Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Even more milestones
Sorry I haven't been blogging much lately, but, as you will see, I've been pretty busy.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about something special that happened 100 years ago; specifically, the birth of my father-in-law.
As it turns out, some other pretty important stuff was happening in 1912. In fact, in the same month that Colonel was born, the first class of students started classes at the Rice Institute in Houston. To commemorate this momentous occasion, and to celebrate the even more momentous milestones of the intervening 100 years (like, for example, Henry's and my matriculations and graduations!) what is now Rice University held a incredible centennial birthday bash last weekend.
The first one was called "Beyond the Hedges," which refers to the hedge "fencing" around the campus that, at least when I was there, was considered to be a buffer between the idyllic campus and the real world of the rest of Houston. You can see an excerpt from the documentary here. Although I felt that I knew a fair amount about Rice's colorful history, especially since I've been reading the wonderful Rice History Corner blog, I still learned a lot from the video.This documentary focused on the period after the lurid murder case that almost robbed the as-yet-unborn institution of its birthright, which is naturally what most people know about Rice history, if they know anything at all.
So much for the sublime. The next video was all about the famous 1988 prank, when a group of Rice engineering students turned the very large, and very heavy, statue of Rice that sits in the middle of the quad, so that it faced the Library instead of the admin building. There's a picture of it in its temporary new orientation on the left here.
Of course I'd heard of this prank, but wasn't even sure when it happened, much less any other details about it. What a lark the documentary was! I couldn't find a copy of it online, but will continue to look because it was hugely entertaining. However, you can read about it here.
It looks pretty awesome even in dormant mode, wouldn't you say? It's called the "Skyspace" and was still under construction during our visit last year for my 40th reunion.
This time, though, we got to walk all around and over it. You can go inside and see a small enclosed space, or walk up some stairs and be in the "balcony." on the left is a picture of Henry down inside, taken while I was up top.
Here's a look at the clear blue Houston sky through the hole in the roof:
I found a little amusing sidelight (so to speak) as we were leaving the Skyspace and heading back to our car. The large open space (one of the few left on what's becoming a very crowded campus) is ringed by some attractive light fixtures. But their normal operation might possibly interfere with the lightshow. And when you spend that much money (and it looks like an awful lot) on an art installation, you don't want anything to interfere with it.
So inventive Rice engineers came up with the high-tech solution that you see in the light fixture on the right. The foil is on the side of the fixture closest to the Skyspace. Clever, eh?
100th anniversary celebrations, 40th reunions...lots of milestones this weekend, along with lots of fun, lots of visiting and lots of history. Whew! It was also a lot of work!
I took off from Houston Sunday morning for my annual librarians' meeting in Washington, where I was very remiss in taking pictures. But now that I'm back home for a while, after I rest up from all this activity, I will try to get back to more frequent blogging.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about something special that happened 100 years ago; specifically, the birth of my father-in-law.
As it turns out, some other pretty important stuff was happening in 1912. In fact, in the same month that Colonel was born, the first class of students started classes at the Rice Institute in Houston. To commemorate this momentous occasion, and to celebrate the even more momentous milestones of the intervening 100 years (like, for example, Henry's and my matriculations and graduations!) what is now Rice University held a incredible centennial birthday bash last weekend.
The highlight of the weekend came Saturday night, and it even overshadowed Henry's 40th reunion (although that is definitely a significant milestone).
The University put on an absolutely unbelievable lightshow in the central quad, using its lovely buildings as the "canvas" for the art. A German outfit called Urban Screen, which has done similar shows at the Sydney Opera House and the Museum Quarter in Vienna, put the 20-minute extravaganza together.
WOW! What a show! You can see a video of it here, which can give you a small taste of what it was like in person, along with some interesting information about how it was done. Our group of friends all agreed that it was unlike anything we'd ever seen before.
In addition to being visually amazing, the show highlighted Rice's history very nicely, and I even saw photos of some of my favorite profs in the montages. But earlier in the weekend we were treated to some more detailed remembrances of Rice history, both sublime and ridiculous, through two very interesting videos.
So much for the sublime. The next video was all about the famous 1988 prank, when a group of Rice engineering students turned the very large, and very heavy, statue of Rice that sits in the middle of the quad, so that it faced the Library instead of the admin building. There's a picture of it in its temporary new orientation on the left here.Of course I'd heard of this prank, but wasn't even sure when it happened, much less any other details about it. What a lark the documentary was! I couldn't find a copy of it online, but will continue to look because it was hugely entertaining. However, you can read about it here.
Of course there was also a football game this weekend, and Rice won. However, the most interesting thing for us was the opponent. It was our own hometown, working-for-tier-one-status UTSA! Judging by the support that the team was given at this road game, I'd say they've made a good start toward the big-time, at least in the category of fan enthusiasm:
Look at all that orange!
I'll close with some shots of another lightshow venue. We didn't get to see it in action, since it only "turns on" at dawn and dusk, and we were either still in bed or partying at these times of day during our visit. Maybe next time.
It looks pretty awesome even in dormant mode, wouldn't you say? It's called the "Skyspace" and was still under construction during our visit last year for my 40th reunion.This time, though, we got to walk all around and over it. You can go inside and see a small enclosed space, or walk up some stairs and be in the "balcony." on the left is a picture of Henry down inside, taken while I was up top.
Here's a look at the clear blue Houston sky through the hole in the roof:
...and here's a view from just at the bottom of the installation's hill:
I found a little amusing sidelight (so to speak) as we were leaving the Skyspace and heading back to our car. The large open space (one of the few left on what's becoming a very crowded campus) is ringed by some attractive light fixtures. But their normal operation might possibly interfere with the lightshow. And when you spend that much money (and it looks like an awful lot) on an art installation, you don't want anything to interfere with it.So inventive Rice engineers came up with the high-tech solution that you see in the light fixture on the right. The foil is on the side of the fixture closest to the Skyspace. Clever, eh?
100th anniversary celebrations, 40th reunions...lots of milestones this weekend, along with lots of fun, lots of visiting and lots of history. Whew! It was also a lot of work!
I took off from Houston Sunday morning for my annual librarians' meeting in Washington, where I was very remiss in taking pictures. But now that I'm back home for a while, after I rest up from all this activity, I will try to get back to more frequent blogging.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Milestone
Last Sunday, my sweet father-in-law would have been 100 years old.
One hundred years sounds like a long time, and certainly 1912 sounds like ancient history. But, this was a man who was around for a good chunk of my adult life. So, even though 1912 was the year the Titanic was sunk and the year the lower 48 became complete with the admission of Arizona and New Mexico into the union, it can't be that long ago, can it?
Coming back to 2012, we had a nice gathering on the day at Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetery, where the Colonel is buried. (This was not only his rank but his name, especially to sons- and daughters-in-law, and grandchildren.)
It's a lovely place (I kind of like cemeteries; I've always found them very peaceful) and we had a nice, relatively cool day for the commemoration.
All of Colonel's Texas kids, a couple of in-laws, and a grandson, gathered at his gravesite, then adjourned to nearby Tex-Mex favorite El Maracumbe for lunch. Here are the sibs:
One hundred years sounds like a long time, and certainly 1912 sounds like ancient history. But, this was a man who was around for a good chunk of my adult life. So, even though 1912 was the year the Titanic was sunk and the year the lower 48 became complete with the admission of Arizona and New Mexico into the union, it can't be that long ago, can it?
Coming back to 2012, we had a nice gathering on the day at Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetery, where the Colonel is buried. (This was not only his rank but his name, especially to sons- and daughters-in-law, and grandchildren.)It's a lovely place (I kind of like cemeteries; I've always found them very peaceful) and we had a nice, relatively cool day for the commemoration.
All of Colonel's Texas kids, a couple of in-laws, and a grandson, gathered at his gravesite, then adjourned to nearby Tex-Mex favorite El Maracumbe for lunch. Here are the sibs:
We don't have many pictures of Colonel, but here is one of my favorites. It's just a snapshot, but the only picture I know of that features the three generations of Henry John Amens, taken on our back porch when Hal was 4. (I know his age because I'm in the background, looking pretty pregnant with Sally. I was going to crop the image to just show the 3 boys but decided to leave myself in. I think it was likely Hal's 4th birthday party. Look at that curly hair!)
I have often regretted not having a more formal portrait of the three taken, but I do like this snap. [And thanks to an anonymous tech-savvy friend who Photoshopped the age right out of this picture and made it pretty as new again!]
Just before I put this blog post together, one of Henry's sisters sent this older, and even cuter, picture featuring the Colonel, one that neither Henry nor I had ever seen:
Henry is mortified to be in an outfit matching those of his sisters (made by my hyper-active mother-in-law, sitting in the car here with baby Nelson.) But I think it's an adorable picture!
Happy Birthday and Centennial, Colonel! We miss you!
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Monday, October 1, 2012
More mile high fun
In addition to going to a ball game—a required Denver activity during baseball season—last weekend, we did a lot of other fun things in Colorado for such a short trip.
We paid a visit to Denver's wonderful Museum of Science and Nature, which I blogged about here. We took a nice hike in the hills west of the city (see photo above). We played with and were entertained by my adorable great-niece Evie. Here she is wrestling with her Grammy while proud Mom looks on. Who needs TV when there's a toddler around?!
We also spent a pleasant, if gluttonous, morning at the Denver farmer's market, admiring the multitudinous stalls selling everything from locally baked bread,
to Asian dumplings, to Bavarian sausage, to tamales (that really were good!),
to raspberry chipotle jalapeño jelly (souvenir jar bought for Henry), to one of my greatest weaknesses...freshly made biscuits:
Needless to say, much too much was eaten this weekend! Especially since my nephew made a mistake ordering his mom's birthday cake and got one that was 'way too large for the gathering...
...in addition to being quite lovely and very scrumptious. So we all felt obliged to dig in and help put a dent in it.
Which we gladly did. Yes, the occasion for the visit was a milestone birthday for my "baby" sister. The number was kindly not put on the cake, but it was remarked that since the cake was so big, all the candles would, indeed, have fit on it!
Happy birthday, Joan!
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