO 9

10 WHERE DID IT GO October, 2009

Texas is the FUN state!A list of actual places to travel in Texas ...

Need to be cheered up? Happy, Texas 79042 Pep , Texas 79353 Smiley , Texas 78159 Paradise , Texas 76073 Rainbow , Texas 760 77 Sweet Home , Texas 77987 Comfort , Texas 78013 Friendship, Texas 76530 *** Love the Sun? Sun City , Texas 78628 Sunrise , Texas 76661 Sunset, Texas 76270 Sundown, Texas 79372 Sunray, Texas 79086 Sunny Side , Texas 77423 *** Want something to eat? Bacon , Texas 76301 Noodle , Texas 79536 Oatmeal , Texas 78605 Turkey , Texas 79261 Trout , Texas 75789 Sugar Land , Texas 77479 Salty, Texas 76567 Rice , Texas 75155 And top it off with: Sweetwater , Texas 79556 *** Why travel to other cities? Detroit , Texas 75436 Colorado City , Texas 79512 Denver City , Texas 79323 Nevada , Texas 75173 Memphis , Texas 79245 Miami , Texas 79059 Boston , Texas 75570 Santa Fe , Texas 77517 Tennessee Colony , Texas 75861 Reno , Texas 75462 *** Feel like traveling outside the country? Don’t bother buying a plane ticket! Athens , Texas 75751 Canadian , Texas 79014 China , Texas 77613 Egypt , Texas 77436 Turkey , Texas 79261 London , Texas 76854 New London , Texas 75682 Paris , Texas 75460 *** No need to travel to Washington D.C. Whitehouse , Texas 75791 *** We have a city named after our planet! Earth , Texas 79031 *** And a city named after our State! Texas City , Texas 77590 *** Exhausted? Energy , Texas 76452 *** Cold? Blanket , Texas 76432 Winters, Texas *** Hot? Poolville, Texas 76487 Cool, Texas ( Parker County ) *** Like to read about History? Santa Anna, T exas Goliad , Texas Alamo, Texas Gun Barrel City , Texas *** Need Office Supplies? Staples , Texas 78670 *** For the kids... Kermit , Texas 79745 Elmo , Texas 75118 Nemo , Texas 76070 Tarzan , Texas 79783 Winnie , Texas 77665 Sylvester , Texas 79560

“Kilroy Was Here,” possibly the most popular graffiti in military history, has uncertain origins. Folklore traces the saying to a World War II shipyard worker, James J. Kilroy, who inspected the bottoms of warships under construction, indicating his inspection with a chalk mark. However, this mark was susceptible to erasure, so Kilroy began the practice of scrawling “Kilroy was here” in crayon. Servicemen around the world saw the slogan on the ships, and word spread that “Kilroy” had been there first. They began placing the graffiti wherever U.S. forces landed. Kilroy thus became a symbol of reassurance for soldiers in threatening situations—a “Super G.I.” who had always already been wherever the real soldier went. In 1946 the American Transit Association, through its radio program, “Speak to America,” sponsored a nationwide contest to find the REAL Kilroy, offering a prize of a real trolley car to the person who could prove himself to be the genuine article.Almost 40 men stepped forward to make that claim, but only James Kilroy from Halifax, Massachusetts had evidence of his identity. Kilroy was a 46-year old shipyard worker during the war. He worked as a checker at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy. His job was to go around and check on the number of rivets completed. Riveters were on piecework and got paid by the rivet. Kilroy would count a block of rivets and put a check mark in semi-waxed lumber chalk, so the rivets wouldn’t be counted twice. When Kilroy went off duty, the riveters would erase the mark. Later on, an off-shift inspector would come through and count the rivets a second time, resulting in double pay for the riveters. One day Kilroy’s boss called him into his office. The foreman was upset about all the wages being paid to riveters, and asked him to investigate. It was then that he realized what had been going on. The tight spaces he had to crawl in to check the rivets didn’t lend themselves to lugging around a paint can and brush, so Kilroy decided to stick with the waxy chalk. He continued to put his checkmark on each job he inspected,

but added KILROY WAS HERE in king-sized letters next to the check, and eventually added the sketch of the chap with the long nose peering over the fence and that became part of the Kilroy message. Once he did that, the riveters stopped trying to wipe away his marks. Ordinarily the rivets and chalk marks would have been covered up with paint. With war on, however, ships were leaving the Quincy Yard so fast that there wasn’t time to paint them. As a result, Kilroy’s inspection “trademark” was seen by thousands of servicemen who boarded the troopships the yard produced. His message apparently rang a bell with the servicemen, because they picked it up and spread it all over Europe and the South Pacific. Before the war’s end, “Kilroy” had been here, there, and everywhere on the long haul to Berlin and Tokyo. To the unfortunate troops outbound in those ships, however, he was a complete mystery; all they knew for sure was that some jerk named Kilroy had “been there first.” As a joke, U.S. servicemen began placing the graffiti wherever they landed, claiming it was already there when they arrived. Kilroy became the U.S. super-GI who had always “already been” wherever GIs went. It became a challenge to place the logo in the most unlikely places imaginable (it is said to be atop Mt. Everest, the Statue of Liberty, the underside of the Arch De Triumphe, and even scrawled in the dust on the moon.) And as the war went on, the legend grew. Underwater demolition teams routinely sneaked ashore on Japanese-held islands in the Pacific to map the terrain for the coming invasions by U.S. troops (and thus, presumably, were the first GI’s there). On one occasion, however, they reported seeing enemy troops painting over the Kilroy logo! In 1945, an outhouse was built for the exclusive use of Roosvelt, Stalin, and Churchill at the Potsdam conference. The first person inside was Stalin, who emerged and asked his aide (in Russian),“Who is Kilroy?” .. To help prove his authenticity in 1946, James Kilroy brought along officials from the shipyard and some of the riveters. He won the trolley car, which he gave to his nine children as a Christmas gift and set it up as a playhouse in the Kilroy front yard in Halifax, Massachusetts.

So now you know why Kilroy was here!

Who the Heck is Kilroy? by Kala Garcia

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October, 2009 WHERE DID IT GO 11

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12 WHERE DID IT GO October, 2009