I know it's been more than a week since publishing an entry here--mea culpa! I have been very busy working with my genealogy program to get some good reports for my dad to take with him when he & Mom leave for Germany next Tuesday. He'll be spending three days near the town where our Karls may have emigrated from (a recent discovery, but not yet validated), so I want him to have all the information available. Unfortunately, there's a lot that I hadn't yet input into my database, and there's also a lot of customization I'm implementing, so . . . hence no blog entries. Hopefully I'll catch up next week.
There's certainly plenty to write about! Jonathan's reading, my participation in another Victim Impact Panel at training for law enforcement personnel, triathlon training, new info on edible flowers, a great quote from Mario Cuomo (if I remember to keep the newspaper article) . . . I know I'm pulling a Meredith here with these titillating hints at the content of future entries, but now I understand why she does it.
Just wanted to say that Jonathan and I had an absolutely wonderful time on our trip to Houston these last four days. We met John and Kathleen at the finish line of the MS150 and transported them back to Houston, illegally drinking beer in my car along the way (not me, of course, just the exhausted/exhilarated passengers). Jonathan was most pleased to play the chocolate-covered raisin game upon arriving at the house, and he was tickled beyond words to see the object of his adoration, known to the rest of us as Courtney. She got him ready for bed every night we were there--dressed in pajamas, brushed his teeth, and took him up to bed. And he went right to sleep too! She must work some kind of magic on him . . .
On Monday Jonathan and I went to the Downtown Aquarium, although we did have about a 20-minute detour while I tried to figure out how to get to the damn place. It was a bit of an adventure and I did end up watching it recede in my rear-view mirror for a while as I tried to turn around, but I got there in the end and Jonathan was proud of me for doing so. Among other things, Jonathan got scared by bullfrog noises, loved the train ride and Ferris wheel, and was accompanied by his mummy on his first carousel ride, which was a hit (he sat on a sea horse). He also got an octopus tattoo on his forearm. In the evening auntie Margaret came over to see us.
Tuesday we had lunch with my longtime friend Amanda (Mims) Campbell, which was great. I hadn't laid eyes on her in nearly three years! Hard to believe the time goes so fast. She looked great, and Jonathan was a doll to let us chat so long--he was very sweet. Later in the afternoon, back at Kathleen & John's house, out of the blue he came out with, "I love Amanda! I love her wearing those sunglasses!" He sure does like the ladies, that boy. Even though we hadn't physically seen each other for so long, knowing each other from birth sure does make that distance disappear. I always feel like she knows everything about me without my even having to say it. Very nice to have a friend like that.
Jonathan and I also visited the Houston Central Market and picked up dinner for the household--salad with red-tip and butter lettuce, baby spinach, carrots, sparkler radishes, and vine-ripened cherry tomatoes, followed by bbq chicken pizza. Margaret came over again and brought lots of leftovers (beef tenderloin, rice from Eatzi's, and salad), and Tim, Felicia, and Catherine came too to see the little guy. It was quite hectic but wonderful to see everyone, and I certainly appreciated people coming over on a week night. Catherine brought me one of the pictures that she and Tim had taken of her for Felicia's recent birthday, and it's a lovely picture--it's already up on my desk.
I tell you what--I do not see how people live in Houston. The traffic is just appalling, particularly on the Katy Freeway (I-10), which is where I spent most of my time. Accidents tie up the roads for ages, at all times of the day--there's no such thing as rush hour because it's happening all day long. Made me wonder what London would be like if there were no Underground--would it be like Houston? If it weren't so late, I'd try to find out how the population compares. Perhaps an eager commenter will do so . . .
I just spent 1-1/2 hours out on my deck, most of it reading this week's issue of The New Yorker while indulging in a glass of Italian wine (beverage bonnet appropriately in use, of course). I have two different oil lamps that burn citronella fuel and three lanterns that hold candles--all were lit and placed around the entire back garden. It was pretty windy and a very pleasant temperature, and the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves of our neighbor's Bradford pear tree and our red oak and peach tree was very, very relaxing and soothing. For a while the song of a cicada or two reverberated through the night, but after a while it (they) gave up and went to bed.
I thought how nice it would be to have my family there sharing it with me, then I realized that if you were all there, it would be way too noisy to hear the cicada, much less the wind in the leaves. So I changed my wish to hoping that we get some visitors soon--in small quantites--that I can share this with--before it gets too hot!
I loved Dave Barry's Sunday column about taxes. Read it--you'll get a great laugh. I've liked him for years and years, and I think this goes down as one of his best columns I've read.
Been very busy lately, but I've certainly been missing my houseguests! Between Andy and then Joy & Brian, we had company for about six weeks continuously, and I had withdrawal symptoms after Joy & Brian left. Had to ask my neighbor over for a beer on the deck Thursday afternoon--I was knocking around the house with no one to talk to. Later that evening I managed to completely blank out on the code for the security system and had to call Dale (who was getting his hair cut at the time) to find out what it was. At least I remembered the password for the security company when they called to make sure everything was okay. Jonathan didn't think much of the alarm though.
I've spent the last couple of days doing research on genealogy.com so that I can avoid renewing for another year. Primarily I've been going through the 1900 Census to make sure I've either found everyone that I should have done or determined that they can't be found. No great surprises found, just some grunt work. It's about all I feel up to with this head of mine (pollen--see previous entry) anyway.
I am most pleased to report that every seed I have planted has sprouted! I have leeks, carrots, spinach, bush beans, Texas hummingbird sage, snapdragons, yellow squash, nasturtiums, marigolds, anise hyssop, pansies, sunflowers, and chrysanthemums. The last few days I've been doing some reading on vegetable gardens, and I think I did mine mostly all wrong, but we'll see how things go. I always looked at this at a learning experience anyway--my expectations are fairly low in terms of harvesting high quality produce in any quantity.
I really enjoyed using my barbecue grill a couple of times while Brian & Joy were here. My favorite was making carmelized sweet onions earlier in the day and then grilling hamburgers (or veggie burgers) outside, and heating up the sweet onions in one of my cast iron skillets right on the grill. They were exquisite! Dale been doing the dishes since his dad left, and it sure makes it more fun for me to think about cooking. Tonight we had broiled tilapia with a homemade dill-thyme (from my herb garden, of course) butter on top, as well as a few breadcrumbs; some cappellini in a tomato sauce with fresh basil added; and some steamed broccoli. And a salad. Tomorrow we're having pork chops braised in a dark ale along with leeks and potatoes, and the next day we'll have some salmon in a strawberry balsamic vinaigrette. It is nice to remember that I do love to prepare food!
Okay, hopefully this will make up a bit for my recent dearth of blogging. :-)
I have seen the deepest, darkest depths of Hell, and it is yellow. Yellow because it is covered with pollen, just like Austin is right now. It began early Saturday morning, where I must have sneezed at least 40 times before even getting out of bed. In the late afternoon I went out to my new deck table to research the new plants I'd just bought at the Native Plant Sale held at Ladybird Johnson's Wildflower Center, and the table itself was covered with yellow! I took a closer look, and in many places the pollen had settled so deeply that you couldn't see through it. Dale said that when he was out riding his bike today that his wheels turned yellow b/c of all the pollen on the streets. I think it's oak. Whatever it is, I sure hope it goes away soon.