Welcome to the next post in the series Letters from America 1985 -1987 that I wrote home to my parents in the UK. My father kept them all in a folder and on his death they came back to me with a note to publish them.
July 1985 – Hanna Barbara Land, BBQ and Lilo races
It is now July 1985, and the weather in Houston is very hot and muggy. The pool became the centre of entertainment in the evenings and the weekends as everyone stripped off and cooled down.
July 16th 1985.
Dear M & D,
Just back from the airport, David is off to Dallas and then Kansas, putting together another order, and won’t be back until Thursday.
Despite the fact that lovely Vicki has now left, I am still very busy, playing tennis, swimming and aerobics. The little girl that I have been looking after will be over later this morning and we are reading Black Beauty at the moment. I am enjoying sharing the story as it is a lot of years since I have last enjoyed. It has been fun looking after her and tomorrow I am taking her and two others to Hanna Barbara Land, which is like a mini Disneyland. Three toddlers… will I survive?
I got your last letter yesterday and was pleased to hear that the flower festival went well. You will need a rest when you to visit Mollie. I have checked on the weather for November and it is a bit mixed. Temperatures around 70 mostly with some cooler rainy days, but people say it is usually lovely. You will be pleased to miss the 95 degrees and the 95% humidity would be unbearable without air conditioning. I am learning to live with it, but when you walk outside the apartment or out of a shopping mall, you are soaking in sweat by the time you reach your car. Not a good look…..
Just to let you know in advance that when you fly over you will need to fill out an immigration form before you land with passport details and home address etc. You will also have to put us down as being financially responsible for you during your visit (you have waited a lifetime for me to say that haven’t you!). I am enclosing David’s business card so you can use those details and also a dollar bill in case I forget. You will need that for the luggage cart to take you through to customs where they take your luggage off you, and send it down to baggage reclaim for you to collect.
I am enclosing a lock of hair to show you the effect of sun and chlorine. It gets blonder by the day and is now quite long again, by the time you get here it will be the same length as when we got married.. If I have not had it all chopped off because of the heat and swimming every day!. The weight continues to come off although I have a medical condition called ‘lack of self will’ specifically when it comes to chocolate milkshakes with lashings of vanilla ice-cream. I am working on it.
As I have not much to report, I will finish this letter after the weekend.
July 20th….
We went off to Hanna Barbara Land as planned and there were thousands of screaming children and stressed looking mothers. Every one was hyped up on sugar and my three charges dived straight into the mayhem and had a great day. When Hailey’s father arrived to pick her up I was ready for a gin and tonic or two! I don’t get paid as I am not allowed to work here but it helps keep me occupied. But her father kindly brings us a bottle of spirits or wine from time to time…
Tennis is great fun and I am getting my form back. Debby still beats me but I am working on it. We play at 8am. before the heat builds up and the storm clouds gather in the afternoon. Then back to the complex and an hour’s swimming to set me up for the day. David has bought a racket too and we are going to play when he is here. He is either in the office or on a plane, and apart from a daily swim he feels he needs more exercise.
One of the weekend activities is lilo racing in the pool.. sometimes as a solo, or if you are really good friends as a double act. Debby and I are really quite good at it. It gets a little rowdy and people do not play by the rules so getting to the end of the pool is quite an achievement especially if the lilo sinks due to the number of boarders. You can end up with more than when you started.
Vicki and Kelly kindly left us their Barbecue kit, and David has been practicing on our friends. It is a little smokey but does the job and it reminds me of the days when we would go up to Ceres and have a braai with those delicious boerewors sausages. Happy memories. We keep on our balcony but it is light enough to carry downstairs into the central area where we can sit around the tables with friends and enjoy the food and company. Everyone brings something, a salad, wine, beer or dessert so nobody has to bear the cost of everything.
We decided that as we are going to be here for at least another six months, that rather than spend 100 dollars a month renting that we would buy our own furniture from a second hand store. We are pretty sure that we will be here until the end of 1986 at least and we could save 1000 dollars. I went over yesterday and bought two matching settees, a six seater dining room set, a king-sized bed, two singles and a computer table for David to put in the spare bedroom rather than the dining room table. We have to move the machine every time we have someone over for supper so it makes sense.
Anyway, this should keep you busy until the next letter when I will be reporting on the Hawaiian Lua this weekend..
love from us both Sally and David.
©Sally Cronin 2020
Thank you for dropping in today and I hope you will join me next week for another of our American adventures. Thanks Sally
I loved this letter, Sally. I can imagine a swarm of sugar-high sids and stressed out moms. The pool game looks like great fun. David’s shorts are a flash of the 80’s!
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And still are Jennie.. he is a keeper when it comes to clothes lol..xxx
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I hope you have big closets. 😀
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Lol…and an attic…xx
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Haha! 😅
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Another great installment, Sally. I love the humour in bits such as being financially responsible and suffering from lack of self will. Looking forward to the next.
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Thanks Alex.. glad you are enjoying..hugsx
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Screaming children and stressed-out mothers. Funny how those seem to always go together.
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My outings after that were limited to one screaming child at a time…lol xx
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An enjoyable letter, Sally. Those milkshakes with ice cream are killers. I’ll bet you are glad you kicked that habit.
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Definitely John…couldn’t handle one now that’s for sure lol..hugsx
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Be fun to try though.
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lol.xx
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Did you meet Fred Flintstone? Lol And you are so funny, sending a lock of hair. ❤ Love these stories xxx ❤
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Thanks Debby.. to be honest I can’t remember as I was trying to keep track of three very excited small girls who seemed to be hyped up on sugar…mayhem.. as to the lock of hair.. I thought it would give them a laugh and it did..♥♥
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So Sally Cronin! ❤
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Lol ♥
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Yes, a really idyllic sounding letter. I love BBQ, but it seems only in the USA its real. Now, since some years the big “machines” are available here too, but at least Germans do not really understand how to make and use BBQ sauces. Lol Michael
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Actually I don’t mind my meat just cooked plainly with a bit of salt and not bothered by the sauces… nothing nicer that a bbq sausage, burger or steak over chickory bbq cinders..xx
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Your parents must have loved these chatty letters, Sally. I agree that humidity is a killer. Trent and I have been chatting about it on the blog. It is humid and very hot where he lives. I told him we don’t use an AC here because it is a dry heat so you can bear it without.
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Thanks Robbie.. and they were fully prepared by the time they came over in the November and knew what to expect.. I much prefer the dry heat and we rarely used AC in Spain although me might have a fan on at times.. xx
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Hello Sally. I smiled when I saw another letter here, and I laughed at your medical condition as regards chocolate milk-shakes with ice cream. I can only imagine how much your parents enjoyed all your letters.
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Thanks Elizabeth.. and so pleased my father saved to share again as it brings back memories for me too.. xx
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I love reading these! These letters must bring back so many memories.
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Thank you Amy.. they do and every time I read another small memory resurfaces..hugsx
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Thanks for sharing this letter, Sally. It sounds like it was an enjoyable trip.
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Thanks Mark.. we did have a lot of fun during out time there and being only 2 years we wanted to make the most of it.. especially as I didn’t have a visa to work.
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I lived in Houston for 10 years so remember that intense summer heat and humidity. I’m in Georgia now where it’s not much better. And then people set their air conditioning so cold, it’s an unhealthy shock to your system. Not to mention a waste of energy when you have to wear a sweater if you’re inside very long.
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I remember that walk from the air conditioned mall to the car which left you dripping wet.. then you cooled down on the drive and then got dripping wet from the car to the apartment.. somethings I don’t miss lol..xx
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Fun times!
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It was Liz..making the most of it..hugsx
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🙂
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Another great letter, Sally. It all sounds idyllic, though I can imagine it was very hot. Toni x
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Thanks Toni.. I didn’t mind the heat but the humidity was usually around 95%+ I much preferred the same temperatures with 10% humidity in Spain.. xx
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