Various & Sundry Things

Want to hear something fun? My previous post, the one about my new job? All the managers/owners/whoever read it. Yep. When I came to work a couple of days later, or so, they were all like, "I enjoyed reading your blog". Creepy. I'm glad I didn't say anything scathing about the restaurant. But I kind of sort of thought that might happen. So I was careful. Plus, I don't really have anything scathing to say about that fine restaurant. Promise.

Over the past week I have had a few encounters of the Texas-variety (most of those at work, since that's the only place I go now):

• I met a guy wearing a University of Texas hat and jacket. He said that he and his wife went to school there. And the gentleman he was with said his daughter lives near Denton.
• I met a lady wearing a UT shirt and she said she got it while on a business trip in Texas.
• I met a man wearing an ASTROS shirt. This was the highlight for sure. He's from Corpus and his wife was from Victoria and they've been in the Northwest for years, but still! I was excited! An Astros fan in Battle Ground, Washington?! I'll take it.
• Several weeks ago a girl at Imago told me about a kolache shop in Portland that was owned by Houstonians! I have been dying to check it out and today I did. The Happy Sparrow has delicious kolaches! I had a sausage and cheese one and a raspberry - both just as good as any kolache I ever had in Texas. And did you know that people in other states don't even know what kolaches are?! The horror!

It's the small things, like Astros t-shirts and kolaches that truly warm my heart and remind that Texas might be far away, but by the grace of God on humanity, Texans are everywhere. :)

You know, when I told people in Texas that I was moving to the Northwest, the one thing that I most commonly heard was - the weather is horrible up there! It always rains. Always. Always. Always. ALWAYS.

And you know what? In my opinion, the weather is AMAZING. Yes, it does rain frequently. I guess. But it's rarely a pouring rain. Mostly it's a light sprinkling. And most days when it rains, it's not for the whole day, it's just for a part of the day, and frequently the rainiest part of the day is at night, when you're asleep anyway. And when it's not raining? Gorgeous. I've been here for 6 weeks and the temperature has pretty much stayed in the low 50's. No humidity. Not hot. Not cold. Wonderful. And green and cool and refreshing. So far, I LOVE the weather here and literally everyone I meet tells me that the summer is going to be better than I can imagine.

One of the things I'm really enjoying are the plants here in Oregon/Washington. They have cherry trees! And other flowering plants that leave me wondering - what the heck is that?! It's beautiful...

These pictures are from a park in Vancouver, Washington and a neighborhood in SE Portland. If Heaven doesn't include some of these trees...I will be disappointed.