Down Under

GALVESTON, Texas -- Dreaming of sailing the waters of Australia and Oceania

Bird's Eye View

Galveston

Happy New Year

GALVESTON, Texas -- ♪ Hey hey hey, here I go now, here I go into new days. ♪ -- Metallica

Born from Sea Foam

GALVESTON, Texas -- Her identity remains a sweet mystery. Is she Botticelli's Venus? Or perhaps the Girl from Ipanema: "a golden-tanned girl, a mixture of flower and mermaid, full of light and grace, but with a touch of sadness, in that she carries with her on her route to the sea, a passing feeling that beauty is not ours alone — it is a gift of life in its constant, beautiful and sad ebb and flow."
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As described in the original Portugese: "a moça dourada, misto de flor e sereia, cheia de luz e de graça mas cuja a visão é também triste, pois carrega consigo, a caminho do mar, o sentimento da que passa, da beleza que não é só nossa — é um dom da vida em seu lindo e melancólico fluir e refluir constante." -- Vinícius de Moraes

Revelação: A Verdadeira Garota de Ipanema

Foaming Sea

GALVESTON, Texas -- Early astronomers mistook the Moon's basaltic plains for large bodies of water; one was given the name Mare Spumans, Latin for "foaming sea." We now know that the lunar surface is covered with cheese, and Saturn is surrounded by a glazed donut.

Gulfscape

Galveston

Wiped Out

GALVESTON, Texas -- A surfer wears a cap in the style of French Foreign Legionnaires, who incidentally were almost completely wiped out at Dien Bien Phu.

Seascape

GALVESTON, Texas -- A tree branch resembling a twisted arm with frail fingers reflects the fragile human condition.

Stealth Flight

Galveston

Seashells

GALVESTON, Texas -- Finding perfection in an imperfect shell

Dreamscape

GALVESTON, Texas, Dec. 31 -- A homage to Georgia O'Keefe

Surf's Up

Galveston

The Beach

GALVESTON, Texas -- Father and daughter enjoy an afternoon on East Beach.

Seawall Boulevard

GALVESTON, Texas -- The bar stayed open throughout Hurricane Rita. A sign on the porch read, "No Rita Unless It's a Margarita."

Source: USA Today

Sea Log

GALVESTON ISLAND, Texas -- Day 14: Thick fog slowed my arrival on the island.

Sea Legs

Galveston

Seagull

Galveston

Old West

Galveston

Joyeux Noël (for V.A.)

GALVESTON, Texas -- An oil platform sits at the horizon as father and son cowboys search for seashells, and the meaning of being Texan. Language is identity, but the tide has turned. Everywhere there are signs and instructions in Spanish. Pandering to Spanish-speaking communities, city and state legislatures have legitimized an identity which Texians had fought so hard against in the war for Texas independence (remember the Alamo?). At the federal level, the government not only has failed to secure the southern border from illegal immigration, it has opened wide the border with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which will do harm to Texas (and America) the way the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo did to Mexico.