Many threatened by Severe Storms/Waiting for Three Cups of Tea

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
Good morning all! It's hard to believe with this rain that in just a few hours Houston will be nice and sunny. A very pleasant Friday on the way with sunshine, a cool morning and highs in the 70s. Weekend will be warm and muggy with a shower possible, mainly later in the weekend. Monday and Tuesday look spectacular. Looking way ahead to Easter Sunday...warm and muggy with a shower possible.

Lots of weather this am across the U.S. It is going to be stormy in much of the southeast and northern Gulf states, Tennessee and Ohio Valleys, Appalachians and Eastern Seaboard. Notice the moderate risk for severe storms (southeast U.S.) on the Storm Prediction Center graphic at right. This will be the area with most intense storms.

Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies will have some showers and snow at the higher elevations.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Let's do umbrella or paraguas, pronounced pah-rah-GWAHS. I hope you had your paraguas this morning.

We are making tremendous progress on finishing Volume 2 of our DVD series, Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco. Right after that, we will edit Volume 3. Both have been shot and written...just have to be pieced together. My team has also planned out Volumes 4 through 9 and one of those will have weather terms (of course!!!). In the meantime, you can order the award winning Volume 1 from www.frankandpaco.com/. You can also order from http://www.venturaes.com/, http://www.dololanguages.com/, http://www.carlexonline.com,www.thecuriousmindstore.com/, http://www.amazon.com/, http://www.bestbuy.com/, and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/. For our English as a Second Language (ESL) version, got to http://www.frankypaco.com/.

AND MORE
I finished the book about the 2 Chinese sisters. One thing I took away from it is that life really goes by so quickly. The other is that we are all really so much alike deep down. People have commented to me that our neighborhood is like the United Nations. And, I really agree. I love the way we have so many cultures. Sarah is completely comfortable playing with all of her friends. It is a beautiful thing to see.

Where I grew up (Brownsville and Harlingen in the Rio Grande Valley), it was quite unusual...there were mainly 2 groups--Anglos and Mexican (some Mexican American and some living in this transition zone illegally). Behind our house in Brownsville there was a neighborhood with dirt floors. Sometimes, we would sneak back there and play with the kids who lived there. One day an old woman told me, you should not come back here. The dirt will make you turn brown like us. I looked at her with wonder. Really?! I remember wishing that I had brown hair like all of my friends. As only one of a few blonde girls in the school, I sometimes felt like I would rather be different. I wished I at least had a brown wig.

When I went to Texas A & M for my undergraduate studies in Meteorology, it was quite a change. The school at least at that time was predominately Anglo. But there were also Asians, Hispanics and Indians.

Once I entered the work force, I enjoyed working with many folks from Asian and Indonesian countries, India and Pakistan.

Through all of this, I have learned to thoroughly enjoy the traditions and experiences of other cultures. That is why I often read books about people from other parts of the world.

Yesterday at the library, I took the plunge...I put myself on the waiting list for the book, Three Cups of Tea. I am #23. Will let you know when I get it!

Have a great day everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman