Home Again

Bonjour, mes amis! I have been back in Texas for a week and a half but it seems like thirty minutes. No sooner had Easter brunch at the Houston mini-casa been cleaned up that daughter Martha and I drove to Austin. She had to return to school, and I was happy to drive her so that I could spend some time with my mother and my sister and my poor, neglected lake house. It was so good to be back. Spring is lingering in these parts. I haven’t even turned on the air conditioning at the lake, which is just the way I like it. Fresh breezes and sounds of birds floating through the open windows. Yeah, that’s pretty much heaven to me.

One evening “severe weather” was reported to the west of us, but of course not a hail stone nor a drop of rain fell here.  As consolation, we received a few moments of gorgeous light through our cove, just as the sun was setting.

Thanks but next time we’ll take the rain, please.

After ten days, I am really missing some good bread. Mom and I had startlingly good bread at 34th Street Cafe in Austin. When I inquired about it, they told me it was flown in from a California bakery. Is that really what it takes to get amazing bread around here?  I am also missing locally grown produce. In a grocery store the size of several football fields, I have to buy vegetables that would have higher airline status than I do (if they awarded miles to vegetables, of course). In my relief at finding large shrimp that were already peeled and deveined (I detest that chore), I inadvertently bought them from Indonesia. A stone’s throw from the Gulf Coast, and I buy Indonesian shrimp. Arghhh. Fortunately, they were delicious. But still. I lashed myself about that all the way home from the store.

This week we head into a family wedding, which portends lots of laughter, champagne, and trying to make my hair look good. The good news is that after enough of the first two, the third becomes unimportant.

I hope you have many causes for celebration this week. Rain, good hair, a juicy local melon- rejoice in the small things!