Yummy burgers!

First of all thank to everyone for their kind wishes. We are now into our second year of marriage :)

I asked the boys if we could go on a short cycle on Sunday morning as I couldn't face 40 miles - our regular 27 was just fine. Although I had to encourage the boys to pedal a little faster at times as they were just gossiping too much and forgetting to turn their feet! We saw some vultures on the edge of the path which was quite exciting and I think I spotted a baby alligator in the water running along the edge of the path - awfully close to where a guy was sitting empty the stones out of his shoes! - I didn't warn him though - was that wrong?! Well maybe I got my comeuppence as we were nearly at home and the boys went one way into the subdivision and I went the other (I was going to race them home), however, within seconds I heard a very strange noise from my front tire and yes a puncture. I then had to walk all the way home clipping along in my cycling shoes! I was wondering whether the boys would wonder where I was, and eventually I saw Bill coming down the road in his jeep looking for me! I had the keys so they couldn't get in for their breakfast!! So another tire for Stuart to mend! (He cycled the length of the UK without a puncture and we have had about three punctures in quarter the mileage).

I had to finish the third book in the Twilight saga (my teenage vampire and werewolf love stories - it is gripping stuff!). So I enjoyed sitting in the sun, yet again, jumping in and out the pool when it got too hot. Stuart erected our new umbrella stand so he can have some shade while lying on the lilo - I am sure it will get blown into the pool at some point during the summer!

To finish off a lovely weekend Laura came over for BBQ - with sirloin burgers and fresh corn it couldn't have been better. And then of course swimming it off in the pool after! Laura brought around some interesting beer, that she had been given. It was raspberry flavour and very potent! Fortunately there was only one bottle of it.

So tomorrow night I am off to watch 7 hours (3 films on the trot) at the cinema with Amy and her niece. I don't think I will be awake for all of it and we wont get home until about 2am (that is after a 5am start the previous morning)!! I guess work on Wednesday will be quiet :)

Happy Anniversary to us

I can hardly believe it was a year ago today that Stuart and I got married - how time flies when you are having fun. As it is our first anniversary it is paper - so relatively simple for both of us. Today was a typical anniversary! I got up at 5am to go running, I bought some fresh bagels on the way home so we sat and had a relaxed breakfast, followed by a trip to Bubbles to give my car a bit of a clean as it was getting quite stinky inside! We then sat by the pool for a couple of hours, waiting to Skype Angus - who never appeared online! - so instead we went back up to the shopping outlet village on 290 so I could return a pair of shoes. To give me my due I did not replace them with another pair (yet!!). I now have some quiet time before we go out to a nice seafood place we went with M&D called Denis. Maybe the last chance to have some Gulf seafood!

This mornings run was over at Memorial Park, somewhere I don't go very often and I actually think I haven't been there in over a year. Because it is more central, the park is full with runners doing lap after lap of the 3 mile loop. It just brings it home how lucky we are having Terry Hersey park on our door step. Anyway, we actually went off the beaten track at Memorial Park, doing a trail called the Ho Chi Minh trail. It is also used by the mountain bikers because it is dirt tracks running through the dense woods with little ups and downs. Apparently, the track goes on for 18 miles - not that we did that! With only the three of us running it was pretty relaxed. It was also certainly more pleasurable than my run on Wednesday after work in 32 degC heat - I nearly passed out funnily enough!

The cleaner is becoming somewhat of a saga with no progress. I got a phone call from her the other day with a quote but it took me back a bit at $100 for every second week. Am I being unreasonable, but I think it is quite a lot? So I asked for a lower price and since then I have heard nothing - hmmm! I think I will have to try the search again when we return from our travels. But what it does mean is that I will have to clean the house this weekend - darn it!

I completed my last evening of cat sitting duty last night. Beezu and I are the best of friends although I am sure I will be quickly forgotten when the family returns. Buttercup gave me another nip last night so I think I can say I am not her friend although she does like me cleaning, her litter box!

Work is work although I will have to get my head down next week as lots to do before leave the country on Friday - how does time move so fast?

I really should go off and find that husband of mine as we are both taping away on the computers ignoring each other :)

And then a perfect way to end the evening.

How much do you like lettuce?

After I got back from work yesterday afternoon, yes that evil work thing on a Sunday again, Laura came around for a swim. As with every time she comes to visit it started to rain! But fortunately it was shortlived and dried immediately on the hot concrete. I applied factor 50 to my pink front from the day before as I certainly did need anymore sun on it. We sat in the pool chatting about good Scottish comedies like chewing the fat! I had to go out to do my cat sitting duty of Beezu and Buttercup. I was a little nervous as Buttercup decided to bite me the day before - I think she was miffed her owners had left her. Anyway, they were much more friendly and Beezu, who is normally the timid cat, came running to greet me as I came through the door. They have an ingenious litter box that self cleans itself so all you have to do is empty the tray of poop into the bin. Buttercup took great pleasure in watching me cleaning up her stinky poop! Beezu is the tabbyone and Buttercup is larger one with ginger bits.

Finally, after feeding Laura our leftovers and looking through old university photos, we kicked her out at midnight. So 6am alarm this morning was particularly unpleasant!

Lunch at work made me laugh today. We were given a quarter chunk of an iceburg lettuce to have with cubed chicken and bits and pieces. I just laughed when I saw the lettuce segment, I said I feel like a rabbit! Laura has just told me it is more commonly referred to as a 'wedge salad' - well you learn something new everyday!!!

I have just come off the phone from the credit card company who has just charged me for a late payment - I think that is the first time in my life I have not been up to date with payments, however, it is not entirely my fault I thought I had set up automated payment. But oh no! You have to do that my mail, you cant do it online! Anyway, it was worth the call as she very quickly waved my fee but now I have to remember for the next two months to pay off the card via the website as that is how long it is going to take to set up automated payment! Go figure.

Just Vegging

It has been so long since I have written a blog I have almost forgotten what to do! However, Julie reminded me a glass of wine in one hand makes the words flow more easily!!

So since I last gave you an update of Houston life we a have entered World Cup fever and last weekend we spent the USA vs England game in a bar in Midtown - it was packed I mean so busy you were lucky if another person could have squeezed through the door. Amazingly they were still serving food through the mayhem! Anyway we all found a break away place to stand that was pleasant enough to comfortably watch the game and cheer for USA! As you will all remember it was a draw and both goals were pretty dismal. We ended up staying out for dinner getting to meet the cutest puppy every - just 10 weeks old (cant remember the breed - wheaten terrier perhaps?). Laura fell immediately in love with it and offered her dog sitting services anytime.

Sunday morning I rang Mum and Dad early as I had been told Mum was very sick. Fortunately she sounded better on the phone but the week has been pretty bad for both of them with chronic D&V ! No more details required, but I was pleased to hear they are both managing solids again.

Sundays cycle was an epic journey doing some 38 miles. Bill and Stuart had worked out the route earlier in the week and were pleased to share it with Amy and I (John is still off cycling after his op). Bill turned up to Amy and John's 30 minutes early thinking we were cycling at 0630 - however, he had actually written 0700 to the rest of us so he was a little upset when we eventually showed up - mind you Bill that is what comes with old age :) Amy got stung by a bee en route so it was a quick stop in Walgreen's to get her some antihistamine to stop the swelling before heading back in the heat. Let me tell you by 8am you can feel the heat and two little water bottles just don't cut it.

That evening we had the block party in the cul de sac the same as last year. It was much better knowing people this year and the mosquitoes stayed away - well at least from me, poor Stuart got attacked he obviously missed with the Avon Skin So Soft! Once again one of the neighbours cooked all the meat and we all brought side dishes. The mini toad in the holes went down well again, and Stuart made banana wrapped in bacon - which I think most people enjoyed once they got past the weirdness of it.

By Monday evening I had had it. We had a weekend of early mornings and late nights although I was mostly not drinking - Roger will be pleased to hear! By the time 7:30pm came and I was snoring on the sofa, and by nine I was actually in bed!! Not to mention I had the 5am swimming start.

I was pleased to get my extra long sleep although I mis-read the time at 0257 in the morning as 0457 and nearly got up to go to the gym! That would have been a bit stupid :) We did the most swimming I have done since going - 3000m in an hour. He only told us after but it did explain me panting with exhaustion and then the fact I could barely lift my hands above my head to wash my hair! The only good thing was I knew Thursday was going to be regular length because he is not that mean :)

Last night, Friday, we met up with Laura and Andy in Rice, and Laura and I specified no Gingerman pub we want a change! So we went next door :) On the way Stuart and I passed a lady in a big 4x4 who had driven straight into the concrete barrier on the edge of the freeway and it was sticking out at right angles to the road. Goodness only knows how it happened but even though the car was a write off it appeared she was OK. Laura took us to a french cafe in Rice for dinner and it was pretty good. The wine list was enormous but I was on water again (Roger please note!) and three of us had excellent salads whist Andy had a fine looking plate of lamb chops. We will go back as it makes a welcome change from the Istanbul Grill - although very good, you do always coming away thinking you are going to explode. So for those interested in the French number it is called Cafe Rabelais.

It was a 5:30am run again this morning and the humidity was reasonable so we set off for 7 miles with hills. I dont think I have mentioned we have been doing hill training - now anyone that knows Houston will understand how difficult this is! However, we have been running up a tarmacked ramp that goes up on to the edge of the reservoir in George Bush. It is not steep but long enough to a little lactic acid build up in the legs. Last week we did 4, but this week I convinced one of the other ladies to do 8 before she stopped. The run leader and I then decided to do one final one at speed - I think the rest of the group was shocked! It was a relatively quick turn around before I had to go out to meet Laura for boot camp training at her gym - god only knows why I agreed to it because I am now feeling stiff having done horrible arm and abs exercises - the leg bit was fine. However, we did not do it at a gym instead we did it under the Westpark tollway next to Bubba's Burgers shack. Everyone driving down the feeder was wondering what on earth we were doing I am actually surprised we didn't cause an accident! The best thing about it was that we had a Buffalo burger straight after! It is one of those places you wouldn't go to unless recommended as it is a shack and well hidden under the flyovers , but it had the best burger Stu and I have tasted in Houston - so another recommendation!

I had a cleaner come around to give me a quote for doing the house every second week as I am sick of all these wooden floors and the dust bunnies, as Stuart calls them, rolling around! We will see what she comes back with....

I am now suffering from a little sun burn after jumping in the pool when I got home, but apart from doing this blog it is going to be a quiet evening vegging in front of the TV. Cycling at 0630 with Bill tomorrow, no Amy or John as they are on vacation.

As you will see we found another cool insect to photo while in the pool!

Sunbathing can be so tiring

Although it was supposed to be a quiet weekend it certainly didn't feel like that - possibly three nights drinking didn't help!

Friday we ended up in a place called Waller - some 40 minutes drive north-east. We met up with Laura and Chris and their Houston Burger Club to enjoy a burger at the Hill and Grill Bar. It was literally a tin shed in the middle of nowhere . It was so in the middle of nowhere that people were able to smoke in the bar! The burgers were just OK (we had to do a ranking of them), but the place did seem like fun, only downside was its distance from Houston. Since I needed to be up at 0530 to go for a run with Amy's running club we left at just before 11pm.

The next morning I managed to drag myself from my pit and make it on to the bayou. The guy who organises the running is an English teacher and so he told us a really good story - partly based on reality and partly imagination. It certainly made the running easier! He said that he has been trying to get his kids at school to do it and so he also set us some homework to come up with a story for this weeks run! I still haven't worked out what to tell.

The rest of the Saturday was spent by the pool - perfect :)

Saturday night Amy, John and us went around to Bill and Marah's for dinner. Marah is Lebanese and prepared us some wonderful traditional food. We also got to take away some home grown cherry tomatoes, a cucumber and two homemade jams (peach and plum). It is our turn to be host next month and cook something traditionally Scottish - curry?! We all had to be up for cycling at 7:30am the following morning so we didn't get to bed too late.

When I woke up on Sunday morning I immediately saw the living room window had condensation on the outside - not a good sign in Houston as that means intense humidity. In the few seconds we were outside our clothes where sticking to us - yukky. However, it was actually better cycling as it created a 'breeze'. At our break point we treated Bill and Amy to 'Soreen Loaf' that I had taken back from the UK at the beginning of May. Soreen is like a fruit loaf only more dense and one small slice to equivalent to two small bananas - so way more energy than we needed. Stuart and Bill saw a snake on the path - I missed it again, I am so jealous because I have never seen any wildlife on our ride but all the others have. By the time we got back I was down to my last drops of water so I think I need to take an extra bottle next week it is just too hot now.

It was quite as sunny as Saturday so we didn't sit outside by the pool all day! Laura came around in the afternoon for a swim but the heavens opened and we had quite an exciting storm while we sat under the covered area. Stuart decided to collect the water in buckets and put it in the pool to top it up a bit. It was incredible how quickly the buckets would fill. Eventually it passed and the air temperature and humidity dropped immediately so we jumped in the pool which was steaming and felt like a sauna - so nice! We finished the evening with a BBQ and some great strip steaks Laura brought along - we haven't been doing enough BBQ's recently - especially as it is corn on the cob season. We sent Laura away with all our recycling as in her neighbourhood she gets points for the amount of recycling she does. Fine by us as it save us a 20 mile round trip to the recycling centre!

Last night was the wine dinner and the food, wine and company was great again. Although I was feeling the wine this morning when I woke at 5am to go to master swim. It was evil, but had to be done. I got to use my new swimming fins and only suffered minor cramp in my calves this week. By the afternoon I was feeling a little sleepy but fortunately the office is quiet just now so we can all get on with things quietly.

I took some photos in the garden one of our wonderful pink flowers in the back, which are now looking a little sad after we had another storm today. Actually today's storm you could watch it coming from the office. The day suddenly went to night and the wind picked up closely followed by torrential rain and thunder and lightening. I rang Stuart to tell him to take the lilo in because I thought it was going to blow away! The other nature photo is a dragon fly - there are lots about just now and they seem to posse on anything they can sit on the top of things like the car aerial and twigs.

The other development is that our pool man was sacked this week and we now have a new one. Basically the last guy was being utterly unreliable and was taking the landlords money but not turning up! The new one seems keen so fingers crossed it stays that way, plus he is meant to be fixing the pool light that has never worked since I moved in!!

Right early night tonight so night, night.

My job is just so awful!

Going a bit back in time I wanted to share some of my photos from the Bahamas field trip I went on as it was pretty amazing. These are snippets of the non geological photos just so you don't think I wasn't working! We spent the first night in Nassau, which was like any tourist destination. There was three large cruise ships in the harbour and the downtown area was filled with tourists and stalls. All the locals were nice and didn't really pester us too much. Dorte and I caught the local bus in and out of town and both came away with one purchase - a shell each! Our hotel was a big resort on the beach and it was spectacularly empty - I guess we were just before all the American schools break up.











That evening we meet up with the group just 5 geologists and our leader Rankey. We first went to a bar shack across the street from the hotel that sold freshly made Daiquiris and they were yummy. The first of the rum based drinks we were going to be drinking this trip! Following a couple of 'Tricky Daq's' we went off to dinner and had conch salad and conch fritters - conch as we found out is a staple in the Bahamas and I saw and ate plenty of them by the end of the trip. They live in big shells and it is white, slightly chewy and pretty flavourless!! The evening was completed by many hours of karaoke until we were eventually suggested to leave by the barmaid to let the locals carry on! I do have video footage but it is very bad so I am not sharing it!!
























The next morning we flew on a small twin prop plane to Crooked Island. The flight was about an hour south of Nassau over some more beautiful islands surrounded by unbelievable blue waters. Crooked Island airport was basically one runway and the luggage was wheeled out on a trolley and left outside the 'terminal' building where you just picked up your things. They even had an old plane in the bushes just off the runway - I guess they never made it out!! We were staying at the Pittstown Lodge some 40 minutes drive from the airport, right on the northern point. The island is considerably bigger aerially that Nassau, but only has 300 inhabitants so it is pretty quiet!



























The days were spent on the boat out on the carbonate platform snorkeling and looking at the depositional setting of the sediments. We saw every thing from algal tidal flats, tidal inlets, golden oolitic shoals and to the platform edge - the drop off! I shelled a conch and we caught a barracuda andlobster and got nervous when sharks were spotted!






















I would highly recommend Crooked Island and the lodges as a place to go for a very quiet and beautiful holiday and I would not recommend staying in busy Nassau as that it not the true Bahamas. Actually Crooked Island was so quiet I couldnt even get a mobile signal!!