Trick or Treat?

Sweaty Yoga was difficult this week with two new moves that involved getting your leg up onto your shoulder. Neither of us could achieve that but we did our best! Stu got picked on by the teacher for trying to get rid of his blocks (blocks help those of us, who are not quite as flexible as the teacher, achieve the same positions), when he was meant to be balancing his leg on his shoulder and lifting the rest himself off the floor with his hands! As usual the guy on my left was amazingly flexible and managing all the manoeuvres - he even helped me along on some give advice!! Di opted out of hot yoga so instead did normal gym stuff while we

The afternoon was spent looking at costumes. The place was heaving with people getting their last minute Halloween costumes. We all had ours but thought we might be able to get some extra accessories. In the end we came away with some costumes bits for Chris, Laura's boyfriend, to wear. Laura had told me Chris wouldn't want to dress up, but there was no let up in our house hold so he was going a purple pimp!

Stuart took Di and I to the Phoenician Market, a Greek, Middle Eastern, Turkish kind of place. It is the same place where he wrote about the freshly made pitta pockets on a conveyor belt through the shop. It had amazing selection of dried spices for a good price, unlike the standard supermarkets. Di bought more than we did to take back to Denver. You can buy Crunchies and other types of yummy proper chocolate - but, I resisted yesterday.

We then had to go to a standard store to buy a big bag of sweeties for the trick or treaters that we knew would be coming around. We set out the pumpkins, even though mine was starting to look like an old man who forgot to put his teeth in - we nicknamed him 'gummy'! In the fancy dress box we found some cob web stuff so Stuart decorated the hedges with it - spooky house! Well we had quite a few groups of sweetie grabbing children. The kids say trick or treat, but they don't do any trick or little skit, they just hold out their hands for sweets! Mind you they all had great costumes and the really little ones were very sweet. Stuart took great satisfaction in jumping out in his costume. One of the little boys was trying to stay as far away from him as possible while grabbing a handful of sweets.

Laura turned up as a zombie nun and was feeling sad as she had got all dressed up for kids to come around to hers but none came - between you and me I think she would have scared them off!! We all had homemade pizza before getting dressed up and heading off to our local for their live band and Halloween party. As usual we were all freaked out by Stuart's costume but the rest of us looked pretty cool too! You always get ID'd at pubs here but the poor bouncer was having problems with every ones makeup, wigs and masks! When we walked in we all thought we were the only ones dressed up, we nearly were if it wasn't for the bar staff! However later on there was a best fancy dress costume competition, which we all entered, and by that time more people had turned up in costumes. Although I think it was a fix as none of us were even short listed for best costume, mind you the prize was $100 of bar tab that I don't think any of us needed. The winner was a shocker!! It was a man dressed in a cardboard cut out of part of a woman's anatomy - that is all I am going to say!

This morning, with the clocks going back we actually got up at a reasonable hour and enjoyed bacon butties made with homemade bread. Fortunately we had frozen bread as we found the bread machine lying in bits on the kitchen floor with a well kneaded lump of dough stuck to the floor. A little perplexed how it got there, Stuart put it back together and tested it and it seemed to be working! God knows how considering it fell off the surface on to a tiled floor. He put in new ingredients and started it up. We then discovered that it wasn't a ghost who had pushed it off the counter but it in fact managed to walk itself while doing the mixing operation!! All is fine it made a lovely loaf for Di to take back to Denver in her suitcase.

Another stunningly sunny day with blue skies and temperatures in the twenties. It was too good to sit at home so we went for a bike ride to George Bush Park. We didn't get too far into the park as we came across a flooded path. The park is a dam and is used to reservoir excess water, and after all the rain last week there was certainly plenty of water to catch! We still managed 17 miles and felt we deserved some lunch when we got back home.

We took back Di to the airport this evening and have both been sitting on the sofa nursing our colds. I have an ever flowing nose, well actually one nostril, which is even more annoying as I feel all lopsided! I have been taking disprin like my mummy told me to do :)

Happy Birthday Andy!

Di arrived yesterday afternoon for a weekend of Halloween partying!

We went out to celebrate Andy's birthday at his favourite joint, the Ginger man Pub :) It was chilly outside and so Di and I nearly froze, and she is from Denver so it must have been really cold :) Another two friends of Andy's joined us, also expats! We let Andy choose where he wanted to go to eat and he decided the Turkish place around the corner, where we had been for a hookah a little while ago. The funniest thing was when we arrived the waiter greeted Andy as a long lost friend - Andy admitted he had been a couple of times since our first visit!! Di enjoyed the Turkish wine, which was actually pretty palatable. Di and I went for the special, which the waiter described as a lamb rolled in a flat bread then sliced like sushi!! Anyway it was lovely and both of us ate way too much.

I took my pumpkin in for the office pumpkin decorating competition. Mine was the most simple, however , I had skillfully cut it, unlike more of the others that we painted and with things stuck on them - example photos given. I didn't even take a photo of the winning one because it was okay, but not great! Well next year I know what standard I need to reach.


This morning I got up at 0630 to go swimming leaving the others in bed. It is the most beautiful morning, clear blue skies but just 12 degC! We have just had a yummy breakfast having all of Stuart's different breads - rye sourdough, pumpkin bread and whole grain. Hot yoga now :)

Pumpkin Decorating

Crazy at work just now, but today was the big meeting day so tomorrow maybe a little quieter before it all starts again next week :( It certainly makes the days fly past!

I went and got my hair cut tonight, only the second time since I arrived. But I have gone back to the same lady as the last time. She somehow remembers me and my stories very well. Either she does this with everyone or maybe I am a bit 'different' but we had a good chat - more interesting that the usual holiday chat at the Aberdeen hair dressers!

All it has done today is rain, it was so bad that I could see out of the window most of the day. Now tonight there are flash flood warnings coming up on the TV for this area. The pool is brimming!!! The thunder and lightening has just started again and the windows are shaking again.

We have been busy carving our pumpkins. We didn't cheat by using a template but did use other peoples ideas! Our tools were the drill and a filleting knife. Stu's pumpkin is biting down on a wee pumpkin-ette, mine just has big teeth and horns! There is a pumpkin decorating competition at work tomorrow the for the whole office building - I think I am going to take my one on for a laugh. Stuart said I should say 'Emily aged 6'! and then maybe I would be in with a chance of a prize :)

Floods

After a couple of days off of the bike I had an itching to go for a cycle today. I first fixed my new speedo, which had snapped before the race on Sunday and then cycled to the bayou and headed for George Bush park. The weather was nice, dry and cool, but deep within the park the creeks had burst their banks and had flooded the paths. I managed to get through the first couple of floods, but the third was way over my shoes.

This afternoon was filled with lots of cooking bread, pumpkin, etc. I also prepared another pumpkin for our Halloween decorations, but they won't be as impressive as one of our neighbours.

Squash!

This morning was a little struggle to get out of my pit when the alarm went off at 0530, however, no ill effects from the cycling a little tenderness in the saddle area but totally manageable.

Stuart was very sweet saying he was proud of me on last nights blog, and not telling you about my sugar low moment and hence serious grump about mile 28 yesterday! He made me sit on the edge of the road and eat a gel pack, essentially liquefied sugar, plus an energy bar (look at the photo of me sitting down on yesterdays blog - just look at that face!) . Both are disgusting, but within five minutes I was back on the bike and go for the finish line! I seem to have an issue getting my food intake right with cycling all I know is from my heart rate monitor it said I burnt 2200 calories in the 4 hours, and when I had my slump I certainly hadn't been replacing any of it - no wonder Lance can go faster he just knows when to eat :) Nothing to do with fitness and skill!

Just as I got to work the heavens opened and the black clouds came down. We had no light until about 3pm this afternoon and they predicted some 4 inches of ran to fall during the day. For once this happens on a Monday, after a spectacular weekend, so all in all I wasn't bothered. Poor Stu at home, just gt to watch it out the window only managing a short trip to the supermarket to buy a second pumpkin so we can each make a lantern for Halloween.

I forgot the UK clocks had gone back at the weekend so surprised Mum and Dad by ringing an hour earlier than planned. Our clocks don't go back until the first Sunday in November so I will have to remember we are only 5 hours difference just now!

Tonight I arrived home to a surprise. I had moaned about not being able to get diluting juice here and when Stu arrived, he found you could order Robinson's sugar free diluting juice from Amazon. Six bottles of orange squash have finally arrived (over a month later!), and I enjoyed a glass with my dinner :) But I am going to have to ration myself as these will have to last me the rest of my time because Amazon have removed them from their website!!!

Peddling for a cure

After our "spelunking" yesterday we headed off into downtown Austin to wait for Emily's friend Sarah and her family for dinner. We were walking down the main street when suddenly the police cordoned off the side roads and a parade proceeded towards us. At first we thought they were celebrating Halloween, but once it got closer we realised it was for Dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead). It took over 20 minutes for the full parade to pass. A lot of effort had been put into the costumes and it was quite different from Halloween.

Another early start today at 5am to get to Dripping Springs to start the cycling event. The car park was pretty much full at 6am when we got there and we had to cycle along the highway in the dark, however the police had cordoned off a lane for us to get to the start line. We had a little while to wait before the start and saw this man harnessing his poodle to his chest to take it on the cycle ride. The dog looked quite happy and we did see him afterwards and again the dog looked quite happy.

At 8am the race was to start and all 4000 of us were in line to start. However because of the sheer number of riders it took half an hour before we were off. We did manage to catch up with Em's friends before the start line so all 6 of us managed to cycle off together. The countryside around Dripping Springs was quite hilly but it wasn't as steep as our Scottish hills.

At our 25 mile "power stops" Lance Armstrong and some others came flying past at about 40mph. They had done 70 miles in the time it had taken us to do 25 miles. Their police escort was struggling to keep up as the road was quite narrow and was filled with other cyclists. We finished within 4 hours and I'm proud off Em as this was her longest and fastest ride to date. Thank-you to everyone who has sponsored us this weekend. Your donations will go to help the fight against cancer.

Running in Austin

Last night after work we left to go to Austin for our weekend of activity. It only took 2.5 hours with the sat nav giving us about two directions - turn left on I10 then go straight for 55 miles followed by turn right on highway 71 for another 55 miles!

We booked ourselves into a motel just of the Interstate so we could take the bikes into our room. Both of slept like logs not disturbed by any partying in the rooms above us or the traffic - not bad for $45 per night! It was an early start to get into the centre of Austin to register for the 5km, starting at 8am, and for tomorrows bike race. Guess what I have ended up with a large t-shirt - I don't think I have ever got a good sized t-shirt from a charity event. I tried it on and it is a night dress!


There was definite nip in the air even when the sun came up just at the start of the race. There were 3200 runners/walkers and a couple of dogs. A wee dachshund had a trolley with his fluffy bed to lie in!

The route was down, up and around downtown Austin. At the starting gate the only way forward was by walking but then we were off. Stu did really well and no pain from his knee. Just coming into to the finish line Stuart accelerated, well not enough as I steamed passed him! He just said I was typical Ferguson never wanting to lose! We finish in the top third!

We have just had breakfast at an American diner so pancakes and waffles but it was no way near as good as the Egg and I in Houston. Plus we had a really annoying bloke and his mother - he can only be described as fat and ignorant with no volume control! We left sharpish before I got up and hit him over the head with his plate (from the all you eat buffet!)



Off to see caves now :) the caverns we went see were called Inner Space just 20 miles north of Austin. There are lots of limestone caverns along the Gulf Coast apparently. Brad, our guide, was absolutely mad but entertained all the kids on the 75 minute tour. There were some impressive features not only from the calcite precipitation - so all the stalactites and mites but also from the water that had gouged the out the caverns.

We will meet up with a fellow cycling mates tonight for dinner, including Sarah from back home and her family. But it won't be a mad night as another early start for our cycling tomorrow.