It’s Still Texas…and Spring sort of

Feeling too smug lately, bombarded with reports of snow in some parts of the country and really warm temperatures in others. In North Texas, after heavy rain last weekend, we’ve had beautiful, balmy, sunny days. Last night I woke in the night and turned on the a/c. Today was a different story. I turned off the a/c as soon as my feet hit the floor. It was maybe 60 but drab, and it just got colder. I swear this afternoon it rained in half our back yard but not the other half—I could tell by the damp and dry areas of sidewalk. And this evening when I went to supper, it was 51, damp, breezy, and downright uncomfortable.

A friend in Nebraska wrote me that spring was finally there—it was 70. I replied that we were expecting 68 and considered it a cold front. All a matter of perspective.

Supposed to warm up tomorrow again, but meantime it’s one of those nights when you never feel quite warm enough.

Got some nice news last night: my oldest daughter, Megan, and her family—Brandon, and sons Sawyer and Ford—are coming up from Austin this weekend. Okay, they’re coming for the TCU baseball games, but I’ll get to spend time with them and am really looking forward to that. My instinct is always to kill the fatted calf but then I prepare for meals that we never fix, so when she said not to worry about food except maybe Sunday breakfast, I curtailed my impulses. Made a shopping list of sausage and cheese and the like, have hot dogs and buns in the freezer for the boys. Jacob will love having his cousins here.

A pleasant sociable day today, though I did get some work done. Went to lunch with friends, and we talked a lot about the Barbara Bush funeral. We’re all on the same page politically, which makes it ice.

I’m always hesitant to back-seat drive, but I bite my tongue about the long way ‘round Robin Hood’s barn (just looked it up to make sure that’s a folk saying and not something I invented—Wikipedia, which is good for some things, verified my memory). Anyway, we went the fastest roads, but they were sure far from where we were going. I kept quiet. On the way back, we ran into what appeared to be a terrible accident—lots of intersections blocked. I had to use my back-roads skills to avoid the resultant congestion.

Dinner tonight with Betty. We went to Ellerbe’s. I admit that was a selfish choice because they have just put beef carpaccio on the appetizer menu. Betty had a seafood salad—shrimp, which I can’t eat. And we split bread pudding—oh, my, talk about rich. Great meal.

I’m off to spend the remainder of the evening sorting through some cooking magazines. Clearing my desk and looking for ideas for my cookbook.

Happy spring, everyone. Surely good weather will come and stay any day now.