Calvin Luna Balli

Many of us share an appreciation that values the time and management of our flora. Our kind loves plants and everything to do with collecting them and of sharing garden information with others. Plants give us joy, so we start seeds and cuttings onto their journey, then we watch them grow into the most exotic and romantic flowers, which makes us want more of them. Our 'planty friends' collection can swell to great numbers if we are not careful.

As a helpful ambassador for my wife's plant swap group, we wrote…

What time is it? It's plant swap time! 

My wife Eileen started a plant swap group 5 years ago in our area for people who love plants. It is for those who like to trade their plants in exchange for others that they may not have. It's pretty cool that no money is ever needed. What started out as a handful of people is now over two thousand and still growing! The spring and fall swap meets take place when the flowers and plants are in full bloom. We meet planty people from all over the Houston area. 

People…

By Calvin Luna Balli 

October 19, 2021 

This might be a little long but please give a listen. It is a story of the time I lived in Killeen, an arid mid-Texas city halfway between Waco and Austin. I was an army brat who traveled around the world and became a Killeen resident in 1967–1970. This is how I remembered those years. 

When I was 15, my family of eight arrived to Killeen from a years long assignment in Quito, Ecuador in September 1967. We lived in Pershing Park on the Fort Hood Army base on Cutler…

The year 1964 was an important year for me since I was eleven and growing up quick. As an army brat who had already traveled very much in my short lifetime, I had experienced a vast variety of foods, cultures, and especially music (Japanese, German, USA, and Texas). My brother, Arthur was only 11 months older than me but he always seemed to be so grown up. We were close at that time and had developed similar musical tastes since my dad always had the record player spinning tunes in our house. We loved…

Upon my official retirement in 2012, I relaxed a bit too much and sat watching television then gained weight. After forty seven years of a professional career and paying my taxes (and still paying), I needed a break from the daily grind. I guess most guys when they retire lose their previous ambitions and some just die. I tried to stay busy around the house but lost interest in a lot of things I used to enjoy such as writing music, golfing, camping, working, traveling. I was bored and my legs were starting…

You never know who you'll meet at Luby's! 

My wife, Eileen and I volunteered for the 2019 Thanksgiving Day parade in downtown Houston handling a giant Dr. Seuss Lorax balloon. Since we had so much fun handling a NASA astronaut balloon in 2018, we decided to do it again. Our job was to be part of a group of around 15 people who each held a rope to wrangle the balloon up, down, sideways, or wherever needed to avoid trees along the downtown route. It was a challenge fighting the wind and a blast waving…

Camping in Texas in December can be a wonderful experience... 

Our Texas Ladybug teardrop camper was packed up and ready to go. My wife, Eileen had a couple of days off from work and told me that we should go camping somewhere. We thought about going to Fredericksburg and Johnson City to see some beautiful Christmas lights but did that magical trip several Christmases ago. It is a must see!!! We soon settled on camping in Dallas since we have never been there during the holidays. 

We left Houston around…

Since the 50th anniversary of the first lunar landing is upon us this year, these are my own experiences of where I was at during that incredible time.

During the early summer of 1964, the Balli family moved from the states to Quito, Ecuador. My father Calvin was enlisted in the Army and was assigned to the US Embassy for the next 3 years. Before our arrival, he briefed my brothers and me on the purpose of our stay, which was to obtain information on Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara. The embassy found us…

(NOTE: In honor of the Ken Burns Vietnam documentary on PBS,
I am writing this story from my own experiences during that time frame.)

I was a teenage army brat living in Fort Hood,Texas, which was at the time the largest Army base in the free world. My family lived there starting in 1967.

I was a cool looking dude transplanted from Galveston, Texas who was going through the usual growing up pains so I found ways to grow closer to the world through music, fashion clothing, and girls. I also became involved in…

I began my trip to Chaco Canyon in the fall of 1986 while working as an illustrator for an oilfield company. I drove my white 1984 Jeep Laredo from Houston to Amarillo, then along Route 66 to Albuquerque. Just before Gallup on Hwy 40 I headed north on Road 371, a partially paved road of about 65 miles. The scenery was a dry desert of canyons and cattle guards. As I slowed down to drive over the rumbling guards, I was reminded of how these cows could live in this hostile country in the first place! Its dry…