Easter

It has been a warm and sunny Easter here in Texas. Very pleasant. We've continued some of our Easter traditions. On Good Friday we had Hot Cross Buns. The ones being sold in the grocery store were not the real thing so Claire got busy in the kitchen and made some from scratch. Yummy!

On Easter Sunday the Easter Bunny managed to find his way to our new house and deliver some treats....

No more chocolate in our house for a while!

Hope you had a lovely Easter, wherever you were and whatever you were doing.

Adam & Claire xxx

St Patricks Day

Over on this side of the Atlantic the celebrating of St Paddy's Day is a BIG thing. Naturally, we had to join in! So here's us getting in the spirit of things...

Happy belated St Patrick's Day!

Adam & Claire xxx

BPMS150

Continuing the cycling theme of our recent blogs ...

All things cycling seem to be very popular here in Texas. This includes lots of organised rides of which we are doing several. The latest news is that we have been successful in getting places to take part in the BPMS150. This is a two day 170 mile cycle ride, between Houston and Austin, on April 12 and 13. It will also raise funds for the National MS Society. Maybe we're crazy but we are very much looking forward to this ride and seeing some more of Texas. And as we live in such a flat landscape the hills will be fun and a welcome change.

Watch this space for more info.

Adam & Claire xxx

Gator Ride Photos

You may recall from our recent posting, that last weekend, we completed the Gator Ride. Here are some photos. These were taken after 63 miles of fun.

Adam and Claire xxx

Spring in Texas

After what felt like a late British summer through January and February spring has begun springing in Texas. The temperatures are now regularly getting up to 25degC during the day and rarely drop below about 12degC at night. Plants are starting to grow quickly and we have been able to pot up plants that we would definitely consider as summer bedding.

Over the last six weeks Adam has been travelling a lot with work. He has spent two weeks in France, one week back in England, a week in west Houston instructing on a course and a week in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This has been hard work for both of us as Adam was frequently only home for a short period of time at weekends.

Meanwhile, Claire has been settling into Houston life. She is taking Spanish classes, which is an essential in Texas as it is the first language of more Texans than any other. She has also started a more advanced course of French lessons, where she is meeting lots of interesting people. Her volunteering for a local charity in Houston is going a little bit more slowly, but she has been asked to join the leadership team and to be a trainer on a course for older school children that will be run over the summer holidays. The organisation, Skills 4 Living www.skills4living.org works with working Houston families who are considered to be below the poverty line, trying to give them the necessary life skills to advance themselves. The course she will help to lead is to prepare the older children from such families for life after high school. Teaching them money management skills, life skills and how to apply for college places, scholarships and jobs.

During our spare time (what little there appears to be) we have been doing a lot of cycling. Both of us now have road bikes and we have joined a local cycling club. Most Saturday mornings we meet with around 120 other club members for a 45+ mile ride. This weekend we successfully took part in the 63 mile Gator Ride. The ride took us three and half hours to complete and took us across the large suspension bridge that crosses the Houston ship channel at its outlet into Galveston Bay. Unfortunately we were not provided with any views as it was very foggy at the start of the ride. However, the fog quickly cleared to leave a fantastic day with bright sunshine.

Well that is all from us now, best springtime wishes

Adam and Claire xxx