More Catching Up

So, Mark is off in China (Hong Kong, Shanghai, and then Taipei) with his business partner, Dave. They're checking out all the factories, eating all sorts of interesting and yummy food (floating chicken head soup anyone?), and getting nightly foot massages while sipping drinks and watching soccer/football. Rough life! He was going to update the blog personally (I know ... shocker! It would have been nice to have a guest blogger.), but he's getting in to his hotel after midnight each night and leaving around 6 or 7 a.m. (I know this, because we are 13 hours apart, and I chat with him on Skype every night and every morning/noonish when he's getting ready to go or coming home to sleep. In fact, he's "on" my other screen right now. We aren't really chatting, but he's catching up on emails, and I'm writing about him--are your ears burning, Mark?--This Skype thing really eases the loneliness factor on his long trips!).

But it's not all world traveling these days. We've also been doing stuff here on the "not-home" front. Cooking lots of yummy food (I have attempted to photograph some of the better ones, but they all come out looking gray and unappetizing . . . a proper food blogger I am not), trying to keep the weeds in the backyard from taking over (without actually really doing anything about it except mowing, and even that I'm failing at miserably, as the pull cord thingie decided to get stuck when I was not even 1/100th done with the backyard), catching up with friends and family here in the Dallas area (dinner with cousin Aaron, drinks with Lorena, visits with Dave and family), watching the grass grow thanks to all the rain, and, as always, going to the gym.

A couple weekends ago, I went on my first-ever road bike rally (as in road bicycle, not road motorcycle, though with the wind we had, a motorcycle would have been very nice!). It was at the Muenster Germanfest. And no, in answer to Lynn and Nanci, no cheese (though there used to be a cheese factory that is now painted to look like shops in an old German town--which you can see if you click on the link above). Just a lot of sausage and sauerkraut and Shiner Bock. And after my 22-mile bike ride, I felt that I had earned every bite and gulp--though I should mention that everyone else we were with did the 42- or 60-mile ride, so really I was pretty wimpy, especially since they had a headwind the entire way, and we had a tailwind for the second half (hallelujah). Mark was super nice and stayed with me and even let me draft behind him for some of the windier sections. He easily could have done the 40- or even 60-mile ride, what with his pistons-for-legs and incredible stamina. I thanked him profusely for not leaving me in the dust too much and for encouraging me all along the way (except for the occasional times when he picked up the speed and blasted away from me, making me realize how incredibly slow I am).

While Mark's been awayin the Far East, I've just been working, "gym-ing" (we have another challenge at the gym where you earn points for each class you attend; I think it's the only thing that gets me up off the couch most days), knitting (yes, I took up this hobby over the winter to give me something to do; I'm on my second scarf now. Too bad a scarf is not really needed here in Texas.), and trying to keep the bugs at bay. (Have I mentioned how much I HATE junebugs, slugs, moths, mosquitoes, and all the other bugs that think my house is their house? I've filled up the vacuum with live bugs that I capture with the longest hose attachment I can find, and now I'm wondering how I'm going to get them out. I'm sure they are dead by now, but if they are not, I know they'll all swarm out and attack me. I think I might just leave the canister full until Mark gets home. Yes, ew, but I am SUCH a wimp.).

So that's our life these days. I'm heading down to Austin next week, and then Mark returns. We have a couple week break, and then it's off to the Northern Rockies for a road trip with his folks. And, once again, any relevant photos that I have associated with this blog are not on my computer. In fact, I think they are all on Mark's computer in Shanghai. So, you'll just have to visualize all this until I get the Picasa site updated ... someday.