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Showing posts from May, 2009

Live fast and play dirty

The green flag went down and the low grumble of the 900 hp engines swelled to a roar as the trucks rounded the corner into the straightaway. The race was on! A dozen mean machines bounded over bumps, skidded around the corners and bashed each other's bumpers as they hurtled around the dirt track. Up in the stands, we jumped up and down as we cheered on our chosen drivers to the finish line. The once-shiny trucks got muddier and muddier, the track got more and more littered with broken-off pieces, and the competition got more and more intense until finally the chequered flag waved and the winner went into his victory spin. We'd been downtown on a Thursday evening when Graham noticed some powerful trucks standing by the kerb, and went over to have a look. One of the drivers answered some of his questions and then produced a voucher for four free tickets to the Traxxas TORC race at the Texas Motor Speedway that weekend. So it was that I found myself doing something complet

On the home front

This blog is turning out to read rather like a travel journal, full of all the places we've been. We do stay in the apartment occasionally though. Here's a few snaps of what's happening around here. The balcony is turning into a miniature jungle, helped out by the rainforest-style weather we've been having lately. The tomato plants are shooting up so quickly I'm sure you could see them growing if you watched them for half an hour. They're just starting to look like flowering, so hopefully we'll have a crop soon! The lettuces are kind of floppy but starting to look more lettuce-like, rather than just a random collection of leaves. The habanero plants, after producing tons of flowers and next to no fruit, have obviously found a pollinator - practically overnight they sprouted about a dozen little peppers! Just outside, we have a couple of barn swallows nesting in the stairwell. They're smart little birds, with a pink waistcoat and blue tailcoat,

Fun and festivals

The area around DFW is never short of a few festivals, it seems, and we made it along to a couple more this weekend. We had originally hoped to go canoeing but there was a distinct chance of thunderstorms. These never materialised, though Saturday evening was rather cool with a bit of rain, which wasn't ideal for listening to music on an outdoor stage; conversely, Sunday was very warm and muggy, which didn't look fun for all the people dressed in full Renaissance costume! So, first up was Taste Addison. Addison is a well-to-do area north of Dallas, and this festival was a chance for the local restaurants to have a stand and sell snack-size portions of their wares for around $5. I tried fish & chips (not quite up there with the British seaside version, but not bad), chilli and gumbo (much more American) and spring rolls (double size portion because it was almost the end of the festival). For dessert there was a very delicious honey flan with fruit. This is the Mexican v