Pictures from Texas and a little health update

The antibiotics have kicked in and the swelling and redness on my feet and legs is much less.  I had lab work today at Kaiser and they checked with the doctor about chemo tomorrow.  I am good to go since the infection is going away.  Now to info and the promised pictures from our Texas trip.

Texas: big, beautiful, and hot as hell.  I have not been warm since September 2013 when I went on blood thinners.  Well, I broke a sweat while outside in Texas.  Such a strange feeling not to be cold. 

Marty's brother is a from scratch cook.  Really from scratch.  He grinds his own flour for waffles, breads, cereal.  His kitchen is a cook's heaven.  Every gadget you want, plus some I had never seen before.  Great meals at home and at the restaurants he took us to.

 

As Keith prepared cinnamon rolls for the next day's breakfast, he had a Scotch tasting.  I tasted one and decided I would stick to Bourbon.

 

 

These are the cinnamon rolls ready to rise.  The pans they are in are 9 by 12.  Texas size rolls, and delicious.  One was all anyone could eat.  Did I say TEXAS size?

 

 

Keith used his sous vide machine to prepare the steaks.  Then he used this huge blow torch to char them. The blurry part around the torch is not blurry, that is flames.

 



 

As you can see the steaks are huge.  Then we had all those great veggies to eat.  The wine in the decanter is Opus from a far off year.  Fabulous meal.

 

 

Friday we went to the Dallas Arboretum.  We walked for two hours in 90+ degree weather.  That didn't begin to cover all the gardens or the mansion on the grounds.  But two hours was all the fun I could stand. 

 

 

The brothers:  Keith on the left, Marty on the right.  They were dying in the heat, and as I said, I broke a sweat.  The South in June . . .

 

 

This is a misting system for the ferns.  As humid as it was, misting not really needed.

 

 

Just a little piece of beauty.

 

 

This is the entrance to a children's garden.  Each building is covered with plants and tells a different story.  They took fairy tales and converted them to Texas stories.

 

 

Even animals were made from plants.

 

 

And a different garden look

 

 

A lily pond

 

After seeing the plant Longhorn, Keith took us to see some live ones and also some bison. 

 

 

 

Mama Longhorn and her calf







 

Bison

 

 

Up close and personal to a Longhorn.  Even though some of the articles on Longhorns talk about their gentle nature, Keith says they are dangerous animals.  Tourists get too close to the barbwire and get hooked on the horns. 

 

It was a great trip.  I was really tired when we got home, but I am bouncing back.  Feet and legs looking more normal, I am walking 25 minutes a day, and eating well even if taste buds are messed up.  Life is good.