See ... weeds

Like kelp strands, that's what the vitreous sure looked like before the retinal peel.
And I saw them well.
Yes, my dears I was awake during that procedure! And very interesting it was to see the minute pincers wielded by the Doctor to peel off, fold up (origami like) and drag them out, before refilling the eye with saline solution.

There was a minute or so, when I did go out completely, so the injection to immobilize the eye could be done painlessly.
But after that, I was a watching (albeit tied down and wrapped up - mummy like - almost) and commenting on the action seen!
Utterly amazing what microsurgery can achieve now.
The whole thing in the OR (lol.. almost typed OT... hahaha... hockey on my mind, eh?) lasted less than 15 minutes!
The prep before took hours!
Afterwards I was released to wreck havoc again, as long as NO water get into the eye.
Only eye drops, as prescribed, are allowed, 2 kinds, 4 times a day, 1 kind once a day for....till the post surgery check-up in 2 weeks.
And no driving, lifting weights over 5 pds and most definitely no showering or shampooing for a few days.
Ah, well one will have to resort to Katzenwaesche (spit and lick wash) perhaps!

Meanwhile the Aeros lost Wednesday, on the road, this time.
And as I hear, in a Shoot Out over Lake Erie at the Toyota Center, as well.

Day 5- lazying among the blooms

inner tubes waiting for passengers

even in paradise she can't stay
off her cell phone ;-)

Amaryllis

Blue Buds

Hairy Leaves

Puff balls on trees

Red Trumpets

Blue Bonnet meadow

Yellow and Fuchsia side by side

 Pale  Pink Hibiscus

Moon ascending

Day 3

King Ranch Famous for Santa Gertrudis Cattle breed

Low Water

Weaving Horse blankets?

Mexican Eagle?

Turkey 'in the raw' ;-)

King Ranch -  white washed:-)

King Ranch proudly flying flags over 8oo,o00 plus acres in S Texas, plus more In California and worldwide. Home to Santa Gertrudis and Santa Cruz cattle, famous quarterhorses and more. Plus wild life conservation efforts and hunting leases available.

Day 2

Bucks  score one

Killer Bee line up

Aaron Boogaard

After the same penalties a very small herd :-)

A very small swarm: after major penalties

ooooh, noooo, Those dmn Bees score again!





Yes, Goalie Jung does... 8 goals allowed!!

Killer Bees vs Laredo Bucks

Day One



Anthony Stolarz of the Ice Rays

Seaside in Corpus Christi

IceRays facing off Texas Tornado




USS Lexington



Leisner of Tornado saves



IceRays' home

Mascot

Hockey with Ocean Breezes

Day 1:
DSo, we saw the Corpus Christi Ice Rays ( 5) battle the Texas Tornado (4) among the swaying palms along the gulf coast, and win in a shoot out. Both teams seemed relatively evenly matched and played rather well for 18-21 year olds.With the majority being 20-21 years old.
The Tornado even had one youngster at 17 from the Czech Republic, and boasted 3 more non-USA players, from Quebec, UK and Russia.
While the Ice Rays youngest were 18 - mostly US citizens, with a Czech and an Ontarian (both 20 yrs) as  leaveners.
Goals for the Tornado were by Spiller, Biggs (PP-also a SO goal);
Rays' scorers were Purcell on a 5-3 PP, Smereck PP, Grebovsky and Fetzer, with Beau Walker's the winner.
Goalie (Tornado) Leisner faced 22 sogs plus 6 in SO.
Stolarz of the Rays stopped 38 of 42 in regulation. Good vision so it seemed to me, energetic and athletic.
IMO the best players was Joe Ginley of the Rays, and Tornado's Biggs.
Tornado with a larger percentage of older players peppered (with 42 sogs) Stolarz, but could not score, due to his alertness and a good defense by the Rays. Anyway, it was an exciting game to watch. Being played played enthusiastically by the youn'uns (lol) with speed and great temerity. In front of a large crowd of mostly young people. Lots of kids were there exhibiting their ideas in a Texas(?) wide competition in the field of animation, buses after buses full and all parked at the convention center area which also is home to Rays' arena, and the Art Museum. With those buses taking up all parking, we skipped the art museum on this trip.
We had to spend the first period just trying to match name and numbers on the jerseys,  because there was no 'program note sheet' so must have missed some tricky stuff, surely, lol! Fascinated by the Rays' Jerseys, which were striking, especially if one is a Harley Davidson rider.
Update: Ice Rays loose to Tornado 2 to 6 on Saturday.

**********************************************************************************
Day 2:
Talking about exciting game, I could not say that for what we saw the next night when the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees simply massacred the Laredo Bucks with a 8-2 score. In regulation!!!
 IMO, the fault rested almost entirely on the shoulders of the Bucks' goalie Torrie Jung, because his defense tried, really tried, but to little avail. The Killer Bees were aswarm and delivered sting after sting!
Names like Aaron Boogaard (who had a goal), Aaron Lee and Terry Ruskowski will be familiar to Aeros fans...LOL!
Seeing the efficient play of the Bees with a score of 8 versus the 2 by the Bucks and the overwhelmed Jung, I could not help but feel very sorry for the Bucks, they were out stung by the buzzzzzing Bees.
To the roaring approval of the large crowd.
A course I'm no Bee fan nor a Bucks fan. That's why seeing this trophy game with the killing off the Bucks was just toooo sad to watch. Even though this win assured the Bees a play off spot in the Berry Conference.

After the game was a jersey auction. The new black jerseys, which must have looked so threatening to the opposing team . Aaron Lee's fetched the unheard amount of $ 3.000 (for the Killer Bees), most others went for 350-500. And we bid too, on Jon Madden's Nr. 44 (no relation to the former Blackhawk John Madden, we think) and got it, too. And will sport next season, since the jerseys will be worn by Bees during their Play offsd and then shipped, signed, to the happy bidders. This almost all black jersey, looks really sharp with the yellow bee emblem across the chest  stating perhaps..."BUZZZZZ OFF Busters" lol...IMO.

Update: Another big win on Sunday Bees 7 and Bucks 2 (even though NOT with Jung but with Rondeau) with Edmondson of the Bees getting his 1. hattrick and Gendur reaching a new points record of 73 pts. Another 2 players to watch, maybe, for a AHL future, although the Bees AHL affiliate are the Griffins, not the Aeros.
************************************************************************************
Day 3.
King Ranch spread visit. Birds, cattle, deer and horse viewing.
Brush, flowers, cactus, mesquite in bloom. And warm and muggy. Huge spread.
Interesting, this history of the King/Kleberg families whose descendents still are involved in running the company which has spread not only over the 825.000 acres in Texas, but also owns land in California and around the world. And driving to and from the King Ranch one runs (drives through) by towns named after some of them, Alice and so on.

Some other amusing nuggets to enliven the rather boring drive form Houston South to Corpus and beyond: the many little burgs named after women such as Louise, Rachal, Inez,Victoria,  Edna.
Later on they switch to men's names and mostly Hispanic ones at that.
Does that mean that women had the upper hand in S Texas? LOL.

Henrietta King for one, sure did. She donated land for Kingsville, The Texas A&M University branch there, for hospitals and schools and more.
On the Ranch tour we mingled with travellers from as far away as Quebec...
the ubiquitous Winter Canadians :),
as others from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan etc. in theirWinnebagos and SUV's crammed full to the brim. Today we loll and rest and take to the spas....
Photos to follow.
Come click on artandhockey and look.

Count Down to South Texas .. Hockey

Better Half and I are heading South for some Hockey at the, admittedly, lower level.
First up the 'kindergarden  league's' (NAHL) Ice Rays at Corpus, then over to the  Killer Bees (Aeros fans may recall several temporary Aeros from that league - most recently Aaron Lee, a Killer Bee) :-).
With a stop at the 'famous or infamous' King Ranch (depends on one's outlook) and at an art museum, just so the culture vulture in us need not be cut short.

Then it's to the Ranch and San Antonio for some lolling in pool or jacuzzi,

lazying in the Lazy river feature (lol) prior to eye surgery.

In case that becomes a bit blah... a stop at the SAMA may be included.

And definitely a stop at the Croc shop for more crocs on the way back.

For updates come visit.

*******************************************************

Meanwhile tonight, Il Trovatore at The OH! (Emerald Cast) was overwhelming.
Even after I had just watched The Met's Il Trovatore on Ch 8/2 Wednesday night.
Here is Leontyne Price as Leonora with Di Tale amor, which tonight was sung beautifully and bewitchingly by Soprano Michelle Johnson, a perhaps a successor to Price?

Tenor Dominick Rodriguez was a strong Manrico and did the high notes of Di Quella Pira true justice. 
Adam Meza (already appearing in the Ruby Cast), was a strong voiced Einspringer as Conte Di Luna, for the earlier scheduled Bariton Andrew Cunmmings (who had to leave due to a family emergency).
Mezzo Sarah Heltzel as Acuzena was equally bewitching as raving Gypsy witch. 
Here Elena Obraztova as Azucena with the famous Stride La Vampa.

I am not going to discuss the convoluted plot, suffice it to say that the 2 lovers die - Leonora takes poison, and Manrico is executed by order of Di Luna, who in turn ends as desperate fratricide, (Manrico being his little brother after all) while Acuzena avenged the death of her mother slain by Di Luna's father.
All this to rousing and stirring music by Verdi, more than ably conducted by Maestro/Artistic Director, Carreon Robledo.
Since the last 3 performance are almost 100% sold out, I am not urging chers readers to go see it. You may not be able to buy tickets, unless someone turns theirs in for rea-sale. Leaving you with a Di Quella Pira by one of opera's best known Verdi tenors:

Love of Blood Oranges

Spooning the juicy tartly sweet pink flesh of grapefruits gave me flashbacks to yesteryear.
Those early grapefruits - somewhat of a rare "treat"- were thick skinned, palely yellow with dry flesh and truly sour - almost astringent. Only edible with lots of sugar.
Healthy Stuff!
Wikipedia: "Grapefruit contains large quantities of a simple polyamine called spermidine which may be related to aging. It is known to be necessary for cell growth and maturation, and as cells age their level of spermidine is known to fall. Scientists have shown that feeding spermidine to worms, fruit flies and yeast significantly prolongs their lifespan. In addition, adding spermidine to the diet of mice decreased molecular markers of aging, and when human immune cells were cultured in a medium containing spermidine, they also lived longer".

On the other hand, the richly colored, deliciously juicy blood oranges from Spain were quite a treat. One had to be careful not to squirt the sweet juices everywhere.
Now, just the other day I saw some and - remembering this treat from then - bought some. What disappointment.
They were small, with dry, hard peels and blotchy brownish red flesh which was very stringy. And had almost no flavor.  What a waste of good money.
Have our taste buds changed that much?
I don't know.
My 'love for 1 or 3 blood oranges' is no longer.
Despite Prokofiev.

And talking of flashbacks...

I just read a novel, which seems to have been years in the writing, by Selden Edwards, called THE LITTLE BOOK.
Half plays out in 1897 Vienna which was reason number one for me to buy.
Half plays in 1980's USA. It also incorporates time travel, which allows the author to cover history made, and in the making.
It's a marvel of soaring imagination.
And a joy to read.
Unless the reader can't wrap his mind around time travel backward where 3 generations appear at the same time in the same place, namely Vienna in 1897.
Grandfather, Father and Son.
Plus a few more unexpected themes, equally imaginary.
Have I whet your appetite,  Chers Readers?
Raed and comment if you will.

The return of Hackett

Per Russo's Rants Matt Hackett was re-assigned to Houston.
Now that WILL call for a BIG YEAH from his enchanted fans;
And an  'oh, boy-will he have an attitude again being demoted? Or what?' from others not so enchanted.
And, sadly, that may crimp Fallon's style, won't it?
Because, as we all know MH is the preferred goalie on direction from up North.
And Kuemper may be back as well.

  Just one more shot of OOOH, FALLON...in his glory below.

So where does that leave Fallon?

Hung out to dry, after his spectacular 5 in 6 wins recently?

 *******************

One thing is pretty sure, it's going to be:

Good Bye Mike Keetley. 

Here he is above during warm up.. as a bonus you see Broda, who scored the SO game winner...

********************

Also Nick Palmieri is back up North-don't think I will miss him much! 

Will you?

OOOOH, Fallon , you did it again..

That IS the 5th (out of 6) game you have won!
And the fans (yours truly included) are newly enthusiastically hopeful that the team WILL make it to the Play Offs .
As long as the powers that are in the North stop carrying off Aeros players.
But my guess, for what it's worth, the Wild are no longer on the end of a periscope for a Cup run?

What a close game.
McIntyre (the 'Scots' have it again tonight) got an easy goal in the first. Followed by zero the rest of time including OT. Although they shot 'only' 23 at Yann Danis who stopped all but one plus 4 in the SO.
Green of OKC got the evener in the 2. and OKC, too, had zero the rest.  Despite sending a barrage of 37 shots at Fallon.
And then we arrived once again at a shoot out.

OOOOH Fallon

Di Salvatore

Scrimmage behind Yannj Danis

Fredheim: Let me give you a hand up, Anti:-)

OUR Montgomery as a blur in front of OKC benchers

Now I did stop that one, so why haven't posted it yet up there?

 Rau, Yeo (no relation) and Palmieri (newly come down from Yeo's realm (that's the Wild one)

Phillippe Cornet - ready or not!

But with OOOOH, Fallon (more luck of the Irish?) in the net, the Aeros chances of winning at SO have increased dramatically. But I hear rumors that Yeo (the one up North-not the one pictured above- LOL) will re-assign Hackett to Houston... oh, boy, SO's are no longer a sure thing, methinks, chers readers.

and that's no bull...

Now the power play seemed a bit like olden times tonight. They did play "pass the Puck, pretty please"! And so no goal for the Aeros despite 5 oppos.
OKC managed ONE of  3!!!

But a win is a win!!
So smile and enjoy ... as did these fans...........................

And the icing on the cake is that with  this game won the Aeros shot back up into SECOND place (76 points) behind the OKC Barons (with a whopping 87 points) and leading Abbotsford Heat (73 points).
Followed by The Rampage (70 points) and the Texas Stars (methinks, the loss of Gulutzin has been deadly - only 58 points).
Although both Rampage and Stars have 2 games in hand over Aeros.
While  OKC OKC and Heat are one up to the Aeros' 64, at 65 each.