Another couple of wonderful weeks......

The last two weeks have been very busy including two trips up to Weatherford (near Dallas), the theatre, the symphony, several dinner engagements as well as Christmas shopping, writing Christmas cards and getting John packed and organised for his trip back to Australia.

Now that he is tucked safely on a plane heading south, I can sit down, relax and update our blog.

We recently went out to dinner with Pat & Sam and then enjoyed the evening listening to the Houston Symphony Orchestra performing Romeo & Juliet (although I was a little tired and found the music lulling me to sleep - thank goodness for John's elbow!) Anyway it was a lovely night out with friends.

I went with John on the first 3 day trip to Weatherford. The training program was held in the Doss Heritage and Culture Centre - a $5 million facility showcasing the regions history of cattle barons, cowboys, broadway stars and political leaders in three galleries and also has rooms catering to conferences and other events. It is a very impressive venue. There was a wonderful lady on the front desk by the name Dorothy who took me by the hand and personally showed me around the whole complex - holding my hand on the entire tour! She was my own personal tour guide complete with commentary on the history of anyone lucky enough to be born in the area. One room was dedicated to Mary Martin, a broadway star and mother of Larry Hagman (JR Ewing in the tv show "Dallas") and another room was devoted entirely to exhibiting work from local artists. The piece-de-resistance however was the exhibition of life in the early years of the area which included an authentic American Indian tepee, a covered wagon and a chuck wagon all reproduced in 'real life' surroundings including trees - very effective.

While John was delivering the 2nd training program in Weatherford, I stayed back in Houston and had the most wonderful night out with 2 friends, Anna & Denise, enjoying "An Evening of Conversation with Dame Julie Andrews". She is just awesome. She stood on stage and talked for about an hour and a half and then answered questions from the audience. She is absolutely gorgeous - very articulate, very funny and in very good shape - she must be 70 by now surely (where are all the wrinkles?). Anyway she told stories about making the Sound of Music and about growing up and her family etc. and she expressed lots of gratitude for her very fortunate life. We had a great night.

Beth (another friend John picked up on his Marathon walk back in January) invited Denise and I to dinner this week to meet some of her friends (Joyce & Tracy) who have family ties with Australia and were keen to meet us. Joyce's daughter has married an Australian and now lives in Sydney and Tracy actually spent 7 months in Australia several years ago. Tracy described Adelaide as 'the home of the pie floater' - I was very impressed 'cos not too many Americans know anything about Australia and particularly Adelaide!

Two nights later we were at Pat & Sam's house celebrating Sam's 60th birthday with George & Diane and Bart & Candace. We had a wonderful evening of great food, great conversation and great friends. Happy 60th Sam and remember - birthdays are good for you, the more you have the longer you live! Last Saturday saw John leave the house at an exceptionally early hour and drive to Hunstville State Park where he participated in a 50km walk. It as a very hot day for this time of year and very muggy. John was happy with his effort and completed the walk in 7 hours 40 mins. - a little longer than he expected, possibly due to the heat which took its toll on quite a few of the participants. He pulled up particularly well - no sore legs or anything (in my next life I am going to be as fit as him!) - he's now sitting on a plane for many, many hours resting those overworked limbs! It is a fantastic event - extremely well organised and has incredible give aways. John came home with a wonderful wall hanging - displaying a map of Texas showing Hunstville State Park as well as local wildlife. Very impressive. The night before the event he had to go along to the Sheraton Hotel and collect his number etc and came home with a large sports bag filled with lots of goodies - sunglasses, disposable camera, t-shirts, caps, teddy bears and more - absolutely amazing.

We have been very busy organising everthing for the Australian trip - Christmas gifts, Christmas cards, scheduling appointments, packing etc etc. Now everything is done and dusted I can relax for a few days. Of course next Monday cousin Shelda arrives and I will become 'tour guide' for this beautiful city and show her all my discoveries and everything Houston has to offer - including the amazing shopping! We have quite a few days together before John arrives back so will do lots of 'girlie' things - can't wait!

Hope everyone's organised for Christmas and remembering to sit back and enjoy the atmosphere of the festive season with friends and family!