Tornado in Dallas

A warm 80°F and overcast day, brought in a severe weather system to the DFW area on Boxing Day. We watched the news and weather forecasting as the storm rolled over and parts of east Dallas were put under tornado warning. It turned out that two tornados touched down, ripping narrow trails of complete devastation through two Dallas suburbs, leaving 11 dead and 400 houses damaged. We definitely won't be taking tornado warnings lightly next time (http://www.nbcdfw.com/weather/stories/Severe-Storms-Leave-Damage-in-North-Texas-363566391.html?_osource=SocialFlowFB_DFWBrand). Today, just west of Fort Worth is covered in a few inches of snow. This El Nino is really bringing in some crazy weather.

Christmas Day

Christmas day began with the usual early wake-up call by three excited kids desperate to open their presents. The ensuing chaos followed, and cooking a traditional British Christmas dinner: Turkey with all the trimmings. The weather was sunny and a glorious 75°F so we decided to have our Christmas dinner in the garden, a first and probably a last with such unusual weather, so it had to be done. The passers-by on the path next to our house probably thought we were bonkers in our Christmas cracker paper hats, they're not a tradition here.

After dinner David and Evan decided to take a plunge in our pool, despite the water being rather chilly. Then we took Bess out for a stroll along the trails, the weather was so balmy it was surreal. In the evening we had an invitation to join our friends who live just around the corner. They had heated their pool and spa so the kids had a great time playing in it, as well as games of hockey and enjoying new Christmas toys. It was so mild we sat outside in t-shirts until nearly midnight, drinking and getting merry. It was a really fun evening and a memorable, if bizarre, Christmas day.

Swimming with friends on Christmas Day!

The North Pole Express a. k. a. Grapevine Vintage Railroad

Last year, having only been in Texas for a few months, I wasn't organized early enough to book the usual trip to see Father Christmas. This year I thought I'd get in early and book tickets for myself and the kids to go on Grapevine Vintage Railroad's "North Pole Express" train. This was really a trip for Evan as he's only 7; Alice, now 12, was a good sport and played along with it whilst David was somewhere in the middle.

I really like our neighbouring city of Grapevine, it has some character and history that Southlake, which was largely rural until the development of DFW airport in the 1970's, sadly lacks. The railroad came to Grapevine in 1888, leading to development and increased population of the area, buildings from this era still line Grapevine Main Street today. Grapevine was part of the vast 'Cotton Belt Route' railroad and the current station building, built in 1901, is called the 'Cotton Belt Depot'. The railroad suffered a decline in the 1930's following the great depression and the rise of the motor car and today it is run as a heritage railroad. The passenger service became known locally as the Tarantula Train, a label relating to the Fort Worth rail network, with eight lines branching out of Fort worth, resembling a spider.

The Grapevine Vintage Railroad today has two engines, a steam engine "Puffy" built in 1896 and a diesel locomotive "Vinny" built in 1953, which pull four Victorian styled coaches from the mid-1920's. The main route is to the Fort Worth Stockyards and along the Trinity River, with additional special wine-tasting, Halloween and Christmas excursions.

Grapevine is self-styled as 'The Christmas Capital of Texas' - they have the largest lighted Christmas parade in North Texas in early December (maybe one for next year), so it seemed like the best place to try and feel Christmassy in the unseasonably warm and sunny weather. The kids and I had a wander around Main Street and the station buildings and took advantage of the photo opportunities with the most enormous baubles we've ever seen.

In case you hadn't guessed, Grapevine is apparently the Christmas Capital of Texas. The Cotton Belt Depot is behind the baubles.

When we boarded the train I was delighted by the beautifully restored and maintained 90-year old carriages, which were tastefully festively decorated. We were greeted by 'elves' who then sang Christmas songs - some of which we had never heard of, although everyone else seemed to know them - as the train trundled on a short excursion north east along the line and back again. We had to laugh at the scenery, skirting the edge of DFW airport and the huge road network that surrounds it was not exactly pretty. 'Mrs Claus' made an appearance, moving through the train, greeting all the children and giving them 'I believe' bells. When we returned to the depot we entered the 'North Pole' following a snowy Christmas tree trail, the 'snow' being bubble foam, it was 75F! The kids then watched a short show with Father Christmas and a couple of elves singing and dancing panto-style. I thought it was very well done; David said it was 'lame', from a 10-year-old perspective, it was. Still, they all happily drank the offered chocolate milk, and the older two humoured Evan and I by having their photo taken with Father Christmas. It was all a good bit of fun, which we rounded off by a trip to Krispy Kreme doughnuts on the way home.

The North Pole Express.

2015 is officially the wettest year on record in DFW

The storm system that rolled in on Thanksgiving afternoon continued to pour heavy rain over DFW for three days and earned the area some new record breaking statistics. Nearly eight inches of rain fell taking the yearly total to 57.95 inches, beating wettest since records began (in 1898) by four inches, and the year isn't finished yet.
(http://www.iweathernet.com/dallas-fort-worth/dfw-2015-is-the-wettest-year-on-record-for-dallas-fort-worth).

The magnitude of the rain when it falls leads to some flash flooding. It was clear this morning that the local creeks had flooded. The trails were covered in debris and branches were washed up behind anything that wouldn't move, showing the creeks had significantly overflowed. The rushing water had undermined the trees causing several to fall. I was glad we hadn't ventured out to walk the dog during the rain.

Bear Creek after the Thanksgiving storm

Despite the storm, and a cold snap earlier in November which killed off the remaining greenery on the grapevines and tomato plants, we still have some sorry-looking fruit clinging on in the garden.

December harvest!