Lake Houston Campground

One of the great things about Texas is its never too cold to camp, there is however a 4 month time frame when its quite hot and camping is less than desirable.

From the Longview/ Kilgore area you are about 4 hours from downtown Houston, however you can reach the City park of Lake Houston in about 3hours. This park is located on the northern most part of Houston and is a great stop on your way to the Houston Airport that is also situated in the norther part of the Houston.

Unlike many city parks this one has overnight camping including a full bath house.

They also have family style bunk cabins for rent, along with indoor and outdoor pavilions.

I did not venture too far onto the trails but the whole area has that back woods bayou meets pines feel that is unique to this part of the county.

Henderson TX Rodeo

It'll drive a cowboy crazy
It'll drive the man insane
And he'll sell off everything he owns
Just to pay to play the game

And a broken home and some broken bones
Is all he'll have to show
For all the years that he spent chasin'
This dream they call rodeo

Well it's bulls and blood, it's dust and mud
It's the roar of a Sunday crowd, it's the white in his knuckles
The gold in the buckle, he'll win the next go 'round
It's boots and chaps, it's cowboy hats
It's spurs and latigo, it's the ropes and the reins
And the joy and the pain and they call the thing rodeo

It's the broncs and the blood
It's the steers and the mud
And they call the thing rodeo

 Garth Brooks - Rodeo Lyrics 

I don't know if anything else needed to be said. If you are living, visiting or passing through East Texas a trip to the Rodeo is a must do on your list. The Henderson Rodeo is a family Rodeo (that means no smoking, no swearing and no alcohol). As an added bonus their rodeo arena is somewhat enclosed keeping the cool night air and the bugs at bay. And of course you will get a satisfying dose of Texas pride, cowboys and true blue patriotism.

Pairs Texas - Pairs Bakery

A bit of a drive from Longview.

En route to an Oklahoma Casino.

A ghetto Eiffel tower. 

A Bakery

A Bakery that deserves to be called a Bakery

Devine cookies

True coffee

Homemade breads

Real ingredients

Modern industrial vibe

and a bit of the stereotypical french attitude

Perfection.

A weekend in Hot Springs AR

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Longview Tx is less than 5 hours from Hot Springs AR. Full disclosure I love Hot Springs AR.

I love the food in Hot Springs, and on this weekend trip during the late fall my husband and I discovered Cafe 1217, a fantastic healthy deli, its off the walking section of the historic district but is on a main road in town. As this was our second trip to Hot Springs since moving to East Texas we felt comfortable with the off the main street journey and it was completely worth it, this is a top choice for anyone having a meal in Hot Springs.

http://www.cafe1217.net/menu.html 

 I love the historic baths in Hot Springs National Park. I don't have any photos, but plenty are online so look it up and give yourselves at least 2 hours to soak while your in Hot Springs. On both visits now we have spent closer to 5 hours at the baths, just thinking about it makes me want to drive up there this weekend....





And of course the hiking. The national park has an abundance of easy access hikes, from 1/4 miles that are paved to long day trips and even a few multi day options. Being weekend visitors we have stuck to the shorter side of thing.








During this trip we took the journey up the observation tower. Being late fall the colors were mostly gone but it was an interesting experience and the observation deck had an abundance of local history. Opting to take the elevator up is a great idea and the stairs down are a bit crazy if you not very comfortable with heights. I enjoyed the tower but would not list it as a must do if you only have one weekend in Hot Springs.









Following the tower we drove the mountain top road to the side away from town and did a 2 mile there and back journey on a well maintained sloping path. Any time hiking in a lovely landscape is a great use of time.

Java Primo

Up early on Sunday Morning to make it back to Longview with time to get ready for the next week we have now twice stopped in Arkladelphia for coffee/ Chai. A small chain Java Primo make a blended Chai that is divine. Nestled in the historic down town of this struggling college town there is always parking and you will walk away with some caffeine and a smile.

Down Town

Santa Land

(this post was drafted in Dec 2014 and is just now being published)

As a child on several occasions my parents would put us in the car and drive us through a christmas light display. Now reaching my second year in East Texas and having seen the miles of cars lined up for Santa Land I knew it was time. My husband and I got in the line of cars and slowly crept our way to Santa Land. 

The first bit of advice I have is go pee before you get in line. The second bit is have some sort of book on CD or pod case, I promise you that local radio will get old after the first 30 min that you are in a dead stop on a county road just waiting to have the cars start to move forward.

As we approached the park it was instantly apparent that this was the best idea ever. They have a low frequency raid station that the trees at the entry way are set to and once in the park music is pumped in. This being Texas so many kids were in the beds of pickup trucks lounging on beanbag chairs and eating popcorn, it made me want a pick up all the more.

The park loop will take you a solid 45min and the quality and aww is continual. If you are visiting or living in East Texas a christmas season to Santa Land is well worth your time.

http://santalandtexas.com 

The Why of Work: Communication

Off and on since September I have been on a journey reading and processing the book "The Why of Work" By Dave and Wendy Ulrich.

After quickly being captured by some startling research and time contemplating the section titled 'Leaders who focus on Meaning create an abundant response', I took a few weeks to think about the "Seven Questions that Drive Abundance". In this examination I am reviewing what the Ulrich's write on communication.

Four intreated points really stood out to me and feel so very applicable to the non profit sector:

A common finding from employee attitude surveys is that communication rates low: Employees often feel out of the loop about ideas leader think are well understood.  Leaders often find that they are continually thinking about ideas and within the non profit sector are developing these ideas with their boards and counterparts from other sectors that by the time the idea is launched the leader is so immersed in the concept and those who are part of the leadership team have heard it since inception there is frequently a lack of communication to those lower down in the organization.

A positive work environment is fostered by communication that is redundant, two way and affectively charged. The non profit sector attracts individuals who passionately care about the area of work. taking this passion and channeling it into positive communication among the team can be that extra lift an organization needs to bring its mission to the next level. Weekly staff meetings do not have to be a chore, they can become a platform for quality communication.

When a complex or new ideas are involved, it probably takes 10 units of communication for every unit of understanding. What? WOW! No wonder I spend so much time scratching my head thinking I told you this already. How do I build this level of redundancy into what I do? I have continually found myself in the position where I am leading change, developing and implementing new projects and pioneering new ideas. Thinking about some of those things that I am currently working on, perhaps I need to purposefully set for 10 individual units of communication with each person on the team. Its very much worth the experiment and if its successful I could save myself so much head scratching and time that I feel that is unsuccessful reiteration of a point I have already made.

Sony regularly encourages employees to offer suggestions for improvement and seeks to implement over 90% of the ideas. Incredible, going back to my prior point that the non profit sector attracts individuals who are passionate, imagine what it would look like if their suggestions for improvement were seriously sought after and implemented. Might the rate of failed non profits dramatically decline? Could the effectiveness of those that are marginal allow them to become something great. How can I as a mid level manager help my organization move this direction? Do I make a point to really hear the suggestions of others? Could their ideas cause me to achieve success that I am not even looking for?

The Why of Work: Attitude Toward Accountability

Accountability is such a critical piece of any organizations success. Often team loose sight of it and it has drastic consequences.






Dave and Wendy have a short section spanning a few pages that bring us some astute points that I wanted to capture and share.

All leaders and organizations should set clear goals and make practical plans. I have seen so often in my time in the non profit sector vague goals that have no measurement are dependent on outside factions that the organization has no control over. Equally as often I have seen goals that are impractical and are setting the organization and the employee up for failure.






Have clear, reasonable expectations and hold others accountable for results. People will come to trust that they can succeed.



When leaders shirk candid conversations about accountability, no system will work. Three simple phrases that a leader can use with talking about accountability that are game changers toward success
- Help me understand.
- The data is demonstrating
- ...so that we can solve the problem?












I worked at an organization that was very goal focused, every day at our team meetings we would set goals for ourselves. These goals were based on larger quarterly goals and were steps to keep us on track to meet these larger goals. During the day if one of us was not living up to our goal the team would discuss with that individual what the barriers to success were and work with them to identify how they were going to overcome that barrier to accomplish the daily goal they had set for themselves. Failing to meet ones daily goal was not seen as failure, the next day one would simply revise the goal incorporating the learning's from the previous days failings.

Reflections on a fatality due to an apartment fire

Its no on us, it cant be, that's an unrealistic expectation

but

I still feel frustrated, upset, event anger

Less than a mile. the what if game

if only....

clearly imperative, hardened, jaded, not my job

it is

a catalyst for passion. The tools for change. That one moment, one story, one life can cause an internal revolution and just might change the narrative.

Our hearts and hands

all in.