The Memorial Day weekend also marks the beginning of summer.
In Houston summer isn’t anticipated with the same enthusiasm it is in say Pennsylvania
or Seattle. The gorgeous spring temperatures have already risen to the 90s
where they’ll rise and remain until September, October, or even November. Here in the city the heat and humidity can
only be endured, but this weekend my husband and I were lucky to escape to a
world we often forget exists—Texas lake life.
Friends invited us to visit their house on Lake Placid
on the Guadeloupe River near Seguin. We jumped at the chance to get out of town
if only overnight. Steve had a client
meeting Saturday morning so we loaded up the car in the early afternoon, plugged
my iPhone into the auxiliary jack in the car and joined the traffic heading west
on I-10.
Three hours later we arrived at a tree-shaded retreat on the banks of a quiet lake. Our
hosts welcomed us with an icy adult beverage before firing up their ski boat
for a tour of the lake. In bathing suits, sun screen and hats we eventually
found a spot among other small boats, dropped anchor and floated in the
surprisingly comfortable water for a while. As dusk approached, neighbors hailed us to come to shore at their family compound for a crawfish boil. It was
a lovely gathering of parents, children, grandchildren, friends, neighbors,
dogs and neighbors’ dogs. Spicy crawfish, shrimp, corn, potatoes were piled
onto a newspaper-covered table and we ate until our stomachs were full and our
fingers and lips burned with the hot seasoning. A short boat ride took us back to
our friends’ house where we visited for a while before one by one heading off to
bed.
Even the drive home became a mini-adventure when we detoured to the
tiny town of Luling for barbeque. We ate brisket and sausage at a picnic table
on the sidwalk while watching the late Sunday afternoon comings and goings of the
locals. On I-10 traffic was light, wild black-eyed Susans blanketed the fields, and
the sky went on forever in all directions as it does in the vast flat plains of
the Texas countryside, reminding me why I made this place my home.
What did you do this weekend? Are you celebrating summer or
mourning the end of spring?
