I was telling Whateley today how weird it was that I got used to the patches of grass on the side of freeways being green. In SoCal, the world was usually brown, and it wasn't until after a huge storm, or even a very wet season, that the wild grass would be green and you wonder why the world looked so vibrant that day. I think I made a post a long time ago about driving home from church one day, and being amazed at the green hills and making it look like I was in Ireland or something.

Sure, Austin's having a record rainy season, but it's always so humid, I'm guessing the grasses are always green... except perhaps in the one day of winter. :)

Whateley's been amazed at seeing fireflies at night. I've forgotten what they're like, since the last time I saw them was in Illinois as a kid, but it's cool to see little streaks of light in the air in the dead of night. I'm amazed at the really loud bugs that inhabit the trees. I think they're cicadas. Really, really loud. Crickets too. It weird that the giant bugs aren't freaking me out as much... well, just a little. Some people on the radio was joking that there were so many bugs this summer that the bats that live under the South Congress bridge don't have to fly off, they can just eat where they are. Largest urban bat population is in Austin, by the way. One of these days, we're gonna have to haul our butts there before 6 pm and watch them fly away for the night's feeding.

So how am I liking my new city? So far so good. We're sad that we don't have family here, but we love our new life. We gotta get off our lazy duff and go talk to our bank about mortgages.

We've also gone Southern in one way! We started making "sweet tea," which is just pre-sweetened ice tea. We watched an episode of Good Eats, where Alton showed how to make simple syrup which is a better way to sweeten the tea instead of table sugar. Anyway, it's pretty good! We're gonna have to serve you some, my faithful readers, if you ever come visit us.

That's it for now!