Here are a few things I learned about Texas (and myself.)
1. Walking is a good exercise only between the hours of 6am and 7:30am or 8pm and 9:30pm. Any other time of day you risk heat stroke or becoming a crispy critter. (I recall a conversation with Principessa about walking somewhere later in the evening when the temperature had gone down a bit. Her response was a long, loud laugh and "Mom, it doesn't get any cooler!")
2. A swimming pool helps you cope with the Texas heat. A new neighbor with a new pool is even better. A new neighbor with a new pool and a shared, unlocked gate is heaven. A new neighbor with a new pool, a shared, unlocked gate, and an open invitation is a saint (you know who you are!)
3. Raus' dry pencil sausage is addictive. (Principessa thinks crack cocaine is their secret ingredient.) Anytime of day, with a little string cheese. Yummo!
4. Cacti like to grow in strange shapes and places. I can't imagine how it got up in the branch of that tree (chased by an armadillo?)
5. Certain family members who live in suburbs of the big city (I will not use your name, iPodite) take offense at my depiction of life in Texas as being stereotypically wild and country as opposed to refined and cultured. May I go on record (as a big city girl gone country) that Texans are both.
(that last pic is of two sisters, who will remain nameless, posing as Terra Cotta Warriors after attending the Museum of Natural Science exhibit. Who says we ain't got class?)
6. I'm too 60something to be a rock band star, but not too 60something to keep me from playing rock band with my daughter and niece (Principessa and Mrs. Fer) into the wee hours of the morning. Can we say rock band hangover?
I must admit it was comforting to hear Principessa say that she, too, was feeling the after effects when she remarked, "I feel like I was hit by the tour bus!"
7. Coyotes howl at train whistles. Young coyotes howl at their parents because they can't keep up with the rest of the pack. (in my case, this coyote was howling to keep up with my younger peeps in the rock band.)
8. I never knew sage was so beautiful, or that butterflies and bees loved it so much.
9. A garden shop in Austin has the largest wind chime I've ever seen.
But that's because...
10. An African gray parrot at the same garden shop stole my heart.
11. So did a friendly pair of horses. *sigh*
12. Boredom can make me do even stranger things than usual.
"Frankly my dear, I don't give a dung beetle!"
13. I took WAY too many pictures in Texas. (note to self: enroll in a digital photography 12 step program IMMEDIATELY.)
14. I love my Texas family...
15. And I missed my friends in the Frozen North.
Does that make me bicoastal?
