Dragon Boats!

Wasn't last weekend lovely? just gorgeous, sunny, low humidity, a trifle hot, but as long as there was shade it okay.

Perfect weather for a regatta, in fact.

 Saturday was the 14th Annual Houston Dragon Boat Festival. 

I didn't get there at the beginning, but there were multiple heats, so I was still able to see a lot of action.  It's exciting when those boats come barreling down the bayou, with drums beating.  

And to while away time between heats, there are performances.  I watched the Houston ShaoLin Kung Fu Academy do a series of exercises, and then the DJ played the theme to Love Boat, Sponge Squarepants and other traditional nautical ditties.  

waiting for their turn onstage

I loved this team's slogan "Victory or Valhalla!"

There was food, drink, a bouncy castle, information on dragon boat racing, a tourism booth for the Philippines, and a guy with the coolest kites ever.

How was your weekend?

Shiny, Pretty Things

The International Gem and Jewelry Show was in town this weekend.

I haven't been in a couple years, but I'm still on the mailing list, so I thought it might be an interesting outing.

If you are looking for fine jewelry, investment pieces, I would recommend going somewhere else. But if you just want a fun afternoon looking at glittery stuff, this has it's good points.  It's also educational, because a lot of the market is aimed at people who make jewelry, so there are a lot of loose gems around. 

amber - $25 a strand

Jewelry stores have everything locked up, but here, there are tables full of pearls, twisting like lustrous spaghetti. You can learn a lot about semi-precious stones. Particularly how inexpensive many of them are.

blue-gray chalcedony

And if you like working with beads and crystals, this is heaven:

There is, of course, a ton of jewelry available. Jewelry styles at the show range from the modern, to vintage, to south Asian. You can get  a strand of pearls, or a full Indian parure (including ankle bracelets) or Navajo turquoise. It's all available. I would have pictures, but the vendors tend to get upset about people photographing their products.  

Of course I couldn't leave without buying something. 

Amethyst, citrine and gilded metal - $15

Aren't they pretty? And I ended the afternoon with a dozen on the halfshell at Captain Benny's.  If you are ever near the dome at lunchtime, I recommend them highly. It's never a bad time for oysters.

Sadly, no pearls.  

Rodeo Parade - 2013

Last Saturday, I went to a photography seminar downtown. We went early because we knew the rodeo parade was going on, and since we were early, and had cameras, why not take some pictures of the parade setting up?



In the pictures, there are a lot of people in running gear. This is because the Rodeo Run  (a charity 10k) is before the parade. Remember, always have the runners go before the horses.



The beginning of the Rodeo Run



 





Lots of kids, lots of horses.









 

 

I thought these were a particularly pretty team. I don't know the breed (I do know they're not big enough for Clydesdales) but they were a handsome pair.

University of Houston twirlers, warming up in Tranquility Park. It was chilly out, I hope twirling warms you up.

My vote for best costume. I'm not sure why they were wearing technicolor tutus and tiger (?) stripe leg warmers, but they are definitely making a statement. Even their hatbands and shoelaces are color coordinated.

The University of Houston band. The Aggie band was there, too (they played the Star Spangled Banner and all activity stopped) but I didn't get a good shot of them.

This was taken after the seminar. No horses or twirlers, but I really like the shot. In case you're wondering, that's the Enron building.