GENE'S STUDENTS AT PROM....he is proud of most of these kids.

Mariana- great dress, great pose....braces rule.

Mark...a happy guy in blue.

Ocieal and his date.

Jorge and his date.

Ruben and his date....

Ruben and Jose.

Jesus...braces still rule.

Ms. Kajans...Gene forgot her first name.

Jeff and date.

Dora and her friend.

DEL RIO HIGH SCHOOL PROM-May 21, 2011

The prom was packed, even though it might not look like it in my photos. Probably at least 300 kids there. The dancing was so cool and fun and amazing to watch. Sometimes it was a Mexican music mosh pit...sometimes a guy getting tossed in the air...and then salsa, marengue, cumbia etc...with a pinch of hip hop in the background. There was one guy who was a big hit...he danced like crazy using glow stix...his classmates were cheering him on.

My dance pictures suck. It was dark and hard to focus. You could tell some kids have been dancing with their Granma's, cousins and brothers and sisters all their lives...but really you just can't see it in my photos. They all knew the songs and knew when to hop, clap, put their hands in the air and yell "Whoo-whoo-whoo!" Lots of times they danced with their partners...but other times they circled...sometimes circled in opposite directions etc.

The theme was "masquerade"....This is on the stage where the professional photos (to purchase) took place...and the DJ's were up there too.

Gene..schmoozing with 2 of the assistant principals.

There IS a bit a space here....we couldn't find any. It was hard to thread our way thru the crowds. Lots and lots of sparkle...sparkly dresses and jewelry and shoes...I could have done a photo blog on shoes alone!! Wish I had but was too shy to ask...."Can I photograph your shoes?" Only saw a few girls w/ short hair...lots of long hair with spiral curls.

Smart girls wore short dresses. There was alot of being careful not to step on everybody's dress. Some dresses looked very "vegas-show-girl". Many of the guys had on vests etc. that matched the color of their date's dress. I was amused at the amount of sweating, tugging at strapless gowns and simply the attractiveness and energy of the kids. I am old. This was my 1st. prom ever. I was a wallflower in 1972 and nobody invited me to my prom.

Gene and I arrived at 9:45pm and chaperoned until midnight when the dance was over...then were on the clean up crew for an hour until 1am. These ladies are smiling at the apparent hefty-strongness of their chore...these columns didn't weigh anything...haha. Lost and found tray was small...regarding how many kids were there. I found: sunglasses, a cufflink, a locket, a man's tie and 12 cents.

FUN AT KAY & JIM'S IN AUSTIN. May 16, 2011.

 
I love this glass art very much...maybe I'll try to copy it.

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Kay & Jim's owls are SO COOL...and entertaining. Never seen anything like it.

Those eyes!

The sun was hitting this owl's eye strangely...freaky.

Mommy owl is posing beautifully!

Suki doesn't care about owls. She likes her summer haircut.

MARY & JAMEY STROLL THE RIVER AND GO TO THE LAKE AMISTAD.

A cliff at the lake...one of a thousand.

Do not jump off the cliffs.

A very calm water day.

Clear water runnin' over some pretty weeds on the river bottom.

Cool, shady lovely river. The water sounds, plus bird sounds is very pretty to our ears.

Huge Bar B Q pits that you can use...run by the city of Del Rio. We actually had our lunch from these today. It was a FANTASTIC chicken dinner with trimmings...to benefit a student of Gene's who is going to University of Texas next year. The student's granpa made the food. He got there at 2 am to start the fires.

THE POOLES GO TO DEL RIO HIGH SCHOOL. May 2011.

We aren't teachers OR students...but peeked inside anyways.

Whoa..."Lendell"? Shhhh. DON'T ever call him that!

Icky critters in Mr. Poole's class.

Behave and all is well...cross this man and you'll pay the price...even if he DOES wear tropical shirts.

Who wants to collect bugs and make a display box?

More icky displays...I like the skeleton on the top shelf on the left.

He has alot of nice and helpful things in his class...things he NEVER had at TYC kid prison.

Jamey, Gene and his safety glasses...snorkeling anyone?

This guy needs a name.

Microscopes...waiting for knuckleheads.

MEET ALLIE STEVENS. We met him at Cinco De Mayo Celebration.

Got the article back asswards...don't care. Click on the article page below and blow it up and then magnify to read all about Allie-the-rickshaw-man.

Dig the hat!
If you go to his website which is shown on the autographed flyer above...there are great, easy to read articles all about his trials and tribulations and joy of meeting people. He said 99% of folks are very kind and interesting.

MAY 5, 2011. CINCO DE MAYO CELEBRATION.

Aguas Frescas anyone?

This lady is making my chicken gordita. It's a pita thing with meat, cabbage (or lettuce) and tomato. As we walked down the street to the party the smell of lots of frying grease was in the air.

This lady is eating a mango with chile powder and a lime to squeeze on it.

A coupla cuties.

Fryin' up gordita bread. Are they greasy? SI! Are they yummy? SI!

These little girls introduced themselves to me after I asked if I could take their picture.

We asked this guy: "whaddya cookin'?" And he said: "whatever you can grill, I've got it going." I was surprised to see a health inspector walking through the food booths with his clipboard.

The flags were being presented but you can't see them. Then they crowned about 5 or 6 queens of various ages.

The gazebo at Old Brown Plaza. I guess the music started much later after we left. I was disappointed. It was VERY crowded on Thursday night....there was even a traffic jam for parking! Friday night a storm blew in and we didn't go. Last night it was pretty quiet and not crowded.

This little girl has an excellent costume!

This familiar looking man has a good costume too...but only on his head. Gene sees alot of his students wherever we go.

There was all kinds of food.