NELSON'S NOTES #70, San Benito, Texas, Sept. 12, 2007

Nelson's Notes #70 marks the seventh year I've been sending out this electronic newsletter. During that time, the mailing list has grown to 132 names. I love getting your replies and enjoy reading about your experiences at the places we've just visited.

HAIRSPRAY

We went to this movie one August afternoon to escape the extreme Missouri heat. Expecting a musical comedy about people in a beauty salon, we were surprised when the film opened with chubby Nikki Blonsky bobbing around and belting out a song about wanting to dance.

Nikki is Tracy Turnblad, a 1960s high school girl whose only wish is be on a TV dance show for teens. While the plot deals with racial segregation and accepting people who look "different," it still keeps up the comedy, especially when John Travolta (Tracy's mother) and Christopher Walken (her father) are on screen. The show was moving and fun to watch.

BRANSON

The Landing

Just across the bridge from the town of Hollister, an upscale mall and condo development on Lake Taneycomo replaces half the campground that used to be on the Branson lakefront.

A morning mist rises from the lake. The lake looks like a river and is renowned for cold water fishing.

A realistic-looking fisherman casts outside Pro Bass, a main shop at The Landing.

The Acrobats of China. This troupe of children and young people performs at the Shanghai Circus Theater in Branson from April to December. We wondered how much freedom the Chinese chaperones give the kids during their nine months in the U.S. One of the teenage girls had several tattoos on her back, more near her navel, and one on her ankle. Did she get them here, or in China?

The girls smiled a lot during their acts, but the boys were serious, never cracked a smile, and looked militaristic.

Unusual flexibility allows these girls to contort themselves into human pretzels.

Incredible strength and control make superhuman positions like this possible.

Not once did these young ladies drop a plate while they made difficult moves with their "bouquets." When their act ended, they let all their plates clatter to the floor, proving that the disks hadn't been glued to the sticks after all.

Lone Star Steakhouse. Thirty Russian students had just been hired the night we ate at this Branson restaurant. Our cute blond waitress signed her name on our check as Masha but introduced herself as Mary. The first thing she said was that she was from Russia. Later her supervisor explained that every year a group of these hard-working kids comes to Branson to work; some have as many as four jobs and live six in a room. The money they earn is sent back to Russia to pay for their college expenses after they return. The supervisor said the kids seldom shop but when they do, they buy only a souvenir T-shirt. The kids explained, "We can make our own clothes, the ones here are too expensive." (By the way, the service was good.)

UNDERWATER IN TEXAS

Twelve inches more than the normal rainfall swamps picnic tables at Lake Georgetown, Texas, in late August. The water level had been even higher.

CHANGES AT FUN N SUN

Big-Rig Sites

Old cement pads are being removed to make way for big-rig sites between Dandy and Easy Streets.

New Sales Manager

You may recognize Cynthia Cavazos as the Mariachi singer in the Mexican Fiesta last January. This versatile lady assumed the position of sales manager when Bonnie Brahn left. Cynthia says she's excited to be starting a new venture and hopes to get to know everyone at Fun N Sun.

Paving

Pavers put a much-needed, new surface on all of Oleander Street. On other streets, workers are filling potholes and paving rougher sections.

Cable TV

Cable that looks like garden hose is being laid for our new Time-Warner contract. Come December, the service will be up and running and will give us twice as many channels. We have been led to believe that there will be no extra charge for the TV service but that hi-speed Internet will be available at an extra charge.

List of TV channels that will be available in December.

Marianna Nelson