“I’m afraid I was running to get out of the rain and got a bit winded. Age is a peculiar kind of thief. It slips up on you and steps inside your skin and is so quiet and methodical in its work that you never realize it has stolen your youth until you look into the mirror one morning and see a man you don’t recognize.” – From “Creole Belle” by James Lee Burke

With a day in hand we decided to drive to Victoria for glasses and restaurant stops. Yipppeeee.

Our journey from Karnes City took us through Goliad, TX. Goliad, as most of you probably know, is the site of a key event in the battle for independence from Mexico. It was there that Santa Anna executed approximately 400 Texan prisoners.

This happened about 3 weeks after the battle of the Alamo as Santa Anna marched towards San Yacinto and a showdown with Sam Houston. News of this slaughter reached Sam Houston and, along with “remember the Alamo”, “Goliad” became a rallying cry for the soon to be victorious Texans.

I told our son I would email pictures of the site and he replied that he would wait with “BAITED BREATH”.

As I sit and cook under the Texas sun, my mind got to wondering…………..what does “wait with bated breath” mean? How does one bait breath?

Asked around and none of my inner circle really knew. It’s either a great mystery or my friends and I are really dumb. Probably the latter.

A search turned up the following:

It has the meaning ‘reduced, lessened, lowered in force…So “bated breath” refers to a state in which you almost stop breathing through terror, awe, extreme anticipation, or anxiety.

Sounds like something a guy on the gallows or at the altar would experience.

A few more I found interesting:

CAUGHT RED-HANDED  Caught in the act. For hundreds of years, stealing and butchering another person’s livestock was a common crime. But it was hard to prove unless the thief was caught with a dead animal … and blood on his hands.

GIVE SOMEONE “THE BIRD” Make a nasty gesture at someone (usually with the middle finger uplifted).There are many versions. The “cleanest”: Originally “the bird” referred to the hissing sound that audiences made when they didn’t like a performance. Hissing is the sound that a goose makes when it’s threatened or angry.

“If I have found any peace of mind in this world, it lies in accepting that we know almost nothing and understand even less.” From “Creole Belle” by James Lee Burke