En route back from the Hill country, i took in some more scenery (my Dad and Tyler like these bits, so it goes...)
Cotton farms and oil are the main agriculture and industry besides cattle farming and the communities that surround them are nothing if not unique... i stopped for brunch at a smalltown cafe run by 3 drag queens (one of whom known as 'Bang Bang Laroche!'), they explained their role in town was to bring forth gossip and intrigue since, and i quote, " the womens' is rare and the sheeps' is all skittish"!!

After Thanksgiving, i made the long (10 hour!) drive down to the Hill Country to meet, for the first time, my long lost, second cousins (3 times removed), Marj and Bud.... and what a delight to finally meet them!
They are 'Snowbirds' from Chicago, retired here to Texas, and here they are showing off their hand-made birdhouses..........soooooooo cute!

During my visit to see Marj and Bud i made the 1 hour journey into San Antonio, "The seat of Texas Liberty". This is 'The Alamo', famed for the battle that took place and and the war cry "Remember the Alamo!". Well, the tour guide filled us in on the historic significance and quite a story it is too (too long to go into here) ..... Davy Crockett, Bouie (as in 'the knife'), and Austin all fought that battle.


The city has this very picturesque river walk.

Here i met Marilyn, from NYC who i hope to meet again.


And look... im eating alone, without a book!!

Thanksgiving with the Gehrings!!!! A delicious feast of turkey with all the trimmings, including a new one on me....'Jello-salad'! Actually really nice!
Thank you for having me. X.

In San Diego Old Town we came across this recontruction of an old schoolhouse and couldnt resist a bit of role-play.

The Pledge on the board here is not the current version, but we do say it in school everyday. In Texas, we also say the 'Texas pledge'....."Honor the Texas Flag, we pledge allegiance to thee, Texas! One and indivisible!".
This tradition harks back to the days when Texas was annexed to the rest of the states. As a result, the 'Lone Star State' has always maintained a strong sense of individuality.

'Some Like It Hot' was filmed here at the Coronado Hotel in San Diego and for us it was the perfect watering hole on our trolley bus tour of the city.





I must say, it was lovely to get some sea air and sunshine knowing this will probably be my last chance this year. Amarillo has turned decidedly nippy!!

San Diego...... This was a nice weekend break away with some fellow 'fulbright' pals. We flew in from far and wide (Utah,Arizona, New Mexico, California and Texas) to stand in a red phone box (ha!).




One of the main reasons for going to San Diego is to visit the world famous zoo. Indeed, the worlds largest. We had no trouble spending the whole day there and i think we were unanimous in our opinions that the bears were the cutest things.

Although this didnt take place in Amarillo, I felt I wanted to share it on the blog since its my brothers wedding and they had a "Rock 'n' Roll" theme.







Clearly, it would not have been out of place in Vegas, but in fact took place in Great Yarmouth (U.K) !!














This is my brother Richard, a.k.a 'Bigun' (embroidered on his bowling shirt), and his new wife Sarah. Congratulations!! xxx

Here is the 'famous' Cadillac ranch..... a sculpture installation by a local artist and 'eccentric'. its in the middle of nowhere and the day we went it was freezing!!

This lovely lady with me is Greta, who also teaches Kindergarten at Avondale.

People can graffiti to their hearts content, so i left my 'tag'.

The Palo Duro canyon is only 30 miles from Amarillo and is becoming a favourite place of mine to visit at weekends. You can camp, hike, horseride and in the summer there is an amphitheatre where they stage all sorts of performances.



This rock formation is known as the lighthouse.

Some classic scenes of the Panhandle Plains.... grain elevators, windmills, cattle, railroads and big skies!!

Hey, believe me, he's a really nice Guy!!!

"Remember, remember,
the 5th of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot,
I see no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot!"
Since this year marked the 400th anniversary of 'Guy Fawkes' night, i thought it only proper to share this unique British festival. It was almost like home, with the exception of the fireworks which are only legal here for New Year and July 4th.
Everyone helped out by making a traditional dish, which wasn't that easy considering all the recipes were in british measures, and pickled red cabbage was hard to come by.... We all experienced near culinary catastrophes! Nevertheless, my third attempt at 'Parkin' came out edible and 'Hot sauce' was a good sub for the pickled cabbage.

I was so chuffed to be able to take my guitar along to join in a Texas style 'Hootenanny' this week. This great crowd of people were happy to let me strum along to country songs while the party got underway to say farewell to Johnny, who is leaving for Las Vegas..........Baby!!

The Amarillo Gorillas (hence the 2 handsome chaps sat by me) are the local ice hockey team. The football season is mostly over, so everyones attention turns to this indoor spectator sport.... of course, the 'slapshot' style punch ups are what everyone really comes to see and on this occasion the crowd werent disappointed!!

It was Halloween on Monday, so in keeping with tradition we all dressed up (yet another outfit... i'm beginning to feel like 'Mr. Ben'..Ha!).

My zombie school teacher costume did a good job of scaring the kids, but was a little lost on many people and all day i kept getting asked,"What are ya? A dead graduate?!"

We spent the day visiting at an old peoples home to do trick or treat and paint pumpkins.

Once again, my class did me proud with their enthusiasm and creativity for dressing up. The fairies and darth vaders were out in force, but i was particularly taken with Dorothy form the Wizard of Oz, complete with Ruby slippers... Ahhh!!

This has got to be the scariest thing i've ever done! Remember the film 'Children of the corn'? Well, couple that with 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' and you start to get the idea......




We went to a maze that had been cut into a cornfield, miles from anywhere. It was 3 miles long.....and thats without getting lost!









It was pitch black in there and, as you can see, there were all manner of horrific characters just waiting to scare the living daylights out of you!