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Unto us a son is given...

Did I mention something about life getting back to normal in October? Oh yes, I was just finishing work and looking forward to at least two weeks off to organise the house, stock up the freezer and buy baby stuff. Then little Toby threw a spanner in the works by turning up five weeks early! Which would put his birthday in... let's see... October. So much for normal! For those who would like the gory details, here goes. If you are a mother who had a long and protracted labour, I advise you to skip the next bit - or if you don't, please don't start sending me hate mail. You have been warned. You see, we'd been to all the childbirth classes (yes, just about managed to finish them) and learned all about the different stages of labour, and how many hours each lasted. We learned some relaxation techniques and various things Graham could do to help coach me through long periods of contractions. And then we turned out not to need any of them, because the entire thing...

Oklahoma!

So much for catching up, huh? Life has been pretty hectic for the last few weeks, though I'm pleased to report that after endless rounds of faxing, phoning and emailing the mortgage arrangements are finally coming together and we're looking forward to moving into our new house soon! Of course that entails packing, unpacking, cleaning and arranging, but we're hoping that life will be back to normal sometime in October... just in time for it to change forever in November. With all that, I'm sure my future self will want to remember that, once upon a time, she did have peaceful weekends away with her husband, with hardly a care in the world. Weekends such as this one back in July, when we ventured north into Oklahoma. Pool in Chickasaw NRA The Oklahoma border is just an hour or so north of Fort Worth, but until recently we were under the impression that there wasn't much point in crossing it unless you wanted to go gambling (more on that later). Then a friend ...

A Gneiss Weekend

I'm trying to catch up on a slight backlog of blog posts here - this weekend away actually took place back in June, but I never got around to writing about it. To be honest our weekends away tend to follow a predictable pattern which you are probably getting used to: realise on Friday that we have a free weekend, book a last-minute motel, drive several hours to some unexplored piece of Texas, visit a state park or two, spot some wildlife, and back to the city again. But this one was somewhat different in that the piece of Texas we went to was underground. To be precise, Longhorn Caverns State Park, a stunning subterranean selection of stalactite clusters, smooth sculpted rocks and glittering calcite crystals. Our guide was a 21-year veteran of the caves and took us on a slightly longer route so that we got to appreciate even more of the wonders. Not least of these is that the caverns are 68F year-round, providing a welcome relief from the 95F heat outside. Befor...

bumpity bumpity bump

20 weeks pregnant.

Maternity Leave

Read this: We Can Afford to Give Parents a Break I am constantly amazed at how little regulation exists in the USA regarding the workplace. Most people are probably aware that American workers get less time off than their counterparts in Europe. In fact there is no federal legislation that requires businesses to give their employees paid vacation. I know a lady whose boss recently announced that nobody would get any more holiday - not Fourth of July, not Christmas, nothing. Difficult as it is to believe this is legal (far less in any way sensible) there is nothing you can do in such a situation but quit. Sometimes this lack of holiday is explained in terms such as these: Americans opted for material goods over vacation time, so they have a better standard of living despite only getting long weekends off. It's true that many Americans live in bigger houses, drive bigger cars and watch bigger TVs than the average Brit. And they do, indeed, work to pay for all these things. Yet a...

Graham and the Giant Watermelon

Get that peach out of the way, James - there's a new contender on the giant fruit scene! These mammoth melons were on sale for just $2.99, so we had to get one even if it takes a month to work our way through it. We put it on the bathroom scale when we got home. It weighs 23 lb. The alarming thing is that the average pregnant woman gains 30 lb, i.e. somewhat more than the weight of that watermelon. And I sure wouldn't be happy if you told me I had to lug that around everywhere for several months! Hmmm.... While we're on food news, I've been having a happy cooking day today. Several cayenne peppers ripened all at once so I made a giant pot of chili. Martha's giant chili 1 big onion, chopped 2 big green (bell) peppers, chopped 4 home-grown cayenne peppers, chopped finely 3 lb minced (ground) beef 2 big cans chopped tomatoes 1 small can tomato paste 2 regular cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed 2 cups (16 fl oz) beef stock 3 bay leaves, spoonful ...

Temperature comparison

Just for fun, although attempting to do this highlighted my lack of advanced computer skills and took twice as long as it was meant to. It still could be better, but you'll get some idea. Data source Data source So then, Fort Worth starts off at a warm but pleasant 80F and heads pretty steadily upwards towards the high 90s, with a cooler blip around the 9th. Minimums are around the 60s-70s, ie about the same as Bristol high temperatures. Bristol manages a minor heatwave around the 23rd, but otherwise ranges between low 50s and high 60s. Still pretty cool at night. Now we're into June we're basically in the 90s and staying there. Haven't really hit triple figures yet - that joy is still to come. Whether or not you Bristolians are jealous is entirely up to you. Personally, as you will have gathered, I prefer my climates temperate, but I promise not to whine about the heat for at least, say, two more blog posts (or until it hits 100F, whichever comes ...

Dragon Boat Racing

Well, I haven't posted for a while, so I had a quick virtual riffle through the photos to see what I could come up with. A few weeks ago we went to a dragon boat/kite flying/Chinese culture festival, which wasn't a huge affair, but all the bright colours were good for photographs. Chinese lanterns, of course. These are actually Aztec dancers. What the Aztecs have to do with a Chinese festival we couldn't guess, nor did we ever discover. I suspect if you turn up in a fancy enough costume they let you in. One of the four dragon boats. Any group or workplace could register a dragon boat team, and they competed throughout the day. A lady we talked to said they only got about an hour to practise, so it was a good thing each boat had a competent steerer! Launching a kite. Formation flying. My stunt kite died its death a long time ago owing to the nose hitting the ground many times too often, but seeing this made me itch to have kite strings in my hands aga...