Boyds Untethered

In May we were invited to the “Big Ass Crawfish Bash”… and annual event here in Texas. It’s a crawfish boil… a cook off competition much like you might see with BBQ or Chili in other parts of the country. This is our friend Mark who heads a crew of family and friends that participate in the competition. Here he is making sure that the cooked crawfish get a good soaking in the spices bath before heading to the table.

That very fine and sticky sand that we have here on the beaches of Galveston… allows those with an artistic bent do some pretty cool things with sand sculptures.

One of the very cool things about living at the beach is walking it every day. I am still amazed how different that same beach can be from day today…. based on the winds, the weather, the tides and the people. But one thing that you can always count on here is the sticky sand. Galveston has a very fine sand that is going to cling to you and anything that you bring to the beach. If you are the least bit wet, wading in the water, sweating  or getting rained on…. that sand is going to stay with you all the way home… and until you shower.

Ashton Villa is one of the many fine old building and mansions to be found in Galveston. Beyond the cool architecture these buildings have a lot of history too. Ashton Villa was built in 1859…. the first house to be built on Broadway, the first mansion built on the island and one of the first brick residence to be built in Galveston. Nowadays it is an event center but it’s history includes…. residence, Civil War headquarters (both the Confederate Army and the Union Army) , hurricane refuge (1900 storm) and the site of many Juneteenth celebrations.  After the 1900 storm, the basement was filled with sand and the grounds were raised by 2 feel as part of the efforts to raise the grade of the city to protect against future storms. I took this pixture during the ghost tour we took in May…. but have no recollection of who is supposed to be haunting it.