I know all of you who live in the Ballinger area, and those who read the Ballinger Online News already know about the renovation and recent Grand Opening of the old Texas Theater in Ballinger. It is a new experience for such a small town - a dinner theater. They have their own website that I encourage you to check out. Texas Theater website. It contains pictures, menu (below), upcoming films, and a really fun video with some current Ballinger residents. I've been to one similar in the Dallas area years ago, but the food was not nearly as extravagant. My sister Jean and I order pizza! We had extremely comfortable seats that swiveled and even reclined somewhat. I thought the price was a little high, but when I see what the Texas Theater offers, and the price, ours was really rather cheap. I'll have to admit, though, that the one we attended only showed movies, and probably only had burgers, hot dogs, and pizza on their menu. Nothing like what the Texas Theater offers. If any of you have been, please share the experience (and photos if you have them) with us!
This is one of the menus on their website. A meal such as this would cost much, much more in a larger city. In 1950 dollars, this $30 for a meal and movie would have cost $3.60 plus the cost of the movie ticket. Considering the cost of the movie in Ballinger at that time was (you old-timers correct me if I'm wrong) about 25 cents, and a McDonald's hamburger could be bought for 15 cents (I know there wasn't a McDonald's in Ballinger!), $3.85 would have been a little expensive for most citizens. Especially the teenagers on dates. No one dared to go Dutch treat back then - the guys always paid. Right?
Live performances, music, standup comics, all seem like Ballinger will become a hub for entertainment. What a great place to take your sweetie for Valentine's Day, anniversary, birthday, or any special occasion.
*********************
This photo is of Dream Lake in the Colorado National Forest, where JIM COWLISHAW and his wife Betty went last year. He sent an email describing another trip they took last fall:
"We went to Red River, New Mexico for a week. This was one of our better trips. We rented a cabin in the mountains.and just took it easy. Had to come down and go several miles into town to use the phones. (And no Walmart.)
We picked and enjoyed wild strawberries and mushrooms off the mountain. I don't know how the people survive, but it would be really tempting to try. Then I remember my banker, and what he would do - maybe come along, you think?"
******************************
DON WHITE ? and DORIS ?
Now for some fun photos. I check out the Ballinger Online Newspaper from time to time, and sometimes come up with tidbits of information, like the Texas Theater opening, that haven't necessarily been shared with me. (Hint, hint.) I'm not certain, but I believe these auto pictures are from the 4th of July parade. As there were no names with them, I guessed on the one above. It sure looks like DON WHITE driving, and a hint of red hair on the passenger side must be DORIS WHITE. Correct me if I am wrong. Whoever it is, I really like their wheels!
When I saw this photo, I couldn't make out the face of the driver, but I thought I had seen the car before. Sure 'nuff, the next photograph confirmed my suspicions:
Yep, it's BILL KING, the silver-haired fox, with a young cutie at his side that I assume is his granddaughter. Again, correct me if I'm wrong.
**********************************
As you've read about before, DENNY HILL has a flat (apartment to us) in Warsaw, Poland that he returns to during breaks from school and in the summer. He was there during the Christmas vacation. I had inquired about how he was faring in NY when the first big Polar Vortex hit the east coast, and he wrote he was in Warsaw and sent me some interesting replies.
"I have been following the extreme cold in the USA. And as I think you know, here in Warsaw it has been correspondingly very mild. It is as if the 'atmosphere' of the earth has slipped, like a cloth covering a globe of the earth, in which the North Pole has slid down towards Minnesota, bringing another part of the cloth up from warmer regions, so that here we are in something like early spring or late fall. Bizarre! Don't know what to think of it, except that it might just be the beginning of another 'little ice age'. Some scientists think that 'global warming' might in fact trigger another little ice age. It is complicated, but it might have to do with the famous loop (the conveyor belt in the Atlantic, from the Gulf of Mexico to northern Europe). If that collapses, or reverses course, or even weakens a little, we could see the top half of the USA freeze over in an ice sheet."
Every time I hear from DENNY, no matter what the topic, he gets my brain to stirring. I end up having to look up a lot of things on the Internet. There are some interesting articles on what scientists are saying about the possibility of a "new little ice age". Whatever happened to global warming? The extreme cold we've been having -- even as far south as Austin -- makes me hope they are wrong about an ice age. DENNY got home just in time to experience this second round of ice age type weather! Two days ago he said it was 19 degrees there, and he had about a foot of snow in his yard! Brrrr.
*************************************
NEIL BROUSSARD has moved his family to Wimberley, Texas from Houston. (I will email his new address for you all to place in the back of your handbook.) When I asked if there were a reason for the move, he promptly replied, "To get out of Houston"! Having lived there many years ago, and hearing how much more congested it is today, I can't say I blame him. Shortly after that, I was watching one of the Today news shows on NBC, and they were spotlighting romantic getaways all over the U.S. Lo and behold! Wimberley, Texas was the first one they showed. It was a beautiful inn or bed and breakfast. Of course, I had to go to my favorite source, the Internet, and look up Wimberley. I couldn't believe there were so many inns, hotels, and bed and breakfasts in and around Wimberley. The Hill Country is beautiful some of the time, but the photos of these places really made it appealing no matter the mesquite or cedar trees that abound down here.
Blair House Inn, Wimberley, Texas
****************************************
One more photo before I go. JUNE CURRY HASH and I frequently communicate. We've talked a bit lately due to the extremely frigid conditions in which she lives in Edmond, Oklahoma. JUNE and her son Chris are loving pet owners. Chris has a cat named Sydney, and JUNE has two little rescue dogs that have become like members of her family. She sent me this adorable photograph of them:
Now, do those look like pampered, loved pets or what? The one on the right is named Dori, but I have forgotten the other. JUNE will have to clue me in.
I think DOTTIE BISHOP ROGERS is the only one of us who lives where the cold and ice hasn't hit. To the rest of you
Love, peace, and warm fuzzies,
Marilyn
