My Break in Texas

It's the close of Easter week where I'm just finishing up an Easter break from the UK to spend time with family in my second-home state of Texas. It's been a good week seeing the tornadic storms come in and then dissipate over 24 hours. I'd been missing the hard rains and the ditches filled with torrents during such periods. We don't get such storms in the UK where the sky looks like lace curtains picked out in electric sheets of lightning. I sometimes wonder what it is about Texas that I like or liked from the beginning. Perhaps it's the rugged, individualistic approach to life. Whether it's the rustic pioneering spirit that lives on by lesser degree or the fact that people nod a good morning when you never knew them I don't know, but the saying 'Texas friendly' has always been real toward me.

It's sunny today. I have but one day left before the silver bird carries me home again. Truth is I spent half of my working life living and working in Texas. The bluebonnets are coming to a close but others will take their place over the next month but then of course there is some stunning wild life yet to come. Flying in on the Dreamliner was my smoothest and most comfortable flight ever. I'm glad I did not fly in on the storm day.

I know it's strange to most, but it is a treat to rest awhile under the mesquites I love more than any other tree. Those moments take me back to a time when I almost gave up. I looked at a mesquite stem, took off the branches, harvested the wood and made my first piece of furniture. I made a second and a third and the third sold. From the branches I made small things by the dozen and these I sold one by one, hour by hour, day by day. Texans were always kind in buying my things - salt and pepper shakers and tortilla rolling pins for those who couldn't flip flop them hand to hand. My life turned around and I was making a living with my hands again and so it went. Imagine designing mesquite furniture for the White House. My dad was so proud of me. Now you can see why I am so happy sitting underneath the branches of a lowly mesquite tree.