A BIG Weekend

Alan, Pauline and David after the graduation

Back from Houston on Sunday. It was a fun and eventful weekend. First of all, David graduated from Rice University with a Master of Music degree on Saturday. The graduation ceremony was very impressive--everyone, bachelor's, masters and PhD's had their name called as they crossed the stage.

We also visited the Johnson Space Center, which was very interesting--we saw the original mission control room, where the famous phrase "Houston, we have a problem" was first said. The most surprising fact that I learned was that the main frame computers used to get the missions to the moon and back had far less power than today's cell phones have.

The original Mission Control at Johnson Space Center

After the graduation, we went out to lunch, then went to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and saw two shows, John Alexander Retrospective and Pompeii. I enjoyed both, but especially liked the John Alexander show because of the great variety of his work. Which ranged from abstract to very representational, all with great humor.

We ate in some interesting restaurants--Houston is a good restaurant town, first, Ruggles Cafe in Rice Village for lunch, then Lupe's Tortilla for dinner--great fajitas. We had dinner at Mark's American, which is a very fine restaurant, and has the reputation of being the best in Houston. Finally, we ate at Americas, which is a popular place, but a disappointment, not being as good as the first two.

We also went to Herman Park, saw the Japanese garden and the Rose Garden. So, you will have to agree, it was a mighty big weekend!

Herman Park in Houston

David and his teacher at Rice, Norman Fisher.