The West University Buzz - December 2022

Terese Wagner

A Family’s Christmas Crèche The Pull of Tractors Lifelong Friends Chef’s Corner: Ruben Ortega

Cherishing a Childhood Home

by Cathy Gordon

Gifts for Neighbors Hanukkah Joy Instagram vs. Reality: Holiday Edition Cindy Gabriel: Not a Memoir, Part 2 Houston, TX Permit No. 2047 PAID

Epic Journey through Turkey

US Postage PRSRT STD

Buzz Reads

EDITOR’S NOTE We want Houston. The phrase that was heard from Astros’ postseason opponents. The phrase that turned into a triumphant battle cry from Houstonians. More than a million Houstonians of all different walks of life gathered downtown for the Astros parade. It was crowded. But the vibe was joyful, everyone there for the same reason. I went solo and was surrounded by strangers but, somehow, it felt like Houston was a small town. Everyone was on the same team. This month, we highlight a story of childhood friends who know the small-town feeling well and have stayed connected to each other and their hometown through adulthood, especially through a horrifying tragedy there. You’ll also find a story about a resident who bought her beloved childhood home years later. Also, read about holiday traditions with deep spiritual meaning. However you celebrate the holidays, we wish you a season full of joy and connectivity. joni@thebuzzmagazines.com

THE BUZZ MAGAZINES BELLAIRE • WEST UNIVERSITY • MEMORIAL • TANGLEWOOD/RIVER OAKS Published by Hoffman Marketing & Media, LLC 5001 Bissonnet, Suite 100, Bellaire, Texas 77401 info@thebuzzmagazines.com • p: 713.668.4157 • f: 713.665.2940 Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter thebuzzmagazines.com Editor-in-Chief Publisher Editor Editorial Assistant Design Manager

Joni Hoffman Michael Hoffman Jordan Magaziner Steinfeld Caroline Siegfried John Duboise

Staff Writers

Tracy L. Barnett Sharon Albert Brier Cindy Burnett Andria Frankfort Dilling Angie Frederickson Todd Freed Cindy Gabriel Cathy Gordon Michelle Groogan Dai Huynh Cheryl Laird Annie Blaylock McQueen Jennifer Oakley Pooja Salhotra Cheryl Ursin Andrea Blitzer Leslie Little Jo Rogers

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On our cover: Terese Wagner bought her beloved childhood home. She and her family love the retro features of the 1953 ranch-style house, brimming with memories.

Cover photo by Nikky LaWell, lawellphoto.com The Buzz Magazines has made all reasonable attempts to verify the accuracy of all information contained within. Advertising claims are solely the responsibility of the advertiser. Copyright © 2022 Hoffman Marketing & Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any portion of this magazine by any means without written permission is strictly prohibited. Printed on recycled paper. Please remember to recycle.

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ DECEMBER 2022 4

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MAILBAG

Your letters, thoughts, opinions Travel inspiration I loved the article on “A Virgin Island Thanksgiving” [Travel Buzz by Tracy L. Barnett, Nov. 2022]. The Luman family’s Thanksgiving trip to the Virgin Islands National Park sounds idyllic – escaping to a beautiful place to relax and enjoy time in nature as a family. The trip sounds like a great mixture of leisure and exploration and I appreciated Becky’s sensitivity to the sustainable development of the island. What an important balance to put measures in place to protect the natural environment and wildlife while allowing visitors to enjoy and explore the island’s beauty.

I also was really inspired by the Luman family’s attitude and perspective on traveling as a family – visiting 45 states and 90 National Park System sites! The article has inspired our family to set a goal to hit all 50 states before our kids graduate from high school (thankfully they are still young and we have some time). Thanks again for a great article and inspiration to travel!

Melissa Turnbaugh

‘Sort of’ memoir is certainly a hit Cindy, just read your piece [Life: Mine for Instance: Cindy Gabriel starts a memoir – sort of, Nov. 2022] and it made my day! Your words are like honey – with a bit of cynicism – a combination that sets off many memories for me.

You’re a terrific storyteller – with a life full of good copy. I think you should go for a full-on autobiography. Besides, you have many great author photos for the book cover. You are adorable with your glass of wine in Montreal.

Nancy Bamberger

In pursuit of ‘the’ bag Joni’s Editor’s Note [in Nov. 2022] gave me a good laugh. I don’t purport to understand anything about Texas university rivalries (I’m a Maryland girl myself), but her struggle to find the fanny pack resonated deeply. I was finally able to order one from Lululemon after waiting six months – and they mistakenly sent two! I have an open offer to her and any other staff member – you want it, it’s yours!

Thank you for the reading material. I truly enjoy it and think you and your team do great work.

Nicole Cramer Editor’s note: Nicole, your kind letter made Joni’s day! She’s happy to report that she finally scored the trendy fanny pack but truly appreciates the offer. Thank you for the thoughtful gesture and feedback.

Mia last year and our whole family has enjoyed getting to know her better. We’ve heard from friends all over the city in response to the article, including Emmy’s kindergarten teacher! This year our younger daughter, Lily, and one of Emmy’s friends, Alice Oates, helped out as well! We were so excited to see the final Halloween display especially the addition of Davy Jones!

Kari Beck

Loved this past article I read your lovely piece about love [Just Love: It’s a no-brainer by Cindy Gabriel, Feb. 2021] and was so reassured by it. It brought tears to my eyes in fact, to be reminded that there are so many wonderful loving people out and about in our big city and they are all in their own quiet ways giving and taking love, soothing our collective ragged nerves right now.

Thanks so much for being one of these people; your article helped me a lot.

Amanda Godfrey Thiele Editor’s note: Amanda, thank you for writing in and for reminding us about this truly lovely article. If you want to re-read it (or read for the first time), see thebuzzmagazines.com, where you can find all of our past articles.

Send letters to info@thebuzzmagazines.com. Please include your name, address, phone number and email address for verification purposes. Letters are subject to editing for clarity and space. Views expressed in letters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Buzz Magazines, and The Buzz takes no responsibility for the content and opinions expressed in them.

What’s your story?

We are looking for residents for upcoming articles who: • Have a special love story.

• Have family recipe traditions.

• Know a buzzworthy neighbor to feature.

• Have a unique passion, hobby, or collection.

• Have a compelling travel tale.

Hallo-Queen of creativity I loved reading the Hallo-Queen article about Mia Parker’s incredible Halloween decorations [The Hallo-Queen: Mia Parker loves Halloween by Cheryl Ursin, Oct. 2022]! My daughter, Emmy, had so much fun helping WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ DECEMBER 2022 6

If this sounds like you or someone you know, please contact us at info@thebuzzmagazines.com or 713.668.4157, ext 12.

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ DECEMBER 2022 7

NEIGHBORS

by Cindy Gabriel, staff writer

Setting the Scene Not a memoir, Part 2

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llow me to introduce you to my sponsors, Sandra and Clymer Wright. It’s their wedding day, February 12th, 1954 in Biloxi, Mississippi. She was 19. He was 21. I would come along nine months and two days from the date of this picture, much to my grandmother’s relief, on November 14, 1954. We three kind of grew up together.

One complaint I have about my parents is that they weren’t travelers. Typical of who they were, no honeymoon. They were headed to an army base in Ft. Benning, Georgia, where Dad would be stationed for basic training. The Korean War officially ended that summer, yet somehow the army nabbed him. So I was conceived somewhere along the road to Ft. Benning, Georgia. I hope they got a room.

I thought about calling this piece “She Should Have Married the Catholic.” Mom would say it a time or two when she was particularly frustrated with Dad. She was kidding. I think. But the truth is, Mom’s mother, Leola Lee, played an important role in diverting my parents toward one another. I should add her to my sponsor list.

It seems that Mom was engaged to a Catholic boy right after high school. Her Baptist parents thought their daughter’s mortal soul was at stake. They made her wait by sending her to college. In the '50s, it wasn’t common to send your daughter to college, unless it was to get her MRS degree.

My grandmother, Leola, who I would call “Mimmie”, arranged a tour for herself and her daughter on the campus of Southern Mississippi College in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Mom expressed an interest in journalism, so the student tour guide led them to the journalism department first thing.

There Sandra Lee, my engaged mom, met Clymer Wright, editor of the Student Printz campus newspaper. Leola took one look at this tall, handsome editor, gambled on him not being Catholic, and dismissed the tour guide.

“This young man will give Sandra the rest of the tour,” my future grandmother directed, as if she were the college president.

Dad turned out to be Methodist; not ideal,

but, in her mind, a hell of a lot better than being Catholic. Perhaps my grandmother forgot about her own mixed marriage, she a Southern Baptist, my grandfather, a Primitive Baptist.

Their marriage lasted over 60 years, though they never went to the same church.

After four months of basic training, Dad was shipped off to Korea, then to Japan, while Mom went back to her parents’ house in MEET CINDY’S PARENTS Sandra and Clymer Wright on their wedding day, nine Biloxi, Mississippi months and two days before Cindy was born. to wait out his tour seat out of Mom’s car. He put my full-sized baby of duty. He was already overseas when she found bed in its place. When I wasn’t in the baby bed, out she was pregnant. My father wouldn’t lay my aunt Sibbie was there to hold me in the seateyes on me until I was almost a year old. belt-less front seat. Aunt Sibbie’s job was to hold The news of his discharge from the army me so that Mom could drive, when I wasn’t in meant they could resume their original plans to my crib chewing on lead-based paint. move to Rosenberg, Texas where Dad would Sibbie said Lee (his name was Omar Lee but become editor of The Fort Bend Reporter. His everybody called him Lee) was appalled at the grandfather, A.M. “Ikey” Cohen was a newspaold Hudson car Dad bought Mom to drive. “You per man, on the advertising side of things. Ikey could see the road through the floorboard.” bought the Rosenberg paper later in his life, Last month I said we’d talk about “Knives on with the understanding that he would put my the Left, Forks and Spoons on the Right” in this father through college. In return, Dad would column. But it took longer than I thought to get come back and help run the paper. His bride everybody to Rosenberg. I’m exhausted. I’m still Sandra, who had completed her MRS, with two in diapers, cloth ones with giant safety pins, that years as a journalism major, was an added bonus. weren’t so safe. The scene is set. Next month I’ll Mom’s sister Sylvia, “Aunt Sibbie,” was five set the table. Maybe. years younger than Mom. She said the plan was By the way, Aunt Sibbie, Mom’s little sis, got for Mom and her family to caravan the six hours married eight years after Mom, in 1962, to her with two stuffed cars, to a tiny garage apartment childhood sweetheart, Bob Lee, a Catholic. in Rosenberg. This was way before seatbelts, car They just celebrated their 60th anniversary and seats, air bags, etc. Get this, my grandfather, an so far, lightning hasn’t struck anyone. auto mechanic, decided to take the entire back-

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NEIGHBORS

by Andria Frankfort Dilling, staff writer

Hanukkah Joy Collections that bring a smile

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oyce Schechter is about as close to a fairy godmother as you can get, having given countless hours to so many Houston organizations. As generous as Joyce is when it comes to nonprofits, she’s just as generous with her home. She is always entertaining family and friends, setting the most beautiful and elaborate tables filled with pieces from her many collections: pumpkins of all colors and sizes, a rainbow of intricate porcelain fruits and vegetables, hearts, antique silver wine cups. And dreidels, the spinning tops used for the Hanukkah game of dreidel.

“If you’ve been in Joyce’s apartment, you know she is a collector,” says Roy Walter, Rabbi Emeritus at Congregation Emanu El. “She has an eye for beautiful things, and her apartment is filled with them because of that. Because being Jewish is such an important part of her life, that is an important part of what she collects.”

“I started collecting silver dreidels when I had grandchildren,” Joyce says. “It felt important for me to have Judaica [Jewish art and historical pieces] for them.”

With her husband Arthur, the former United States ambassador to the Bahamas, Joyce has five of her own grandchildren plus four more who are technically her sister’s grandchildren, but who she considers to be her own. They range in age from 21 to 29.

“I wanted my family to have the traditions I had. So I started finding dreidels, thinking they would go into a collection that I could eventually give to my grandchildren.” Through the years, Joyce has amassed a significant collection of silver (and some crystal) dreidels. “I bought them in antique shows, or from synagogues,” she says. “Some of them were given to me as gifts, some I bought in Europe.”

Her favorites are the antique dreidels.

“There’s just a certain romanticism about them,” she says, eyes twinkling. “What family were they in? How did they get out of the hands of that family so that I could buy them? Some are engraved with initials. It makes you wonder whose initials they were and what caused them to lose the dreidel.”

The silver dreidels are more than just interest-

ing to ponder and pretty to look at. “In Judaism, there is a custom called hiddur mitzvah, which means any object we use for a holiday we embellish and make beautiful,” Rabbi Walter says. “It is a symbolic object, not just an object. That’s where the idea of collecting dreidels – or beautiful menorahs or Shabbat candlesticks – comes from.”

Joyce holds up one of the more unique small dreidels. “This one opens, so maybe you would have put little prizes in there, or maybe it would have been spices inside to make it smell sweet, like a spice box.” Joyce also has a beautiful collection of elaborately carved and BEAUTIFUL TRADITIONS Joyce Schechter collects sterling silver Hanukkah filigreed sterling silver dreidels to hand down to her grandchildren. spice boxes in special has all the markings so you can exactly look up shapes (there are several tall, thin windmills, the year things were made.” some buildings), which are used in ceremonies Joyce’s annual Hanukkah parties promise marking the end of the Sabbath with the sweet potato latkes (fried potato pancakes), gelt (gold smell of spices, usually whole cloves or cinnachocolate coins), and games of dreidel. “Gammy mon chips. and Saba [Joyce’s and Arthur’s grandparent “The idea is, as you end the Sabbath, which names] always played with the kids, and we has a sweetness of its own as a gift from God, we always had prizes for the winners,” she says. enter the new week hoping it will be sweet,” “When they were little, it was little toys, games, explains Rabbi Walter. books. Once they hit about 12, the prizes As the owner of the now-closed Quaint became money.”

Corner Antiques and Gifts, Joyce knows what Joyce says she’s thought about putting some to look for to distinguish an old silver piece from of her many collections away, out of plain sight a new one. “Anything made after 1920 has to in her home brimming with remarkable objects, have a ‘made in’ mark,” she explains. “If they each piece and each collection with a story. She were stamped just with the country, but not admits that’s sometimes with a little urging from ‘made in,’ those were older. And if they had no her husband. “But,” she says, smiling, “they have markings except a silver mark, those were the brought me joy for so many years, so why would oldest.” When in doubt, Joyce has a little silver I put them away?” book she consults. “It’s like a dictionary, and it

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NEIGHBORS

by Michelle Groogan, staff writer

Act of Faith jackophoto.com

A Family’s Christmas Crèche

A GENERATIONAL GIFT Alejandra and David Zarzour with their three daughters (pictured, from left) 9-year-old Elena, 6-year-old Christina, and 11-year-old Sophia.

It’s a Zarzour family tradition to build an elaborate nativity scene in their Bellaire home.

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here is a rare, unique quality inherent in the holiday decorating at the Bellaire home of the Zarzour family. Beyond the sparkling lights adorning the outside of the home, the 12-foot trimmed tree on the inside, and the garland festooning the staircase, visitors discover the family crèche.

Crèche is a French word for cradle or nursery; in America it has come to be known as the representation of the Nativity scene. But there’s

nothing ordinary about this Nativity scene. It starts with five bags of sand and two bags of dirt poured out onto tables in David and Alejandra Zarzour’s formal dining room. It’s the foundation for the miniature holy city meticulously detailed with 300 plus pieces made up of villagers, stucco homes, farms, livestock, lakes, and fishermen.

Even crinkled, spray-painted builders paper lines the walls to resemble rock…it’s literally a whole village welcoming the wise men drawn by the

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bright star to a holy manger.

David, an anesthesiologist with U.S. Anesthesia Partners, can’t remember a time in his life when the family crèche was not on display in all of its diminutive glory. While some seasons demanded smaller productions than others, like the first years of marriage to Alejandra, an oncologist at MD Anderson, nevertheless, the deep meaning remained constant – a tradition that for this (continued on page 14)

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BUILDING A HOLY CITY Alejandra and David Zarzour spend weeks carefully designing and setting the scene for the family crèche. The family says this labor of love helps them celebrate and keep the focus on the reason for the season. David’s favorite piece, a commoner at the water well, is his G.I. Joe from when he was a child (bottom right photo), which his dad painted and dressed up. The white tower (top photo) depicts a lighthouse structure; it was made from a cast that David’s father, a doctor, brought home from the hospital. (continued from page 12) family can be traced back

three centuries.

“It’s something my dad did, because his dad did and his dad and so on,” said David. “It’s one of those traditions that really means a lot to my family, and I take great pride in it. I’m teaching it to my three girls. Hopefully they carry the tradition on also.”

When it comes to the joyful task of picking out a new piece for the crèche, 11-year-old Sophia, 9-year-old Elena, and 6-year-old Christina are all part of the process “I like looking at the individual characters and when they all come together it makes a real-

ly cool scene,” said Sophia, a sixth grader at the St. Thomas More Parish School.

“Building the crèche is such a unique family tradition,” said Alejandra Zarzour, David’s wife.

“It is a labor of love. The kids enjoy putting it together as much as they enjoy decorating the tree. More importantly it symbolizes the true meaning of Christmas.”

The family crèche in David’s childhood home was four times as large as the crèche being displayed in the Zarzour home this Christmas.

David’s dad, Steven Zarzour, passed away almost 20 years ago and the crèche was divided among David and his brother who lives in San

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Antonio. While David has curated his own large collection of pieces, with only half making it out into the scene, it’s the pieces from his father’s crèche that retain deep sentimental value.

“My dad hand-painted many of the figures himself. He would add embellishments,” recalled David. “I can remember him sitting for hours and hours painting, and he would use these baby paintbrushes.”

Even to the first-time observer, those pieces are obvious because his dad used a shinier, metallic paint, which makes them glisten in the light. To the delight of their mother, Beverley, it’s a special (continued on page 16)

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AN EXPRESSION OF REVERENCE The crèche is made up of small 6-inch statues, mostly from the Italian brand Fontanini. Many of the pieces are special as they belonged to David's father, Steven Zarzour. (continued from page 14) childhood memory still

reenacted in the homes of both Zarzour brothers every Christmas.

“My dad would drag us to every mom-and-pop Christmas store around to buy new pieces,” said Steven Zarzour, David’s brother, an attorney for Whataburger. “We made a whole adventure of it.

One time we drove all the way from Houston to Frankenmuth, Michigan to get one piece.”

Catholic scholars believe the nativity tradition started in the year 1223, when St. Francis of Assisi had live animals and hay at the Midnight Mass in the small Italian village of Greccio, about an hour and half from Rome.

According to writings about him at the time, Francis was becoming concerned about the cavalier attitude that many had toward Christmas and the increased focus on gift-giving.

“The spiritual side of the reenactment and why St. Francis did it, was to help him see with his own eyes what this must have been like; to help people see how Jesus entered the world,” said Father Clark Sample, Pastor of St. Thomas More Catholic Church who attended seminary at The Vatican and actually spent a week in Greccio for a silent retreat. “It affirms the imagination and how art really helps us go deeper into the mysteries of the faith to help you envision what Christmas was all about.”

Most of the pieces in the Zarzour family crèche are from the Fontanini brand, made in Italy. However, many pieces are so old they are no longer in circulation. The brothers estimate their cumulative collection has a value of about $20,000 and yet for the Zarzour family, this sacred act of faith defies any worldly appraisal as

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a source of inspiration. This ritual honors both Christ Jesus and the generations of their family from Egypt that carefully preserved this expression of reverence.

“We don’t hold any kind of open house or anything. We just like to put on some Christmas music, turn down the lights, and just be present,” said David. “If we never put a Christmas tree up again that’s okay. This is holy to me.

This is the real deal.”

The whole process of building the crèche takes about two weeks; David tweaks scenes all the way up to Christmas Day with plenty of contemplative moments. He has a favorite piece, a commoner at the water well.

“This is my G.I. Joe from when I was a boy that my dad painted and dressed up. So this one is probably the most valuable to me.”

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NEIGHBORS

by Cathy Gordon, staff writer

The Uvalde Girls Small town pride, lifelong ties

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mall towns. Where conversations extend beyond platitudes, and everyone knows your name. Close connections are born here. Friends and neighbors are like family, the fabric of what you become. And when buoyant youth, brains tilled like fertile soil, spring from the hometown nest, precious memories are etched in their soul.

Uvalde, population just over 15,000. It’s such a place to this pack of gal pals, seven unflappable, fun, vibrant women who are as tethered to each other as ship to anchor. Whether life is handing out roses or crumpling like a worn cardboard box, they’re there for one another.

“I barely remember a time before them,” says Wilchester resident Kami Buri of her childhood friends from the Hill Country town, 80 miles west of San Antonio. Two of those friends live nearby: Sally Cone of Bunker Hill and Amanda Hughes Pickering of West University. The three, along with Kyley Houck of Huntsville, Tania Leskovar-Owens of Austin, Sami Harris of Waco, and Charla Jenkins, still in Uvalde, are 1997 graduates of Uvalde High School, land of the maroon and white fightin’ Coyotes. But their friendships started long before their teen years, with squirmy little wiggles and giggles at each other’s breakfast tables. Their families – indeed, the entire community – raised them, as was the case for all their Uvalde classmates.

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he Uvalde Girls, as they call their text thread, are in it for the long haul. They’re the glue that binds life’s chapters. Weddings, birthdays, parenthood, deaths. They’ve grieved together at the loss of friends’ parents, and rejoiced at the birth of babies, 18 children in all among them, ages 3 to 14.

So, when a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers within the walls of Robb Elementary School in May, the school where their friendships took flight, it was an affront to their very foundation. They mourned for the town that raised them, their family. And they turned to each other, their rock.

“I immediately checked in on Charla because she has four kids and one of them was elementary age, third grade. But her kids don’t go to

Robb; her kids are in a dual language program in Uvalde, at a different campus,” explains Kami, whose mother was Robb Elementary’s school nurse when she and friends attended there. “We have family history there. And we have multiple friends whose sons and daughters were at Robb Elementary that day.

Eva Mireles, the wife of one of our classmates, was one of the teachers killed. It was personal, knowing so many FRIENDS FOREVER Childhood friendships in Uvalde have only grown stronger for Sally Cone of Bunker Hill, Kami Buri of Wilchester, and Amanda Hughes affected. We know sev- Pickering of West University (pictured, from left), who love each other like family. eral teachers who were Roosevelt, who called Uvalde home. there at the time. They were in our grade, our Adding the incomprehensible tragedy at classmates. We graduated together. Even if you Robb Elementary to the town’s “known for” catdon’t know someone directly, being a small egory is a hard pill to swallow, say the women. town like this, it affects everybody. There’s a “It’s not easy when the hometown you love ripple effect.” is suddenly known for this horrific act. It’s so “Total shock. I just remember thinking much more than that. It’s a wonderful place. It’s there’s no way that happened in our town. It’s where we fostered all these great relationships,” just the sweetest little town,” joins in Amanda. says Kami of her friends who regularly schedule “It was surreal.” girls trips. Next month they’ll travel to Sally, voice breaking, recalls that day, too. “A Savannah to decompress from their busy lives dear friend of our families, her son was shot in and take in the sights. the arm. So many people, so many connections.

Uvalde is the model for how they want to live I had to get home. I collected my family and life. within 48 hours we were there. We loved on each other at the town square. Our kids joined valde memories are, indeed, sweet, their in with other kids, chalking the sidewalks with families as intertwined as dangling gold messages and hearts.” chains. They knew each other’s moms, dads, and Uvalde has its claims to fame. Historically, it’s grandparents from school, sports, church…. right known as the Honey Capital of the World for down to the uncles, aunts, and cousins. Their production of huajillo honey, a light-colored parents were teachers, coaches, assistant princiversion of the liquid gold, discovered in the late pals, boy scout leaders, city officials. Everywhere 1800s. Oscar winning actor Matthew you look, a parent, not necessarily your own, had McConaughey, actress Dale Evans, and former eyes on you. They knew each other’s children Governor of Texas Dolph Briscoe were born like a compass knows north. They championed there. Garner State Park, one of the most visited them as if they were their own. state parks in Texas, is named after John Nance “I tell people all the time (continued on page 20) Garner, Vice President to Franklin D.

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U

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GROWING UP TOGETHER The Uvalde Girls, as they refer to their text thread, have seen each other from childhood to parenthood. Here are some of the gals during their high school days. Left photo: Uvalde High School seniors Kami Buri (left) and Sally Cone wear yellow cords representing their top 10 percent placement in the National Honor Society. Top right photo: Amanda Hughes Pickering (left) and Kami Buri are all smiles their senior year. Bottom right photo: Four of the seven friends: Tania Leskovar-Owens, Kyley Houck, Amanda, and Kami. (continued from page 18) about how tight Wilchester

is. I feel like I live in this little pocket that mimics what we had in Uvalde. I could, on any given day, call one of 20 moms to go get my kids at school,” Kami explains. “My kids are growing up knowing a lot of their friends’ aunts, uncles and cousins, grandparents, just like I did growing up.”

“Here we are in the fourth largest city in the country and our little hometown carries us. It’s just sweet,” says Sally. “My kids have the same small town feel here in Bunker Hill. They ride their bikes to school. How many kids do that, in the middle of Houston? It’s what we want for them, the same close connections and morals and standards that Uvalde taught us. I’m growing up with those Uvalde friends still. Our kids are, too. We might live 250 miles from there, but that community is in our hearts, and we’ve kept up those connections.”

Kami and Sally’s boys compete against each other in sports. Another generation developing ties. Amanda’s daughter, 3, is the youngest of the group’s children. “She is going to be a big city girl because we live in a big city, but I, too, want those kind of Uvalde values for her. The older I get, the more I feel how important that is,” Amanda agrees.

“You couldn’t get in too much trouble because there was accountability,” adds Amanda, with a laugh. She recalls one time her dad, city attorney for 25 years, and legal counsel at the bank, held her accountable.

“He called me when I was in high school and said ‘Can you stop writing hot checks? It’s embarrassing. Every time they read off the hot check list in the board meeting, your name is on there.’ I was such a kid. I wasn’t paying attention to the fact my account got overdrawn.”

Amanda’s mom taught in the local schools, as a substitute.

Sally’s dad was president of the Land Bank Association, now known as Capital Farm Credit. He loaned money to ranchers and farmers in the rural community, neighbors, and friends. He led a Boy Scout troop. Her mom was a teacher and taught Sunday school. The couple helped develop youth groups.

“Being the nurse’s kid, I didn’t get away with any stuff. You didn’t catch me faking a stomachache to get out of class,” says Kami, who followed in her mom’s footsteps, becoming a nurse. Her dad worked in various teacher, coach, and athletic coordinator roles

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in the school district for 37 years, including football coach and assistant principal at Uvalde High School.

“I remember classmates saying to me, ‘Your dad is so strict!’ I remember telling them ‘Just do what you need to do, and you won’t get in trouble!’” exclaims Kami. Her parents divorced. Her stepmother was the cross-country and track coach. “And my uncle was the tennis coach. So, I had a lot of family involved there. I had to walk the straight and narrow!”

When Amanda’s dad died in 2005 at age 59, it hit hard. Of the seven in the girlfriend group, Kyley and Charla have lost their dads, too.

“Those deaths are always hard because those men raised us,” explains Kami. “The dads drove us 30 minutes to Garner State Park to go dancing. All the Houston cute boys would go, and we weren’t yet driving age. They’d bring their fold-out chairs and sit there the entire time, quietly, till it was time to take us home.

“I adored Amanda’s dad,” Kami continues. “I would always sit in the kitchen and chit chat with him while waiting on Amanda. Amanda was always late.”

“Guilty,” Amanda quips, (continued on page 22)

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CONGREGATING IN CONCAN The group of seven women meet annually in Concan, the second weekend of June, husbands and children in tow, for much needed catch-up time and fun on the Frio River. Pictured, from left: Charla Jenkins, Kyley Houck, Kami Buri, Sami Harris, Amanda Hughes Pickering, Tania LeskovarOwens, and Sally Cone. (continued from page 20) adding, “It was like each

other’s parents were everyone else’s parents, too.

They all wanted us to succeed.”

“I think the spirit of Uvalde touches so many people, whether it’s people who come here from other places to hunt or to go to Garner State Park to camp. It’s such a beautiful area,” says Sally of the

region’s majestic Cypress trees, rivers, and cliffs.

The seven couples, children in tow, take advantage of that beauty the second weekend of each June, renting a large house in nearby Concan in central Uvalde County, along the spring-fed, crystal-clear Frio River. The dads – bonded, with their own text thread – float the

waters and golf with the older children.

Kami, Sally, Amanda, and their gal pals talk and talk, side conversation upon side conversation, afternoons morphing into evenings. Food, drinks, laughter. Lots of laughter. And they tuck their feet under each other like those little girls that shared dreams and secrets under a wide-open Uvalde sky.

Support for Uvalde People from all points of the globe responded to the Uvalde tragedy with donations and support for the victims’ families, and the town itself, reeling from the deadliest school shooting in the United States in a decade.

“People all over the world care,” says Sally, who, along with her girlfriends’ respective families did what they could “from our little corner of the world. It’s been an amazing outpouring of help all around the world.”

Kami reached out to Wilchester Elementary. The principal included a link in her weekly email where parents and staff could donate directly to the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District’s (UCISD) Amazon teacher wish list or make monetary donations directly to its PTO. She and husband, John, made a personal donation, matched by his employer, and her in-laws donated, too, through their involvement with their bingo committee.

The couple met with the UCISD PTO in September to deliver their check. “Hearing all the things the PTO has done is remarkable, trying to fill gaps for families and regain a sense of normalcy,” Kami explains.

“I’ve gotten so many emails from friends who live all over. People doing amazing things in response. And they are still doing it,” says Amanda, who assists with philanthropy for her employer, The Friedkin Group. They joined with Toyota Motor North America, providing substantial funding to several nonprofit organizations in Uvalde that are helping those impacted by the shooting.

Sally and husband, Matthew, donated to the Robb Memorial Fund through the First State Bank of Uvalde, and directly to a family who was impacted. “We support and encourage other Uvalde friends who have launched their own fundraising initiatives that are making great impacts.”

One of the women’s Uvalde classmates and friends, Roland Ramirez – head athletic trainer and director of sports medicine for the Houston Texans – was part of a contingent that surprised Uvalde High School football players at a dinner before the Coyotes’ season opener in September. The Texans organized transportation and a suite for the Uvalde team to attend Houston’s opener against the Indianapolis Colts.

The Texans wore “Uvalde Strong” decals on their helmets and gifted the Coyotes new uniforms provided by Nike.

“People just do what they can, and that makes a difference,” Kami says.

Robb Memorial Fund donations are accepted through Zelle at: robbschoolmemorialfund@gmail.com or via check to 200 E. Nopal St., Uvalde, TX 78801.

Donations to the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District PTO can be made via PayPal (see this story at thebuzzmagazines.com for the link) or checks can be sent to Uvalde CISD PTO, PO Box 5401, Uvalde, TX 78802.

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NEIGHBORS

by Cheryl Ursin, staff writer

The Pull of Tractors Van Burkhart shares his fascination

V

an Burkhart’s earliest childhood memories are of his grandparents’ farm, and in particular, of the tractors on that farm.

Of the first one he can remember, he says, “I always wanted to ride that tractor, and my grandfather would start it up for me. I had no idea at the time that he had to work so hard to get that big old John Deere tractor going.”

Van, age 77, explains that the tractor, which had to be hand-cranked to start, was what’s known as a “Poppin’ Johnny,” one of the twocylinder tractors John Deere made from about 1918 to 1960. They get their nickname from the distinctive “pop, pop” sound their engines make.

This year, the same kind of “Poppin’ Johnny,” a 1936 John Deere B, sits on Van’s lawn in Tanglewood, adorned with Christmas lights and the figures of Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, and in a very rare antique manure loader attached to the front of the tractor, the Grinch.

Every year, Van hauls a few of the antique tractors and their implements from his collection, kept at his farm in Limestone County, about a 2½-hour drive away, to decorate his yard for the holidays. He’s been doing this since 2010.

People stop to take pictures and ask about the tractors. “Dad loves that,” says Van’s daughter, Lizzy, who lives nearby and helps set the equipment up in the yard every year.

Van tells a story. “I was picking up my dry cleaning and gave the woman behind the counter my address,” he says. “She said, ‘I know right where you are. You’re near that bozo with the tractors in his yard.’” He laughs.

Van has about 25 tractors that are completely restored and roughly about 100 more that he has fixed to the point that they run. (“Well,” he clarifies, “They have run. You can’t just walk out there and crank them up, but they have run.”) Lizzy estimates that he has over 100 more tractors that have yet to run or that he’s using for their parts.

He keeps them at his farm outside Groesbeck, stored in several barns. He also has an air-conditioned workshop there to work on them.

W

hy is Van fascinated with tractors? Well, for one thing, they remind him of his grandparents’ and parents’ stories about farming.

TRACTOR BEAMS Van and Bridget Burkhart stand in front of this year's holiday tractor on their front lawn.

“It was a tough, tough, tough life,” says Van. “My parents could remember my grandparents having mules. In fact, when my grandparents bought their first tractor, which cost as much as a house, they couldn’t keep it running, so they switched back to mules for several years.

Tractors back then were just so unreliable.”

But Van is also one of those people who just has an affinity for and an appreciation for machinery. (We call these people “handy” and ask them to help us when something of ours breaks.) This affinity has been a theme throughout his remarkable life.

He was a senior at Baylor University when he went to see an air show performed by the Blue Angels, the flight demonstration squad of the U.S. Navy. “That’s the first time I had ever been that close to high-performance aircraft,” he remembers.

Perhaps not coincidentally, two weeks later, there were recruiters for the Navy’s Aviation Officer Candidate School on the Baylor campus.

Van signed up, and after passing both the written and physical exams, he was in. He graduated from Baylor on a Saturday; the following Monday, he reported for duty in Pensacola, Fla. He went through almost 18 months of general flight training to “earn his wings,” then an additional number of months (“four months, at least,” Van says) of training on the aircraft he would fly, the A-3. The A-3, to this day, is the largest aircraft, at about 70,000 pounds, to ever operate on an aircraft carrier. “It’s right at the limits of weight,” says Van. “In fact, it’s the only jet that doesn’t have ejector seats because they were saving on weight.”

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His last training requirement was to perform six night-time landings onto an aircraft carrier.

Van performed his, on the USS Constellation off the coast of San Diego, on the night of July 20th, 1969, the night of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Van and his fellow aviators were watching that first moon landing on television as they waited their turns. “I thought, ‘Boy, I don’t think that guy (Neil Armstrong, about to walk on the moon) can be any more scared than I am right now,” Van remembers with a chuckle.

Van went on to fly 160 missions during the Vietnam War and eventually became a Navy flight instructor for the A-3. The A-3 plane now on display aboard the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi is a plane that Van flew.

After the Navy, Van flirted with the idea of becoming an airline pilot, or rather, the airline companies flirted hard with him. As an A-3 pilot and a flight instructor, he was the perfect candidate. By now married with a young child, though, Van did not want to be away from home as much as an airline pilot would be.

He decided to come home to the Houston area. One of his brothers-in-law introduced him to the owner of Alamo Barge Lines, a marinetransport company that ran pushboats up and down American rivers. A cousin to tugboats, pushboats, as their name implies, push, rather than tug, their barges. The owner of Alamo invited him to take a two-week ride back and forth from Baton Rouge to Chicago on one of the company’s pushboats to see if he’d like to work for the company.

Van did like it. His job, in operations, included building pushboats from scratch and buying

old pushboats and modernizing them. It was his favorite part of the job.

Eventually, he started his own company, Capital Towing. By the time Van retired, his company was running 14 pushboats. “There are very few places on the major waterways in the U.S. that our boats didn’t go,” he says.

By the time his children, Lizzy and Jake, were at Memorial High School, Van started to become interested in antique tractors. “I went from jets to pushboats to tractors,” he says with a laugh.

The tractors have been fun for the whole family. They’ve often driven them in parades in Groesbeck. Lizzy and Jake drove them in homecoming parades while at Baylor. “I remember watching Lizzy drive a ‘Poppin’ Johnny’ in a Baylor parade,” says Van. “A man in front of me said, ‘Look at her go! That gal grew up on a farm!’” Van smiles. “That gal grew up in Memorial.”

Van, his wife Susan, Jake, and Lizzy lived in Hunter’s Creek. Tragically, Susan died of cancer in 2001. A few years before, the husband of Susan’s friend Bridget Murchison died of a heart attack. Van remembers being at Spencer’s funeral with Susan. “I would never have thought I’d be there just a few years later for Susan,” he says.

The two families had known each other for years, lived several blocks apart; the children of both families went to school together since preschool. Years later, Van and Bridget met again at a pre-wedding party for some friends of their children. They ended up marrying in 2004 and moved from Hunter’s Creek to Tanglewood.

V

an is far from alone in his love of antique tractors. While his hobby has more adherents in rural areas in the Midwest than in Houston, there’s a whole community of antiquetractor lovers and experts out there. “With this hobby, I have met so many interesting people,” he says. There are companies that make replacement parts for these antique machines. There are auctions and tractor shows. One of Van’s favorites, held by the Texas Early Day Tractor & Engine Association, takes place in Temple, Texas every October. There are reference books and websites and magazines devoted to specific types of antique tractors, such as The Green Magazine, about John Deere tractors, which are green and yellow, or Red Power Magazine about Farmall tractors, which are red.

When Van first started collecting tractors, he saw that one of a model his paternal grandparents had, a Bull tractor, was going to be sold at an auction in Arizona. Bull tractors are distinctive because they have three wheels, with just a single wheel in the front. “I thought maybe I’ll go out and buy that old Bull because that’s the first tractor my dad could ever remember,” says Van, “but when I got out there, they said the first bid on it was $30,000, so … maybe not.”

That particular tractor, which was not fully restored, though it did run, eventually sold at the auction for close to $60,000.

Part of the appeal of his hobby for Van is the

ALL IN THE FAMILY Bottom: A young Van on the second tractor he can remember from his grandfather’s farm. Top: Daughter Lizzy drove Van’s tractor in the 1998 Baylor Homecoming Parade.

tinkering. “It just puts a smile on my face to get something running that hasn’t run in 30, 40, 50 years,” he says. Tractors are particularly satisfying to work on, says Van, because they are “simplicity in its best form.”

Studying all the different variations and developments in tractors and their implements, such as corn binders and front loaders, also fascinates him. “It’s the history, the appreciation for those generations who went from using horses and cutting wheat with sickles to becoming more mechanized,” he says.

Ironically, when it comes to collecting, some of the rarest and most desirable tractors and implements are the ones that were, well, flops in the marketplace. Perhaps they were too expensive, or they were dangerous to operate, and therefore, only a few were made. In other cases, very specialized tractors, such as ones designed to be thin and streamlined to work in orchards between the trees or a kind of Farmall tractor

that was only used in the sugar-cane fields in Louisiana, are rare and desired by collectors.

Van knows that antique tractors are not to be found in rural areas that were close to railroad lines because, during World War II, farmers were encouraged to donate old equipment to scrap-metal drives for the war effort. He can look at an old tractor and know that it came from West Texas because of the way it rusted, or rather, didn’t rust, over the years. He can recognize when a tractor has an unusual set of wheels on it or an unusual transmission, making it more collectible.

The Texas Early Day Tractor & Engine Association, which runs the annual show in Temple, has the slogan, “Saving yesterday for tomorrow.” Van does that as well. He loves bringing them to Tanglewood for people to see.

“People will stop and ask me if they can take pictures of them,” says Van with a smile. “Of course. That’s why I brought them here.”

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NEIGHBORS

by Cathy Gordon, staff writer

The Memory Mill Romance with a childhood ranch

H

er memories loom as large and clear as her home’s front picture window. “It’s the eye to the neighborhood,” says Terese Wagner of the expansive glass pane in the living room of her 1953 ranch house, the walls that shaped her childhood, little toes dipping into shag carpet, the colors of a coral reef.

“Dark blue and neon green. It was the hippest thing you’ve ever seen.”

Yes, home to Terese is the home she grew up in. It’s where she roller skated on parquet floors and played hide and seek with younger siblings, Loraine and Thomas. Where relatives and friends gathered for anniversaries, holidays and Andy Warhol-style parties, her parents, Joan and Frank Marik, the perfect cocktail hosts.

Memories are stacked here, like layers upon layers of strata, imprints of different times, rich with energy. And they are being made still.

“It’s never been anything but wonderful, living in this house,” says Terese of the mid-century gem in Old Braeswood, awash in original ash wood paneling and mid-century features like a time capsule from earlier times. An old-fashioned silver tinsel Christmas tree sparkles from that picture window, bedecked in souvenir ornaments from travels and a plethora of Houston Astros rings and mementos.

Yes, season ticket holders here. Terese is even retro when it comes to baseball, keeping score, pencil to scorecard, every single game. “I’ve done it my entire life, since going to the Astrodome with my grandfather. He taught me.

Those memories are priceless, along with memories in this house.”

O

h, if walls could talk…. Wait. They can.

“We kind of are those walls,” continues Terese, who moved back to her childhood home in 2001, raising her children Michael, Andrew, and Allison there with husband, Gary. Her mother sold the house in 1989 to Carol Mancusi-Ungaro, then chief art conservator at Houston’s Menil Collection, who loved the home for its mid-century charm.

Serendipity is a wonderful thing.

Terese’s son, Michael, wanted a playdate with a certain friend from school. Terese looked up

the family, finding they lived on her childhood street.

Right next to her childhood home.

“I mentioned to the mother of Michael’s friend that we were looking for a house.

We’d outgrown our current one in Braes Heights. She said ‘Oh, the house next to me… she’s HOME Terese Wagner and her family live in the same house where she grew up. “It’s going to sell it.’”

On a Friday in never been anything but wonderful, living in this house,” she said. Here, she’s pictured with her old-fashioned tinsel tree, decorated with souvenir ornaments from travels and 2001, the night of Houston Astros mementos. the Houston Lines are drawn in the wood, with dates and Rodeo’s chili cook-off, Terese and Gary, all names at varying levels, growth spurt marks duded up in boots and cowboy hat, stopped by climbing like a vine, year after year – the heights the oh-so-familiar house, knocked on the door of children, their friends, and relatives who lived and entered a déjà vu moment to beat all déjà and loved in this house, even the cats. vu moments, breathing in a sanctum of memoHer dad started this panel of permanent ries along with a tour. Gary knew the house, too, record back in 1968. When her parents sold the from when they dated. Terese lived in it until home to Carol, she continued it with her chilthey married in 1986. dren. When Terese bought the childhood home, “It was like home. Of course, she had it done her kids, too, stood straight, heel to door, up differently, but it was perfection,” Terese enshrining their heights, year after year. An recalls. “She had the most authentic mid-cenarcheological measure of life within a house. tury modern furniture, fixtures, you name it. She “It’s a wonderful house,” says her mother, was a curator, a very sharp lady. How she found Joan, admitting homesick pangs when she sold all these authentic things before eBay and the property in the late 1980s. When she and Amazon, I’ll never know. Of course, she took her husband purchased it in 1968, it listed for every fixture with her when she moved.” $39,000, says the Bellaire resident. “But, oh A few days after the tour, Carol paid a visit to gosh, my most favorite thing about the house is Terese and Gary. There was another interested the bar. We had all kinds of parties when we party, she said, asking Terese: “Why do you want lived there. Halloween, anniversaries, birthdays, this home?” dinner parties, you name it.”

“I told her about all my memories and warm The mirrored bar is a star feature against the feelings and the importance of the neighborden wall. It pulls out from its mooring to reveal hood to me and that it was such a quality home,” a full-blown cocktail extravaganza, replete with Terese recalls. “She put her hand on mine and sink and all the fixings. You couldn’t do any betsaid, ‘You will have this house.’” ter on the set of the spectacularly mod drama Mad Men, set in that period. erese embraces the house like a guardian to “This whole thing can be pulled out into the a child, pointing out precious scribblings on room,” explains Terese, (continued on page 28) the inside of its kitchen pantry door.

T

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RAVISHINGLY RETRO Left: The heights of children and neighbors etched into the pantry door tell the tale of families who have lived in this 1953 ranch. Top right: A starburst doorknob on the home’s front door hints of the marvelous mid-century details inside. Bottom right: The turquoise and pink bathroom off the front entryway sparkles in original tile. (continued from page 26) maneuvering the home’s

showy attribute into the den. “I love to have parties. Any excuse to pull out this bar.”

Joan moved there with Frank, two kids in tow – Terese and younger sister, Loraine. “I found out I was pregnant right after we moved in.”

Baby Thomas was a bright spot in the family, says Terese, who fought with Loraine over holding him. “I just adored him. I remember one time he hid in the hamper in the bathroom, and I could not find him. I was beside myself. I thought he was lost!”

Joan and Terese bemoan the low surfaces in the house, but, hey, it’s just another fun quirk. Sinks, countertops. The home was originally built in the 1950s for the Gordon family, of Gordon Jewelers.

“The wife was really short, apparently,” recalls Terese. “I don’t remember what we did to remedy that. It was terrible,” says her mom.

In some cases, like the kitchen, they solved the problem somewhat by lowering floors, removing layer upon layer of linoleum, Terese explains.

One of the bathrooms in ’50s blue upon blue tile had to be gutted and redone, due to a persistent leak. So, countertop height solved.

Other fun attributes abound in this mid-century gem. Magnificent round pulls that look like gigantic coat buttons on cupboards, a retro vegetable bin in the kitchen, a utilitarian looking wall panel in the master bedroom that her parents used to turn off house lights at night. An especially fun feature is a secret door, a panel

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that parades as an architectural piece of siding to the side of their front door. In fact, it’s another door, a secret passageway of sorts into the house that allows service people access. It leads to a large utility room, replete with multi-colored linoleum floor.

“That door is particularly fun at Halloween,” Terese says, with a chuckle. “Trick or treat and I’ll scare you.”

Also fun is the main bathroom off the front hallway, a testament to mid-century spunk in pink and turquoise with original sink and pink toilet, a pristine throne from the era. “I love it.

Love it,” enthuses Terese, who admits it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. “When people see it, it’s ‘Oh, how cute.’ They don’t (continued on page 30)

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I don’t care. I love it.”

Like most ranch houses of that era, three bedrooms are clustered down a long hallway at one end, with the family areas and kitchen to the other side. This house has room in spades. It is 3,261 square feet, to be exact, but it seems larger, especially since Terese and Gary had one wall removed that separated the breakfast room from the den. It has a garage apartment, too.

She found a “miracle worker,” she says, to fashion parquet floors – flooring composed of wooden blocks arranged in a geometric pattern – in the dining and living rooms, matching original parquet in the front hallway, den, and breakfast room. “Can’t tell the difference.”

Her mom recalls hearing about a long jumper in the 1968 Olympics who careened 29 feet to set a record. “And that’s about the length of that living room,” Terese says. The room is 24.5 feet long, to be exact. Someone who owned the home before her mother painted the room’s flagstone fireplace white. Sacrilege to Terese and her geologist husband. Terese painted gray grout lines to break up the stones and make it look more appealing.

While she doesn’t outfit her home in midcentury furnishings like the previous homeowner, Carol, she appreciates the style. Instead, she prefers an eclectic look. “I like a mixture of things and unusual things,” she says, pointing out two empire style chairs, reupholstered in the silk fabric from her wedding dress.

“Terese definitely has her own style,” says her uncle, Joel Barna, a writer, and former Galveston magazine editor who knew the home’s previous owner, Carol, when she lived in Galveston. In 1979, he received a phone call from a woman proposing to write a story for his bi-weekly magazine about The Feast of the Seven Fishes, a traditional Italian Christmas eve dinner. “Years later, my sister Joan mentioned when she sold her house that it was to a woman named Carol Mancusi-Ungaro. It was a remarkable coincidence. That’s the woman who contacted me and wrote that story. I got to know her and her husband a bit. They were delightful people.”

He remembers staying with his sister and her family in his early 20s, before he went into the Peace Corps, living in their garage apartment.

And he recalls dumplings. Lots of dumplings.

“There was an anniversary party for my parents, and we were all involved in the preparation and there was a priest, an immigrant from China, who came to make dumplings. We were all doing vegetable chopping because he was going to make, like, 10,000 dumplings.”

He remembers, too, long days in the den, watching Watergate hearings that dominated the country.

The neighborhood, while it has changed, is still a gem of a place to live, close to conveniences, with wonderful neighbors, says Terese.

But, boy, have the features changed.

“It’s like we lived in the suburbs back then,”

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(continued from page 28) know what to think of it.

FUN FEATURES Terese and her family love the home’s mid-century features, replete with a pull-out bar in the den (top left) and original knobs in the kitchen that look like giant buttons on cupboards (bottom right). Two chairs were upholstered in silk fabric from her wedding dress (top right), shown here flanking the flagstone hearth. A replica ring given to Houston Astros fans on “ring days” adorns her tinsel Christmas tree (bottom left), along with a myriad of other Astros treasures. An avid Houston Astros fan and season ticketholder, Terese said of the World Series win: “It was glorious.”

she says, recalling the long-ago since demolished Shamrock Hilton, then the grandest hotel in Texas at 20 stories tall. Her playground of choice. She and friends would hop on their bikes, swimsuits under clothes, and race to the Olympic-sized pool with a 10-meter diving board, where her parents had a membership. “It was so huge, they used to lower the water in the pool and have water skiing shows in it every year,” she recalls.

She would climb up the diving board, feet dangling over water, and watch the fireworks from Astroworld. “It was heaven.”

T

he house is still the gathering place for family. Thanksgiving, parties, anniversaries, birthdays. Terese wouldn’t have it any other way. She doesn’t plan to go anywhere anytime soon, though they have a second home in

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Wimberley. “Friends keep asking me there when we are just going to move to Wimberley, but I love my house. I don’t know, maybe I’m just delaying things because I know someone will just tear it down after we leave. I’m putting that off. It’s home. Nothing fancy schmancy, but I love it. I’m comfortable here.”

Terese points out a lone swath of original wallpaper – a geisha with parasol and a man playing the strings, floating against a coralsalmon lattice design. The Asian scene has taken up residence on the walls of the home’s coat closet for decades, a remnant paper trail linking past to present. A greeter, of sorts, to all who have lived in the house. Take your coat off and stay a while.

“This home makes me happy,” says Terese.

“It did as a kid, and it does now. Nothing but warm feelings.”

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KIDS

.

by Annie Blaylock McQueen, staff writer

Buzz Baby

Instagram vs. reality: Holiday edition

Buzz Baby is a column about life with little ones.

Writer Annie McQueen is a mother of four children under the age of 8.

A

s my entire family waited in the drivethrough line of Whataburger, my four kids, all under the age of 7 at the time, were fighting over a silly toy. Suddenly, my phone rang. It was a little after 6 p.m. on a chilly Thursday before Christmas 2021.

I answered. I heard a kind voice. “Annie?”

“Yes, this is she,” I replied. “I got a cancellation for a carriage ride. Can you all be here in 15 minutes?” he asked.

Well, 15 minutes usually is not even enough time for my kids to put on their shoes, but as fate had it that wintery evening, we were just down the street from the meeting spot of these horsedrawn carriage rides to look at Christmas lights.

We decided to go for it.

I had spoken to the man in November, hoping to book a picturesque carriage. He explained that not only was he full but he’d been full for months. I asked if he could put me on a cancellation list just in case. He took down my number. I sort of forgot about it.

Well, that phone call was our moment.

Here was the Christmas memory I had dreamt of for my kids – riding with blankets and hot chocolate past colorful twinkling lights while the steady beat of horse hooves played in the background.

We pulled up. At least 12 horse-drawn carriages filled the lot. Parents and kids, head to toe in perfect holiday outfits, awaited. Everyone had gloves and blankets and Yetis filled with hot chocolate. And there we were. Ketchup was all over my toddler’s face and my older son did not like the shoes he brought. He insisted on walking to the carriage without shoes on. Sigh.

I was wearing workout clothes from the day’s holiday errands. All four of my children had disheveled hair. Even though it was chaotic, I believe that if I had tried to plan a perfect holiday outing in advance, it not only would not have gone as planned, but it might not have happened at all. Because life happens. Life with kids happens.

As we loaded into the carriage, I grabbed my phone to snap a photo of my kids in the carriage. It was not an Instagram-worthy photo. It was reality.

The moment was chaos, but it was beautiful chaos, and it filled my heart. That chaotic night is burned in my brain. It was not perfect by any stretch. It was real.

The holidays can add extra stress for parents, especially parents with THIS IS REAL LIFE Mom-of-two Caroline Lecky had the perfect matching young children and Christmas outfits for her son Preston and daughter Scarlett, then 16 months and 3 years old, for pictures with Santa. But life doesn't always go according to babies. It is the pressure plan – especially life with little ones. to have the gifts The Dickermans, who also celebrate wrapped in perfect matching paper. Have Hanukkah, got Spencer a “laser dreidel” when matching dresses and make picture-perfect sughe was 2. “He was terrified,” said Erin. They ary iced cookies. Do not forget to snap beautiful took a video of Spencer, shrieking and running photos for the ’gram (Instagram for those who away from the light-up dreidel, which spun do not know). around the room.

Well, what if we did not give in to that stress?

A few years ago, Buzz mom Caroline Lecky What if in the “Instagram versus reality” world, planned a visit with Santa for her two children, we leaned into reality instead of the picture-perScarlett and Preston. She purchased adorable fect Instagram scene? What if we skipped the matching tartan plaid outfits for them to wear. gram-worthy photos and embraced the chaos?

From their outfits to their socks, shoes, and Erin Dickerman, a mom of three, says she tried Scarlett’s little bow, everything was on point to make the holidays extra special in 2020. “I and running smoothly. As Scarlett was walking wanted to make up for not being able to do any up to enter, she tripped outside in the parking of the normal stuff that year,” she said. She tried lot and cut her knee. Caroline had to put two all sorts of crafts and home activities that year. large blue band-aids on the cut, which showed She tried to make some cute Pinterest crafts that up in the picture. It makes for a funny story now, she says she rarely tackles at home. “One of the even though it was not too funny at the time. crafts we tried to do was make cinnamon dough As a parent, it can be a challenge to relax durornaments,” said Erin. She set up the ingredients ing the holidays. We have in our minds the way and supplies. In her mind, she envisioned creatwe want things to go, and the way they do go. ing these save-worthy ornaments to hang on the So, whether you devise your family’s holiday tree and keep year after year. plans months in advance or accept a last-minute Erin had three kids under the age of 3 – big carriage ride cancellation, just try to forget about brother Spencer, and baby twins, Lucy and taking those perfect Insta-worthy photos. Let us Crosby. The supplies were out, and it was a mess. all post the failed attempts – the real ones.

Lucy attempted to eat the paint. Fail. But she Happy Holidays. remembers it as a fun day.

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Cindy Burnett

ARTS

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by Cindy Burnett, staff writer

Buzz Reads

Five picks for December

Buzz Reads is a column about books by reviewer Cindy Burnett. Each month, Cindy recommends five recently or soon-to-be released titles.

American Cartel by Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz (nonfiction) – In the U.S., death by opioid overdose has consistently climbed over the last two decades. Unlike previous drug crises, the opioid epidemic was sparked by U.S. drug manufacturers and further flamed by those same drug companies, pharmaceutical distributors, pharmacies, and doctors. American Cartel chronicles how a small group of DEA agents and a band of lawyers worked diligently for years to stem the flow of these drugs and to make these bad actors pay for the crisis they created. While the book starts slow and slowly builds up steam, the second half reads like a thriller though if it were fiction the “bad guys” would appear comically drawn – the behavior these drug companies and distributors engaged in seems so over-the-top it is hard to believe that they and the scores of people working for them actually behaved so horrifically.

American Cartel is a stellar (and at times horrifying) read that proves the continued importance of high-quality investigative journalism in today’s world and how greed created a national emergency that has swept the country unchecked.

Blood & Ink by Joe Pompeo (nonfiction) – Blood & Ink chronicles the killing of Reverend Edward Hall, whose congregation at St. John the Evangelist was filled with the city’s wealthy citizens, and Eleanor Mills, a member of the church and choir where Hall preached; both individuals were married to other people. The two bodies were discovered on the morning of Saturday, September 16, 1922, on the edge of town, arranged together as if sleeping on the ground under a crabapple tree. From the start, local officials mangled the investigation. By the afternoon of the couple’s discovery, thousands of people turned out to see the bodies, trampling over grass and the crime scene to view the couple while no one attempted to preserve the crime scene. New York City newspapers caught wind of the story and started covering it in what would eventually lead to a three-way fight to sensationalize the case and ultimately to the birth of tabloid journalism.

Pompeo weaves in how the advent of this tabloid phenomenon began and how this particular murder contributed so heavily with its splashy headlines and sensational photos relating to the crime. Blood & Ink explores our fascination with true crime and tabloid journalism and how the two are closely WHAT TO READ This month’s picks include two nonfiction books, one about the opioid crisis and the other an exploration of true crime and tabloid jourinterconnected. nalism and how the two are interconnected, and three historical fiction books The Call of the set in Colorado, Europe, and Harlem.

Wrens by Jenni L. tolary format and enjoyed the presence of Walsh (historical fiction) – This dual timeline Langston Hughes in the book as well as learning tale follows two women born several decades more about 1920s Harlem. apart who work as WRENS, in the Women’s Gilded Mountain by Kate Manning (historiRoyal Naval Service, delivering messages via cal fiction) – Set in the mining town of motorcycle during war time. Marion joins in 1917 Moonstone, Colorado at the turn of the 20th to avoid homelessness while in 1936, Evelyn has century, this epic tale follows Sylvie Pelletier as overcome a disability and has a passion for autoshe comes of age as well as telling the story of coal mobile racing. She gets drawn into service when miners and their struggles against ruthless mine she learns about the WRENS. Both women find owners during this time period. Sylvie loves writtheir purpose and passion during the two world ing essays in school and lands a job at the local wars as WRENS and eventually their two stories newspaper owned by Miss Redmond, who started weave together in an emotional conclusion. The her own newspaper when no one else would hire Call of the Wrens highlights a courageous group of her. Eventually, Sylvie is offered a higher paying women whose stories are less well known and job as a secretary to the wife of the mine’s owner, whose contributions to both world wars will now Mrs. Padgett, and she sees how the wealthy live. not be forgotten.

As conditions at the mine worsen and violence Cora’s Kitchen by Kimberly Garrett Brown seems inevitable, Sylvie tries to navigate between (historical fiction) – This epistolary novel set in the two different worlds and struggles to choose 1928 Harlem stars Cora, a librarian at the 135th sides amid conflicting relationships. Lyrically Street library, who longs to become an author. written, Gilded Mountain explores the always relLangston Hughes is a library patron who has left evant topics of coming of age, belonging, justice, for college, and one day she decides to write him equality, and family while detailing a period of a letter asking for advice on following her dream history not often covered in fiction. of writing. He writes back launching a correspondence that galvanizes Cora to pursue her literary Editor’s note: Southside Place resident Cindy ambitions. When Cora must take a leave of Burnett also writes our weekly Page Turners column absence from the library to fill in for her cousin at thebuzzmagazines.com. She hosts the Thoughts as a cook at a wealthy white woman’s home, Cora from a Page Podcast, is co-creator of the Houston unexpectedly befriends her employer Eleanor, literary event series Conversations from the Page, and the two enter into an alliance that will help runs the Instagram account @thoughtsfromapage, them step outside the roles and expectations sociand regularly speaks to groups about books. ety places on them. I love novels written in epis-

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TRAVEL

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by Tracy L. Barnett, staff writer

Travel Buzz I

Turkey: Journey through a Crucible of Cultures

t was an epic sojourn through ancient history. Turkey is the birthplace of Roman kings, Trojan warriors, Sufi saints, and Old Testament prophets; it was the home of the Apostles John and Paul and the Virgin Mary.

This crossroad of cultures straddles Europe and Asia and is, in many ways, the cradle of modern civilization.

Little wonder, then, that when Antonio and Alexia Benavides were invited to join a tour led by the Turkish geologist Dr. Pinar Oya Yilmaz – a dear friend to Antonio’s sister Marita Benavides – naturally they jumped at the chance.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to go on the trip, and our friend had been organizing the itinerary with so much love and care for over a year,” said Alexia. Oya, as her friends know her, retired two years ago from her position as a high-level Exxon executive, and had meticulously planned the trip for herself and her best friends. In all there were nine in the group that traveled together, plus a local driver and guide.

In preparing the itinerary, Oya showcased a bedazzling window into Turkish culture. She spared no effort to feature the very best of Turkish cuisine, arranging special seatings and tastings in some of the finest restaurants. She included plenty of time for rug and silk and ceramic shopping and haggling fun. Of course, being a geologist, she included an overview of Turkey’s jaw-dropping geology, with spectacular formations and sites displaying every era dating back to the Jurassic.

After a nonstop flight from Houston, the journey began in Istanbul, as have many journeys over the millennia – although under the Greeks and then the Romans, it was known as Byzantium (660 B.C.-196 A.D.); and under the Eastern Orthodox Christians, it became Constantinople (330 A.D.) before the conquest by the Ottoman army led by Sultan Mehmed II in 1453.

“This is the point at which East meets West,” said Antonio. “Obviously I’m fascinated by the history and geopolitics of Turkey, which has been invaded since the beginning of mankind by every kind of civilization and world power.”

At the same time, he was surprised at the extent of modern infrastructure, equal to any contem-

porary metropolis, Turkey being one AMONG THE GODS Alexia and Antonio Benavides walk among the toppled heads of sculptured deities that once adorned the temple-tomb of King Antiochus I of of the world’s top Commagene (69-34 B.C.) 20 economies.

1,500-year-old Hagia Sophia, the world’s largest It was Antonio’s first time to Turkey, and cathedral for nearly a thousand years; the magnifalthough Alexia had been to Istanbul once, it icent Blue Mosque, with its blue-tiled interior was with her parents, 30 years ago, and that had dome and its exquisite Ottoman architecture; and been on the European side of the city. This time the remains of Byzantine Hippodrome, a pleasant they would stay on the Asian side of the city, walkway that served during Roman times as an where Oya’s apartment was. After three days in arena for chariot races and other entertainment.

Istanbul, they would set off for Eastern Turkey There in the ancient city they descended to – the “fairy castles” and underground cities of see one of its most impressive sights: Yerebatan Cappadocia, the Biblical city of Antioch, and Sarayi, or the Basilica Cistern, whose name litother ancient cities all the way to the border erally means “sunken palace.” A basilica, built with Syria. during the third and fourth centuries, once stood But first there was Istanbul to explore, and here and was a stunning work of architecture in that was an endless source of wonder in itself. itself. In the sixth century, Emperor Justinian I built the cistern, according to ancient texts, on eginning from their home base in the upthe backs of 7,000 slaves, many of whom died. and-coming Eastern neighborhood of Moda, The cistern was the water source for the nearby they enjoyed a ferry ride across the Bosphorus, Topkapi Palace complex. docking at the bustling Eminonu pier. From The forest of marble columns and ornate there, they made their way to the fragrant 16th stonework remains intact, and their reflections century Spice Market, and the cavernous Grand shimmer on the water-covered floor. Sculptures Bazaar, shopping to their hearts’ content before abound, most unforgettably two massive Medusa continuing on to Sultanahmet, the Old City, heads – one upside down, and one on its side, and to some of the world’s most stunning archiboth held firmly in place under massive marble tecture: the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, columns – perhaps, as tourist guides say, to proTopkapi Palace, and the Basilica Cistern. tect passersby from their evil gaze.

The Grand Bazaar, built in the 1400s, is one Alexia was stunned to learn the extent of the of the largest and oldest covered markets in the waterworks engineered during Roman times, world, with 61 covered streets and some 4,000 with hot water and rooms heated with steam – shops – often called the world’s oldest shopping even the floors were heated. “It was just mindmall. The vibrancy of the city markets, in an boggling, the things that were done in ancient area that was a hub of commerce for millennia, times,” she remarked. was what most impressed Antonio, who recalled that the Silk Road ended here in Istanbul, bringn their fourth day they flew to Sanliurfa, ing untold exotic treasures from the Far East for also known as Urfa, a portal to the more than 1,500 years. ancient past that defies the imagination. Urfa Alexia was surprised at the number of highlies in the eastern part of Turkey, near the borend jewelry stores she saw in the Bazaar. der with Syria. Here in this sacred city that “I did not expect an open market like that to was part of the ancient kingdom of Babylon, have all those precious pieces of jewelry being sold: the prophet Abraham, Father of Judaism, emeralds, gold, diamonds,” she said. “The whole Christianity, and Islam, is said to have been window was just full of gold… and then the next born in a cave that has become a pilgrimage one… the sparkle was pretty impressive.” site for thousands. Every day people remove Finally they headed for Sultanahmet, the their shoes, don head- (continued on page 40) ancient walled city, where they saw the nearly

B

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O

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LIVING LARGE IN TURKEY Clockwise, from upper left: “You only live once,” reads the inscription on a mosaic from the Roman Empire in the Zeugma Mosaic Museum, the world's largest, in the town of Gaziantep, Turkey; Alexia and Antonio take a break from their shopping in the Grand Bazaar, considered by many to be the world's oldest shopping mall; Antonio with Alexia, who like all women must don a scarf to enter a mosque, in this case the sixth-century Hagia Sofia – the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years, now converted to a mosque. (continued from page 38) scarves, and line up to

enter the cave. Alexia saw people weeping with emotion and filling bottles with the holy water from the pool.

Abraham’s Cave is on the grounds of Golbasi Park, known for its historic mosques and gardens. Here, according to legend, the Mesopotamian King Nimrod threw Abraham into a fire as punishment for refusing to worship idols. But the prophet was saved when the fire turned to water, and the firewood turned into goldfish whose legendary descendants swim happily in Abraham’s Lake.

Six miles outside the city lie the remains of a Neolithic site believed to be the world’s oldest known temple: the amazing Gobekli Tepe, built some 11,000 years ago – 6,000 years before Stonehenge, and before metal tools, the wheel, or even pottery, these builders arranged and carved giant stone pillars, some up to 16 feet tall, with elaborate and lifelike figures of foxes, scorpions, lions, vultures, and other animals.

“It shows a really advanced level of culture for them to have been able to build that such a long time ago,” said Alexia, still marveling at the sight.

The next day they headed to the ancient city of Harran, once one of the most important cities of Northern Mesopotamia. Founded around 5,000 years ago, Harran is famous for its kümbets, tall adobe beehive houses, designed to manage the sweltering desert heat. Occupied over the centuries by the Babylonians, Assyrians,

Hittites, Persians, the Alexandrian Empire, Romans, Byzantines, and Seljuks, among others, the city served as the capital of Islam for a time, and was home to one of the world’s oldest universities. It was raided in 1028 by the Crusaders, but it was rebuilt; however, in 1260, it was sacked and nearly destroyed by the grandson of Genghis Khan. The city continues to this day as a small village, mainly sustained by tourism.

“We were so close to the Syrian border, we could see the Syrian flag – that was a little bit of an adrenaline rush,” said Antonio. Other than that, the border seemed amazingly “uneventful,” he said.

But more incredible forays into ancient history awaited. Three hours north of Urfa, on one of the tallest peaks of the Taurus Mountains, lies a UNESCO World Heritage Site atop Mount Nemrut, home to a 2,000-year-old tomb and monument to a king who declared himself a god.

There King Antiochus I of Commagene built three-story statues of himself, flanked by two lions, two eagles, and a variety of deities reflecting his Greek and Iranian heritage. Originally the statues were seated and inscribed with the names of each god. Apparently, the statues fell victim to vandalism at some point, and the heads lie scattered about as an eerie reminder of the vanity of human glory.

The pattern of damage to the heads – notably the smashing of noses – suggests that they were deliberately damaged by iconoclasts, Oya told the group. Next the group headed to Gaziantep,

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ DECEMBER 2022 40

a city awarded the title of Creative City of Gastronomy by UNESCO in 2015. And gastronomy was at the top of the group’s agenda.

With more than 30 varieties of kebabs, 20 different types of pastries, 30 types of soup, 50 varieties of vegetable dishes – the challenge was to have a representative sample.

The city is famous for its pistachios, harvested young and ground fresh to make what has been called the world’s best baklava. Their unforgettable dinner was at the Gaziantep Hisvahan Hotel, which is built literally on top of the archaeological site that was discovered while preparing for construction, as often occurs in Turkey. Now the restaurant and hotel’s glass floors and walkways allow viewers to peer down into the remains of a caravanserai – a roadside inn for travelers along the Silk Road.

The next day it was time to witness Gaziantep’s main attraction: the world’s largest mosaic museum. The Zeugma Mosaic Museum was created to house the abundance of fine Roman mosaics that were discovered during the damming of the nearby Euphrates River. Among the 1,700 square meters of mosaics was the enigmatic Gypsy Girl Mosaic. Called the “Turkish Mona Lisa,” the girl’s eyes have the uncanny ability to follow a viewer from place to place.

“The story of that mosaic is incredible,” said Antonio. “Her eyes follow you all over the exhibit.

“All the world powers have come into Turkey and looted every- (continued on page 42)

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CAPTIVATED IN CAPPADOCIA Left photo: Alexia and Antonio pause from their travels in front of a tree covered in the traditional Turkish Nazar Boncuk - popularly known as the “Evil Eye,” though the intention is to ward off bad energy and evil intentions from others. Right photo: Alexia, Oya, and Oya’s friend, Yarasel Cruz, stop for a pose at a tourist stop. “Kapadokya” is the Turkish spelling of Cappadocia, and the characteristic cave houses hollowed from the soft volcanic stone can be seen on a hill in the background. The region's original inhabitants hollowed out the formations to construct homes, churches, stables, and even entire underground cities; some are still inhabited, and others have become museums. (continued from page 40) thing, you know, starting

with the Crusaders. So the mosaic ended up in Bowling Green State University in Ohio in 1965. And they had to shake every level of government to get it back.”

The mosaic, which is made of 12 separate panels, was finally returned to Turkey and reassembled, opening to the public in 2018. The image is widely featured in travel advertisements, including in Turkish Airlines’ magazine.

The Gypsy Girl was only the most memorable of a huge and spectacular collection. “These people really knew their trade, because they were absolutely fantastic,” said Antonio. One of the group’s favorites was of a cheerful skeleton, with a Greek inscription that translated to something like “Enjoy life because tomorrow you’ll be like this.”

“We had a lot of fun with that one,” said Antonio.

The next day they headed to Antioch, where they stayed at the unforgettable Museum Hotel, also built over an archaeological site.

“So you’re checking into your room and you look down and you see all these villas and mosaics and how the Romans heated their houses through the floor with steam. Incredible,” said Antonio. “It's a five-star hotel, but it’s unlike any other I’ve ever stayed at in the world.”

Here in this Biblical city they went to see the UNESCO-designated St. Pierre Church, believed to be the founding site of all Christianity and the cave where St. Peter first preached the gospel. The cave was later turned into a church, with its facade carved into the mountainside.

In the afternoon the group had a special visit, organized by a friend of Oya, to the Antakya Orthodox Church, one of the oldest operating churches in the world. There they were personally greeted by Father Dimitri, who welcomed the group warmly and told them the fascinating story of this Byzantine church that still operates today.

“I was surprised to hear Father Dimitri is mar-

ried and has kids, and has also a very normal or ‘secular’ life on top of his religious responsibilities,” commented Alexia.

The day came to a marvelous close with dinner at the renowned Konak restaurant, where Oya was able to secure reservations at the high terrace, usually reserved for the Governor.

F

inally on the last leg of their trip they drove five hours to Cappadocia, famed for its spectacular geological formations known fancifully as “fairy castles.” They were to have taken a balloon ride over the whole spectacle as is customary but sadly two Spanish tourists had died the day before in a ballooning accident so on their only day in Cappadocia, there were no balloon rides.

Nevertheless, Cappadocia revealed its magic to them in multiple ways. First, they took a tour through the astonishing Kaymakli Underground City, built in the 8th and 7th centuries BC to offer protection from foreign invaders. The fourstory underground city had a holding capacity of 3,500 people. It was used first to escape various waves of invaders, including the Mongols, and then, years later, for several centuries throughout the Arab-Byzantine wars. Carved into the soft volcanic rock of the region, the city was continually expanded to include stables, homes, storage areas, a communal kitchen, and a church.

Turkey’s strategic location made it a target for wave after wave of invasions, and Kaymakli was just one of several underground cities where the people took refuge; another, called Derinkuyu, extends to more than 85 meters below the Earth’s surface, and includes 18 levels of tunnels.

“We just descended four levels into the cave through narrow tunnels, and that was enough for me,” said Alexia. “Even though there were places for animals, and even wineries in the system, I think it must have been really difficult to spend more than three days down there.”

Cappadocia’s landscape itself defies description.

More than 7,000 square miles, it is home to over

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200 underground cities that have been carved into the rock over the millennia; in some areas, layers of soft pink and yellow hued dune-like hills come to a sharp point. The rocks near the Cappadocia city of Göreme eroded into hundreds of spectacular pillars and minaret-like forms.

As Oya explained it, the Cappadocia region is underlain by soft sedimentary rocks formed in lakes and streams, interspersed with hard ignimbrite deposits that erupted from ancient volcanoes from nine to three million years ago, during the late Miocene to Pliocene epochs. The people of the region carved out houses, churches, and monasteries from the soft rock formations and some are still inhabited to this day.

The city of Göreme became a monastic center in 300–1200 AD, with the first settlement period dating back to the Roman period. The group paid a visit to the Göreme Open Air Museum, one of the most famous sites in central Turkey.

The complex contains more than 30 churches and chapels carved into the stone, some of which contain superb examples of Byzantine frescoes dating as far back as the ninth century.

“There’s just so much culture that for us who grew up in a Western environment, it’s just not something you’re aware of,” said Alexia. “In Houston, you dig down and you find clay. Over there, you dig and you find a 10 million-year-old fossil, or a 10,000-year-old archeological site. It’s a country so rich in history that you feel very humbled by it.”

For Antonio, the trip really opened his eyes to the depth of human history. “You learn to really appreciate ancient cultures,” he said, “and how insignificant our history of 200 years is compared to those cultures.”

Editor’s note: Buzz travel columnist Tracy L. Barnett is a Lowell Thomas travel journalism award winner and longtime travel and environmental writer. Email her at info@thebuzzmagazines.com to share your own travel tales.

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Paula Murphy

DINING

by Dai Huynh, staff writer

Chef’s Corner C

Ruben Ortega

ustomers make a beeline for Urbe’s pastry case, lined with big, fat pan dulce buns. Executive pastry chef Ruben Ortega eyes the sugar-coated churros and spiced pumpkin donuts, rich with tangerine cinnamon sugar. Since early morning he has been proofing and baking.

We know the proverb: Behind every great man is a great woman. In the case of James Beard Award-winning chef Hugo Ortega, it’s his wife and restaurateur, Tracy Vaught. But the story wouldn’t be complete without younger brother Ruben, who works alongside Hugo, and was a finalist for this year’s James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef. His imagination elevates Mexican-inspired desserts and ingredients, resulting in dazzling pastries and whimsical creations that sometimes paint pictures on the plate and other times inspire squeals of delight.

Take El Coco, a hollow chocolate orb that requires a wooden mallet to break through the “coconut” filled with buttercream and ganache.

Here, the 51-year-old dessert phenom shares his childhood memories of Christmas in Mexico and holiday treats, along with becoming one of the best Texas pastry chefs by “accident.”

Hugo is the oldest, the big brother. Where are you in the mix of eight siblings?

I’m No. 4.

Christmas must have been a wonderful time, especially with all your siblings, in Mexico.

It was the best. We ate like there was no tomorrow. It started on the 16th of December with the posada. That’s when everyone strolled through the streets, reenacting Joseph and the Virgin Mary’s search for lodging. Every night, for nine nights, until December 24th, we would go from home to home. And everywhere you go, there is always food. That was the best time of the year. People would offer tamales, pozole, hot chocolate, and this and that.

So, what are some traditional desserts you would enjoy during the holidays?

So many things. They would have creamfilled puff pastry, or cuernitos rellenos, and arroz con leche, or rice pudding. In the morning, you would sip champurrado or hot chocolate with masa. There are all sorts of traditional sweet

breads and sweet pumpkin candy.

On Christmas morning, you might enjoy a cup of hot chocolate with sweet tamales or churros. I have many good memories of those days.

It’s been a long time since I had one of those Christmases.

Your aunt baked and sold bread in Mexico City. Was she the reason you chose pastry as a career?

I’ll be honest CHEF RUBEN ORTEGA James Beard Award-nominated pastry chef Ruben Ortega with you. This assembles his famous “Cacao” at Xochi in downtown Houston. The cacao-shaped chocolate shell is filled with tejate foam, milk chocolate cloud, and chocolate criollo soil. happened by acci- Many credit this dessert as one of the reasons for his James Beard Award nomination. dent. In 1989, gram, very hands-on. Hugo also attended HCC. before coming here, I worked in San Jose, But he was the second generation, and I was part California, at an Italian restaurant. They used of the third generation. Now, when you go to to bring students from Italy to work in the HCC, each student has their own table and kitchen. It was a small restaurant, but it was very their own mixer. I’m like, ‘Wow.’ When I went authentic. We made our own pasta and cured there, it was one long table, and we had to share our meat, the whole nine yards. That’s why one mixer. After HCC, I went to work at Prego, Italian is my second favorite food – after and then we opened Hugo’s in 2002. At the Mexican, of course. So, when I came here in time, most people didn’t know about Mexican 1991, I started cooking at Backstreet Café. food. They only knew about Tex-Mex. We were Then, one day, I remembered Hugo saying, ‘I very nervous. think it would be a good idea for you to take Hugo’s set the stage for future successes, and over the desserts. Why don’t you go to school now, H-Town Restaurant Group operates not only and try it?’ I didn’t like the idea. I wanted to be your brother’s namesake and Backstreet Café but a cook. I didn’t want to do pastry. But Tracy also Xochi, Urbe, and Caracol. You now supervise said, ‘Try it, just once.’ a pastry team of 25. And you were one of five James So, you reluctantly took their advice and went to Beard finalists in the outstanding pastry chef categothe Houston Community College downtown to ry, selected from a pool of nominees across 50 states. learn from one of the best bakery and pastry instrucThat’s huge. Were you disappointed when you lost tors in the industry, Eddy Van Damme? to Warda Bouguettaya of Detroit?

I walked into the class, and Eddy said, ‘Sit No. The goal was to make it to the finals, and down. See if you like it. If you don’t like it, you we did. We made it to the finals. I felt honored. don’t have to come back.’ Ok, so I sat down, and Ruben recalls how the unique, earthy scent of the next day I came back. I guess I liked it.

Mexican hot chocolate filled (continued on page 46) At the time, in ’93 and ’94, it was a small pro-

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Paula Murphy

Paula Murphy

MEXICAN INSPIRED DESSERTS Left photo: Mexican hot chocolate. Right: Assorted pastries and treats at Urbe. (continued from page 44) the air at Christmastime.

Mexicans traditionally whip their hot chocolate into a froth with a hand blender known as a molinillo. Here is his recipe for chocolate caliente and other Mexican holiday desserts from “Hugo Ortega’s Street Food of Mexico” by Hugo Ortega with Ruben Ortega.

Chocolate Caliente The best early morning breakfast on the streets is a nice hot cup of chocolate caliente with some churros, sweet tamales, or fresh-baked sweet goods from a bakery. In this particular recipe, water and milk can be used interchangeably. At Hugo's restaurant, we make our own chocolate criollo but any brand of Mexican chocolate can be used for this recipe.

Usually sold in 3-ounce tablets, it is available in Mexican grocery stores or in the Hispanic/ethnic foods aisle in local supermarkets. In this recipe, use a hand blender to create the foam in the chocolate before serving. Always use caution when dealing with hot liquid.

4 cups whole milk or water 2 tablets (3 oz. each) Mexican chocolate, broken into chunks Combine milk or water and chocolate in a pot and place over medium heat. Bring to a boil, about 10 minutes. Stir continuously to completely dissolve chocolate. Remove from heat.

Using a hand blender, mix liquid until foamy, about 2 minutes. Serve hot. Makes 4 servings.

Cuernitos rellenos These Mexican cornucopias filled with pastry cream are easy to make, thanks to the availability of puff pastry sheets in local supermarkets. Another important element for this recipe is the cream molds or small stainless-steel cones found at baking equipment stores.

For filling: 2 cups whole milk 3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided 4 egg yolks 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 4 tablespoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons vanilla extract To assemble: 1/4 cup granulated sugar or as needed 1 (9-inch by 9-inch) puff pastry sheet, thawed according to package directions Powdered sugar as garnish For filling (make ahead up to 3 days): Combine milk and half the amount of sugar in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir to combine ingredients, making sure sugar does not stay at the bottom of pan. Bring to a boil, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. In a separate bowl, whisk together yolks, salt, cornstarch and remaining sugar until thick and pale. Temper yolks by slowing whisking in ½ cup hot creammilk mixture. Gradually add remaining mixture in a steady stream into yolks, whisking vigorously. Return the egg yolk mixture or custard to a clean saucepan and place over medium heat.

Continue cooking until it thickens, whisking continuously, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and transfer to a bowl.

Place over an ice bath to cool. Place plastic wrap directly on the custard to prevent a skin from forming as it cools. Once cool, transfer to a pastry bag and refrigerate until ready to use.

To assemble: Preheat oven to 350°F. Place sugar on a small plate and set aside until ready to use.

Place puff pastry on a clean cutting board.

Cut into 16 equal strips. Lightly coat cream molds with a light layer of unflavored cooking spray. Working one at a time, brush one side of each puff pastry strip with water; this will be the side touching the mold.

Starting at the tip of the cream mold, slowly wrap the puff pastry strip onto the mold, overlapping the edges as it spirals to the top. Two puff pastry strips will be needed for each mold.

Lightly brush water on the cuernito and roll in the sugar. Place raw cuernitos on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. If re-using molds, place puff pastry strips in the refrigerator until ready to use.

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Place cuernitos in the oven on middle oven rack and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool slightly. Remove molds. Pipe about 1/4 cups of pastry cream into each cuernito.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Makes 8 servings.

Paletas de hielo de rompope Frozen eggnog ice pop, perfect after a heavy holiday meal.

2 cups whole milk ¾ cup granulated sugar 1 cinnamon stick 3 egg yolks 1 ¼ cups heavy cream ½ teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon dark rum, optional 2 drops of yellow food coloring Combine milk, sugar, and cinnamon stick in a medium saucepan and place pan over medium heat. Stir to combine ingredients, making sure sugar does not stay at the bottom of the pan.

Bring to a boil, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and steep for 15 minutes to infuse flavors.

Beat egg yolks in a large mixing bowl. Temper yolks by slowly whisking in the cup of hot liquid in a steady stream. Gradually add remaining mixture in a steady stream into yolks, whisking vigorously. Return the egg yolk mixture to pan and place over medium heat. Continue cooking until it coats the back of spoon, about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Strain into bowl and cool completely over an ice bath, about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Add heavy cream, vanilla, rum, and food coloring, if using.

Pour cooled base mixture into 8 ice-pop molds and place wooden sticks in center of each mold. Freeze until fully set in about 1 hour.

Make 8 servings.

Editor’s note: Buzz dining columnist Dai Huynh is a James Beard food-journalism award winner and longtime Houston-based restaurant writer.

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SPORTS

by Todd Freed, staff writer Ambrose Alcoser/Episcopal

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t was a historic season for the Memorial Mustangs tennis team, which advanced to the UIL State Tournament in team tennis for a record-breaking 14th consecutive season.

“That’s a huge deal,” said Mustangs tennis coach Budd Booth. “It’s an extremely difficult feat to accomplish. Our kids work hard each and every year. Plus, we have a great staff and programs such as weight training, nutrition, and video work that put our players in the best position to be successful.”

This year’s team advanced to state final four with an undefeated 16-0 record before capturing a thrilling 10-9 victory over The Woodlands in the 6A state semifinals. The Mustangs ultimately came up one victory shy of its third state championship after being defeated by Round Rock Westwood in the state finals. It also marked the Mustangs’ one and only loss of the entire season.

For the Mustangs boys, Chase Scholz led the way as the team’s top seeded player. “Chase is one of our captains,” said Booth. “He came through with big wins all season in singles and also in the playoffs with his doubles partner Egor Morozov.”

On the girls side, Mustangs number one player Sofia Mazzucato pulled out a thrilling victory in a second set tiebreaker to clinch Memorial’s state semifinal victory over The Woodlands.

Mazzucato also teamed up with Tara Ahmadi for several key victories in the playoffs. “I’m just very proud of this entire team,” said Booth.

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or the sixth time in the last ten years, the Kinkaid Falcons are SPC football champions. The Falcons captured the SPC 4A championship with a 17-6 victory over the rival Episcopal Knights in the SPC title game. “It was an incredible win for our guys,” said Falcons head coach Nathan Larned. “It was a similar feeling to our 2015 championship when we pulled off a huge upset for the victory.”

This year’s championship seemed somewhat improbable with the Falcons losing three quarterbacks to injuries even before the season started. “We had to totally restructure our offense just to get through the season. It was a pretty

SPC CHAMPS The Episcopal Knights capped off a sensational season by winning the SPC Volleyball Championship.

Episcopal posted a 37-7 overall record including a trio of straight set victories in the SPC tournament championship.

unique season to say the least,” said Larned.

Fortunately for Kinkaid, the Falcons were led by a unique talent in senior Micah Bell. The Notre Dame commit had a remarkable 44 carries for 208 yards in the championship final victory over Episcopal. “Micah carried us against a physical and tough defense that’s exceptionally athletic,” said Larned. With Bell leading the way, the Falcons sealed the victory with an epic 28 play-16-minute drive that culminated with a field goal and an 11-point lead.

“Our defense also played lights out,” said Larned. “Miles Roeder was phenomenal despite playing with a broken thumb suffered a week earlier. He had an interception at the goal line and forced a couple of fumbles. Plus, Nico Gomez had a huge game for us both on defense and at fullback. Nico, Miles, and Micah are kind of the heart and soul of our team.”

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n volleyball, the Episcopal Knights capped off a sensational season by winning the SPC 4A Volleyball Championship. Episcopal captured the title with straight set victories over Kinkaid, Dallas Greenhill, and Hockaday in the SPC championship tournament. For the season, the Knights boasted a lofty 37-7 record while going a perfect 9-0 against SPC opponents.

“I definitely believe we peaked at the right time,” said Knights first-year head coach Cydryce McMillian, who just a season earlier

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guided St. Agnes Academy to the TAPPS 6A State Championship. “As a staff we came in knowing there were key returners and solid personnel who returned from last year’s team, but we also identified the necessary steps to establish a culture of excellence in every facet of the program. We challenged our kids every day in practice and they ultimately rose to the occasion.

They put in the time and commitment while also holding each other accountable. It was beautiful to cap it all off with a championship.”

The Knights’ talented lineup was led by a pair of standout seniors in middle blockers Farah Farooq and Ava Harrington. “Farah was a tremendous offensive threat while Ava is also phenomenal,” said McMillian. “Ava is a stud blocker who just shuts down opponents.” In addition, the Knights also boasted a dynamic libero in junior transfer Mykayla McMillian.

“We talk with our girls daily about working to out-team the opponent, and everyone was dialed in and unafraid to keep pushing for greatness,” added McMillian.

Editor’s note: Todd Freed is the host and executive producer of H-Town High School Sports, which airs Saturday at 10:30 p.m. on CW39 and Monday-Thursday on AT&T SportsNet SW. To submit high school sports news for possible inclusion in SportzBuzz, please email todd@thebuzzmagazines.com.

2515 Bartlett St. Houston, TX 77098 Hours: M,W,F • 11 am-4 pm (713) 963-0980 mail@abrahamsrugs.com www.abrahamsrugs.com

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SPORTS

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by Annie Blaylock McQueen, staff writer

SportzBuzz Jr. W

elcome to SportzBuzz Jr., a column spotlighting neighborhood athletes in elementary and middle school.

Pin Oak LAX The Pin Oak Middle School girls’ lacrosse team competed in the preseason Lacrosse Roads Tournament this fall in The Woodlands. The two goalies, eighth-grader Annie Kong and sixth-grader Payton Lafitte, had several strong saves that kept the other teams from scoring. Seventh grader Sara Patel’s defensive skills intimidated the other teams. Key goals and assists were made by many players including Charlotte Allen, Maddie Wasaff, Madeleine Tejtel, Taylor Sprinkle, Charlotte Heemer, and Ainsley Mann. Pictured (top row, from left) are Coach Sam Ferrell, Annie Kong, Charlotte Heemer, Madeleine Tejtel, Tekla Borski, Ainsley Mann, Taylor Sprinkle, Coach Paul Kirkaldy, Maddie Wasaff, Sara Patel, Coach Jennifer Sprinkle, Alegra Garcia-Allante; (bottom row, from left) Payton Lafitte, Riley Lafitte, Gwyneth Leitch, Savanna Ripley, Georgia McQuire, Charlotte Allen, and Cassie Scheet.

Tournament win The Westbury Wildcats 12U Baseball Tournament Team won the Perfect Game Baseball Association (PGBA) tournament at Premier Baseball in Tomball. The team climbed to the top as they won back-toback games against the Houston Warriors, Prospect United, and eventually defeated the Texas Rattlers for the Championship. Pictured (back row, from left) are Coach Edward Reyna, Coach Jamal Singleton, Head Coach Travis Younkin; (middle row, from left) Manny Garcia, Me’Shai Alexander, Wesley Byer, Jamal Singleton, Christopher Reyna, Gray Younkin; (front row, from left) Ryan Horbaczewski, Taylor Anthony, Mattias Ugalde, Roman Smith, and Alexandria Kell.

Weekend warriors In a weekend tournament, the 13U Wildcats won the October Brawl in the Perfect Game Baseball Association tournament at Farm League Park. The team only lost one game and went undefeated during elimination play with a 5-3 win against EPA Green and a 6-4 win against Fury Baseball in the championship game. Pictured (back row, from left) are Coach Christian Dionne, Coach Christian Maender, Coach Tom Swallow, Baseball Director and Head Coach Matt Murphy; (middle row, from left) Hunter Gore, Sebastian Rocha, Ryan Maender, Barrett Dionne, William Taylor, Derek Swallow, Shawn Murphy, Cooper Wilson; (front row, from left) Remington Duck, Liam Craney, and Jackson Carr.

Editor’s note: Send your best high-resolution photos and behind-the-scenes stories about young local athletes, in both team and individual sports, to SportzBuzz, Jr. at info@thebuzzmagazines.com. Include all contact info, names, ages, grades and schools. Featured athletes must live in Buzz-circulation neighborhoods. Items will be published on a space-available basis.

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HOOK ’EM Kinkaid junior Lindsey Karkowsky and her brother Ryan at a University of Texas football game. Lindsey is a reporter for our online School Buzz blog.

KIDS

by Lindsey Karkowsky, age 16

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A new chapter

very August before school starts, Mom takes the obligatory first-day-of-school picture on our lawn and then posts it on Facebook. This tradition of taking a picture of my brother Ryan and I has been a fond memory to me, and I have an album of all these pictures on my iPhone.

However, this August something was missing. My brother Ryan had already gone off to college, and the picture was only of me. I felt that the awkward solo picture of me was taken just to keep the annual picture alive. The first day of school is supposed to be happy and exciting, but I had mixed emotions about it because Ryan was gone, and my mom was focused on her first-born being all grown up and able to live on his own.

Having my older brother leave for college for the first time is a huge change for our family dynamic because the routine of having the same people coming and going out of the house is gone for the next chapter of our life.

It’s a bittersweet experience for me. While I gain peace and quiet in the house, I also get way too much attention from my parents! Plus, my brother entertained me – with his presence and daily antics, I was never bored. He still entertains me through the family group chat, though. It’s exciting to get fun updates and pictures from him on what is happening at the University of Texas.

Moving my brother into his dorm was an experience, to say the least. Organizing, cleaning, and putting things where they belong were

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just a few of the activities my parents and I had to do to get him settled. It took two carloads to get all his stuff to college.

I always love visiting my brother at college.

From football games to walking around the city to meeting a ton of new people, it is all so exciting, yet overwhelming, to take in. Our weekends visiting Ryan are always packed with tiring and fun activities. Overall, I love that I can see the college experience in action – but I can admit that I really do miss him.

Want to be a Buzz Kid? Email approximately 350 words, a high-resolution photo and caption to info@thebuzzmagazines.com. Or mail it to The Buzz Magazines, 5001 Bissonnet, Suite 100, Bellaire, Texas 77401.

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Update on dog allergy A few years ago, I wrote about whether there really was such a thing as a hypoallergenic dog. The answer was “sort of.” Breeds that claim to be hypoallergenic, like a Bichon, produce just as much dog allergen per square inch of body-surface area as Golden Retrievers. But Goldens are bigger than Bichons, so one Bichon produces less allergen than one Golden. Also, Bichons shed a lot less than Goldens, so the dog allergen stays on the dog, and doesn’t spread all over the house.

What if you’re allergic to your dog? It’s best not to have the pet you’re allergic to, but dogs become part of the family, and it can be hard to part with them. Allergy shots work great for dog allergy, if your allergist is following the latest Practice Parameters for Allergen Immunotherapy.

Unfortunately, that’s a big “if.” Most allergists only test for one dog allergen, either Acetone Precipitated (AP) dog, or dog epithelium. AP dog is great because it has about 50 times more of the most important dog allergen than dog epi has. But using it alone isn’t good enough. AP dog doesn’t have any of the minor dog allergens. That’s why we test for and treat for both AP dog and dog epi. I can’t tell you how many patients we have seen where their previous allergist told them, “You’re not allergic to dog,” and then find out they’re just allergic to the other dog allergen.

Now we even have a blood test to confirm if using AP dog, dog epi, or both is best for an allergy shot recipe. The test also tells us if you’re allergic to dog prostate antigen (Can f 5), in which case you should stick with female dogs or get a castrated male.

Sometimes, the patient who has allergy symptoms around the dog really

isn’t allergic to dog at all. Dogs go outside to walk and do their business, and their fur is good at trapping pollen grains and mold spores and bringing them inside. And mostly inside dogs who use the same soft bed usually share that bed with lots of dust mites. Dust mites aren’t picky; they don’t mind eating shed human skin or dog dander. Dust mite-avoidance tips should be applied to the dog’s bed, too; wash the bed covering in hot water once a week and prevent the humidity from getting too high where the dog sleeps.

If possible, keep your bedroom free of pets. If that’s not possible, then at least keep the dog out of your bed. And if despite the avoidance measures listed above you are still having allergy symptoms when around your dog, then it’s time to make an appointment to see us.

No one nose allergies like we do.™ Note: Information contained in this article should not be considered a substitute for consultation with a board-certified allergist to address individual medical needs.

David B. Engler, M.D., The Allergy Clinic, 7707 Fannin, Suite 100, Houston, Texas 77054, 713.797.0993, *1200 Binz, Suite 1400, Houston, Texas 77004, 713.522.9911, www.allergyclinic.com, *Operating as Houston Allergy and Asthma Clinic

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ DECEMBER 2022 53

PETS

Neighborhood Tails Trey, age 8, Beagle, Georgetown St. It was a Saturday morning. My granddogmother (who was house and dog-sitting) let me out onto the patio. What she didn’t know was that the meter reader had just passed through the yard and left the gate open. She did know that my burning desire in life is to escape! She called the West U Police then headed down the street (in her pajamas) calling for me. A nice man in a black SUV asked if she was looking for a Beagle – “if so, he’s with a lady up at Tiny’s.” Alas, no dice. Not long afterwards, a lady with children in her car pulled into the driveway.

She opened the door, and I bounded out! This lady had taken me to have my chip scanned and brought me home. She was gone in a flash – just like Wonder Woman! I’m hoping she reads this and accepts my grandma’s belated gratitude for an incredible West U neighbor!

Got a cute critter? Email a picture of your pet with approximately 150 words to info@thebuzzmagazines.com or mail it to The Buzz Magazines, 5001 Bissonnet, Suite 100, Bellaire, Texas 77401.

Dale

Yogi

Sam

Pumpkin

Newton

Wrigley

Visit thebuzzmagazines.com to vote for The Buzz Magazines’ 2022 Pet of the Year. Here is a sampling of the contestants. The winner will be announced on our website, Monday, December 12. To have your pet considered for our Neighborhood Tails column, please email a high-resolution photo and 150 words to info@thebuzzmagazines.com.

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ DECEMBER 2022 54

Home for the holidays?

Celebrate family with updated portraits.

Schedule your studio session during the month of December and receive a $100 print credit.

Reserve your session now A Portrait Remembers 713.523.4916 nikky@lawellphoto.com www.lawellphoto.com

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Chester

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Jack

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Guardianship and alternatives The most dreaded proceeding known to the law is a guardianship. Death penalty cases are a close second. In Texas, the Estates Code provides for the appointment of a guardian of an incapacitated person, including 1. a minor; 2. an adult who, because of a physical or mental condition, is substantially unable to provide food, clothing, or shelter for himself, to care for his physical health, or to manage his financial affairs; or 3. a person who must have a guardian to receive money from a governmental source, Guardianship is dreaded by heirs because it is so expensive. So long as the ward lives, someone is billing to do things most people do for themselves, or that family could do for them. There are hearings, accountings, CPAs, and lawyers. Usually, none of that is free.

Guardianship is despised by wards, because it marks the loss of autonomy, either before or after the order revoking their civil rights and appointing a guardian of the person (medical) and/or a guardian of the estate (financial).

Guardianship can be necessary. People are rotten, and too many love mom or dad’s money more than mom or dad. Elder exploitation is real.

Some people grow old alone, and if the state does not intervene, no one will. Self-neglect is real.

Guardianship can be limited. This is a new concept. Before 1993, limited guardianships were the exception rather than the rule. Refused to stop driving? You could lose more than your driver’s license, you could lose the right to make your own medical decisions or the right to choose where you lived.

Now, the probate courts must consider any feasible alternative that would avoid the need for a guardianship.

Some alternatives to guardianship require a court order, e.g., a management trust under Chapter 1301. Most don’t, e.g., a medical power of attorney, a durable power of attorney, or a joint bank account.

If you give the probate court a good excuse to avoid a guardianship, they can’t create one. If you are at least partially successful, the court must limit the guardianship. You might lose the right to drive or manage money, but keep the right to pick your doctor or your residence.

Age, not accident, explains most disabilities. It is usually an unforced error to become disabled without a medical or durable power of attorney. Picking the wrong agent can be as bad. If you enable people to steal without court oversight, some will. An honest alternate agent can avoid a guardianship, but might require a court order to cancel the dishonest agent’s authority first.

We write wills and go to probate court. Foreign nationals and international families welcome.

Russell W. Hall, J.D., LL.M. (Tax), Board Certified – Estate Planning and Probate Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization, 6750 West Loop South, Suite 920, Bellaire, Texas 77401, 713.662.3853, bellaireprobate.com/blog

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Daniel Ortiz

NEIGHBORS

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by Angie Frederickson, staff writer

Buzz About Town A ballroom-dancing star

and has been trained by world-class professional Valentin Chmerkovskiy from Dancing with The Stars, Yulia Musikhina, Nino Langella, and many other ballroom legends.

What happens in Vegas… support Homemade Hope at the Home is Where the Heart Is gala. The event was held in the ballroom at River Oaks Country Club, and was chaired by Margot Delaronde Marcell, Heather Mountain, and Dr. Monica Patel. Homemade Hope, founded by Blair Bentley, provides emotional and academic support to homeless and underserved children by teaching them how to cook nutritious food and develop life skills. Blair and her sister, Homemade Hope board member Brooke Bentley Gunst, led the evening that recognized Scarlett and Scott Hankey for their service to the community. While raising funds for after-school culinary classes, mentoring, and field trips, guests enjoyed a high-energy night of music from DJ Johnny “Bravo” Holloway.

Home is where the heart is

Golden Astros fans

Honorees Scott and Scarlett Hankey (pictured, from left) joined more than 300 other guests to

Alexander’s Fine Portrait Design

Presbyterian School sixth grader Adyson Preston (pictured) holds the ballroom dancing world title in the Junior 1 Division from the World Dance Organization’s American Dance Pro Competition. With only five years of dancing experience, Adyson has earned multiple distinctions. She began dancing at Motion Dance Center with jazz, technique, and hip-hop before being introduced to ballroom dancing. Adyson competes in International Latin (Cha Cha, Rumba, Jive, and Samba), American Smooth (Waltz, Foxtrot, and Tango), and American Rhythm (Cha Cha, American Rumba, Mambo, and Swing). Thanks to her dance mentor Karen Deffner, she has met multiple dance celebrities

Event co-chairs Disney and Max Harris (pictured with “Elvis” and Vegas showgirls) helped Children’s Museum Houston hit the jackpot raising nearly $1 million from this year’s Viva Las Vegas gala. Along with Disney and Max, fellow co-chairs Lexi and Michael Marek and Liz and Crosby Scofield helped bring the glitz and glam of Las Vegas to The Corinthian with an evening fitting of adventures on the Strip. More than 500 guests joined together to raise money to support the Museum’s educational and outreach programs, while enjoying a casino-themed party, an unforgettable dinner including an Elvis-themed dessert, live auction, and music from the Drywater Band.

The live auction was chaired by Holly Radom and Katie Arnoldy and featured sought-after items that helped secure the evening’s fundraising success.

Best friends and Astros fans Stephanie Concialdi and Amber Stoltz came up with a golden way to honor rightfielder Kyle Tucker, nicknamed “King Tuck.” The two decided to wear crowns to show their support and decided to take it a step further and provide crowns for fellow ticketholders in Section 153. The crown craze quickly caught on and Stephanie and Amber ultimately shared thousands of crowns with fans, across Minute Maid Park. (continued on page 58) WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ DECEMBER 2022 56

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(continued from page 56) The crowns gave off a spe-

cial sparkle when games were broadcast on TV. And it all came full circle when Kyle Tucker received the 2022 Major League Baseball American League Right Fielder Golden Glove Award. Pictured are (from left) Eddie Concialdi, Stephanie Concialdi, Amber Stoltz, and John Hill proudly wearing their crowns at Minute Maid. See thebuzzmagazines.com and search “King Tuck” for more details and photos by Karen Vine Fuller.

Wilson Parish

A rendezvous with success

Dress for Success Houston (DFS Houston) hosted Rendezvous with Dress for Success Houston.

Chaired by Monisa Cline, Myrtle Jones, and Linda Padon (pictured, from left), the sold-out event celebrated 24 years of empowering more than 46,000 women in the community by providing professional attire and other assistance.

More than 500 guests gathered at The Revaire and raised $620,000. The evening program began with a welcome from KHOU Channel 11’s Mia Gradney and an update from DFS Houston president Lauren Levicki Courville.

Auction co-chairs Susie Cunningham, Kate Dearing Fowler, Monica Richards, and Katherine Orellana Ross kept the bidding wars going with fabulous, curated packages, and Kristine Mills Band entertained the crowd while they dined on the culinary creations.

port the NFCC’s mission to provide affordable and accessible mental health counseling services. NFCC was named after Nick Finnegan, the late son of founders Susan and Bill Finnegan, who began the organization after their unimaginable loss. Gala chairs Reagan and Jim Bailey, Kathryn and Jimmy Bailey, Susan and Ben Cravens, and Mary Evans and Ben Cravens coordinated the event featuring a live auction and a game of Heads or Tails. This year’s event honored the 2020-2021 advisory board chair Joe Herman. Susan and Bill Finnegan presented the Angels Among Us award to Dr. Madeleine Herman on behalf of her husband, Joe Herman.

A day of service A day off from school turned out to be a memorable one for West University Elementary School (WUES) students Kinsey Magers, Sofia Thompson, Charlotte Thompson, Caroline Cozart, Zara Alousi, Jigs Albans, and Andi

Lindsey Lamberth

Tree of Life

Bill, Susan, and Scotty Finnegan (pictured, from left) joined hundreds of guests at Goode Company Armadillo Palace for the 14th annual Tree of Life Gala benefiting the Nick Finnegan Counseling Center (NFCC). The westernthemed event raised more than $400,000 to supWEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ DECEMBER 2022 58

Mills (pictured, clockwise from left). They joined more than 500 other WUES students, staff, and families for the school’s second annual Day of Service. Led by event co-chairs Hollee Mize and Lacey Carver, WUES’s vice president of service Allison Stasney, garden beautification lead Caroline Walter, and recycling co-chairs Julie Fehl and Lindsay Gregory, volunteers helped clean up around the school, painted trash cans and bike racks, and helped weed and plant new items in the garden. They also completed projects for seven nonprofits: BEAR…BE A Resource for CPS Kids, Operation Gratitude, Kids’ Meals Houston, SEARCH Homeless Services, SEARCH’s House of Tiny Treasurers, and Bayou City Blessings in a Backpack.

Nurtured by nature The Houston Botanic Garden’s annual luncheon, honoring Susanne M. and Melbern G. Glasscock, was held at (continued on page 60)

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(continued from page 58) River

Oaks Country Club. Bob and Tammy Casey, Claudia Gee Vassar, Jim Reeder, Linda Anderson, and Elle and Clarke Anderson (pictured, from left) joined fellow Garden enthusiasts to support the mission of enriching life through discovery, education, and the conservation of plants and the natural environment. Luncheon chairs Tammy and Bob Casey and Elle and Clarke Anderson put together the Nurtured by Nature event that raised more than $600,000. Keynote speaker Jay Maddock, PhD, FAAHB, professor, Texas A&M University Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, and co-director, Center for Health and Nature, discussed the role spending time in nature plays in overall health and well-being.

parents, Luis A. Miranda, Jr., chairman of Latino Victory Fund, and Luz Towns-Miranda, were also in attendance at the festive event that raised almost $300,000 to support Latino candidates nationally. Guests heard remarks from LinManuel and his father, and then were treated to a surprise: several bars from various Hamilton tunes, sung by Gilbert Andrew Garcia.

Celebration of the century Bradley and Joanna Marks and Hannah and Cal McNair (pictured, from left) were among the more than 700 supporters of Houston Children’s Charity at the 25th annual gala that raised a record-breaking $3,625,000. The rock ’n roll themed evening featured the award-winning duo Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo.

Houston Children’s Charity chief executive officer Laura Ward and gala chair Sheridan Williams led the fundraising efforts to provide beds, vans, school supplies, clothing, and holiday gifts for Houston’s underserved, abused, and disabled children. The evening began with master of ceremonies Houston Astros sports announcer Todd Kalas, followed by an invocation from Reverend Mary Gracely of One Spirit Interfaith Community. After a very successful live auction and fundraising activities, the crowd rocked the night away as Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo took the stage to perform their top hits, including “Heartbreaker”, “We Belong”, “Shadows of the Night”, and “Hit Me with Your Best Shot”.

Chita Craft, Kelley Lubanko, Kelli Weinzierl, and Jordan Seff (pictured, from left) helped make the Houston Zoo’s Centennial Ball – Once in a Lifetime a huge success. At this year’s blacktie gala, a record-breaking crowd of more than 700 Houstonians celebrated 100 years of the Houston Zoo and raised $2.3 million. The sold-

An evening with Lin-Manuel Miranda Christopher Dang, Ruby Dang, Tony Award and Grammy Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda, Claudia Dang, and Dr. Joseph Dang (pictured, from left) gathered at the home of Gilbert Andrew Garcia and DeeDee Garcia to support the Latino Victory Fund. Lin-Manuel’s WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ DECEMBER 2022 60

out event, hosted by co-chairs Kelli and John Weinzierl and Kelley and Stephen Lubanko, was themed to highlight the Zoo’s 100-year history, and welcomed honoree Kathrine McGovern, a long-time Houston philanthropist and well-known friend to the Houston Zoo. In addition to enjoying dinner, dancing to music by the Georgia Bridgwater Orchestra, and a live auction, partygoers got to meet and mingle with ambassador animals including a north American porcupine, a tarantula, and an American alligator.

Be seen in Buzz About Town. Send your high-res photos and community news to info@thebuzzmagazines.com.

Items are published on a space-available basis. Also share your upcoming-event listings on thebuzzmagazines.com.

Daniel Ortiz

Michelle Watson

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by Andria Frankfort Dilling, staff writer

Back Porch

Neighbor love: Small holiday gifts

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erry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and happy holiday season! The most wonderful time of the year is wonderful, and it’s also busy with all the things we want to do to make it special. For many of us, that list includes gifting our neighbors and work colleagues with a little something cheery. For me (maybe other people too?), it feels like an annual scramble to come up with something fun and festive that friends will enjoy.

This year, though, I am skipping the scramble because some Buzz readers have shared their top ideas for neighbor gifts. Hopefully their suggestions can help us all keep the “want-tos” on our lists from becoming “need-tos.”

Homemade Holiday Treat For 16 years, Kelly Evans has been making and giving away almond bark using a recipe from her mother-in-law Patti Evans Evans (aka “Gigi” to her grandchildren), a former San Antonio headmaster who made it annually for the staff at her school. “I give it to neighbors, every teacher my child has ever had, and all of my husband’s nurses and staff at the clinic and hospital,” Kelly says. (Her husband is Scott Evans, chair of pulmonary medicine at MD Anderson Cancer Center.) “One of Scott’s nurses retired a few years ago and asked for the recipe, because she couldn’t imagine not getting her treat each year!”

Gigi's Holiday Almond Bark This recipe is easily multiplied.

1 large block of almond bark vanilla flavored coating 3 cups mini pretzels 1 cup cocktail peanuts 3 cups La Choy Chow Mein Noodles 1 cup golden raisins Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In a heavy, medium-sized pot, melt the almond bark coating over medium-low heat, stirring continuously. When it is melted, remove from the heat and add the dry ingredients, a cup at a time, stirring into the melted coating between each addition to completely coat every-

thing.

Scoop the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and let it set.

When it is dry, break the bark into pieces and place in decorative containers lined with foodsafe holiday wax paper (find at The Container SPREADING CHEER Get creative with some new ideas for neighbor gifts.

Store or Amazon).

A Gift with Special Meaning Colorful art glass catchalls, bright candles made of hand-rolled beeswax, and acrylic blocks showcasing gorgeous photography – these are a few of the gifts you will find at Celebration Company, a program of Jewish Family Service Houston. “Giving a gift from Celebration Company also gives the gift of meaningful employment to adults with disabilities,” Rachel Davis, JFS’s chief development officer, says.

Soaps, gift cards, tote bags, and more are made by or feature artwork made by Celebration Company employees, who, through their work, are equipped with life skills and purpose. store.celebrationcompany.org

An Unexpected Shout-Out Pediatrician Lindy McGee told us about the sticky notes she likes to give friends, saying, “I generally like gifts that you use up!” The “You Are Very Smart and Pretty Sticky Note Packet” from Em & Friends gives encouragement each time it’s used. Begun when founder Emily was diagnosed with cancer and realized friends drifted away because they didn’t know what to say, Em & Friends offers cards and gifts that speak honestly – and bluntly – to real life stuff. Who doesn’t want to hear Your hair is exceptional or You are a shining example of “hell yeah!” on the daily? Emandfriends.com/products/you-are-verysmart-and-pretty-sticky-note-packet

Holiday Spice “I like to make and deliver spice sacks to simmer on the stove and give your house that scent of freshly baked gingerbread (without the mess

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or effort!). I used to buy tons of ingredients and lay them all out in the kitchen,” Barbara Trautner says of the days when her children were small. She would package the spices in clear plastic bags tucked into festive paper bags along with this recipe, printed on red or green paper: Scent of the Season 1 fresh ginger root 3 cinnamon sticks 16 whole cloves 1 teaspoon ground allspice 1 or 2 tablespoons pickling spice Slice the ginger root and place all the ingredients in a pot of water. Simmer slowly on the stove. Enjoy the wonderful scent, but do not eat it!

A Level-Up for Bakers The Wall Street Journal recently showed some love for Madagascar ground vanilla, which HISD Trustee Bridget Wade cleverly thought would make a great neighbor gift tied with a ribbon.

“Bakers in the know are stocking up,” the WSJ espouses. “It delivers the intensity of the [vanilla] bean plus the convenience of extract.” beyondgood.com/products/pure-ground-madagascarvanilla-powder Here are a few more suggestions from our neighbors: “Homemade tamales.”

“Quarts of soup.”

“My answer is always alcohol.”

“Anything that can be regifted!”