PlantLady:
It's a small world.....I lived in Victoria about 20+ years ago in Woodway ON Woodway Drive. My ex and I built the gray brick, contemporary house...can't remember the street number, but it's one of the few cont. styles in the subdivision! I also had moved from Houston and disliked Victoria in the extreme...couldn't wait to move back to Houston. I still have friends there, and NOW it seems a charming town. My ex's cousin David and his wife Connie also lived in Woodway...he's a Victoria doctor....know any of this?
Ice?
I have a micro-climate area between my garage and the wall at the rear of my property. I've had honeysuckle blooms even through other low temps...until this ice storm. Here's one of the blooms encased in ice!
And....the view toward the lake...framed by icicles!
Very pretty Connie, you do have a great view form your house.
Nice shot Connie . . . looks like it's as cold there as it is here . . . burrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!
It's plenty cold here, but hasn't frozen to speak of. We had our ice storm back in 1997, and I remember hearing a big thud outside and peeked out the front door. The entire top of the live oak across the street had simply fallen over into the street; I was looking at the top of the tree! It recovered just fine, though. Luckily I was in a very old house and the gas heat didn't depend on electricity to keep going. It was pretty monstrous. Y'all are in my prayers. It can be rough -- but it won't last forever!
Josephine
Yes, the view is nice when the lake is full..it's down 70 feet now, so I can't see much water!!
GD....yes...very cold, and I'm not usually someone who can stay indoors all day, much less 3 or 4 days! This thread has helped me with my cabin fever, so....
Mitch F....thanks so much for starting this thread!~ It has given me something to do between doing a jigsaw puzzle, doing laundry (UNTIL I ran out of soap!!) cleaning out closets and drawers, reorganizing my pantry, and grading papers!!!
What are we going to do with all the branches that are so loaded with ice they are leaning over and look like they want to break? I was on call for the Vet School ER yesterday and last night and when i left this morning a tree by my car looked like it was so top heavy with heavy ice branches it had pulled out of the ground and was falling over the sidewalk.My Wax myrtles in the back look like some sort of weeping variety because they are leaning over so much.Fortunately I have a route to A&M that doesn't take me over any overpasses/bridges so I didn't see much ice on the roads themselves. But tonight may be a different story because we seem to have some melting going on that will refreeze.nancy
Can you brace the trees at all? It would be pretty dangerous to try and trim them to relieve the weight. They were talking about it on the weather channel the other day. Not much you can do, I think. Just a fourth of an inch of ice adds I don't remember how many pounds but it's a lot.
Be careful, Nancy! And everybody!
Connie, know the gray contemporary very well. The real estate agent, John Quitta and his second wife bought the house about 3 years ago from his mother and have completely redone the whole thing beautifully and modernized the inside. They are completely surrounded by trees and the Park. We lived on Woodglenn Drive in the little one story contemporary - a Bright house w/the atrium coming out the center of the house. Hated Victoria big time - so clannish - and Woodway was full of drs, dentists and the like. Wish I had that house, tho. Atrium and all! We moved there in 1994 and moved away in 2005 to where we live now. My DDH had been retired for 4 yrs. and we had a lot of trouble meeting people; only met them thru the Plaza Club and Holy Family. You wouldn't know the whole place now - they think they are so uptown it gives you the creeps - a by-pass loop:463 from Navarro around thru what used to be lots of nice wooded area to connect to the road going to Corpus - at the other end so you don't have to go thru downtown thru every stoplight in town. Still a small town. No matter how you slice it. Has some great nurseries!! Ah, memories......
Ann
This message was edited Jan 17, 2007 2:24 PM
Connie, know the gray contemporary very well. Now it has been beautifully painted white to the point you probably wouldn't know it. And all the outside has black trim. Was there for a Christmas party given by the POA the first year we moved in. Quite a change. We lived on Woodglenn Drive in the little one story contemporary - a Bright house w/the atrium coming out the center of the house. Hated Victoria big time - so clannish - and Woodway was full of drs, dentists and the like. Wish I had that house, tho. Atrium and all! We moved there in 1994 and moved away in 2005 to where we live now. My DDH had been retired for 4 yrs. and we had a lot of trouble meeting people; only met them thru the Plaza Club and Holy Family. You wouldn't know the whole place now - they think they are so uptown it gives you the creeps - a by-pass loop:463 from Navarro around thru what used to be lots of nice wooded area to connect to the road going to Corpus - at the other end so you don't have to go thru downtown thru every stoplight in town. Still a small town. No matter how you slice it. Ah, memories......
Ann
Well I found one guy who really likes the snow/ice :-)
Ann,
We built (my ex was a homebuilder) a few houses in Woodway, and atriums were our "thing"! I wonder if we could have built yours?!! Did you buy it new or have custom built? We also built in Castle Hills, in Tanglewood, and country homes.
Yes, Victoria is clannish! We never really spent a lot of time there...we had a one-bedroom apt. in the Westgate in DT Austin at the same time and spent Friday, Sat, and Sun nights here in Austin. I taught school in Yoakum at the same time! So...really never spent time there, but I did love Leon's store and Alleman's Mexican restaurant...best Tex-Mex ever! And of course the LUBY's in the mall. Only time I ever went to the mall! Houston spoils ya for shopping for sure!
Funny thing is....I have met and become friends with 2 people FROM Victoria...Nellie West and Linda Gladden, and we all agree it's a good place to be FROM! :)
Mitch....yeah...little kids have "jelly bones," as I tell my DH's grands when they want to do all sorts of dangerous things I can't do! :)
When I walked outdoors this AM, I walked like a 100 yo person...so afraid I'd slip and break something!!
Now, who is the snow bunny???
That is my 3 year old son... he loved it ran in circles and threw snow balls at the other kids out there... there are a lot of kids out in the street here.
Yep, kids don't care if they get cold, they know someone will take care of them.
Yep.. they dont know better yet..
They just care that a warm mug is ready when they come inside
Connie our house in Vic was built in 1980 and we were told it was a Jack Bright house. We were about the 3rd or 4th owners. Had Saltillo tile in the entry and halls around 3/4 or the atrium and the dining room. People are just waiting around to get into Woodway homes. Ours sold in 3 days and the new owners got in there and ripped everything out in the kitchen and redid that and redid all the walls because they were all papered. The living room had some amazing builtin book shelves and cabinets and there is (was?) a walk in wet bar w/lots of shelving and storage.
Ann
lol...I had to miss a day and a half of work myself......as well as my Boston-born honey...who got cabin fever so bad around 11:30 this morning, that he trudged into work driving thru neighborhoods and back roads, since Loop 1604 is closed, or it was. Luckily I had today off...but have to get to work at 7:00 am tomorrow morning. Ice is melting a bit here too as well........had to dig my car out with my trusty dusty ice scraper from Boston, lol. I fear the worse for alot of my Texas natives out there...my wee Sennas are laying on the ground in ice. I did manage to get a few photos in myself, including this ice encased 4-nerve daisy bloom. :) Stay safe, ya'll...
Melanie
Another..... :)
Hi Connie......I think the worst is over. Sidewalks are melting, roofs dripping. We've been outside with our neighbors walking in the middle of the street. Very few cars because of the steep hill. I can't imagine how you would get down your driveway in this. Bruce is out now scraping the ice off the courtyard. I warned him I don't know CPR, and would have to slide him down the hill on a plastic storage box lid to meet the ambulance. He was not amused. Thank goodness I joined the bulb co-op so I could spend some time looking over the choices and ordering, helped to keep from going stir crazy. I would not do well in the north where I'd be inside for very long during winter. I want to see the sun shine again.....I'm ready to hit some nurseries again when it gets warm, but will have to do an "inventory" of what didnt' make it after the freeze. I think I'll be replacing a lot of plants. 'May need to rethink some of my choices. Covering everything is the pits. Stay warm. This weather has made us look forward to Happy Hour at 5 with the neighbors......Sandi
I think I may have to go to ALOT of swaps to recover from all of this...lol ;)
Sandi,
So true about my drive. I might have to have someone come by and pick me up if they have school tomorrow morning early!
I too am anxious to see what "survives"...the things we planed as part of that 3-part thing someone posted about that includes a "plant something by faith...out of your zone"! We might not be doing that again unless, like you, we have someone to help cover! You are one lucky lady that you have Bruce~!
I'm with ya about living in the North...no, no, and no. And they would probably say the same about our h.e.a.t. !!! :)
PlantLady,
We thought about keeping the house in Woodway and renting it out....wish we had. I'll bet it has quadrupled in value!!
Where abouts do you live in Houston? I lived on Gessner in a townhouse until kids....then moved to Katy close to Mason Road exit, where my ex built houses between there and Houston, in the Rice area (tear-downs) and in April Village, wherever that is! I still get to HOuston about once every other month...would love to join y'all in a nursery tour/crawl if you ever have a DG one. We've had 2 here in Austin and they are fun!
While I recognize some of you didn't like it in Victoria, I do. Born in PA, and spent two years feeling like an outcast in SC.
When I moved here, I was welcomed at work, at church, and have made a nice little bunch of horse-riding friends. All things I *never* had in SC.
So sorry you don't like it, or didn't like it, or think it's a big "clique". If you want big shopping & mass-metro life, yeah, this isn't the place for you. I kind of like the small town feeling where strangers I don't even know wave at me on the road.. I feel welcome everywhere...
Oddly enough we live just 2 miles north of I-10 off Fry in a "yuk" house compared to Woodglenn. I am from Houston - born, raised, married here. Great idea of DDH to get out of Houston when he retired :>( . In retrospect this is a goood side of town to live on now. When we built in 1972 this was Katy growing fields where we are now. In '72 the SW side of Houston was the up and coming part of town - SW freeway didn't even reach the Meadows subdiv. Now 59 reaches all the way to Victoria. When we were buying this house (or looking in this area) we came from Vic thru Hallettsville and thru Shulenberg to I-10. A giant circle has now been completed. (I probably spelled the names of those towns all wrong - don't tell on me :>) )
Would love to do a tour! I would even go as far as back up to College Station. We have so many great places here like Buchanan's Native Plants and lots of others too numerous to name. There should be people here who would like to do the same.
Ann
AngelSong, Victoria is ok for young folks who have kids in activities there. Or if you work there or go to VCC or UHV. For older people it's a fine place to live but so many of the "good families" have been there since Victoria was a wide place in the road they feel the need to let newbies know THEY are natives or at least their great greats were. I ran across a lot of those but they are few. All in all they are in the minority and the everyday person you run into is just like the rest of us. Only takes one of the "nose in the Air" people to make a bad and lasting impression. I'm so glad you like it there. Probably the SC people you ran into thought they were so much better than "you" they snubbed you. Happens anywhere and everywhere. Hate it but it's a fact of life. Victoria is a small town but has delusions of grandeur and wants to be "uptown". Most everybody is really very nice and welcoming.
Ann
Angel,
Yes, our preferences do determine where we are happy. I would LOVE to live in NYC, and hope my daughter lives there someday so I can visit and stay with her! I also love Houston, San Fran, Chicago, etc. Thank God we're all different, huh? I did say in my posting that when I went back recently I thought Vic was very charming!
You might be interested in this story: My ex and I almost bought a 100 yo house in old Victoria that had once been a funeral home! It was HUGE...had about 10k SF, including the "chapel" they had added (which has most likely been torn off since). ...a six-car garage. In the third-floor attic was a coffin and in the back yard there was an old, unmarked grave. It was owned by 2 guys who had their bed in the "coffin niche" with the pink corpse light shining down on it! The realtor and I were in stitches as we "explored" that and other weird things about the house! It was like Halloween!
The people next door had a HORSE in the FRONT YARD and that was one of the reasons we didn't buy--worrying about the value--BUT isn't it hilarious that 20 years ago there were no restrictions against a horse in the area that today is "hoity-toity"!!
The house has a certified TIFFANY window in it that was valued as 40K years ago. But the house was in a horrible state of disrepair.....would have required more money that we had to do it up right.
So, I"m sorry not to have the address, but someone in Vic probably knows about the house.
My DN lives south of us in Kopperl near Brazos Point. It is the first time my 2 year old Great Nephew got to go outside in snow. He is sick so they didn't allow him too much time out there.
He was very unhappy when they made him come back in! LOL!!
Well we have been iced in for three days here in boerne. been fun watching the idiots slidding down the hill in front of my house *giggle
some pics
one more
Wow! Nada, you really have it down there too, stay safe and warm, see you in the Spring after the thaw.
Josephine.
Well, my school has announced that we will start at 10:00. All I can say is if my driveway is icy (it's about a 35 degree slant going down, with a creek over the hill if I can't stop the car!!!) I might be very late! :) All the icicles are still hanging from the eaves of my house...not melting like they said on the news. They showed a picture of icicles dripping, but mine dripped for the last 2 days, because of the heat escaping from my roof!! (We obviously need some more insulation!!) Wish me luck in the morning!
My house does not have a garage...just a carport, and my not-so-dear DH moved my car OUT of the carport on Monday, so I had to go outside and clear off about an inch of ice from the windshield. Not fun. Then after I got it off, it was hard to walk safely to the back door! I guess we South Texans are spoiled, huh?
It is times like these that I can say without reservation; "you couldn't pay me to live up north"!!
These were taken yesterday morning, but I still went to work. The street was clear the night before and it was only snow.
Hmm... I don't fit into the "young family with children" or the "older people" categories you speak of. Instead, I'm young & single, no family for thousands of miles. Don't go to school, didn't even go to school here. I still fit in quite nicely. Only snubbing I've felt is at one feed store, and I think they just didn't understand why I was asking for the products I was. (Weird feed request for a fussy horse.)
South Carolina, I was made to feel uncomfortable in two different churches, because I wasn't "one of the family". Now that just stinks! Let's talk about obnoxious... that rules the world on "how to make someone feel like tar." In both places, I "sat in someone's seat"... Um.... yeah, whatever. Here, when I sat in someone's spot, they sat right beside me, introduced themselves, and asked me to lunch after. That's how you're s'posed to do it. ! :)
I love it here. I'd rather live up north closer to family, but if I had to pick somewhere hotter than hot, and so humid I can't always breathe, I'd pick here.. LOL
Connie, I hope you get to school safely.
Josephine.
Angel, no matter where you are, if your don't feel welcome or comfortable there's no sense in staying. It's wondeful that you have found someplace where you are happy. Connie and I were just comparing notes on where we had been, why and the "adventures" we had. We meant no offense to anyone except, perhaps, those who had "wronged" us and at that we were laughing at them and certainly not at anyone else. We meant no harm. Please forgive....
Ann
no harm meant. I just didn't want you making Victoria sound like this horrid place to live.. if you were unhappy, that doesn't mean that everyone else would be.
Uggh they say more of this nasty stuff on the way...it keeps up I'm going to be rowing a boat to the grocery store.