Houston Rodeo

The month of March means one thing in Houston: the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo! Bryan and I left work a little early, picked up the girls from school before the final dismissal, and headed into town to enjoy the show.

You have to know Houston to know how big the Rodeo really is - for starters it takes up the entire Reliant Complex. That is, the original Astrodome, the Reliant Arena (formerly Astroarena), the Reliant Center, the Carnival area, and the Reliant Stadium. The girls loved the painted ponies lined up outside the Stadium.

So we started with Pony Rides at the Kids Ag-venture area in Reliant Center. Brenna wrinkled up her nose at the ammonia smell when we first walked in, but both girls were thrilled to ride a pony, even if it was only in a circle. Brenna spent the entire ride talking to the man walking beside the lead pole. I didn't quite catch all of it, but I'm pretty sure she was telling the man that she and Cameron were saving their money for a pony. He seemed pretty amused with her.

We petted the bunnies, watched the chicks peck out of an egg, saw eggs in the chickens nest, heard a rooster crow, petted a sheep, and saw a longhorn (that came from the JSC/CCISD project.) We marveled at the biggest, baddest bull we've ever seen, a 2500-lb Santa Gertrudis. It stood about six feet tall - and was just massive, huge. One of the nice things at the rodeo, is they have the different breeds of animals separated and labeled. So you can walk around looking at a Dutch rabbit, a Fuzzy Lop, a Flemish Giant, a Holland Lop, and a Florida White. Who knew there were so many breeds. (Okay, any 4-H'er could have told me.)

After the Reliant Center, we ventured outside to the Carnival games. We purchased a few tickets to let the girls enjoy some rides. Cameron rode the "Fly" which was like swings, but you are in a prone position while the ride spins drawing you higher, so you are essentially "flying" a la Superman. She loved it. Then I broke down and took her on a small roller coaster that was a four-seater round car that spun while it went on the track. I watched it for a long time before agreeing to take her on it. It wasn't fast - had two decent drops - couldn't have been more than 50 feet tall, and I spent most of the ride with my eyes mostly or half-closed. Cameron loved it. I would have ridden it again, except for the price tag.

At 6 p.m. we ate some dinner and then made our way into the Stadium for the beginning of the Rodeo show. Both girls paid attention to the rodeo, and Brenna was very concerned during the calf roping that the cowboys were hurting the calves! The calves being used were only slightly older than our calves when they go to market. Bryan pointed out to her that the calves were untied at the end and they were just fine as they trotted back to the pen. She remained unconvinced for a few more rounds, but decided they were okay. The girls loved the barrel racing - a 64 yr old Grandma took third place! I really enjoyed the team roping, saddle bronc riding and bull riding. This was the first time I've been to the Rodeo since Dad bought SBR, and the calf scramble had a whole new meaning. Some of those teenagers really had to fight for their calves.

It's no secret that the infamous Rodeo Clown Leon Coffee is retiring this year. But then they brought out this "Beast from the East" fella - and ran three extra bull riders in an attempt to get the bull to knock over the barrel with this East Coast fella. After the last bull grew bored (only one actually hit the barrel) they pulled him out and revealed our special guest to be Matt Lauer from NBC's Today Show.

Toby Keith served as the grand finale, coming onstage at 9:45 p.m. The girls had long since crashed, so we only stayed for about a third of the show (20 minutes). We left during "Shoulda Been a Cowboy." Bryan and I must be getting old - the music was so very loud. I had my fingers in my ears and it was almost enjoyable. Next time - earplugs!

1908-2008

Today our family marks the centennial of Little Grandpa's arrival in the United States from Sicily. He and his wife were the last of our family to arrive in the US from the "old country." Pietro (Peter) Maniscalco boarded the steamship Liguria in Palermo, Sicily on February 22, 1908. After almost three weeks at sea, the ship arrived at the mouth of the Mississippi river and traveled up to the Crescent City of New Orleans.


Above, a photo of the SS Liguria printed in the 1908 New Orleans newspaper which documented the arrival of over 250 immigrants on board in steerage passage. Pete left behind his wife, Mary/Maria, and their four month old daughter, Lena, behind in Poggioreale, Sicily.

On March 11, 1908 he was recorded in the List or Manifest of Alien Passengers.

On the passenger list, he is described as "age 29, height 5' 4", with rosy complexion, chestnut hair and sky blue eyes and a scar on the front". He is joining his uncle, Antonio Maniscalco, in Houston, Texas.

"Little Grandma" and Aunt Lena would remain in Italy until June 1909, when they finally sailed from Naples to New York, arriving at Ellis Island on July 1, 1909. Mary and Peter would have a total of 11 children, nine to survive into adulthood. My grandfather, Pete, was the baby. Aunt Jo is still living in Houston, and is a regular attendee of our family reunions.

One wonders at the challenges he faced as a new immigrant to the United States. What prejudices did he encounter? How long did it take for him to learn the language? To reap the benefits of his labor? How would his experience compare with immigrants today.

Here's to another great 100 years for our family!

Hannah Montana Mania

After a long morning as St. Agnes, Cameron spent the afternoon and evening at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo with her daddy and 74,000 other screaming Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus fans. Bryan said she really enjoyed the concert, even when Billy Ray came out and sang "Achy Breaky Heart" during the HM to MC costume change. Here she is moments after walking in tonight.


A big ol' Hannah Montana thank you goes out to PaPa for making tonight happen! Thanks Dad! (I heard Cameron called him on the drive home - oh, the excitement!)

St. Joseph's Day

Sicilians celebrate St. Joseph, the foster-father of Jesus and patron saint of Sicily, by building an altar upon which they laden decorative breads, food, wine, cookies, candles. My mother has memories of her grandmother's home altar each March and the special breads and cookies she made, and I have seen those photos and a few tables at the Italian Festivals when I was a child.

Today we participated in the Festa de San Giuseppe at St. Frances Cabrini church, a truly spectacular event.

The girls went as "Saints" - St. Agnes, the 13 yr old virgin martyr, and St. Elizabeth of Hungary, the princess who fed the poor and built hospitals for the sick during the Middle Ages. They processed into the church along with Joseph, Mary, St. Frances Cabrini, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Jude, St. Lucy, Blessed Mother Theresa, St. Therese of the little flower, St. Clare, and others. The children sat in the front pews during Mass and then presided at the head tables where they tasted all of the special foods prepared for the feast day.

We had the great honor of hearing Mass celebrated by Cardinal DiNardo. I can not recall a time I've ever heard the Litury of the Eucharist sung in chant, but he did and it was beautiful. His homily embodied humor, relevance to the readings, thought-provoking moments - and he literally brought down the house when about three-quarters through the fire alarms sounded. He stopped and casually remarked that it wasn't he first time he's used so much incense that the alarms went off. After repeated attempts to continue, only to have the alarms go off again, he was finally able to resume and finish the homily. During the final announcements, the Pastor, Father Fabj--who is known for his short on-target, pointed homilies--smilingly told the Cardinal that the alarms weren't for the smoke, but as a warning against long homilies. The Cardinal laughed with sincerity.

The Cardinal came to the hall and blessed the altar. He spoke with a few of the children and posed for a few photos.

Then he left to make an appearance at the other Mass. When he returned, he sat at the head of the table with a large white tablecloth tucked over his red garments, and ate. Everyone was served and the food was delicious! Pasta with red sauce, boiled eggs instead of meatballs (it is Lent) and breadcrumbs, spinach, fava beans, bread, and cookies - oh the cookies.

The Saints had to taste a little bit of everything on their plate, and for the most part - both girls ate everything on that first small plate. After that, many ladles of pasta were delivered to all the saints.

If you would like to see more photos, check out the website from one of the Houston Chronicle photographers. There is a fabulous photo of Cardinal DiNardo saying Mass, and two pictures of Brenna.

Brenna's Kindergarten Field Trip

Today Brenna's kindergarten took a field trip to the Zoo. I thought I had signed up at the beginning of the year to be a chaperone, but no one called me. So my first awareness of "field trip day" was when the permission slip came home last Wed. Brenna asked me to come with her, but I am heading to a conference tomorrow and I still had work that needed completing before I could leave.

They lost Brenna at the Zoo.

Each chaperon had four children assigned to her, and from what I can gather from various tellings by Brenna (since I received no note or phone call from the school or teacher) they were in the fish exhibit, a darkened interior room. She was looking at the fish, turned around, and couldn't find anyone she knew. She looked around for a few minutes and was not sure what to do next, when a woman (she thinks this woman was a chaperone for another school group) asked her if she was lost. When she said yes, the woman took out her cell phone and called the phone number printed on Brenna's nametag. I presume the school office called the teachers, who called the chaperones, because someone came to pick up Brenna a few minutes later.

Apparently two moms had been walking together with their combined eight children and they walked out of the area without counting. Brenna said they were very "mean" after that, said things in a mean way, and wouldn't let go of her hand. (I wouldn't think so!)

She had a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day. (If I may quote from Judith Viorst)

When they sat down to eat their sack lunch later, she claimed she wasn't hungry. But I know Brenna... she was still upset over what happened. They tried to force her to eat; uh-oh - you can't "force" this child to do anything. She's the only one who's ever brought my dad to a draw! You have to leave her alone, ignore her, but tell her exactly how long lunch will be "available." Then she'll decide to come eat.

So she didn't eat, and they put her sack lunch back in the cooler. But then the chaperone didn't give it back at the end of the field trip. So until 4 p.m. when she arrived at after-school care, all Brenna had to eat was a handful of scrambled eggs at 7:15 this morning. The after-care teacher said she was crying so they fed her two sausage biscuits.

I had been worried about her all day - feeling guilty that I didn't clear my schedule and go up to the Zoo. I pushed aside my feelings thinking that I was just letting it get the best of me. Those feelings don't seem too ridiculous now.

I'll be walking Brenna into the school tomorrow to have a talk with the teacher before my flight leaves in the morning. I would really like to know why none of the adults sent home a note or called me. Didn't they know she would tell me herself?

Favorite "H" words

I walked into a conversation between Bryan and Cameron in which Cameron was telling him her favorite "H" words.

Hypothesis
Harry
Horse
Hamster
Hogwarts
Houdini

It doesn't take much to analyze this one: Science fair, Harry Potter books, and Nintendo games. What about Houdini you ask? Brenna has been reading a short biography of none other than The Great Houdini himself.

Sabine River

A few weeks ago I mentioned that Cameron earned her trip to the Sabine River by getting an A on her report card in Social Studies. Since then we've had a houseful of sickies that have postponed the trip. Sunday morning after CCE we put the ice chest in the back of the car, loaded up the girls (who didn't know where we were going) and hit the road. Two hours later we spilled the beans about where we were going as we approached the Sabine River bridge going into Lousiana.


You can still see the effects of Hurricane Rita on the landscape in East Texas along I-10. Trees are leaning, some trees are down, some of the tree tops are snapped off and hanging. Cameron wanted to know why people didn't come along and clean up the fallen trees.

After we crossed the Sabine into Louisiana, we stopped at the Information Center. They have a boardwalk over the marshlands in the back, and we took the girls on a mini-hike to see the landscape. Beautiful bald cypresses with their "knees" sticking out and the Spanish moss hanging down.

This is where we were when I received a telephone call from my Mom, who told me that Dad experienced chest pains while at "the ranch," and my uncle was driving him to the nearby rural hospital. There wasn't anything I could do - being at least two hours away from home, which is two and half hours away from the ranch - so I asked her to keep me posted. Bryan and I decided to eat our picnic with the girls before heading back; however, on our way to Niblett's Bluff on the Sabine, Mom called again and said they were life-flighting Dad to a major Austin hospital. We immediately turned the car toward home.

We did make one more stop, on the Texas side, to use the restroom and break out the picnic sandwiches (we ate in the car). I also let the girls take a quick trip outside to see the Blue Elbow Swamp. More bald cypress, frogs, a few early blossoms, and a whole slew of turtles sunning themselves. Cameron & Brenna enjoyed this statue of a snapping turtle.

Well, maybe Cameron enjoyed it more....

We were back on the road when Mom called to say that Dad had arrived at Austin and was in the heart catherization lab. About an hour later we heard that they found the blockage and were able to clear it with a stent. He was okay. As soon as we got home, my sister and I drove out to Austin to be with Mom & Dad & our brother. Dad came home on Tuesday and we've been very thankful to God for all our blessings.

Sunday morning, our CCE lesson had been the Miracles of Jesus (focusing on the Wedding at Cana story), and our faith word "Miracle" was defined as God's presence in our world. If you put together all of the many, many small things that allowed Dad to receive care so quickly on Sunday, it can only be be defined as a Miracle.