It’s mid-November and North Texas is starting to cool down. Finally, the spiders are hunkering down for winter, having been replaced with wasps. I dislike wasps as much as spiders, but at least the wasps tend to stay outside. Unlike the Black Widow spider I found in the bathroom who was looking for a fight. I had thought I’d left hideous insects behind when I left Australia, but I was wrong. Texas well and truly has its fair share of spiders; well more than their fair share. They seem to be everywhere.
As it cools down here, Queensland has well and truly heated up. My friends regale tales of how humid it is, and I am thankful for some cooler weather. I moved to the US after a stinking hot Queensland summer, only to arrive at the beginning of a North Carolina summer. In North Carolina summer is humid but short. As the days started to cool we moved to Texas and a heatwave. After another two months of heat, it’s finally a lot cooler. I feel as though I’ve been through four years of summer, but I do like to exaggerate! The nights and mornings are quite cold, but the days are pleasant with a lot of sunshine. I’d forgotten how nice it is to need a quilt at night or a snuggly blanket on the lounge. I’m really enjoying the change, and despite North Texas not being as strikingly beautiful in Fall as North Carolina, the trees are changing colours and the landscape has turned various shades of orange and yellow.
My iPhone photo app sends me memories each day, of this day last year, or two years ago, or even five years ago. Today the memories were photos of Roma Street Parkland, a ten-minute walk from the CBD, in Brisbane City. I’d forgotten that day. It was a very, very hot Saturday, exactly two years ago. My daughter and I lived in the city and we wanted some outdoors, but it was way too hot to do much. We chose a short drive to Roma Street Parklands, which is a subtropical oasis covering eleven hectares. It’s such an amazing place. We walked along the nature paths admiring the variety of plants and trees, the lake and fountains, an amphitheatre and a large picnic area with restrooms, with a backdrop of skyscrapers and tall buildings. It’s hard to fathom that you are actually in the city. Roma Street Parkland is reputed to be the world’s largest subtropical garden in the centre of a city, and it is absolutely spectacular. We would walk for a while and then need to rest because of the sheer humidity. We had sweat pouring off us, so we’d stop in the shade of the trees and chat, and say hello to fellow outdoorsmen as they ambled past us, sweating profusely. Such a hot day, but wonderful memories.
It’s impossible to remember each and every enjoyable outing or new experience we have. I have come to enjoy the memories my iPhone sends me as not only is it a reminder of a particular day or place, but because they are photo memories, I can relive the experience. Little things I would have otherwise forgotten without photos jogging my memory. Wonder which memory will pop up tomorrow?
My Average Travels 