Pen Porter

Texas governor Jim Hogg, c. 1890, with children Ima, William, Thomas, Mike and wife Sarah.   When I was writing about our trip to Houston, I did some research into one of our stops, the Bayou Bend House. I found it has a fascinating history, so I wanted to research more and write about that. This is what I have learned about Ima Hogg, the woman who originally owned the house. The house has the appearance of a southern Civil War-era plantation. Perhaps there were some of those in Houston in the 1860s, but the Bayou Bend House wasn’t one of them. It wasn’t built until 1928. Even the original owner, Miss Hogg, wasn’t born until 1882. Her family had been part of the southern aristocracy in the Civil War era. Her great-grandfather, Thomas Hogg, had served in the state legislatures of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi after his service in the Revolutionary War. Her paternal grandparents, Joseph and Lucanda Hogg, moved from Alabama to Texas in 1836 as a young couple. There Josep...

 Most of the time, you can find me working on a blog post or one of my books at a Starbucks somewhere in the greater Dallas Fort Worth area. In fact, today I am working on this blog at a Starbucks in Fort Worth.  But sometimes, I am out and about finding new things here in Texas where I have lived since May of 2021. And now that I have resurrected this blog, it seems my discoveries are a good thing to share with anyone reading. So, today I am going to tell you about a fairly recent trip my husband and I made to Houston in December 2021.  We have been to Houston three times since moving to Texas. All three trips down there were so Don could participate in vinyl record shows. He makes enough to cover all our travel expenses and several hundred dollars over that. So, they're worthwhile trips.  Unfortuately, two of the three - especially our most recent earlier this month - left us with no time to enjoy Houston. But I'm going to go ahead and embarrass Don by telling you ...

 Walking and running have been a passion of mine for a long time. I ran track and field in high school. I helped start the women's team at my college alma mater, Fresno State University. A few years after college, once I had moved to the windy and often cold High Desert portion of southern California I quit pursuing running. But then I got back into it about 10 years ago. And while I have somewhat pursued running since then, I find myself more often pursuing walking. I usually just walk around my own neigbhorhood here in Richardson, Texas. My apartment here was built in 1968, and I believe most of the homes in the neighborhood are even a bit older. They're all made of brick and have held their age well. It's a joy to walk around this neighborhood.  But since I go with my husband to work - which can be just about anywhere within 30 to 40 miles of here  (occasionally farther) - I also walk in the neighborhood of whatever estate sale he happens to be setting up or working th...