The Sunday Salon: Galveston Dreaming on Such A Sunny Day....and 5 Great Sentences

"Galveston, oh Galveston, I still hear your sea winds blowin'" - Glen Campbell, Galveston

I suppose I couldn't wholly relate to the passion of New Orleanians for their beloved city post-Katrina. I should have guessed at the difference when they get lyrical tributes from Harry Connick Jr. and we get Glen Campbell. Still. You don't mess with Texas! Now that a storm has gut-punched one of my favorite places in the world, well, I have a greater understanding. The arms of my heart can finally get around the mourning for a piece of land.

I can't tell you how many great memories I have of the Texas Gulf Coast, both from my teen years and now as an adult. My sister and I used to go to the coast every summer. I recall a favorite past-time was burying each other in the sand in a strange homage to Creep Show and/or Huey Lewis. (If you are a child of the 80s, this needs no explaination.) Now, I have many memories of taking my own children to Galveston. I adore this area of the Lone Star state so much that it almost always worms its way into my writing. My husband, an equally die-hard Californian who doesn't think Galveston or Corpus Christi compare to the beaches of his homestate, doesn't understand my attachment. But we are all destined to be attached to the places from whence we come. Napoleon was right when he said, "Geography is destiny."

I thought I'd share a few pics of recent trips down to this Texas jewel. Don't worry...I do have my bookish Salon post below. Scroll down now if you don't like cute children or sunsets. (wink)

The first time Chloe saw the ocean.



A sunset view from our rented beach house on Treasure Island.



The house on Treasure Island where we vacationed. Odds are, this isn't there now.



Jamaica Beach.


And now, I return you to our regularly scheduled program - my original Sunday Salon post. Five sentences I wish I HAD written from some of my recent reads.

Five Great Sentences


"His face had the bulging-eyed look of a trout surprised to find itself attached to a hook." - Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, Laurie Viera Rigler


"Miles and years become suddenly invisible when you find yourself back where you started from, as if you've learned nothing and you are once again the person you once were." - The Memory of Water, Karen White

"A clear conscience was, for most people, an impossible luxury and one Raisa could hardly lay claim to." - Child 44, Tom Rob Smith

"But I fall into the luxury of it, let it have me like quicksand." Durable Goods, Elizabeth Berg

"[I]...was thinking of Wilhelm Reich's theory of facism. The theory that the mass of humanity craves protection and will do almost anything, submit to any authority, in order to feel protected." - A Window Across The River, Brian Morton

The Sunday Salon: Galveston Dreaming on Such A Sunny Day....and 5 Great Sentences