NOAH'S ARK?

Sunday afternoon was glorious.  Peaceful, warm, and glorious.  I swam, I read and I enjoyed the last few drops of Texas sun and warmth before Monday morning.  Things were going to change.  Welcome to Texas, y'all!

I had made my daughter's birthday cake on Saturday afternoon, and put it in the oven.  Martha Stewart was going to do me proud!  As I cannot get most of my English recipes to work here, when it comes to cake recipes, I generally go to the genius across the pond for a basic sponge.  (Sorry to call your recipes basic, Martha, but pleased be assured it is a compliment!)  I set my timer, pottered for a while and returned to the kitchen to a disaster.  My oven had turned itself off.  It was no longer alive!  Door nails could not be deader!  This was a catastrophe, not only because I had to have the cake cooked, but because I had my neighbours' 'get together' on Thursday!  I jiggled the stove around a bit, and it went on, then off, then on again.  I would really have to seriously think about a replacement before Thanksgiving!  The cake finally cooked.  If we were heading for colder weather, my kitchen was the place to be, as the heat emitting from me was  beyond boiling!   Thankfully, the heat and my temperament had returned to 'factory specs' by Sunday evening, as I had to ice the sponge.  I had made the fondant icing throughout the week.  The cake was a masterpiece in my opinion! (nothing like self praise!)  Samantha had found a 'solitaire' game that my parents had received as a gift, back in the early 1970's, when they attended a soiree at a new hotel in London.  A black triangle, with three poles, and eight circular discs, four white, four orange, decreasing in size.  The idea was to move all the discs from one pole to another, one move at a time, without putting a larger one on a smaller one, in a total of 255 moves.  It took me 45 minutes to complete the first time, and then I found the 'pattern'.  Samantha was determined to 'conquer' it when she found it.  As I had no idea what theme to go with for the cake, I decided to make the game!  

We left home on Sunday evening, around seven, to go and get something to eat.  The afternoon temperatures had hit a balmy 87 degrees (30 I believe in other languages!) and had dropped to around 83.  Deciding to frequent the little French cafe, La Madeleine, we headed north.  It was fairly busy.  We had not been here for a few months, and the staff turnover had been high.  A young woman with a big smile asked me what I would like.  As I gave her my order, she smiled even bigger and said, "Again?"  I gave her my order.  She smiled broader than before and still did not understand.  The manager came over and helped translate, before walking away to help another customer.  Dana had a similar problem explaining his order, which was more simple than mine.  "Granola with whole milk".  She looked perplexed.  "We only do oatmeal at breakfast", she said.  Eventually, after pointing to several items and pictures, the order was taken.  I found it all quite amusing. However, my order was not correct and the granola had seen better days.  As the sandwiches are rather large, I ordered a half, but was presented with a 'whole'.  I went in search of a take out container.  The broad grin disappeared as I asked, "May I have a take out box, please".  A look of pure disgust came across her face when I repeated, "A box to take out".  I thought she was going to come from the other side of the counter and take a swipe at me, before the manager stepped in and said, "for the sandwich?"  I returned to my husband and told him that I thought I had offended the smiling waitress.  "I don't know what her native tongue is, but the word 'box' obviously means something rather nasty!  We found it all quite funny, and left not feeling as if we had encountered any hardship.  It is what it is!

Thank goodness Walmart is open 24/7.  With all the decorations and cake making I had done, I had failed to buy my daughter a birthday card!  We drove to the store and purchased what we needed.  As we left there was a car stopped at the stop sign.  He stayed stationary for a long while.  "What is his problem?" asked my husband.  "Perhaps the word 'stop' in his language means the same as 'box' in the waitresses!"  I laughed at my own joke!

Sometime during the night, rain started to pour, and by the time it was time for me to leave home to go to the office, it was a pretty cold 42 degrees (5 in other languages!)  Apparently, in the Dallas area it was 34 (1).  Swimming costume weather one day, boots and coats the next!  However, it was my daughter's birthday, and we had cause to celebrate.  However, Grant and Jerry were not in the office, so the masterpiece was not enjoyed by all!

The rain did not cease but we took a short walk at lunchtime nonetheless.  I was showing all and sundry a video that Steph had sent me of Oliver doing his homework.  He was 'sounding out' words, phonetically, and making a jolly good job of it.  I was so proud of him (as were his parents) and was sharing this with everyone who came into view!  "He is only four", came the voice of the extremely proud grandma!  

Monday evening we met Samantha and Edward at her favourite restaurant.  A little extravagant for a weekday, but it was a special occasion, we went to Estancia, the Brazilian restaurant where the waiters bring skewers of beef, lamb, shrimp and lots more to the table, and you can pick and choose as much as you like!  As we were eating, Dana asked, "Have the people on the next table seen Oliver Reed?"  I was a little perplexed.  "In what?  'Women in love'? 'Oliver'?  Any other film?"  It was at the mention of the later film that I realised he meant, Oliver read rather than the actor!  I am not used to my husband using sarcasm!  "Do you think they would want to?" I said, and at that the lady on the next table grabbed her coat and made a hasty exit.  "Wait", I said, not realising quite how loudly I was shouting.  "Where are you going?" Sitting waving my phone in her direction, a few eyes were upon me, no doubt wondering what I had been drinking!  The answer was water!  A little while later, another couple sat at the table, and Dana asked again.  "Look!" I shouted rather too loudly again.  "He is pretending to text so he won't have to pay attention".  This time I received a nudge to my arm, and a very loud 'shhh' from my daughter.  The waiter arrived a moment later with a skewer of shrimp and asked her, "How many".  "Three hundred!" I said, wondering why my brain was not making a connection with my mouth to adhere to the command I had just received.  Fortunately, the waiter found my comment most amusing!

We left the restaurant and ran to the car, as the rain was pouring ferociously.  The temperature was rising slightly, but there was still no end in sight to the precipitation.

I baked on Tuesday morning before work, hoping and praying that my oven would last through to the end of Thursday, and wondering why I was, once again, catering for fifty when I had only received a few responses!  The temperature had risen by about ten degrees, but the rain had not stopped.  Despite being in a drought situation three months ago, flood warnings were now being issued.  The rain that we had experienced a couple of weeks ago had soaked into the earth, bringing it back to 'normal' and now it had no where to go.  Evacuation notices were being served, and many were leaving their homes for higher surrounds.  Things were not looking pretty.  Welcome to Texas, y'all!  

Jerry had made it back to the office, but Grant was still out sick.  I knew that Grant had taken a lot of pressure from me, work wise, but did not realise quite how much until now.  His absence was debilitating, especially as I knew I was going to have a couple of late mornings into, and early evenings leaving work over the next two days.  However, we had an 'unbirthday', 'happy birthday' celebration, and I lit the candles on the cake once again and we sang, without much gusto, to my daughter.  

I baked again on Wednesday morning, and prepared dinner for the evening.  Before heading into the office, I went to the Dollar Tree.  I had failed in my motherly duties.  I had not bought any balloons for my daughter, who despite her adult years, maintained that a birthday was not complete without them!  The rain poured, and I drove to the store as fast as the roads would permit.  "It's my first day", said the elderly gentleman who was having a problem understanding how to use the tills.  His 'trainer' blew up one balloon, reiterated the instructions before blowing up the second, and this continued until all five were helium filled!  However, I failed again as I let go of one, and I could not reach the string to pull it down.  The new employee attempted to come to the rescue.  He stood looking perplexed, and when I suggested he use the broom handle to hook the string, he took the broom and started sweeping the balloon along the ceiling.  I looked for a 'grabber' but could not see one.  After serving several customers, the original lady returned to the scene and suggested she just blow up another balloon.  The fourth one did not burst!  Time was ticking by and I wondered in which universe I had just entered.  Welcome to Texas, y'all!

With wet roads, and the inability to see out of my back window, the drive back to the office was rather treacherous.  Austinites do not like the rain.  Although I love my fellow city dwellers, I am not so endeared to their driving methods.  The highway code bit about leaving a specific distance between each car during dry weather is not applicable here.  If there is a car length distance between you and the car in front, it does not mean you are a safe distance away,  it means there is a space for another car!   This rule appears to apply whether the roads are dry or wet!  I have noticed that as soon as there is a bolt of lightening, a crack of thunder, and the first drop of rain, the sound of an emergency vehicle siren can be heard. I have always assumed this is because there has been an accident on the road!  I have not been proven right, but then again, I have not been proven wrong!  However, I digress!

Grant was back at work on Wednesday, and the cake was brought out again, and 'Happy birthday' was moaned out rather than sang!  The cake could finally be eaten!

I left work early on Wednesday, and got soaking running to the car without an umbrella.  The rain continued into the night, and well into Thursday.


My neighbours' 'get together' was a great success.  I sent everyone home with food parcels, and cleared away the excess and filled my freezer with dinners for the next few weeks!  Although I had not received an abundance of replies, the turnout was greater than I had expected, as some had simply assumed I knew they would be there!  After the event, Dana retired upstairs to do some work he had brought home, and I was clearing away when there was a knock at the door.  Assuming it was someone who had left something behind, I answered it.  Mark, my neighbour who had responded with a 'yes' but whom was a 'no show', was standing there with a bottle of wine.  "Sorry, but I got called out to some friends who have been flooded out", he said.  Full of compassion for both his friends, and the way in which he had taken on the task of helping them retrieve their belongings that had not floated off into oblivion, I blurted out, "Everyone has gone!"  It was nearly ten thirty and I was exhausted! I suddenly took stock of the situation, realised that he was feeling rather upset at not attending, and probably far more exhausted than I!  I invited him in.  Once again, my compassion failed to show. "Would you like to take some dinner home", I said, rather than, "Would you like to have something to eat?"  As he was filling a plate full of anything I had not yet bagged up, he was showing me pictures of the disaster that was his friends' home.  Dana appeared at this point and showed far more sensitivity!  How unusual!  Twice in one week my husband has caught me off guard!  Finally, at a little after eleven, our guest left. Dana was glad he had come over and was able to spend a bit of time relaxing and feeling welcome, and I felt awful at my lack of sympathy!

It was raining Friday morning.  I cleaned my kitchen and living room with a vengeance.  Dana had let his jacket draped over a chair, and I was not very happy.  I was a little less than sensitive, once again! I was late into work, but felt as if I had achieved a good deal. It was Jerry's birthday, and Samantha had not failed with cake and balloons.  In fact, it was impossible to enter the 'guys' room without stepping on a balloon!  Atop the regular balloons, were animal balloons!  His car all but floated away when he left having filled his car with those that were not burst!  I worked all day, with a break for a five minute walk, and by the time I left the office, I was ready to drop!  At the end of the day, I received an email from one of my neighbours.  "Did I leave my rain jacket at your house?  I think I left it over the back of a chair."  Oops!  Dana took me out for dinner, at his insistence, as he thought I needed to just 'stop'.  He insisted on bringing the car to me when we left the restaurant, as the rain was teaming down, and splashed his way through puddles, in his flip-flopped feet, whilst I stood under the canopy in my boots, hats and raincoat.  Something was wrong with this picture, but chivalry must prevail!

The rain had stopped on Saturday morning, and Samantha and I went to  'Petoberfest'.  This year, apparently, the organiser of the 'Dogtoberfest' carnival was ill and had said she was not going to go ahead with the festivities.  Although I am not in possession of all the facts, I believe someone stepped in and decided to make it an 'all pets' festival.  I was not sure it would be a good idea to go, because we would be quite upset to see all the dogs, and remember the times when Frank went shopping in Macy's!  However, one of the first stands we went to was the Spirit Radio stand.  As I am a listener, I went to say hi.  My favourite presenters are the two that host the morning programme, Steve and Amy.  I was going to ask if they were there, purely joking, as it was the morning, and I doubted that they would  have any presenters at the stand.  "Would you like to meet Steve and Amy from the morning show?" asked the young girl who had just given me a pen, as they had run out of whatever it was that I had just won for spinning the wheel.  "Oh wow!" I exclaimed. "Really!"  As if I had come straight from Estancia, and the brain and mouth were once again not communicating, I became like a teenage groupie and started to shriek uncontrollably at how excited I was.  Amy gave me a big hug, while Steve was unsure as to how to greet me.  He didn't have to think too hard as I hugged him as aggressively as Amy had hugged me!  I was so excited.  They seemed bemused!  As I spoke non-stop, and told Steve how much I enjoyed his 'dry' humour, he said, "I can hear you are from West Texas".  I responded.  "Yeah, well I am from West of somewhere!"  Samantha was standing shaking her head.  "Yep, this is my mother!"  I could hear her thinking.  "Please, swallow me up now!"  

The rest of the day stayed dry, and I went back to Samantha's to take another chore.  After being on my feet for nearly a dozen hours by the time I arrived home, I was ready to drop!  It was not cold, at around 64 degrees (17ish) but it was still damp.  

Sunshine shone through the windows this morning, to my amazement.  It appears it will be short lived, but the day has promised to be dry, and the temperatures steady.  It will not be swimming weather and I will need a jacket if I am to venture out.  It will not be much reprieve to those who are suffering but it may cause a slight receding in the water levels before the next onslaught.  

The countdown has begun for the 'winter' festivals here in Austin.  Halloween has dominated the whole of October, and Thanksgiving is a month away.  Christmas decorations are already on 'sale' (reduced) and calendars for next year are almost 'out of date'.  The forecast for next week is starting off cold and wet, but the rain is due to stop by Thursday, and temperatures should be towards the 70's (around 21). I am off now to look for an oven, or at least take advantage of technology and search through the Internet.  I am not relishing the thought of having to go out and choose one.  I would much prefer to be gaining tidbits to write .............. another story!