11" X 14" Oil on Canvas- A gift for my dear friends who lost their beloved "Seahoose" at Crystal Beach, Texas to Hurricane Ike. Here is the story of what their wonderful home meant to so many people. The Seahoose, Crystal Beach, Texas By Liz Osten Sanders Our beloved Seahoose is gone, there’s nothing but sand left in its place. It had a ramp for Dad’s (Bop) wheel chair with a concrete statue of Mary at the top. It had a white washed picnic table that family and friends had signed and/or etched their words of wisdom. Mama and Bop had 7 children; the Osten’s to date count 48. It hosted many a spaghetti dinner for all the pot would feed. Bop always made “Character Sauce”, mushrooms, onions, Rotel and fresh jalapenos, so named for what it required to eat it. The Seahoose witnessed countless games of poker, dominos, and hearts, so many crowded around the glass table, often into the wee hours of the night, Mama and Bop slept through the noise as if it were a lullaby. The picture of us at our tacky party hung next to those from the Mardi Gras parades, when were 101 Dalmations with Cruella, and Charlie Chaplins and Waldos – we won first place once. Next in line was the Bay Vue first dollar, followed by the framed traffic ticket Bop got in France for going the wrong way in the circle, at the end the picture of Bop with the caption “it’s not so much I mind dying, it’s just I don’t wanna be there when it happens.” Bop spent many hours in his shop working with stained glass and his beautiful creations hung in all our windows. Bop and Annie painted the little kitchen table with neon paint and glued fish pictures on it they had cut out of one of the coffee table books, we didn’t even have a coffee table, but Mama had lots of beautiful coffee table books about the sea. They painted the fan blades to match. Actually anything that stood still was at risk of being painted, ask Felix, our 18 pound black cat. This was our HOME, not a vacation getaway. How many people sat on the porch swing in 34 years? Is it more or less than the number of shark teeth in the baby food jar on the kitchen window sill found over the same amount of time? How many grand kids got in Mama and Bop’s king size bed to watch Disney videos on the TV suspended from the ceiling? More than the family and friends who, in our 1200 square foot house, looked for their floor space assignment on the nightly bed chart over the years? Too late to calculate now. In recent years Annie and I spent hours combing the beach for glass and tile. Sorted and saved for projects never started, I guess it was really all about the hunt. Our stash has been returned for others to find. When we were young we had a 400’ seine and would have fish fry’s on the beach with our catch. Our “plate” was a brown paper bag, the fish seasoned with just the right amount of sand to ensure peak crispiness. The kids would throw the crabs back, so many pinched fingers. Anheuser Busch bought several Clydesdale horses with the money we spent on beer, perhaps one was Hank. In our haste to follow the last minute evacuation order, we forgot to bring Bop’s poker fund jar, and Rick’s poker fund jar, and Liz’s poker fund kept in the Halloween purse on the bed post with the “keeper” Mardi Gras beads; Hama’s (Bop’s grandmother) Santa so prominently displayed on the Christmas tree every year, and the 4’ turquoise pre-lit metal Christmas tree with a tilt. We didn’t forget, but were forced to leave, damn near everything else. Bop and Mama moved to Crystal Beach in 1974 and ran the Bay Vue grocery until 1983. Then they started Mike (Mama’s nickname) Osten Real Estate, M.O.R.E.. When forced to give up the real estate business due to health reasons in 1990, Mama created the crystalbeach.com website to provide information about her community to those surfing the net. She was 72. Mama would spend at least 6 hours a day updating the site and answering all inquiries. Mama and Bop loved Crystal Beach as did the other 46 of us and many, many friends. We scattered Mama‘s ashes on the dune in front of the Seahoose in March of 2007. Ike may have washed away the dune, but it only served to widen her presence on this place she treasured. The Osten family will be back soon, but not as soon as we would like. There are too many memories to mention, too many laughter filled times to recall. She was a grand ole house, The Seahoose, and we will miss her. And maybe, just maybe years from now, a treasure will be found buried in the sand by some unknowing hunter….a concrete statue of the Blessed Mary. God bless all the former residents of Crystal Beach Texas, you will be in our hearts forever. Bop, Liz, Annie, Felix, P-Kitty, Ditto, Cheech , Chong and the rest of the Osten clan.