This morning began pleasantly enough--a gray day but warm with a breeze. S, A and I went to check out the little golfing green near us. S ran around scooping balls into holes and A busied herself rearranging flags and picking up golf balls right before her sister was about to send one down the green. After "golfing" we went to a little gym class, which was great for S since she desperately needed some run around time with some other kids. Chatting in the waiting room, I met a woman who grew up in White Plains, NY and a stay-at-home dad who loved living in North Carolina but moved here for his wife's job. The cost of living is so much less here, but inevitably the rat race exists. One woman was talking about her 4,000-square-foot home; I asked her about energy costs: $600-$700 a month on electricity in the summer. Ouch.
I'm starting to be intimidated by kindergarten expectations--no doubt that would have happened in Seattle as well. The parents were talking about getting their three-year-olds to do pre-reading, and how many kids are reading BEFORE they hit kindergarten. Texas emphasizes something called "sight words," which I guess is having kids be able to recognize a list of common words. I'd not heard of that before. I imagine that TEXAS is one of them. I wonder if cowgirl is too? Heifer? Steak? Hurricane?
Speaking of . . . we had a big downpour with thunder and lightening this afternoon. It certainly seemed like a storm to me with the wind blowing and pizza delivery places estimating a 2 hour wait time--no one wanted to go out. I didn't realize the full extent of the storm, though, until I saw the news this evening, which showed footage of downtown Houston with people ankle-deep in water crossing streets, highway off ramps being shut and--north of the city--trees and signs uprooted and crashed onto cars. I'm looking forward to having a bigger car, and getting some tips on how to drive in flash floods.
After dinner, I stopped by a local convenience store: Buckees. Now, from the name of the place and the fact that it has a gas station attached, I admit that I was expecting a place with beef jerky by the till, bud in the fridge and cans upon cans of chewing tobacco. Imagine my surprise, when I discovered a gourmet shop with homemade spreads, handcrafted cheese boards, blown glass ornaments, and a bakery with drive-through expresso window! There was jerky, of course, but it was gourmet: a display of turkey jerky, beef jerky, you name it, all in a beautiful glass case where you can point to the strip that you want--no wrapped in plastic slim jims here. I'll have to be cautious about bringing Shantih, since half-a-wall is devoted to jelly belly tubs with every flavor imaginable. I especially loved the large wine selection with affordable prices for good house brands. Box wines were available too, but there was so much more.
Just goes to show, not everything is as it seems in Texas.
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