seasons

i had a parent meeting today, and we were chit-chatting about the weather as the meeting started, and i said how much i was enjoying spring…and the dad corrected me.  "it's pre-summer," he said.  which, at 86 degrees today, is pretty accurate.  which got me thinking…what really ARE the seasons in texas?

june-september = summer
october-december = fall
january-february = fall+ (when some of the leaves turn fall colors in january, you can't call this season winter)
march = spring
april-may = pre-summer

i'm remaining optimistic that we'll have another cooler spring day before pre-summer turns into real summer…but i'm not holding my breath.

it may be fall in other parts of the country, but it was 91 in houston today.  and my air conditioning broke.  and the AC repairman couldn't fix it today, but gave me a few-hours-on, one-hour-off scheme to keep me semi-cool, which is actually working, and my apartment is no longer 85 degrees.  more like 80.  but i have a fan, and if (when) i get through the night the repairman is coming back tomorrow to fix me up for real.  ruby spent the day being semi-happy (purring when petted) but not moving from the cooler parts of the apartment where she lay sprawled out.  good kitty.

oh, the fun of living in houston.  fall starts on tuesday, huh?

texas musings

things i had never heard of before moving to texas?

farm to market roads - abbreviated FM roads.  these are secondary roads off of larger highways, and i love the name, because it tells you exactly what they were used for.  they are everywhere.

charro beans, which i don't order because i have assumed (and now confirmed) that they are stewed with bacon.  every mexican restaurant in texas that is worthy of its name has them as a side item, and they were served in our school cafeteria today.

ice houses (this article gives some information on how ice houses evolved in texas, and the one they reference is just down the street from me!), which are awesome open-air bars where you shouldn't order wine or a cocktail - it's a BEER place.  my local ice house has picnic tables and a basketball hoop and a ping pong table and a few outdoor TVs; people bring their dogs and their kids and buy tacos from the taco truck across the street.  it's a casual drinking spot for people from all walks of life, and i love it.

i may only have a short window left to remember all these unique texas things before they start to seem normal and i forget how different some aspects of houston are from any other place i've lived.  i now can sing along (and know when to clap!) when "deep in the heart of texas" is played, so i've clearly made some progress since moving here!

file this under "things i didn't know about before moving to texas": hatch chiles.  they are from new mexico and they are in season right now, which means they are everywhere.  grocery stores have huge hatch chile displays (and one grocery store chain has a hatch chile festival), and today i bought hatch chile cheddar cheese (it is, as you won't be surprised to hear, DELICIOUS - a little spice, but nothing crazy).  i love tasting all these new southwest flavors!

how to host an artsy friend who likes beer and good food

the second in an occasional series about the fun things to do when people come to visit!  my friend talia visited me in houston in…june.  early june.  but this post is better late than never, right?!  talia is artsy and loves food and good drinks and we became great friends the year i lived in new york, after becoming good friends working together in england for a few summers.

friday night: airport pick up, dinner at torchy's tacos (duh.  every visit to texas must start with tacos.)

saturday: brunch at down house, beers at karbach brewery (photo below! this brewery opens up several times a week for people to just come and drink and hang out.  there are dozens of picnic tables and people were there with board games, cupcakes for birthdays, meals…almost anything you can imagine.  i loved it!), watching 20 feet from stardom in the air-conditioning after sweating outside at karbach (good movie - thank you, netflix), turrell sky space for the sunset show, dinner at pondicheri (because talia and i had an indian food tradition in new york and pondicheri is AWESOME).

sunday: brunch at empire cafe (in the garden out back - such a fun spot), the menil art gallery (eclectic - right up talia's alley - and she knew all these damn artists i'd never heard of - impressive!), coffee at agora, looking at antiques in montrose, barefoot contessa on tv.

it was SO much fun hanging out with talia and showing her my city!  i think houston showed itself to be pretty awesome.  and i offer this key to hosting people in houston in the summer: alternate outside time with air conditioned time.  that air conditioned time is CLUTCH, but the whole trip can't be air conditioned - lots of fun things are outside!

who wants to visit me next?!

a photo a day

Texas sky tonight:

a photo a day

Happy Memorial Day weekend - welcome to summer!  (I have three more days with students before my summer really begins, but I'll take what I can get.) Five of my Houston/Austin friends and I went to Kate's family's house on the bay south of Houston. It was incredibly relaxing - reading, lying in the sun (or under umbrellas), drinking, talking, laughing, eating. The weather was PERFECT. Low humidity, highs around 90, the evenings so cool I needed a sweater. If only every weekend could be like this!

art car parade

last weekend my friend elizabeth and i went to the houston art car parade.  people can enter their "art cars" and drive along this parade route.  it was SO. FUN.  there were tons of people out watching, and the end of the parade route was near elizabeth's house, so we didn't have to fight for parking.  we spent the first 45 minutes in the sun (good for photos, but pretty hot), then moved under an overpass (bad for photos, but glorious in comparison).  some of my favorite cars:

rene magritte art car!  (there's a magritte exhibition at a museum in town, so perhaps they were going along with that theme?)

i think this was the houston opera's car!  dude in the mouth was definitely singing some legit opera music.

telephone car!

and my favorite: chicken car!  (isn't this incredible?  so beautiful.)

such a fun atmosphere, and a great thing to do on a saturday afternoon.  i'll definitely be going again next year.

In Houston, in May, this is what everyone calls a cold front.

And you better believe I'm excited about it! Last week it got to 90 every day and we know more of the same is right around the corner. 

a photo a day

Some exotic tropical locale? Nope - taken two blocks from my house after lunch with friends. Houston has palm trees everywhere...which I guess is what you get in a city with (fun fact!) 360 frost-free days a day.

a photo a day

a photo series in which the ladies from this weekend (the dog and cat are both girls, too!) attempt to take a self-portrait that includes all five of us.

think of it as our own little photo booth.

laurie

this weekend is the 4th annual reunion of jenny, laurie, and me.  we worked together in atlanta for a few years until jenny moved to idaho and laurie retired and moved to new hampshire.  laurie was a huge mentor to me and jenny, and for the past three years we've gotten together for a weekend (one year in idaho, twice in new hampshire, and now in texas - each with other friends tagging along, but schedules didn't work out for those friends to come this year).  though laurie is at least thirty years older than us, she is a great friend and so easy to spend time with.  she gives incredibly sage advice on our careers in education, saying often throughout our friendship: "when you run your own school…"  we love that - she believes we could run a school one day.

i'm thinking of laurie this week since i know i will see her this weekend, and i realized i've started doing something she does - something i used to consider unthinkable.  laurie said she would always drive to school in the morning in silence - no radio on - just her thoughts to get her ready for her day.  i could never do this, listening to NPR or a podcast or the bits and pieces of music through the talk radio show jabber.  but i've found myself doing it this year - turning the radio off and driving to school in silence once or twice a month, with just the white noise of the car and some time to think.  it's not as bad as i imagined.

a photo a day

president's day morning: eating brunch and grading quizzes on the patio of a nearby restaurant.  the sun was out and it was 70 degrees.  such a fantastic way to start my day!  i also ran errands and saw monuments men with some friends (DEFINITELY worth seeing, especially if you have an interest in history).

and let us give thanks for february in texas:

winter in Texas

This morning I woke up to the sound of hail on my windows. Not even enough to coat the ground when all was said and done, but it accumulated in the gutters and on my windshield. The high today was supposed to be 42, which is pretty cold for us - most days it is in the 50s and 60s, though it got to 77 two weeks ago.

So was 39 degrees at lunchtime and I walked outside to go to the cafeteria and I saw this. 

Um, yes. This is a tree that is blooming. Like it is spring. It is February 6th. 

I can officially say that I do not understand Texas winters. 

long weekend in austin

i went to austin this weekend to visit my friend jenny and had such a great time!  we ate very good food, hung out with her friends (who i really enjoy), hiked enchanted rock, visited the cute little town of fredericksburg, watched downton abbey, and spent a lot of time watching her dog (piper) and ruby get to know each other.  (also, it was 70 degrees the whole weekend.  we kept telling each other: this is why we moved to texas!)

the first time ruby and piper met (this fall) ended with ruby trying frantically to climb a wall of my bedroom…which is to say, it didn't end well.  i figured if it was that bad this time around, ruby would spend the whole weekend in jenny's guest room, which is better than in a cage at the boarding place in houston.  the weekend started with them staring at each other from across the apartment for long periods of time (pictured above), and evolved into piper trying to play with ruby and ruby holding her ground by hissing and batting at piper…but being curious enough by sunday night to prowl around the apartment and interact with piper instead of staying under the bed (where she spent much of saturday).  it was pretty adorable. they did not end up cuddling together on the couch like i wanted, but i think they enjoyed each other.

hooray for a fun weekend with jenny!  back to work in the morning...

today i learned that sochi is 10 hours ahead of central time.

i haven't had many people over to my apartment yet because that's a thing close friends do and i'm, you know, new to this city.  newish friends go out to restaurants and bars.  old friends sit on the couch in their pajamas and eat take out food.

but!  i love the olympics, so i am having a party to watch the opening ceremonies of the winter olympics.  i decided this at 3pm and sent out the invitation like 3 hours later.  (apparently i work quickly once i make decisions.)  hopefully some new friends will want to come over and eat and drink and relax and watch the opening ceremonies with me.  a step forward in my new home!  ruby better not hide under the bed the whole time.

cue the obsessive checking of the evite to see if people have replied.

TWO PEOPLE HAVE REPLIED YES!  wooooooo!

only in texas

my cashier at the grocery story this afternoon asked me if i was "enjoying the cold weather."

it is currently 48 degrees outside.

discuss.

this weekend was fun

on friday i went to dinner and movie with some friends from work - we saw dallas buyers club at an independent theater near my house that sells beer.  the beer was delish and the movie was really good.  hard to watch at points, but so well acted and a really compelling story line.

on saturday i lazed around, baking and cleaning and doing laundry and snuggling a cat and watching christmas movies, then went to yoga, then to a christmas party with some friends from work.  i made brown butter sea salt rice krispy treats from the smitten kitchen cookbook, and they were hands down the best rice krispy treats ever and were consumed quickly and with happiness by my friends at the party.  i heart smitten kitchen.

today ruby started her diet (i can't deny that she's got some extra belly fat…but she is unamused by the change from 1/2 cup to 1/3 cup of food in the mornings), then i went to lunch and the symphony with some friends to see their holiday pops concert - my atlanta friends and i did this two years in a row when i lived there, and i was excited that some of my new houston friends wanted to go.  tonight is dinner and the homeland finale at josh and holly's house.

it was a weekend full of friends, none of whom i had six months ago, all of whom i enjoy spending time with and feel increasingly close to.  a great weekend!  houston feels more and more like home.

can it just be winter break already?  nope, one more week of work to go...

a photo a day

My cousin Kate, the ballerina! I saw her perform in The Nutcracker yesterday - she's a new corps member at the San Antonio ballet. I'd never seen The Nutcracker live before, but it was fantastic and she's such a beautiful dancer.

I also got a chance to have lunch and see the Alamo with my aunt and uncle before the performance.  (It was my first trip to San Antonio.)  Such a fun day!

The drive home was a little nuts…it was sprinkling rain and then the temperature dropped from 35 to 29 degrees…and there were no fewer than 6 accidents (caused by ice, i guess) that I passed, including two (one in both directions) that SHUT DOWN I-10 FOR MILES.  I called Becky to tell her that the zombie apocalypse was happening…it's bizarre to be on a highway with no traffic at all coming towards you.

What have we learned?  When it gets below freezing all hell breaks loose in Texas.

a photo a day

i'm sorry to every other sandwich i've ever eaten: this one is my lifetime favorite.  truffled egg salad on a pretzel bun from local foods - INCREDIBLE.  how did i live in houston for six months before going here?  and when can i go back?