It is hot here. I took my long run (19 miles) yesterday at 7:30am, and it was getting warm at the end (75° ), but tolerable. Today Ed and I went out to breakfast and were surprised to find Swiss Avenue blocked for a marathon. I didn’t know there was a marathon this weekend; the major Dallas marathon is the White Rock Marathon in December. Anyway, those poor runners. It was much warmer today, and windy. By the time the runners at my pace finished, if indeed any did, it was about 90°, with winds of 21mph. Ugh. We gave in Friday and used our air conditioner for the first time. Up until now we’ve managed with opening the windows at night when it’s cool. Other years we’ve been able to hold until sometime in May, but not this year. Ninety-five percent of the state is also already in drought.

Driven in part by our next-door-neighbors putting their house on the market, Ed and I have been on a yard improvement binge. We’ve been gardening and adding solar lights and furniture. Everything is looking great just in time for stay-inside-with-the-air-conditioning season. Here is part of the little zen garden I made in the back. It has a stone path through two beds of Lysimachia Nummularia, some rocks, some rusty things, and a Japanese maple.

Now that it is spring and asparagus may be in season where you are, you should try this recipe for Straw and Hay Fettuccine Tangle with Spring Asparagus Puree from the cookbook “Super Natural Cooking”. This asparagus/spinach sauce is really good and refreshing, much lighter than pesto. And, it freezes very well. I freeze it in a muffin tin just like pesto. Another way to use it is in risotto. I make my baked risotto, and then at the end toss in two pucks of this sauce that I’ve let defrost at least somewhat. Then I top it with some shaved cheese and additional roasted nuts. Easy! By the way, I use roasted blanched almonds instead of pine nuts because I like them better and they’re cheaper, and I also sometimes use asiago as the cheese. And note that only part of the nuts actually go into the puree, I sometimes forget that. Try it!

Tonight we went out to dinner at a nice steakhouse on Greenville Avenue, and we got unusually good service. Lots of attention from the waitress and then the (heterosexual male) restaurant manager, who came by at the end of our meal to tell us dessert was on the house. As we were eating our sorbet sampler, I looked across at Ed in his “looks about 80 dollars more expensive than it is” haircut, smart guy glasses and argyle sweater, and I thought “they think he’s a restaurant reviewer”.

It works if you work it.

In 2010, I got into pretty good shape, so this year’s resolutions don’t involve exercise or food really, other than keep on what I’m doing. What I really want to work on is attention and focus (so less internet time), and getting back into creating things.

That said, I need to mention something that has really inspired me. This fall I started taking a spin class with Ed at our gym, taught by Ben. Also known as “Psycho Ben”, or as “The Only Good Spin Instructor in America”. Seriously, while I find all spin classes beneficial, Ben is an actual cyclist, and his classes make you a better/faster cyclist. They’re all different, and never just an aerobics class on a bike. Also, he’s inspiring, and for the last month and a half, he’s been talking during the class about making 2011 a better year fitness-wise than 2010, and about how he has started training with a swim coach to do so himself. During Thursday’s class, he mentioned that he was doing a marathon on New Year’s Eve with two other people, leaving from Oak Cliff, going up to White Rock Lake and back, including Swiss Avenue on the run. I asked him when he was starting and what pace he was trying to make (his goal was to finish at midnight). Anybody else, I’d have thought he was making that up just to get people to pedal harder, but not Ben.

Last night Ed and I did some math to figure out when he would be running back on Swiss, at about 19/20 miles. We grabbed some cocktails, a bottle of water for Ben, and a cowbell and walked the dozen or so steps over to Swiss and waited. Sure enough, within about 10 minutes, a lone running figure arose out of the dark much like Snoopy in the pumpkin patch. It was Ben, all by himself (his friends had wimped out). He was doing okay, but so happy to see us. Hugs all around. Cowbell rung. Hopefully we got him through “the wall”, which was just ahead.

Anybody who has done distance running will understand how difficult it would be to do a marathon, alone, with no support, no water and food stops, and no cheering bystanders. Ben, I salute you.

January

A year ago today we were in Big Bend, seeing a part of Texas we hadn’t seen before. The next day, New Year’s Day, we drove up to Fort Davis and went for a hike in the Davis Mountains. Then we visited the McDonald Observatory, which was unfortunately closed for New Year’s. But I still got to go into one of the big telescopes, because, well, it wasn’t locked. No lights though, and I didn’t want to start flipping switches. Before leaving West Texas we also visited Marathon, another quirky little old town. We had coffee in a little shop that had stacks of the Santa Barbara Independent (!) to read. Another surprise that day, I ran into my old friend Quinton at a gas station near Abilene!

We also made a quick trip to Orlando for Ed’s birthday, right in the middle of grapefruit season. Yum! And we saw manatees!

I attended a fascinating class taught by Edward Tufte.

February

After our wonderful trip to Taos last year, we decided to try skiing there this year. On the drive there, we got to see the Cadillac Ranch covered with snow, and a herd of mystery animals which I later found out were pronghorns (Texans call them antelopes, but they aren’t really). We saw another herd of these later – they really are beautiful.

This time we rented a house on the Rim Road. A great house in a good location for skiing, but the roads were snowy and Rim Road is called that for a reason. Did you know I have a phobia about going over a cliff in a car? We did not die though.

The skiing was fantastic, not crowded. We also snowshoed one day. While we were having lunch in the lodge one day, our neighbor texting me a photo of our house with snow falling furiously. It snowed 13 inches in Dallas! I was sorry to miss that even though we were enjoying even better snow in New Mexico. When we got home, every other house in Dallas had a snowman in front.

We saw John Prine in concert over at SMU; he was very good (and funny, as we knew he would be).

March

One of our favorite restaurants burned down.

I took Mia to Dallas’ St. Patrick’s Day parade, which is pretty raucous and fun.

April

Ed and I took a Saturday morning bike ride over to the lake, had a great 22-mile ride, but on the way back as he signaled a left turn, he hit a reflector in the road and went over the handlebars, fracturing his collarbone pretty badly. It required surgery, and still bothers him. Quite a setback, as he was trying to get back into shape.

But, I got an iPad!

May

Mom and Dad visited for the world premiere of Moby Dick at the Dallas Opera, and I think they would say it was worth the trip. How the heck can you make a stage set about a whaling ship? Well they did it, and it was spectacular.

June

So hot. It got up into the 100’s early this year. I was going to try riding my bike every day again this summer like I did in 2008, but gave up.

July

Ed, frustrated by not being able to exercise and continuing to gain weight, decided to go on a diet. I, who had gained weight in sympathy, agreed to join him. We cut out alcohol and most of the usual things you don’t eat on a diet, and lost weight rather easily. Who knew?

August

Still hot, so I went to California! It was great to see the Steeles. I arrived during Fiesta, which was something I hadn’t seen before. There were cascarones (confetti eggs) smashed everywhere. In Texas you only see those on Easter. We attended several dance performances and ate some great food. I also went kayaking one day at Campus Point (with Kevin), went to the Botanical Garden (with Aidan), biked down Gibraltar Road and at Ealings Park (with Nico), went on a few hikes (with Linda), saw the movie Inception and went climbing (poorly).

September

By this time it should be obvious that we really like Taos. We went back yet again for two weeks. This time we rented two houses for two different experiences. The first week we stayed in town, which was nice because we could walk to restaurants and into town. The second week we stayed at an isolated house up a private road in the foothills near the ski mountain. This house was phenomenal, we liked every detail. It had a little writer’s cottage out back, and we tied our camping hammock out there. One night we slept outside on the second-story deck under the stars. In the mornings we could see the hot air balloons rise and then dip into the Rio Grande canyon. The only downside of the house was it was a one-mile drive down a very rutted dirt road just to get to the road to town, which was another six miles or so. The road was not bikeable (up anyway).

So this trip we went on several hikes and one backpacking trip. It was cold backpacking, but we were well-prepared. We even brought our iPads and watched a movie in the tent (just to say we did it). We went biking one day, Ed’s first time on the bike since his accident. He had a tough time; it was windy and he didn’t feel stable on the bike. We tried to bike another day, but after driving about 45 minutes, we got out to start riding and he felt it was too windy for him, so we drove back and I rode by myself up to the ski area, which is now an annual tradition for me. We also both bought new climbing shoes, and went bouldering. I feel better about my limited climbing skills now; it had just been so many years since I had climbed anything.

Yesterday one of my friends on Facebook posted “When was the last time you did something for the first time”? Well one thing I did for the first time this trip was fly fishing. Ed has wanted to do this for a long time. I thought I would be bored to tears, but I actually loved it. It’s nothing like regular fishing. You don’t stand in one place for long, you have to be smart and use strategy and skill, and the scenery is beautiful. And, I caught a fish!

Last year I was successful in my attempt to get cheap tickets for this year’s Austin City Limits Festival. They give out a few hundred for $50 (regularly $185), and I snagged two by watching Twitter and refreshing the page constantly. The festival was fun, we saw Black Keys, Spoon, Beach House, Broken Bells, Phish, Flaming Lips, Mountain Goats, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, Sonic Youth, Gogol Bordello, Pete Yorn, Lucero, Black Lips, Manchester Orchestra, Temper Trap, Deadmau5, M.I.A., Devendra Banhart, Portugal, the Man, Trombone Shorty, Robert Earl Keen, White Rabbits, Blind Pilot and Lance Herbstrong.

October

The two big October events here are the State Fair of Texas and Halloween, and we participated in both. The Phantom of the Opera was back on Swiss Avenue:

We were invited to Ed’s cousin Nicole’s wedding in Buffalo, so we combined that trip with a visit with Mom and Dad. I flew up ahead of time and spent some time with them, and then drove their jeep up to Buffalo and picked Ed up at the airport there. We stayed at the Roycroft Inn in East Aurora, something Ed has wanted to do for a long time. The inn was built by the Roycrofters, and Arts and Crafts guild. Ed’s sister Colleen stayed there also since we were. She didn’t know anything about it, thought it would be a regular hotel. The funny thing is that it turned out she used to work across the street from the place and didn’t know what it was.

The wedding was nice and it was nice to see all of Ed’s aunts and uncles and cousins again. I hadn’t been to Buffalo for a long time. We also went to see the Darwin Martin house, a Frank Lloyd Wright house. The main house is still being renovated, but we got to go into two of the other houses on the property. House house houses.

November

We went back to Austin to visit our friends Mike and Carla, and we had a relaxing traditional Thanksgiving with just the three of us. Last year it was just Ed and me, and we decided to do South American food instead of turkey with the fixings, but I missed it, so this year it was back to the old standbys.

For Erica’s birthday we took her and four of her friends out to dinner here in Dallas, which was fun.

December

It was a good year (fractured clavicles notwithstanding) up until the first of December, when Ed’s stepdad passed away. We made another trip to Orlando for the funeral. We were glad we have been going there more often lately, and Ed will always treasure the trip he took to Ireland with Bud et al three years ago.

Unexpected travel in early December means a rather frantic holiday preparation season (at least for me, who procrastinates until December). But I (kind of) got everything done by Christmas, and we had another relaxing day. We had to laugh at all the winter gear we got each other as gifts. We had lobster pot pie instead of fondue for Christmas Eve dinner, and prime rib for Christmas. Yum.

I think that’s it. I’ll try to do better next year.

It’s relatively chilly here. Ed and I play a game each spring and fall where we try to maximize the time we can do without both air conditioning and the furnace. This is easier in Dallas than it was in Houston as the number of seasons here approximates four instead of one and a half. We’ve had a cooler fall than usual, so no AC for a long time, but last night we gave in and turned on the downstairs furnace for half an hour. The indoor temperature was 59 with overnight lows in the 30’s predicted. This was a full month earlier than last year, when we had warm weather through November and up until it snowed on December 5th. We blame our whiny cats.

So, what is winter going to be like? Who knows, last year after the nice fall we had record snowfalls and a White Christmas. This year though, the squirrels are acting weird. They stripped our neighbor’s two front trees of leaves and small branches over a month ago. The garden columnist who lives down the street even noticed it. Ultimately I know it’s up to the Niños and Niñas, but if I were Poor Susan, I’d be predicting / hoping for more snow. Last year we were away for the 12-inch snow and so have yet to use our luge in Texas.

There is still hope for the East Dallas Bobsledding Team! The season is young!

But … sometimes I start out and think I don’t think I can stand riding two times around that damn lake today. So I try to find a new route. Today I decided to ride up the west side of the lake as usual, but then continue on into Lake Highlands to look for a flock of wild peacocks that Mom had alerted me to. I rode up one of the streets in the article, but didn’t see a single peacock. I circled around to the other street, and noticed that my back wheel was a little wobbily. Thinking I had a flat, I stopped to check. That’s when I saw this guy:

Then I noticed a teenage boy making multiple trips to take out the garbage, ignoring the three peahens underfoot. And the white peacock up the street. And the many peabirds standing on porch furniture and garbage cans all around. Look, you can even see them in Google Maps!

I turned my attention back to the bike, and found that it wasn’t a simple flat but a broken spoke, which is a difficult repair even with a spoke wrench and the spare parts, which I didn’t have anyway. So I started to walk up the street to at least get a good look at the white peacock before starting the seven mile walk home. But luckily, just then the owner of the house the white bird was guarding arrived home. He was a fellow cyclist, so insisted on giving me a ride home. On the way, he told me a little more about the peacocks (they love donuts! it makes them hyper!), and about biking in Dallas. It turns out the hill route that I (and all serious bikers here) ride was one of Lance Armstrong’s favorites back when he was a local junior racer. It’s a really tough route. It also turns out that the good samaritan was one of the people quoted in the newspaper article. In fact, I think he is even in that Google Maps street view shot I linked above (next door to all the birds). So despite the hassle, the ride was just what I was looking for, a break in my routine.

If it doesn’t rain tomorrow, I have an idea for another route to explore. Stay tuned!

I try to fit in as much outdoor activity as I can in the morning (even though it’s still hot), but I have to give up a lot of that time to watering, because did I mention? It stopped raining sometime in May. Yes, we have a full-fledged drought going on. I have been trying to keep everything going, especially our stressed elm tree, but now things are so dry that I am watering non-living things too: the foundation (because of this), the front steps (the bottom one has started to separate),  the deck (because the sewer pipe is buried below it and two years ago it broke during a dry spell and cost a couple of thousand dollars to fix). But we’re still getting cracks in the ground in places that are over an inch wide and who knows how deep.

And to make it worse, yesterday and today there has been rain all around us, taunting us. I suspect it is the heat of the city that diverts storms around us (the same thing happened in Houston). This morning I was riding my bike around the lake and the sky got black to the east, south, north and west, and there was lightning close enough that I high-tailed it home, but … nothing. The sun came out as I pulled into the driveway. And now this afternoon I can hear thunder, but only watch the red stuff on the radar detour around my house.

Record Report
Statement as of 1:47 am CDT on June 14, 2010

… Record high minimum temperature set at Dallas-Fort Worth
International Airport for June 13th…

The low temperature at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on
June 13th was 81 degrees. This breaks the record high minimum
temperature of 79 set in 2008… 1998… and 1963.

No kidding, Dallas had its first real white Christmas since the 1800’s this year. On Wednesday night when I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt I was thinking about making a joke post about how our chances for a white Christmas seemed to be slipping away. I really had no idea that snow on Christmas Eve was a possibility. Normally I would have been ecstatic to see a forecast of two inches in the afternoon of Christmas Eve, but this year, Erica had to work that day and was planning to drive home in the evening. And she doesn’t really have snow driving experience. But despite having to deal with snow the whole way, seeing two overturned SUVs and being delayed about an hour and a half by frozen overpasses, she made it home safely. So then we could enjoy a winter wonderland walk down Swiss Avenue, manhattans and paella.

Our Christmas mittens from Linda (as seen above) were a hit. Last week I went to my neighbor Mia’s Christmas play, which was about a little girl who lost a mitten while playing in the snow and hoped it would grow into a mitten tree. The play was adorable; her Montessori school includes preschool age kids who sang  the songs and then covered their ears when people applauded.

We all got great presents; Ed and I got top-grade cookware and Erica got a bunch of kitchen appliances. We should open a restaurant.

This Christmas was an exercise in flexibility. A lot of people in West Texas were stranded by the snow, including Mia and her grandparents, who didn’t make it home from a visit to El Paso for Christmas until late today and even then had to get creative with their route. Erica only had Christmas Day off of work. Our planned Christmas meals (fondue Christmas Eve and paella Christmas day) were disrupted by Ed accidentally having a huge ham dinner delivered here instead of to his parents’ house. So we had paella last night and tonight I had fondue and Ed and Erica had the ham. We all had the side dishes and desserts.

We only have patches of snow left tonight, but it’s cold again and Mia and I put out various freezing experiments: stacks of ice shards, bowls of water, leaves and seeds, etc. All the things northern kids traditionally do but southern kids can miss out on if nobody is paying attention.

A fun Christmas.

One thing that troubles me about Dallas is that the whole identity of the city is 1) the Kennedy assassination and 2) the Dallas Cowboys and 3) the really, really old TV series, Dallas. If I mention this to Dallasites, the response is “That’s not true!” … silence … change of subject.

Anyway, every November the local newspaper starts up with the assassination stories. I don’t know how they keep thinking of new things to write about, but somehow they do. Over the three Novembers I’ve lived here, I’ve gradually become aware that November 22nd is a non-official city holiday, and certain resident (and non-resident) conspiracy theorists fetishize it, and that is something interesting I should probably observe while I live here. So yesterday I talked Ed into riding our bikes down to Dealey Plaza to see what there was to see.

We saw: a book signing, altars, TV cameras, tourists, a LOT of police officers, hot dog vendors, carriage rides, surveying equipment, clipboards, maps, signs, candles, finger pointing (lots), binoculars. We heard: “obviously”, “that doesn’t make sense”, “show trial”, “Moron Commission”. And then some people in a really old Lincoln convertible drove through the plaza and pretended they’d been shot in the head, laughing. Classy.

(This sign isn't usually here.)

Next we decided to continue on to Oak Cliff, where Lee Harvey Oswald lived. After the assassination he traveled that way, shot a police officer, and was subsequently captured in the Texas Theater. We stopped at both of those sites on our bikes, and then headed back across the Trinity River toward home, stopping at a bar with a big backyard we’d heard great things about, Lee Harvey’s. Seemed appropriate.

Next up: Tour de Bonnie and Clyde.