Houston skyline

The morning dawned dry, but cooler. After breakfast we went to the Buffalo Bend Collection and Gardens, a facility of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, that houses a collection of decorative art, paintings and furniture. Bayou Bend is the former home of Houston philanthropist Ima Hogg. The mansion, designed by architect John F. Staub, was built between 1927 and 1928 for Ima Hogg and her brothers. The home was one of the first to be located in the River Oaks neighborhood developed by the Hogg brothers. During construction, Ima Hogg insisted that as many trees as possible be kept. Only one tree was sacrificed to make room for the house, and the gardens were created around the existing trees. Miss Hogg created a series of gardens that were intended as outdoor rooms for living and entertaining. The gardens are at their best in the Spring, when all the azaleas are in bloom, but they were still very pleasant to wander around. The rooms of the mansion were all decorated to portray Christmas in byegone days. After lunch, we went walking along the Buffalo Bayou which flows through downtown Houston. By this time, the temperature had really taken a dive, and we needed our winter coats! Towards the end of our walk, we got a brief glimpse of sunshine and that's when I got this shot of the downtown skyline. In the evening we went to the Christmas Eve service at their church - the Vineyard church in Houston, which serves a varied community, and they sing all their songs in English and Spanish, and the words to the reading were also read and put on the screen in Enlgish and Spanish.

Best viewed in large.