Never Too Early Garden Start

 … in the spring to begin reviving the garden.

But if I knew then what I know now about the topsoil in the yard around my San Antonio home, when I first moved in, I would have hired someone to come in with a small bull-dozer and scrape off the top few inches of topsoil. Then I would have had a third of it put back into place, and mixed with another generous third of sand and a final generous third of well-rotted compost.

This is what I have finished up with in most of those places where I have plants growing, by the way – doing it at the very start would have saved a lot of time and trouble. The prevailing topsoil around my neighborhood is clay – splendid for making adobe bricks from. It’s dense, heavy…

OIL INDUSTRY BOOSTS TEXAS JOB GROWTH

 COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – Texas’ mining and logging industry ranked first in job creation in the past year, followed by the professional and business services industry, and the leisure and hospitality industry, according to the latest Monthly Review of the Texas Economy.

Overall, the state’s economy gained 205,100 nonagricultural jobs from December 2010 to December 2011, an annual growth rate of 2 percent compared with 1.3 percent for the United States. The state’s nongovernment sector added 261,200 jobs, an annual growth rate of 3 percent compared with 1.8 percent for the nation’s private sector.

Texas’ seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell from 8.3 percent to 7.8 percent while…

Overall 2011 San Antonio Home Sales Show Stability

by Randy Watson

The San Antonio Board of Realtors summarizes the 2011 San Antonio real estate market, stating that 2011 ended on a slow and steady note, but like the old adage says, “slow and steady wins the race”, and it looks like San Antonio is doing just fine.

The year to date median sales price of San Antonio home sales increased over 2010, up very slightly 1% to $152,000. The total number of sales for 2011 was 17,914, no change from 2010. The 2011 average sales price for a San Antonio home, sold at $185,516. No change from the 2010 average home price.

Mayor Castro expects San Antonio to create more jobs than any other Texas city. Angela Shields, President and CEO of SABOR said,…

 MAARs Pizza Restaurant Review-2 Thumbs Up!

by Celia Hayes

Well actually, MAARs doesn't want pizza – they actually want you to want their pizza. The Red Hat Ladies group that we belong to tries to rotate around to various local restaurants in the north-east quadrant of San Antonio. We have a monthly dinner event once a month; nothing fancy or expensive, just good eating for a reasonable price. We swap gifts now and again, and dress up for Halloween, all good fun. My daughter insists that I need a social life with real people off the internet now and again, and since it was her birthday month, and since the birthday celebrant gets to pick the restaurant for that month, my daughter opted for pizza at MAAR's Pizza.

It's right around the corner…

The Splendid Hanging Gardens of Spring Creek Forest

 by Celia Hayes

As the backyard of my Spring Creek Forest home is small, I must make the absolute most of it when it comes to plants both ornamental and vegetable. Space is at a premium, and those places which offer a favorable exposure to maximum sunlight are at even more of a premium. The back yard of our Spring Creek Forest home looks to the west south, but half of it is shaded by a very large mulberry tree planted by the original owner … and a couple of Carolina laurel-cherry trees that planted themselves. There are only about three places in the back yard which get hours of afternoon sun – and I can only hang so many topsy-turvy planters and hanging pots from the edge of the back porch,…

Spurs Lead Division; Ginobili Out with Broken Hand

by Randy Watson

The good news for Spurs’ fans is that, due in part to an underperforming division as a whole, the Spurs are in first place in the Southwest division. The bad news is that Manu Ginobili broke his hand in the recent loss to Minnesota, and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks. In this year’s condensed season, that comes as very bad news to a team made up of aging veterans and many untested younger players.

There is no way to sugarcoat the loss of the Spurs most dynamic playmaker and emotional leader. Ginobili is the best defender on the team, and the player that makes the Spurs’ pick and roll work efficiently. Without him, untested or role wing players like James Anderson, Daniel…

 Looking Ahead – 2012

by Celia Hayes

It's axiomatic that the year seems to fly faster, the older you get. Someone explained it to me, thusly: the year is merely a portion of your total life. When you are four years old, a single year is a whole quarter of your entire life. By the time you are forty, that year is only one-fortieth of your entire life. This makes sense, if you don't think too hard about it. But 2011 was a year of events, portents and wonders. Sometimes I felt as if we were skidding from one extreme to the other, in between every kind of loss and gain imaginable, both personal and professional. We lost my father, for one – the day after Christmas, 2010 – and I spent a month in California early in the year, helping my mother…

Starting Fresh New Year Quotes

by Randy Watson

Here are some of my favorite quotes to start the new year. If you have any favorites, please use the comment form below:

Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster. Your life will never be the same again. Og Mandino

The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year.  It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes.  Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions.  Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective.  ~G.K.Chesterton

We spend January 1…

Christmas Eve With Tapas

by Celia Hayes

Our family was long in the habit of having pizza on Christmas Eve; it’s easy to organize for a crazy, mixed-up and chaotic evening, with about three generations present. Either take-out or deliverer - even a selection of frozen or ready-made grocery store pizza would do. There’s a variety to suit every taste, everyone can have as much or as little as they like, eat it off paper plates, and clean-up is a snap.

This year, we varied the program, mostly because my mother sent us a massive gift basket from La Tienda, which specializes in the classic foods of Spain, where my daughter and I lived for six years. We fell upon it with cries of happy delight,  reminded of certain foods that we loved. There was a…

Take a Hike

Forty-Plus Texas State Parks to Offer Hikes on New Year’s Day as Part of National Program

Written by: Bryan Frazier, Texas State Parks Media Contact (512) 826-8703, [email protected]

Committing to a healthier lifestyle continues to be one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions for millions of Americans. And this year, Texas State Parks are providing more than 40 places where folks can do just that—many of which are located close to major metro areas.

 As part of the national umbrella First Day Hikes program set forth by the National Association of State Parks Directors (NASPD), 48 state parks across Texas are scheduled to offer a wide variety of hikes and nature walks this New Year’s Day.

“Hiking…