Brazos Bend State Park, Houston, Texas
But while Joseph was there in the prison, the LORD was with him; He showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did. ~ Genesis 39:20b-23 The most important thing to note here, is that despite Joseph’s circumstances, God was with him. Oftentimes, we tend to think that if things are not going well, it’s because God has left us alone. But He never does. There’s an old poem “Footprints in the Sand” that talks about someone questioning why they could see two sets of prints side by side, but then when something happened there was only one, and God says, “That’s because I was carrying you”. How true that is! And God is carrying Joseph. Even though we don’t understand it. And we know the eventual outcome! Joseph is blessed despite his circumstances, as are those around him, and the entire world will soon be blessed because of his circumstances.
I spent time in the kitchen today, beginning Super Bowl preparations. There was a shrimp ball to make (which had to be made with crab because the store didn’t have shrimp) that’s best if it sits overnight, and Blaine requested his dessert to begin tonight and carry over into Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day and beyond.
And whilst I was slaving away in the kitchen, he went out to play.
He rode around the Park at his speed rather than mine, and rode about 15 miles all told today, in the cold and wind! His face was all red when he returned – with a few pictures even! – but he felt good and enjoyed himself immensely.
but still, there weren’t as many today as in previous days.
After dinner, and once 6:30pm rolled around, we drove over to the observatory. Did I mention it was cold today? Well, it was near freezing this evening! And the wind was blowing!
The vulture roost is off to the right of us.
You can tell, because it smells bad on this walkway. : )
Fortunately, they allowed us all inside the museum part to keep warm until they were ready for us. We had tickets for their Saturday night….. I don’t know what to call it. Showing? Talk? Anyway, whatever you call it, it was quite good, despite the cloud cover that prevented us from seeing the really awe-inspiring stuff. There were individual small telescopes set up pointing to various stars in the sky, as well as the moon, and most of the staff was volunteer.
I just thought it was funny that when you look in it, everything is upside-down.
It doesn’t take much to humor me! : )
But the main attraction was their largest telescope that has the same 36 inch mirrors as the Hubble. They acquired it from Louisiana State University a few years ago, and built the program around it.
They only allowed 10 people in at a time, so while we were relatively warm,
many others were standing at the door waiting to get in.
He told us he’s a volunteer who travels 2 1/2 hours one-way every Saturday to do these talks!
Such love for the things of space!
Fortunately, they built it on a hill, because when Hurricane Harvey came through five years ago, the entire Park with the exception of this hill and the one the Visitor Center sits on was completely underwater. Ahhhh . . . so THAT’s where those water marks on the trees came from!
Even being on the hill didn’t completely save them though. There was about two-feet of water in their basement.
Blaine is really into space stuff. Me? I think it’s pretty amazing, but when I think about what all is out there and the distance it encompasses, it kinda throws me for a loop. So I mostly just stick with our planets and the Milky Way. 😊
The had a movie showing on a loop. We had no idea it was an actual movie, and when we finished outside, we came into it halfway through. The first thing we saw was Saturn, and it took us on a journey that continued on for billions and billions of miles. I was kinda done after we reached Neptune. But Blaine loved it. I think I would’ve enjoyed the first half more, but by now, it was nearing bedtime, so we left.
Incredible evening for just $10/person!
SHRIMP BALL
16 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 T. minced onion flakes
2 T. horseradish
1 can small shrimp (peeled and deveined)
Crackers
Mix thoroughly and shape in a ball. Pour cocktail sauce over the dip.
CHOCOLATE CARAMEL FANTASY
2 rows (28) Oreos (cream removed), crushed
1/3 C. butter, melted
30 Werther’s vanilla caramels (softer and better than Kraft)
¼ C. caramel ice cream topping (Ghirardelli is best!)
1/2 C. heavy whipping cream – DIVIDED
1 C. chopped pecans
¾ C. chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium mixing bowl, stir together crumbs and melted butter. Press onto the bottom of a 9” springform pan. Bake 10 minutes. Cool slightly.
In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt caramels in ice cream topping, stirring often. Stir in the first ¼ C. cream. Remove from heat, stir in nuts. Spread over crust.
Cool, cover and chill for 1 hour. In small saucepan, melt chocolate, remove from heat, stir in remaining cream. Drizzle or spread over pie. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour.