POWER TALK

TEXAS LIONS CAMP: UNFORGETTABLE MEMORIES FOR FREE

As district governor of the 55 Lions Clubs in her region of West Texas, Big Country Electric Cooperative General Manager Fredda Buckner is responsible for facilitating and promoting many community, state and international charitable projects.

But one cause is especially near and dear to her heart: the Texas Lions Camp on the outskirts of Kerrville that gives children with physical disabilities, cancer and Type 1 diabetes the chance to climb a rope, ride a horse, fish, explore nature, pet goats, sheep and calves, and even plan and implement their own on-site radio show. In short, it’s the chance to be a kid. And, the camp is free, thanks to the sponsorship of individual Lions Clubs across the state.

“This is one of Texas’ best-kept secrets, and we need to get the word out,” Buckner said of the camp that rests on more than 500 acres in the Hill Country. It offers nine sessions, starting June 6 and ending August 7. All sessions last one week, with campers staying on-site, except for a three-day camp at which children go home every evening.

The first five sessions are for children from the ages of 7 to 16 with physical disabilities or who have been diagnosed with cancer. Qualifying physical disabilities include absence or amputation of limbs, cerebral palsy, hearing, vision and speech impairments, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, spina bifida and orthopedic conditions.

The next two sessions are exclusively for children who have been diagnosed with cancer. After the subsequent day camp, the Texas Lions Camp concludes with two sessions for children from the ages of 8 to 15 who have Type 1 diabetes and are insulin-dependent. Those sessions emphasize medical education.

For more information, including how to obtain an application or make financial donations to the camp, call (830) 896-8500 or go to www.lionscamp.com.

HAPPENINGS

Pageantry reigns at the Texas Citrus Fiesta in Mission, where King Citrus and Queen Citrianna provide the crowning touches, and the tangy smell of grapefruit and oranges—such as those sliced to decorate parade floats—draws spectators into the festivities.

First held in 1932, the fiesta celebrates the bountiful winter citrus harvest from the lush, subtropical Rio Grande Valley. The fiesta is held on nonconsecutive days and starts January 16 with the product costume style show in which models of all ages, male and female, wear hats and outfits made of dried fruits and vegetables. Tickets are $5.

The Royal Coronation of King Citrus and Queen Citrianna, set for January 28, is a beautifully orchestrated event. One young boy serves as the crown bearer, and four more carry the 12-foot-long train of the queen’s white dress with gold trim as she and her royal court proceed up a runway and onto a stage. Tickets are $3 and $5 for general and reserved seating, respectively.

The fiesta concludes on January 30 with a flurry of events, including the Vaquero Cook-off competition and the Fun Fair featuring live music and arts and crafts booths. Then there’s the grandest event of all, the Parade of Oranges, which is expected to draw 100,000 onlookers with floats, high school marching bands, and city and fiesta dignitaries.

For more information, call (956) 585-9724 or go to www.texascitrusfiesta.net.

THE MOTHER OF ALL PEPPERS

Many in the South and Southwest know the chiltepín as an attractive, easy-to-grow, shade-tolerant ornamental that in the fall is covered with scores of pea-sized, bright red berries. … It is easy to forget that this plant is actually a wild, native pepper, and not just any pepper but the reputed progenitor of all domesticated peppers classified as Capsicum annuum, the most important and widely cultivated pepper species in the world today.

—Matt Warnock Turner, Remarkable Plants of Texas: Uncommon Accounts of Our Common Natives, University of Texas Press, 2009

UPDATE: RESERVOIRS AT RISK

When last we reported on giant salvinia (in November 2008), this highly invasive aquatic fern was choking portions of Caddo Lake in East Texas. By October 2009, it was firmly established in 11 Texas reservoirs. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) urges people to immediately clean all vegetation from boat trailers and boats when they come out of the water; giant salvinia can easily ride on boat trailers and travel to other lakes. And all those who enjoy our waters should learn to spot this free-floating plant. For more information, call the TPWD at (409) 384-9965 or go to www.nature.org/initiatives/invasivespecies.

WHO KNEW?

You can have your valentine mailed and postmarked from Valentine, Texas. Send your stamped and addressed cards inside a larger envelope to Valentine Post Office, Valentine, Texas 79854-5400. 

The post office uses a special red-ink stamp every day in February except on Valentine’s Day, February 14, when the ink changes to black—a change that postmark collectors love. The folks at the Valentine Post Office suggest that you send your valentine in a white, pink or lavender envelope. How jazzy is that? For more information, call (432) 467-2912.