Fire and Friends!

As much as the Starship Enterprise is a character in Star Trek, or Baltimore is a character in The Wire, the scorching heat is a character in our Texas experience.

It's been 55 days at temps at or above 100 degrees with one wonderful respite of rain last weekend. That Saturday morning we woke up to the sound of rain steadily tapping the window panes, the tree leaves, the thirsty grass, and the concrete. The world felt cooler, relieved, peaceful.

A barbecue was planned with friends we are getting to know down here. He's a former co-worker of Tex and she's his lovely bride, a native Texan. The phone rang - a quick call to make sure the precipitation wasn't impeding our plans. Tex assured them that he had a lot of practice making fire for the grill in the rain. Two racks of ribs, one bacon-chicken that doesn't actually have bacon, a crack-cornbread/pudding dish made by our guests, slaw, and fresh peach strudel all made for a festive feast. We ate, talked, ate some more, and watched the pilot of Firefly together.

A space western and a Texan bbq with new friends on a rainy summer Saturday equals perfection.