They exist!

They are not a myth, the 'Friends' episode was true, ladies and gentlemen of England, I would like to introduce you to...

The Girl-scout Cookie!

Let me break them down for you:

• Thin Mints - oh sweet minty deliciousness
• Savannah Smiles - lemon zesty wedges (my only critique, they're too small. I want a big fat, cheek splitting grin, not a shy smirk!)  
• Samoas - caramel (or 'carmel' as they pronounce it here), coconut and dark chocolate in doughnut shaped rings (my only critique, who's idea was it to poke the centre out? Put them back in, I say! Let's lengthen the experience!) 

There are so many other types, and I plan to try each one before the season ends. 

At last the day came when...

I went to the rodeo! 

Now, I have to be honest, I had my reservations. Cows are beautiful. They may slobber all over your hand when you feed them, but they're lovely and, although I would never pat a bull, they're lovely too, so I didn't know how well I'd get on with bull riding in particular. It turns out, I got on pretty well! Granted I was cheering for the bull more often than the cowboy, but it was great to experience a part of Texan culture and I saw some serious skill being executed, especially with the lassoing.

Let me start from the beginning...

It began with the American flag, held by a cowboy on his quarter horse, who entered in walk and exited, after a few laps, at a gallop. When the national anthem began, my hand was on my heart and I was fully engrossed. The grin on my face was enormous.

Then came the bull riding. The bulls were beastie! Huge bruisers with tattoos and horns. The aim of the rider was to stay on for 8 seconds. Only a few managed, while others were flung under hooves and into fences. I was hoping this sight would put my hubby off running with the bulls. It did not. 

You may have noticed in this short clip the rodeo clown in the barrel? He was my favourite participant of the rodeo. His job is to 'distract the bull'. He sits in his barrel and waves his arms up and down to grab the bulls attention when he looks to be getting too close to other, less protected participants. When the bull charges at him, he ducks down inside his barrel and, on some occasions, is tossed around the arena. I can only imagine the words that issue from his mouth when that happens! Probably 'wee!' and 'I love my job' I'm sure. 

After the bull riding came the lassoing. There were a few events:

- lasso and tie, which is when a cowboy lassos a calf around the neck from horse back before jumping off and tying its legs together. I was so impressed with the horses, who were trained to get in really close to the calf and tighten the slack on the rope so it couldn't injure itself or the cowboy.

- team lassoing, which is when one cowboy lassos the neck and the other lassos the back legs (my mouth dropped watching this event. Catching a running calf's back legs with a rope from charging horse back? Yeah, sure, I could do that!) 

- cowgirl (power to the peeps) lassoing, which is timed on how quickly they can rope the calf. (Sorry for saying 'peeps') 

Then came the children's events and the moment when my mother's English mouth fell onto her lap. First, they called any child between the ages of 8 and 11 into the arena. The rodeo clowns announced the aim of the game - to catch the ribbon...from a calf's backside. Whaaaat?! No way, I thought, there must be a rodeo clown dressed up as a cow or something, but no, they released a calf into the arena and thirty children rushed after it with ribbon-lust in their eyes. If that happened in England, with all our health and safety laws, even the calf would be arrested. 

It gets better.

Children aged 7 and under were called into the arena. The aim of the game was the same - catch the ribbon. Surely not, I thought as I watched a toddler wobble across the sand. By now, my mother was gasping for breath. They will not release a calf, I told myself, no way! And I was right. They didn't. They released a sheep (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).

The last event was the barrel racing. Cowgirls were timed on how quickly they could ride around three barrels and back to the starting post. They were incredible! Chaps flapping, hair flying, they kept their horses tight round each barrel and in full gallop to the next. I loved this event! 

So there you have it, my first rodeo experience! I will always cheer for the bulls, but I loved watching the skill and the precision of the cowboys and cowgirls as they lassoed and rode. A great insight into how they worked and still work on the ranches. 

FYI: When taking a trip to see a rodeo at Fort Worth Stockyards, you must first pay at the old school parking meter where you slot the money into the number that corresponds with your space:

(This is my lovely dad!)

You must then view the longhorn cattle drive down the street:

And finally, you must ingest some Texas BBQ and Shiner Bock beer (made only in Texas, y'all!): 

 (Note that I thought the jar was full of pickles, and it was only when I reached for one that my 11-year-old sister-in-law informed me they were jalapeños. She saved my life.)


  

Meet Gilbert...

This is Gilbert Gecko
We trapped him in a glass
We took a bunch of photos
Then plopped him in some grass!

He was about the size of a grape and had been living in our blow-up bed! After evacuating our kitten from the scene, we stared at him for ages, laughed at his sucky feet and released him into the wilds of Texas.  

Proof!

If you read my post about Jacksonville, Texas, you'll know I was invited by a Senate to see his long horn cattle...well, I found him in the State Capitol in Austin!

Here he is, a Mr Robert L. Nichols:

Texas Pride

Texans are proud of Texas. We all know this, and so they should be! They are the nicest people, they invented Texas BBQ, they have a pretty cool history and everything really is larger than life, including this pizza:

But I had no idea that Texas pride could infiltrate interior design and other inventive items until I went to Austin. 

My day started with a waffle: 

(Sadly, East Texas was lost due to the tornado named 'my tragic waffle making skills')

I then visited the State Capitol...

...where I opened doors with lone star door knobs and enormous Texas hinges, gazed up at lone star ceilings and down at lone star floors, and was dazzled by the word TEXAS in Vegas-would-be-proud lights in the council chamber.  

On a trip to the Bullock Museum of Texas History (which is a GREAT museum and well worth a trip), I walked across Texas carpets...

...stood in the shadow of a fifty foot star, and sat on a table opposite a cowboy carrying a lasso, wearing chaps and sporting a beard like General Custer (I thought at first that he might be a hired actor or an enthusiastic worker, but no, he was just a tourist). 

Are you seeing a pattern? Texas is EVERYWHERE in Texas. They do patriotism well, and no idea is too small. I mean, freaking door knobs!!! I love them for it, and I'm considering following in their footsteps and custom making a Great Britain crumpet cutter. 

Some interesting/fun to say place names on our long trip to Austin...

Waxahachie
Corsicana
Maypearl (this one sounds like a name for a Southern Belle and I'm considering using it for my future daughter...)
Buffalo Creek
Buc-ees Great Wall of Candy (No, I did not go, cheeky!)
Carl's Corner (who's Carl and why does he have a corner?)
Buzzard Billy's
Bruceville
Moody Marlin (This is the name of a town, not a grumpy wizard)
Mother Eff (?!)
Pendleton (this sounds so British and should be said with a cup of tea in hand)
Temple (big up the maiden name!!!! Although they served us English breakfast tea at a Wendy's in Temple with NO MILK - who does that?! When I asked for some they said they would have to charge me extra. Out of protest, the tea was drunk black.)

It's time for another bank moment!

You know how annoying it could be to be held up in a bank queue by a chatty woman (yes girls, it tends to be us) when your parents are waiting outside to start the long anticipated trip to Austin and San Antonio??? Well, in this case, it was not, as I was highly amused by said woman as she engaged in this conversation with two female bankers (prepare your southern accents):

"I just love this here hand sanitizer, oh I surely do, yes ma'am, I have it all around my house, yes I do, and I just squirts it whenever I pass coz I don't wants no germs, no ma'am, I surely don't, no germs in my house! You had your baby yet? You got a picture? Let me see...ooo, that is the cutest baby I ever seen! Ain't it a blessin'? Yes ma'am. Can I keep this? I call him my grandchild, yes I will, he is just so cute, he surely is. Yes, ma'am, I'll be taking all my money out today, I'm sure on that. Ev'ry bit. You just put it in one of those money bags..."

And so it continued until the faces of the female bankers were stuck in false smiles and they attempted to hurry her along by hiding the hand sanitizer and pot of pencils that she had also taken a shining to. I learnt from an apologetic male banker that she often just drops by for a chat, and that she is a well-known face on cookie Fridays...but then, aren't we all?!

(During the same banking experience I witnessed another woman exiting the bank with a ENORMOUS money bag full of notes, AND two lads behind me dressed in batman bathrobes, matching slippers and t-shirts printed with bow ties and cummerbunds...)