Snow White Texas Spring

Arriving home on a late Spring day, I turn into the driveway from the back alley and in the light breeze my vision is filled with a flurry of flittering, floculating flakes. The air is filled with white as if I am caught in a late Spring snow shower  - or so it seems.

If I let my imagination run away to the northern latitudes (where I am sure they would not welcome a late March frozen flurry); I can imagine these pure white blossoms being plucked by the breeze from my backyard Moonlight Pear tree as March snow.  My back lawn, alley and the driveway are covered by the small white petals, looking like the driven snow.  Neither pear blossoms, nor a Spring snow in Texas, lasts long.  The winds disperse the petals and they soon wither and shrivel and are not noticed soon after they fall from the branches.  But for a brief and shining white moment, the small world around the pear tree is a surprising sight, a winterish wonderland strewn with snow white petals.

Makes me wonder where have all the flower children and pollinators gone?

Snow white pear blossoms
before they fall into the spring breeze and
cover the world around the tree's roots in white

In a few months we will have some small, hard Moonlight pears
not too good for eating, but they can be cooked into a very sweet,
honey-like compote that goes well with cheese cake

Tulips Gone Down to Texas

Mid-March is Texas Tulip Time.  

Seems like I just packed away the Christmas bulbs and just when I turn around, out comes the Spring tulip bulbs!  With a bright Spring late afternoon sun, the sun's rays were vividly illuminating the unfurled petals of recently planted tulip bulbs transplanted from Mom's Montana garden.

Glory in the afternoon sun
Texas tulips brighten the front porch in the middle of March

It was a frenzied October when 7 of the greater Suneson family gathered to pack up the contents of the parent's lake house in Polson, Montana.  Mom and Dad had decided it was best for them to move to their chosen retirement living center in Tumwater, Washington.  

Of course packing action ensued. Plenty of furnishings, decorator and household items, tools and various sundries were loaded into two Uhaul trucks, one to carry the basic things to furnish the pared-down parent's single bedroom living space, and another truck to carry the 'inheritance treasures' so selected by each member of the two generations descended from Mom and Dad.  I was to deliver each of the desire inheritance items to either of my two sisters or to the 6 grandkids.  One of the last, little noticed items amidst the stuff strewn thickly across the Polson garage floor was a basket of Mom's tulip bulbs.  Sue tells me, "Those (pointing at the basket of dug up bulbs) just have to come with us, your Mom will love to see pictures of them once they've bloomed in our yard in Texas".  As it so happens, there is always enough room on the Treasure Truck to Texas to carry some tulips.

In November, Sue placed the bulbs into the warm, clumping clay that passes for soil here, and then we wait to see what nature brings us in both color and germination.  

So...  this is what we got from Mom's basket of bulbs taken from Montana, through Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico and then to Dallas, Texas in the back of the Treasure Truck.

My wife was right. Mom's enjoyed the photos of her tulips in their new home on the range.  And, sister Sheri planted some of the bulbs in a pot on Mom's new back porch for her to enjoy them there as well.  Tulips make everyone happy.

Tortoise Spring

Isaac declares "Hibernation Over!"
Feed me some dandelions.

It is a remarkable phenomena, the animalistic clock.  Those who are owned by dogs know that their Canine-Americans will always pester for their food at the very same time every day - it is the 'dog clock'.  

Yet, I find it all the more remarkable that in the middle of October, 2018, our two backyard Desert Tortoises came to the patio door, wanting to come inside. Of course we let them in per their request, and they proceeded to march down the hallway into the master bath and plunked themselves next to the commode and quickly settled in for a long winter's sleep, i.e. hibernation.  This hibernation for our pair will last until sometime in the middle of March, about 5 months.

In the interlude while our original locals, Chomper and Isaac, were in deep slumbers, two additional Desert Tortoises were acquired from my sister in Fresno, California.  We're now runnin' four head of tortoise on our Texas parcel. [We believe a group of tortoises should be referred to as a 'clatter of tortoises']

Back in October I had removed Isaac from his drop-zone next to the commode into his custom-built hibernation box in the corner of the kitchen dining nook (spice maple wood construction that matches the kitchen cabinets). However, I left Chomper fast asleep next to the commode, with his head tucked into the scrub-brush receptacle behind the toilet.  I thought it was kind of charming to have a Desert Tortoise as part of the WC decor. 

Chomper backs out of his WC
Hibernation Location

Slow Forward...

Early Saturday morning, March 9, Chomper begins to stir from his catatonic state beside our porcelain stool and backs half-way out onto the WC floor.  We welcome him into Spring 2019; but he is too groggy to pay us much mind.  Then, later in the morning, while making breakfast, Isaac emerges out of his box and into the middle of the kitchen.  Isaac seems more awake than his brother in the bathroom, so Isaac gets moved out onto the lawn to enjoy the 75 degree sunshine and green grass.  Soon after Isaac begins to soak up some rays, one of our new arrival, Vortexia, comes charging out of her cardboard box in the kitchen checking out her new environment.  She too is placed outside to enjoy the spring weather and snack on some tasty dandelions after a 45 minute post-hibernation rehydration water soak and sip in the master bath tub.  This makes 3 of 4 tortoises all coming out of hibernation within a few hours of each other after being oblivious to the world for nearly 5 months.  How do they know? -- Morpheus remains in his hiber-box at the back of the kitchen; doesn't there always seem to be the that 'special somebody' that just didn't get the memo?

Vortexia looks dehydrated after emerging from
hibernation, so she gets a re-hydration soak in the bath tub
before going out to play on the green grass

Mercurial March weather cooled off after Saturday, and everybody went back to bed.  But warmer and sunnier days are a commin' my wonderful hard-backed friends.  And I have some nice lettuce stashed in the fridge planned for y'all, it'll be the  best Tortoise Spring Party.






ps: The perennial scourge of Pharaoh ants came boiling onto our kitchen counter tops that Saturday also.  How do they know?  And boy do I have a surprise (it is not a pleasant one) for these uninvited spring visitors.

Big Announcement that has a Nice Ring to it

While we were all waiting on Saturday February 2nd, Ground Hog's Day, to hear if the ground hog saw his shadow or not - there comes a ring upon Sue's phone with the news.

Grant and Kaileen announce their engagement

Overshadowing any Ground Hog shadow news, was news from our son Grant and Kaileen announcing their engagement to be married.  They had just finished up a wonderful day out in New York City celebrating the grand news with their friends.  Grant had coordinated and schemed for months among their mutual friends to pull off a proposal and a party.  From all accounts, despite his natural anxiety, he managed (with a little help from his friends) to (almost) completely surprise Kaileen and put together a sweet and wonderful event around the momentous moment.  Grant had worked with a distant relative of Kaileen's father, a jeweler, to select and design a suitable ring for his future wife.  He had shown us a photo of the ring at Christmas time while he was in town.  He had craftily hidden the ring in their small Queens, NY apartment and was now waiting for all the needed coordinated pieces to fall into place in order to select the right time to propose.  Many of Kaileen's closest friends were consulted on how to properly do this once-in-a-lifetime kind of event, so secret spreadsheets and secret communications were then woven together over the weeks to make sure everyone could and would be included.  It worked like a charm says Grant's beaming fiancee, Kaileen.

Kaileen professed to be not all that suspicious when Grant suggested that they take a walk by the water-side, and when Kaileen threw on some clothes suitable for strolling along the water in 30 degree weather, Grant tactfully suggested she might want to change into another set of clothes, since they were "going to meet up with a friend later in the day, and he might be taking some photos that he might post on social media sometime later - so maybe you just might want to look a little more arranged just in case you end up in a photo that is shared."  Grant is not usually so sly, but he was primed and ready to do what it takes to make this event a success.

It worked!  She said "Yes", and the score of friends and conspirators that had secretly gathered in the upstairs loft of the Alewife Pub cheered and celebrated and toasted the happy couple.  The event which Grant hosted, was documented by a professional photographer friend from Mizzou.  Kaileen was surprised and said it was the 'best day of my life - just perfect!', while Grant professed relief that it had worked so well, along with all of the other emotions that go without saying.  We got the call with the announcement after all of the Alewife festivities had subsided.

From our end of the ring tone, we are well pleased with the Ground Hog's Day news as we love Kaileen and believe they are a well suited to one another and make a fine couple.  We welcome Kaileen into our family!  This is great news!

******

The next we hear from the couple is that Kaileen has scored some cheap plane tickets from NY to Houston for March 2 - Texas Independence Day; and we were invited to join Kaileen and Grant at her parents home in The Woodlands, about 45 miles north of downtown Houston for a Celebration of the Engagement.  Done.

Kaileen, Grant's fiancee

Sue and I left Friday afternoon to meet up with the Gauls and have dinner together that night.  We picked up Kaileen and Grant Saturday afternoon, to later go out to a marvelous dinner there in The Woodlands, and toast the 'kids' and enjoy the possibilities of their future together and the uniting of the Gaul and Suneson families.  It was a wonderful time, but brief as we had to return to Dallas later on Saturday night.

We took some photos, talked of preliminary ideas for the coming wedding and ate and drank and truly enjoyed the good news and good fortune before us all.

Kaileen flashes her engagement ring
while home with her parents in The Woodlands
for an Engagement Celebration among the Gaul and Suneson Families

Grant and Kaileen enjoying the 70 degree shirt-sleeve Texas Independence Day
weather after flying in from snow-covered New York City

Grant with his smirking fiancee, Kaileen
in front of the Gaul's home

The couple is forced to pose for photos by the future in-laws
along Lake Woodlands before going in to dine and celebrate 

Kaileen's father, Greg, photo-bombs
while Grant and Kaileen are seated on the "selfie bench" art project

Kaileen and Grant
Hand-in-hand, lakeside

Glenda shows Sue a good photo she has captured of  the kids

Newly Engaged

Newly staged

The celebration begins!
Greg and Glenda hosts us all for a fine meal and pleasant talk of the joyous future

A toast!

Just like the Celebration Cake says, "Congratulations"

The details are just starting to be explored and not much has been established for sure; but what we are told is that the wedding will be in the Houston area, aiming for March or April of 2020.  Barbecue will likely be featured for dinner somewhere in this happening.

Cheers! And our love to Grant and Kaileen!

BOOM! Squash!??

Susan walks into the kitchen, reaches for the handle on the oven door, and...
just before she touches it -- BOOM!

She jumps back. "What in the h - e - double toothpicks was that?!
The oven door had just been blown partly open and then snapped back shut right before her eyes.

She again cautiously approaches the oven and gingerly pulls back the door to peek inside.

OMG! It's an IEV.  

In Iraq, American forces faced the threat of IED's (Improvised Explosive Devices) hidden beside common roads.  And here on the home front, we too were taken by surprise in our very own kitchen by an IEV - an Improvised Exploding Vegetable.

The damage was done by a 2.8 pound spaghetti squash.  Sue professes to enjoy eating these stringy, tasteless vegetables as a substitute for gluten pasta.  I had warned her about the dangers of the spaghetti squash, but my culinary warnings went unheeded.

Look! I clamored, it is proof of vegan terrorism, an assault on my plate and palate.  Those innocuous vegetables can not be trusted.  

She just laughed at the carnage. Oh! the humanity!  All from roasting a squash.  This is how kitchen unrest on the domestic front begins, I solemnly warned.  My wife just chuckled, "I should be much more upset at this mess, but this is just too funny".  

"Look, that sucker got blown clean in half. Wow! Amazing."

She went about cleaning and scraping and scrubbing all of the smithereens of tiny, stringy strands of squished squash from the baking racks and the oven's interior with a gleam of wonderment in her eye.  She salvaged much of the well-roasted interior goo, (that was now obviously on the exterior) and cleaned up the rest the best she could.

I told her the battle of the clean oven was lost at this point. I think we will have to use the nuclear option.  Yes, no one has ever felt called to press the red button before, but this time we have no choice but to give the "Self Clean" command and clear out.

She agreed, and I dialed in the code and the 4 hour count-down to total obliterating clean destruction began and we went to bed.

The self-cleaning work was expected to end at 02:35 hours. I awoke at 02:55 and wondered what was going on in my kitchen at this point, so I pushed open the closed kitchen doors and inside the kitchen it must have been 100 degrees and the acrid smell of victory permeated the whole house.   

With the morning light and the cooled kitchen environment visual inspection of the interior was possible to view where the IEV had been planted.  There was nothing but a fine power residue of gray ash inside.  Later in the evening, Sue returned home from work and quickly wiped down the ash-covered interior and proudly showed me our spotless oven's insides.

It was a thing of beauty. 

I got a clean oven, and Sue got a kick out of making a lunch that was the bomb.

It's Christmas! Another Day Another Feast

Christmas Day Dinner is served!

It was to be a casual and easy-going Christmas Day with a feast planned for mid-afternoon.  It would be just the three of us, Balthasar, Melchior and Gaspar - wise guys all, and one who actually came from the East.  Christmas Day promised another menu featuring more of my favorites (since I had a hand in planning the menu - nice how it works out that way as an adult); there would be a rib roast (rare), asparagus, sweet potatoes and a crusty baguette to sop up the oil and vinegar on small plates poured over freshly grated garlic cloves served with a Pinot Noir from Oregon (in honor of our Oregonian daughter who was unable to join the feast here in Texas).

For dessert, we of course could have more than our fair share of Christmas stocking-stuffer candies, but the 'Big To-Do' was to break out the fondue pot and top off the feast with strawberries, pineapple and morsels of angel food cake dipped in the pot of melted dark chocolate and liqueur.

Once the tablecloth is removed - I wouldn't trust myself with messy chocolate either
We dip our tongs of fruit and cake into the molten chocolate
Could be the start of a new tradition

Merry Christmas and to all a good respite!

  

  

Christmas Morning - barely

Grant, home for the holiday, but tagged to put in some hours through Christmas Eve as he worked remotely on his laptop computer and electronically filed his work at Wall Street 24/7 in order to keep the news presses rolling.  Once work was complete, it was Christmas time and time for bed after the Christmas Eve feast.

Following his typical schedule since we was just a small fellow, Grant would be in no rush to trundle downstairs on Christmas Morning to paw through the piles of Santa's largess doled out to every good boy and girl.  The gift of sleeping-in is a now a precious gift and one easily given around here.

Christmas morning would start once all had assembled according to their own schedule, so Christmas Morning was well nigh unto Christmas Afternoon.

It was cool outside on Christmas Day, but not what most Texans would even consider cold, but a request was made for a 'Christmas fire' to blaze away in the living room hearth, and so it was.  Now, the mood is set, let the festivities and the joy begin!

His mother sewed his name over a
Christmas Stocking belonging to his Father.
Traveling light from NYC, Grant did not have a
repository for Santa's gifts on Christmas Morning

Sue gets a couple of bottles of oil and vinegar to
be poured onto a rugose plate of grated garlic cloves.
These will come in handy for the
Christmas Day feast in a few hours.

A good surprise by the guess on Sue's face

Grant gets a single large gift as he is
'carry-on limited'
for his return to New York on the 27th

A dress over coat
Good for his walk from NYC subway to Lexington Ave.

  

Hook 'Em Horns!
Lookin' good for Bevo
Texas will upset and defeat #5 Georgia in Sugar Bowl in a few days.
Must be the new lucky hat

Our Christmas Tree
The boughs are bright and merry
The gifts beneath the boughs have been unwrapped.
It was a good Christmas

As has been my tradition for the past 3 years, I have given some small gifts at Christmas time to my two young Turkish friends, Tahir and Fatih who live next door.  And these gifts have been reciprocated by their mother, Kubra, who bakes us a treat from her kitchen to be delivered by her boys.

This year, Fatih rang our door bell and when I answered, Fatih asked me, "Mark, are you open?"  I told him with a big smile, "Yes, we are open today!"  He stood there on the stoop and looked inside for a while and I tried to make small talk and he looked for a way to gracefully exit and report back to his mother that we were open.  He then decided the time was right, and announced, "I will come to your house with something", and the bolted across the lawn and fallen leaves to his house.  In a few moments, Tahir appeared with a hand made pizza for us and we all thanked him and his brother Fatih who was now hiding behind our front hedge.  We exchanged a wishes for a Merry Christmas and the small Muslim contingent bounded back home.

We will get to that pizza after we have our Christmas Day feast.

Kubra's Christmas Pizza sits on our counter top
as Sue makes homemade eggnog.