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!

Saturday morning we went to the first work party of the year for the boat club. Several davits were rebuilt, a new toolbench with a sink was added, and lots of cleaning and reorganizing went on. Unfortunately, Ed overdid it and hurt his back again.

Later that afternoon we had a severe thunderstorm with violent winds. The Dallas Cowboys practice facility collapsed during a rookie practice, and about a dozen people were hurt. We had torrential rain.

Sunday after going out for breakfast, we went to check on the boat. We found the docks of both boat clubs under water, so there was no going out to check the boat, but we could see that it was okay. About an hour later I rode my bike back to the lake with a camera and the water had already receded quite a bit. A few people were at the club hosing things down. The docks out to the boats were still under water. What a poorly timed work party! I took more pictures which I’ll post when I get a chance. Apparently the lake floods like that once or twice a year, which is why the boats are up on davits. The davits are set up so the boats can drain, and we keep the plugs out.

Here’s a picture I took with my iPhone the first time we went out. By this time it had stopped raining for at least five hours, so the level was higher than this.

Becky wanted to go to Tyler, Texas, the self-proclaimed Rose Capital of (Texas, the USA, the World, depending on whom you listen to), so we drove over there. I’m glad we did; we went to the city rose garden, which was huge, and found a nursery that had a lot of $2 roses that we had heard of. I bought five. We also went to the Rose Museum, which was mostly dedicated to the Tyler Rose Festival, and its queen and her elaborate gowns. The gowns had twenty foot trains and were hand-embroidered and jeweled, custom for the festival theme every year with the initials of the queen included in the design. Becky and I noticed that a lot of the queens over the years shared a last name. I’ve read since that the queen’s family pays for the gown, so I think I know who the rich family in Tyler is. Those gowns must cost as much as a new car. The museum did also have some historical rose production artifacts; a lot of commercial rose growers are based in Tyler. I was excited because gas in Tyler was $3.19. It’s below $3.00 here now, so I shouldn’t have bothered filling up (I haven’t driven my car since).

• I’ve been trying to keep my cycling going through the summer this year. Normally I slack off a bit once it gets hot and we stop having events to train for. This year, I decided that with the lake bike trail so close, I’d try riding every morning before it gets hot. It’s been working well; I have about 110 miles in already this week. The lake is pretty in the mornings, and quiet.
• My first vegetable garden here has had mixed results; I think I need to redo the beds in the fall. But thanks to mom, I am using the established herb garden to make lots of interesting pestos!
• We may go to New Orleans in August for a wedding. Should be interesting to see the place.
• I didn’t mention it before, but when we went back to Houston for the MS150, we drove by our old house and the new owners had taken out every single flower bed and put in grass. Roses, herbs, amaryllis, everything.
• I have been steadily working through last fall’s pecan crop, shelling them with this nutcracker. Hopefully I will never have to buy pecans again.
• I have not filled up my gas tank since sometime on our drive back from New Mexico, over a month ago. I really think people should think more in terms of Gallons Per Day than Miles Per Gallon.
• I am out of fun facts for today.
• I may start posting things other than what we are doing, just to keep things interesting.

I have been moving plants around, pulling out things I don’t like, and planting new things. I am lucky because I do like a lot of what is here. We have a mature herb garden, including a 10-foot bay tree, and very large oregano, lemon balm, sage and rosemary plants. I have added “Texas tarragon” and annuals such as cilantro, parsley and dill (for cool weather) and basil (for warm weather), mint off in the corner where it can’t cause too much trouble, and various thymes, winter savory, and St. John’s wort in the brick area off the driveway (I removed random bricks to plant herbs there).

I was very happy to see that bay tree when we were looking at houses, as I left a nice one back in Houston. They are pretty evergreen trees, and fresh bay leaves are better than dried. I was also happy to see native (yellow) columbine occupying a large patch near the gate, another thing I left behind in Houston. This spring I watched to see what would come up as a surprise. There were some tulips, daffodils, quite a few peonies, and Solomon’s seal, lilies, iris, two hellebore (Lenten roses) and hostas in the shade bed by the carport. I hope the peonies bloom; our neighbor told me the man who lived here before was a big peony gardener and actually took some of the rarer peonies with him.

Our backyard is very pleasant right now. The dreaded (by Ed) pecan tree makes the backyard nice and shady. I’ve planted a few pots for the deck, and Ed bought some nice chairs and will add some more to match. We installed outdoor speakers so Ed is entertained. We have a few birdfeeders and a birdbath, so the cats and I are entertained.

Oh, and best of all, Dallas (unlike Houston) has fireflies, and they’ve started coming out at night!

I finally made it over to the Dallas Arboretum last week. It has been too hot (plus I have been to tired) to go until now. It is a really nice setting on White Rock Lake, big with mazes of gardens and lots of things for kids to explore. The Autumn Festival is going on now, so there were loads of fall flowers, 20,000 pumpkins lining the paths, and a pumpkin patch with a pumpkin house. I was surprised there were so many people there during the week, but there were some school groups, mothers with toddlers, retirees, and out-of-town tourists.

We are readying for our first onslaught of Dallas trick-or-treaters. At least six neighbors stopped by to warn us about Halloween here. Apparently Swiss Avenue, the street right behind us that is lined with old mansions, gets 3,000 to 4,000 trick-or-treaters every year. Obviously the more industrious of those hit our street as well. The neighborhood in general seems to go all out for Halloween decorating as well. I’m glad; Halloween was a big deal in the Heights, and I would have missed that.

Happy Halloween!