Glitter

No not the Mariah Carey variety. Real live sparkly stuff.

In Dallas last weekend I walked around White Rock Lake with my cousin after sunset. It was still hot but not quite so blazing as it had been during the day. The ducks were settling in for the night. Ducks talk a LOT, especially in the evenings, and I got the impression dusk is hard for some of them because they’re not easily able to turn the duck-chat off and settle in for a sleep. Runners and bikers were making the circuit. Redwing blackbirds were flying about and a few late squirrels were heading home.

And under the trees, in the grassy open spaces and near clumps of flowers, everywhere in fact, the fireflies were out. The darker it got the more we could see. It was SO COOL. So many tiny floaty gold lights. They looked like animated glitter. This may be one of the few things that Disney has tried to imitate and utterly failed to improve.

They were so pretty and distracting that I didn’t even think of the other bugs that might be flying around out there. You know, like mosquitoes.

Oh well. The fireflies were worth it.

Notes from the Foreign Country of My Birth, chapter one

When Miss Amazing and I first became friends here in Boston she told me that of all the places I’ve lived (Fort Worth, Melbourne, London, New York, Oxford, Nacogdoches, Boston) the one that held the most fascination for her as a foreign land was Texas, where I was born and raised. (Miss Amazing is from the East Coast, in case you were wondering.)

And now for the third time in my life I’ll be living in Texas, this time after an absence of 5 years. I was just there this weekend looking for an apartment. And I have to tell you, Miss Amazing is right: it’s TOTALLY FASCINATING.

Here’s an interesting little trick I just learned from my sister: when you are driving down a Texas highway and a man in a big ol’ hat is driving the truck in the lane in front of you, keep your eye on his hat. You can watch his hat shift when he checks his rearview and side mirrors and then predict when he’s going to change lanes. This is often a more reliable method than waiting for him to use his turn signal.

How cool is that?! WATCH THE HAT. A little insider tip for people driving in Texas. Don’t you feel wiser now?

I’m sure there will be all sorts of new observations once I’m moved in. For now I’m swamped with the awful packing and moving part of this transition. Just thought I’d come up for air for a sec and share the wonder.

Cue Music - and Buy Stock in Aquanet

Nah-nah-NAH, n-nah-nah-nah-NAH-NAH, nah, nah, NAAAAH, n-nah-NAAAAAH!

You musically gifted folks out there would have instantly recognized that as the theme song for ‘Dallas’.

Wait for it.

I’m moving to Dallas! Yay!! Wohoo!!

Yup, after more than 5 years in Boston I’m moving back to Texas to work for a museum in Dallas and to be nearer my Texas family. And to be warm for most of those months of the year when Boston becomes an igloo.

So I’m going to be mostly absent for a while but I’ll be back in full force in late July when I’ll have officially completed my relocation. I might have to check in with funny moving-related stories now and then but realistically I’ll probably be even more hit-or-miss with my writing than I have been so far this spring. This is a BIG move! A whole truckload of books to move, two very fat cats who loathe and despite wheeled OR winged transport, a car to shop for, an apartment to rent, lovely springtime Boston to farewell properly and sentimentally, all my Boston friends to tell and hug and start missing – this is a very busy time.

So keep singing, and if you have some big-hair tips, please send them my way. I’m out of practice.