Dispatches from Texas, part 2

Out jogging, I realized that kitsch is not limited to souvenirs. Many people landscape in kitsch. At one point, I found myself sandwiched between an extravaganza of Texas and an extravaganza of Kuntree Krapp over which the Madonna presided. Seriously, one homeowner had decked out his entire lawn with variations of the Texas flag, a cowboy sillouette, various cutesy ceramic farm animals, and pennants from the local high school football team. Across the street, his neighbor had a fake, wooden wishing well, also surrounded by various cutesy ceramic farm animals and what had to have been plastic flowers, with a background of fairy balls (for which my father has another name that contains an ethnic slur – and I don’t want the hits from people searching for that slur). The Virgin Mary, who, to the homeowner’s credit (and my disappointment), was not in a bathtub grotto, stood upon a little pedestal, also surrounded by the ceramic farm animals and plastic flowers. Both had flagpoles proudly waving the Stars and Stripes. Many lawns have flagpoles waving the Stars and Stripes. The cars “Support the Troops,” repeatedly.*

*I will post pictures when I get back to Nowhere.