Magic is in the air. Earliest snow in Houston ever on December 4th. It is large flakes mixed with rain now but it is supposed to turn to all snow this afternoon. The weather forecast has been predicting snow for today for almost a week. I imagine today is a bit like Ireland.
When you have snow you have to celebrate properly. I am heating the spa now so I can soak in the heat with the flakes falling. I also called County Cork O'Conaill Chocolates to make sure I have the right recipe for hot chocolate from their fabulous chips I purchased this summer. 50 grams of chips to 200 ml hot milk is perfect. (2 oz chips to about 7 oz milk).
Last night was birthday number 55 for Cherry. We celebrated at The Grove downtown. The wood grilled salmon, grilled corn/jicama/tomato vinagrette was the most popular dish at our table and the fried gulf shrimp with red jalapeno ginger sauce was declared to be the best she ever had by Kacie. The Turley 2007 Dusi Vineyard Zinfandel was a great wine with a fragrant bouquet of spice and lots of dark berries, fruit, and licorice, peppery and lingering acidity thoughout. Try this one if you can find it. And of course there was Moeller's Bakery cake and Bluebell mint chocolate chip to finish off a great evening.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Varmints
It was one of those evenings where the cold was slowly seeping in from the north pulling in the moisture from the south. The rain was steady and sometimes hard. The moon would be full in two days time but was obscured by the dense clouds above. The gas lamps were under repair so there were only a few lights on the street high up in the tall pines. Unfolding the umbrella on the porch he set out to retrieve the mail which was still in the box near the street. No one was out on such a night except perhaps a dementor or two. As he stepped down on to the drive he saw the figure moving slowly down the street. He looked old with the high arch in his back and awkward gait. Unsure as to what the creature might be he followed him down the street. Perhaps a very large cat, but not very cat like. No, it was the largest opossum he had ever seen. The possum is definitely the most repulsive member of the marsupial family . When you see one you just want to grap a bat and club him. This creature does not even have the appeal of the nutria he had seen at the golf course pond last weekend. The varmint continued down the street so he was allowed to live another day.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Trish the Dish
A daddy is not a daddy until he has a little girl. Twenty nine years ago, about 11 AM today, Trish the Dish changed my life forever.
We had been married four years and Cherry and I were driving home from work when she announced she was pregnant. Since it was unplanned, I held back my excitement until I determined that she was happy also. Cherry is great at everything she does and she bought books and we started learning about the whole business of having babies.
By chance we were invited to a UT Health Science wine and cheese event where doctors from the neonatal unit at Hermann Hospital would educate us about their business. Wow, that was a mistake! Tiny little babies are born whose arms fit through a wedding ring. Now we had something else to worry about.
Cherry ate apples and other good food and gained the minimum amount of weight so that our child would be healthy and strong. She had a radiant glow, a sparkle in her eye, and looked more beautiful every day. She purchased maternity dresses and stretchy pants but her favorite garb was her overalls which work as well for expectant mothers as they do for pot bellied men. I kept her healthy by drinking four drinks at happy hour so she could avoid alcohol.
We went to childbirth classes with our pillow for the moms and the hard floor for the dads and practiced our breathing. We practiced at home and we knew how to progress from ha-ha to hee-hee to ha-ha-hee-hee-ho-ho etc. They showed us a film of a stranger having a baby which I found to be quite disturbing.
Cherry's doctor happened to be the same man who delivered her twenty-five years earlier. He was quite old fashioned and liked to do things his way. Epidurals are all the rage now but at the time they were banned at Park Plaza Hospital near Hermann Park. The doctor favored the saddle block which sometimes gives women headaches. Cherry wanted a pudendal block which it turns out is two shots using a foot long needle. I was summoned to a meeting at the doctors office where the doctor apparently expected me to instruct Cherry to do as the doctor wishes. As intimidating as the doctor was I knew better than that.
On November 14, 1980 I was getting ready for work and Cherry said she thought she might be going into labor. I recall asking her if I should dress for work or wear jeans as she did not seem to be sure. About that time her water broke and things started happening faster. She started having contractions and she had trouble getting her pants on so she got into the car and we covered her with a blanket. Now it was rush hour traffic in Houston and the hospital was 15 miles away and twenty minutes with no traffic or maybe an hour with traffic. Cherry was having lots of hard contractions and so we tried doing our ha-ha breathing. It was not helping so I suggested we go to the next level and Cherry said it was for later and I said it does not matter let's do what is required. So I had a half clothed woman rolling around in my car in pain. Things were not going according to plan. I decided that we needed to get to the hospital soon so I ran four red lights and drove on the shoulder of the freeway and got to the hospital in thirty minutes. I stopped in front of the hospital ushered Cherry inside and went to park the car. When I came inside they made me wait for an hour before I could join Cherry. She was already at 9 cm dilation so we were mostly done with breathing. Cherry started having some pain and I suggested we start breathing and she told me to just get the nurse. They rolled a woman by our door screaming at the top of her lungs which added to the atmosphere.
By a little after 11 AM we had a beautiful baby girl. I remember telling my Dad on the phone that she was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. My Dad figured I was just excited but I recall him telling someone after he saw her that she was the most beautiful baby he had seen.
Now a day after she was born, the nurse in the hospital could tell that we were tentative around this fragile little being. She demonstrated the many ways we could pick up and carry and hold a baby. The one I remember was the football carry where she carried her in the crook of her arm like a football. Perhaps that is why she enjoys football so much today.
That is the story of Kelly Patricia who I occaisionally call Trish the Dish. Happy Birthday, Trish.
We had been married four years and Cherry and I were driving home from work when she announced she was pregnant. Since it was unplanned, I held back my excitement until I determined that she was happy also. Cherry is great at everything she does and she bought books and we started learning about the whole business of having babies.
By chance we were invited to a UT Health Science wine and cheese event where doctors from the neonatal unit at Hermann Hospital would educate us about their business. Wow, that was a mistake! Tiny little babies are born whose arms fit through a wedding ring. Now we had something else to worry about.
Cherry ate apples and other good food and gained the minimum amount of weight so that our child would be healthy and strong. She had a radiant glow, a sparkle in her eye, and looked more beautiful every day. She purchased maternity dresses and stretchy pants but her favorite garb was her overalls which work as well for expectant mothers as they do for pot bellied men. I kept her healthy by drinking four drinks at happy hour so she could avoid alcohol.
We went to childbirth classes with our pillow for the moms and the hard floor for the dads and practiced our breathing. We practiced at home and we knew how to progress from ha-ha to hee-hee to ha-ha-hee-hee-ho-ho etc. They showed us a film of a stranger having a baby which I found to be quite disturbing.
Cherry's doctor happened to be the same man who delivered her twenty-five years earlier. He was quite old fashioned and liked to do things his way. Epidurals are all the rage now but at the time they were banned at Park Plaza Hospital near Hermann Park. The doctor favored the saddle block which sometimes gives women headaches. Cherry wanted a pudendal block which it turns out is two shots using a foot long needle. I was summoned to a meeting at the doctors office where the doctor apparently expected me to instruct Cherry to do as the doctor wishes. As intimidating as the doctor was I knew better than that.
On November 14, 1980 I was getting ready for work and Cherry said she thought she might be going into labor. I recall asking her if I should dress for work or wear jeans as she did not seem to be sure. About that time her water broke and things started happening faster. She started having contractions and she had trouble getting her pants on so she got into the car and we covered her with a blanket. Now it was rush hour traffic in Houston and the hospital was 15 miles away and twenty minutes with no traffic or maybe an hour with traffic. Cherry was having lots of hard contractions and so we tried doing our ha-ha breathing. It was not helping so I suggested we go to the next level and Cherry said it was for later and I said it does not matter let's do what is required. So I had a half clothed woman rolling around in my car in pain. Things were not going according to plan. I decided that we needed to get to the hospital soon so I ran four red lights and drove on the shoulder of the freeway and got to the hospital in thirty minutes. I stopped in front of the hospital ushered Cherry inside and went to park the car. When I came inside they made me wait for an hour before I could join Cherry. She was already at 9 cm dilation so we were mostly done with breathing. Cherry started having some pain and I suggested we start breathing and she told me to just get the nurse. They rolled a woman by our door screaming at the top of her lungs which added to the atmosphere.
By a little after 11 AM we had a beautiful baby girl. I remember telling my Dad on the phone that she was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. My Dad figured I was just excited but I recall him telling someone after he saw her that she was the most beautiful baby he had seen.
Now a day after she was born, the nurse in the hospital could tell that we were tentative around this fragile little being. She demonstrated the many ways we could pick up and carry and hold a baby. The one I remember was the football carry where she carried her in the crook of her arm like a football. Perhaps that is why she enjoys football so much today.
That is the story of Kelly Patricia who I occaisionally call Trish the Dish. Happy Birthday, Trish.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
No Place Like Home
It is Halloween and I suppose that would be a blogging occaision. My followers show no mercy when I communicate via the old fashioned way: email - citing "That should have been a blog!"
Today, I went to get a haircut where most emplyees were in full costume. Glennis, who cut my hair, was dressed in a blue plaid Princess Diana Scotish kilt and a tiara. I am not sure that is a costume since she is from Scotland and grew up wearing the plaid. I went as an unshaven weekend warrior. My companions, however, were in full costume. Bonnie, Champ, Luc, and Jac arrived via the yellow brick road as Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion. My bride brought the Wizard of Oz theme back from the Spring Valley Days when Chelsea, Kelly, Kacie and Charlie were the same characters respectively. Now they are all scattered in Texas, Oklahoma, California, and Ireland. The ones who strayed to far away do not get to test the brand new Blue Bell flavor I tested today - Mexican Praline. Vanilla Ice Cream with Mexican Praline Candy, Pecans, and Praline Sauce. It is worth clicking your heels together and saying over and over "There is no place like home, there is no place like home............ Perhaps you will wake up in Texas on Halloween night with a bowl of Blue Bell.
Today, I went to get a haircut where most emplyees were in full costume. Glennis, who cut my hair, was dressed in a blue plaid Princess Diana Scotish kilt and a tiara. I am not sure that is a costume since she is from Scotland and grew up wearing the plaid. I went as an unshaven weekend warrior. My companions, however, were in full costume. Bonnie, Champ, Luc, and Jac arrived via the yellow brick road as Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion. My bride brought the Wizard of Oz theme back from the Spring Valley Days when Chelsea, Kelly, Kacie and Charlie were the same characters respectively. Now they are all scattered in Texas, Oklahoma, California, and Ireland. The ones who strayed to far away do not get to test the brand new Blue Bell flavor I tested today - Mexican Praline. Vanilla Ice Cream with Mexican Praline Candy, Pecans, and Praline Sauce. It is worth clicking your heels together and saying over and over "There is no place like home, there is no place like home............ Perhaps you will wake up in Texas on Halloween night with a bowl of Blue Bell.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Naming your blog
The hardest thing about blogging is naming your blog. All the names that relate to you in any way are taken by the mindless bloggers who have nothing better to do than write inane meanderings of the mind that no one else is really interested in reading. Therefore it takes brainstorming and some amount of alcohol to stimulate the senses. It also helps if your daughter invites your favorite niece over for a night off from her day to day responsibilities. After all she is the one who named me El Padron years ago. She also insists that she is my favorite niece and claims that all my dogs have bitten her at least once. However I digress. Why "Leo but not Dicaprio"? First of all on the internet you need Budweiser, sex or some other term that will catch a lot of hits. Second my middle name is Leo through no fault of my own. Third we could not think of anything else. Fourth my smart nieces did not come over.
P.S. I have no Leo Dicaprio fixation. Blood Diamonds was a good movie though.
P.S. I have no Leo Dicaprio fixation. Blood Diamonds was a good movie though.
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