“Mary has invited us to spend the day at their place, right in the heart of the hill country on their beautiful 3 acres,” said my husband. The boys got all excited. All they wanted to do was get into the thick woods and start their wild adventures. I did not mind, Texas hill country is so scenic and beautiful. The fresh air would do us all so much good, I thought. Then hubby dear told me that there are snakes, thousands of rattle snakes, several of which look like little worms. Mary’s backyard may have a lot of them he said. Now I got worried, seriously worried. Who can control two active boys? All they want to do is go play in the woods. And Mary had a huge lab called Molly, a chocolate one. Dog, woods, just what the boys need! My husband was thrilled. He wanted to explore the woods too. He was actually excited about seeing all those rattle snakes. What’s a mom to do? Nobody seemed to notice the worried crease on my face or my nonstop nagging. They wanted to go and decision was made.

I wore my green shirt and my favorite pair of ear rings. We packed some Biriyani and raita as we had decided to do a pot luck lunch. Apparently Mary and her husband Pat had never eaten any Indian food! They were excited to try some. I was surprised to know that they had never eaten Indian food at all. I was glad that we could give them that opportunity, their ‘first!’ We set out driving to their home that beautiful Sunday. The weather was just beautiful. We went up and down the hills, the boys and I were screaming every time we had to head down the hill. We screamed just for the fun of it, and hubby would jerk the van a little bit for thrills. The scenery was beautiful. We saw deer, horses, cows, and goats along the farms. The deer were free to roam, and they looked so gorgeous. The baby deer were just too cute, I simply wanted to hold one.

We found large tubs of water in front of the beautiful Texas homes along the Hill Country. It was for the deer as they rested under the shade of the oak and cedar trees in summer. We almost got to Mary’s home but it took a little while to figure out which one was theirs. The homes in the area were new and looked so beautiful! The large gates to Mary’s house  were open and we drove right in hoping that was the house indeed.  We saw Mary come out to greet us. Her husband Pat joined her soon as were still getting out of the van. We greeted each other warmly and exchanged hugs. Their beautiful dog Molly came out to welcome us; she was very shy. It was obvious that she was quite the pampered dog! After some pleasant talk, we walked into an extremely clean and well organized home. Pat served us coffee in large mugs and we all settled down. The guys started talking about sports and hunting. We ladies started talking about, you guessed it: our husbands and how insane they are!  The kids were treated to popsicles on the hot day; they were given the whole box of pops! My children were so delighted and enjoyed themselves in these ‘nice people’s home with the big dog.’

Later on, we ventured out and explored their front and back yards, stuck our heads into the well, thought the septic tank was a barbecue pit, and compost bin as the septic tank! That’s what happens if you live in the city forever and then head into the country. Mary and her husband were used to these assumptions and they patiently answered all our questions. The boys ran about, like 3 acres was such little space. Molly ran behind them but could not keep up. Then the boys took turns swinging on the hammock. The yard was so tidy; my grandma would have been so proud to see such a clean place! To my relief, there were no rattle snakes anywhere. We were all wearing shoes and thick jeans, yet the yard was cleared and there were none of the little slithery crawlies to be seen. Even though the weather was hot, the pleasant wind kept us cool. After hanging out for a good deal of time, we went back into the house.

We shared our meal, it was so wonderful! Mary had made some absolutely creative dishes for the very first time, and we were amazed at how good it tasted. They enjoyed the Biriyani, kofta curry, and raita we took for them. After lunch, we enjoyed some key lime pie made by Mary. The pie was seriously delicious! I went in for a second helping, considering that I had just finished a rather large meal. We sat down, relaxed, and spoke for hours together as the boys chilled off. Molly was exhausted and laying on the floor. After a while, we checked out Mary’s stitching skills. It was very impressive. We had not realized how time had flown by at all. We had to drag ourselves out of their house; Mary and Pat did not want to let us go either.

They showed us a cactus growing on a tree top as we were preparing to leave. It was so unusual. My hubby took pictures of it. We checked out a few more bushes, all organic rosemary and oregano growing wildly as weeds. Then with a heavy heart we said our good byes. Our parting hugs were a little tighter. We got in the van and drove off. We headed towards more scenic hills and decided to get off and spend a few moments enjoying the cool weather and admire the setting sun. My children enjoyed themselves a lot. The older one was busy running and trying to explore the thick woods. The little one was interested in different types of wild flowers and insects darting about. I stood there admiring the scenery. I had lost my hair band and the wind and the setting sun got into my hair. I looked like a big mess with my hair all over my face!

My husband was busy clicking pictures of the children. I had no clue he was taking my pictures too. He never likes to let me know that he is clicking away. He wants me to be myself and not conscious. He takes so much time to click a pic that I get annoyed and then go back to doing whatever is on hand. That’s how he gets all these amazing shots of the children and me. After all the exploration, picture taking, and some solid adventure later we returned home. We were exhausted. Our dog Bobby was very happy to see us.   We lazed around, watched a kid’s movie, and ate a nice hot meal of left overs from the previous night. Hubby enjoyed a chilled beer after the boys went to bed. I curled up on the bed with a poetry book. Soon hubby joined me and we spent a pleasant evening together.