Well we have suddenly seen Spring arriving, apart from yesterday but I will come back to that! Just when Mum and Dad were here we saw the magnolia trees flower, they have pretty flowers but only for three days so a little pointless in my opinion! But with the blossom has come lots and lots of pollen. I have suffered my first 
bout of hay fever - described as allergies here! But I am frankly not surprised - the pool had a skim of yellow on it, the BBQ has a fine yellow dust and all the cars on the street are a shade of yellow. The trees responsible, not that I am sure what they are, have been dropping brown dangley flower bits everywhere. Hopefully it will all be over soon :)
bout of hay fever - described as allergies here! But I am frankly not surprised - the pool had a skim of yellow on it, the BBQ has a fine yellow dust and all the cars on the street are a shade of yellow. The trees responsible, not that I am sure what they are, have been dropping brown dangley flower bits everywhere. Hopefully it will all be over soon :)This week it was St Paddy's night - Wednesday 17 March. A very popular celebration here - not entirely sure why but the shops go mad with green regalia. Laura planned for us all to go to the Ashford Pub, the Irish bar around the corner from us. It had an Irish Stew competition and promised band, pipes and dancers. Well we never managed to get a stew cooked but we went along after work. By the time we arrived everyone in the bar were very drunk. None of us were up to that considering it was a school night, plus I was still recovering from the previous Saturday ni
ght when we had all tried out another local bar where I had decided to take on a pool shark, not once but twice, took the (Blues) band microphone to sing down it and got told to get off a chair that I was dancing on! Less of that though and back to being dressed in green. We have now been introduced to two Brits who have spent the last eight or so years in Calgary and now have been expriated here. Disappointingly there was a serious lack of the entertainment promised!
ght when we had all tried out another local bar where I had decided to take on a pool shark, not once but twice, took the (Blues) band microphone to sing down it and got told to get off a chair that I was dancing on! Less of that though and back to being dressed in green. We have now been introduced to two Brits who have spent the last eight or so years in Calgary and now have been expriated here. Disappointingly there was a serious lack of the entertainment promised!The rest of the week was spent at home both of us were recovering from too many late nights, it has also been really hard to get up for work because the clocks went forward and it is now dark in the mornings. Fortunately, I have not been the only one to get in just on time last week! Saturday morning there was no lie in as we were going off to do a 41 mile cycle with t
he neighbours. It was a cycling event run as part of the Houston MS150. A training ride for all those taking part in the MS150, like Amy and John, and just for fun for us two. We were in a place called Magnolia somewhere an hour northwest of Houston. It was in the sticks so lots of nice quiet roads to cycle on, with only the occasional idiotic truck driving too fast. Stuart kindly changed my tires on my bike from hybrids to road tires - oh my goodness what a difference. We all set off at 8am with a wee chill in the air and spots of rain, (that was not going to stop us), and well I zoomed off - smooth tires and tightened suspension was easy and poor Stuart spent the the next 24 miles chasing me :) There was a refreshment stop at about mile 22 and we could see the skies getting very black and the occasional strike of lightening. Ok at this point I want to remind you that we are in Texas which is very flat and in the countryside there isn't much except for the odd house and car so nowhere to hide from lightening on a bicycle! Anyway we decided to get going without stopping and as we rode down another straight road the winds picked up and the rain came down, claps of thunder and lightening nearby, and finally followed by hail - not pleasant on the bike, in the end we spotted some trees and went for cover, that backed on to a field of turnips. It was too late to stay dry as we were drenched, and I know hiding by trees is not good in a lightening storm but we didn't have many options. Although we were the first to this spot we were quickly followed by many others, one of which Stuart had to stop before he landed in the turnips! The guy came cycling in shouting something, but we suddenly realised he could get his feet out of cleats (they must have got jammed from mud or something) anyway he looked very pleased for Stuart saving him from turnip face. Finally one of the sag vehicles (basically a support vehicle) came 
past. We flagged it down and decided to send John back to the start to get the car so he could come back and pick us three up. I should say it was still raining by this time. Another sag vehicle cam by piking up the other two left we us leaving us to try and keep warm. We started jumping around and I began chucking the turnips at the other two :) In the end a final sag vehicle came past and got us but I was really disappointed not to finish but I was really cold by this point. The weather was from the North and had dropped the spring temperatures down to about 10 degC. When we got back to the car I got changed in to my dry clothes (good girl guide - always prepared) and we got BBQ for lunch making us all feel much better.
he neighbours. It was a cycling event run as part of the Houston MS150. A training ride for all those taking part in the MS150, like Amy and John, and just for fun for us two. We were in a place called Magnolia somewhere an hour northwest of Houston. It was in the sticks so lots of nice quiet roads to cycle on, with only the occasional idiotic truck driving too fast. Stuart kindly changed my tires on my bike from hybrids to road tires - oh my goodness what a difference. We all set off at 8am with a wee chill in the air and spots of rain, (that was not going to stop us), and well I zoomed off - smooth tires and tightened suspension was easy and poor Stuart spent the the next 24 miles chasing me :) There was a refreshment stop at about mile 22 and we could see the skies getting very black and the occasional strike of lightening. Ok at this point I want to remind you that we are in Texas which is very flat and in the countryside there isn't much except for the odd house and car so nowhere to hide from lightening on a bicycle! Anyway we decided to get going without stopping and as we rode down another straight road the winds picked up and the rain came down, claps of thunder and lightening nearby, and finally followed by hail - not pleasant on the bike, in the end we spotted some trees and went for cover, that backed on to a field of turnips. It was too late to stay dry as we were drenched, and I know hiding by trees is not good in a lightening storm but we didn't have many options. Although we were the first to this spot we were quickly followed by many others, one of which Stuart had to stop before he landed in the turnips! The guy came cycling in shouting something, but we suddenly realised he could get his feet out of cleats (they must have got jammed from mud or something) anyway he looked very pleased for Stuart saving him from turnip face. Finally one of the sag vehicles (basically a support vehicle) came 
past. We flagged it down and decided to send John back to the start to get the car so he could come back and pick us three up. I should say it was still raining by this time. Another sag vehicle cam by piking up the other two left we us leaving us to try and keep warm. We started jumping around and I began chucking the turnips at the other two :) In the end a final sag vehicle came past and got us but I was really disappointed not to finish but I was really cold by this point. The weather was from the North and had dropped the spring temperatures down to about 10 degC. When we got back to the car I got changed in to my dry clothes (good girl guide - always prepared) and we got BBQ for lunch making us all feel much better.Today, to make up for the ride cut short, we had planned to go for a ride to George Bush park. It was about 4 degC when we woke this morning but by the time we went cycling it was warmer but the wind was blowing about 20 miles an hour from the NW. It was a hard job out - actually so hard we went from a speedy 12 mph to 8 mph with the gusts. Coming home, Stuart and I reached 28.5 mph and John on his road bike got 30 mph!
This afternoon was spent buying a bird feeder that the squirrels can get into as well, Stuart will put it up on the tree at the front tomorrow and then grocery shopping. Poor Stuart got more stressed in the passenger seat than me driving as w had a number of bad drivers. There was actually a bump in one of the car parks that confused us - just how did you do that?! To make Dad really jealous we saw Orange Roughy at HEB, and had it for dinner. It is a really nice fish and I think we will be buying it again!
Well this week I must eat healthy and not drink - too much! as I have I have got my half marathon on Saturday. Unfortunately I went running last Monday only to discover the side of my foot is still no better but I will keep it rested until Saturday and just hope for the best.
Must get ready for bed as it nearly eleven already!
For those reading through Facebook I actually have a number of older posts you didnt see, but you can see at the full blog site.
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