Weather this Week/Hurricane Preparedness/Inspirational Man and Aunt

WEATHER
Ridge over the eastern US and trough out west will stay stubbornly in place this week. Only major modifier is low pressure off the eastern US that will force some slightly drier air southward middle to later part of this week. So east of the Rockies highs will be in the 80s and 90s. Very pleasant only the west coast with highs in the 60s and chilly for the Rockies and northern plains with highs in the 40s and 50s. There are even some high elevation areas that could have wintry weather.

Houston will be hot through the coming weekend with almost no chance for rain. Some slightly drier air arrives Tuesday/Wednesday but it will still be hot and fairly rain free through the weekend.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Let's do aunt or , pronounced TEE-ah. One of my dear passed away this weekend. Find out why she was so extraordinary in the AND MORE section.

Children have an inate ability to copy and learn pronunciations correctly. If you want them to pronounce the words of other languages correctly, you need to start them early. So, don't delay--order my award winning DVDs, Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco. They are on the shelf (in the education section) at Barnes & Noble stores or you can order them from http://www.frankandpaco.com, http://www.amazon.com, http://www.bn.com, http://www.bestbuy.com, or http://www.ebay.com/. Our ESL (English as a Second Language) version can be found at http://www.frankypaco.com.

AND MORE
Hurricane Season for the Atlantic/Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico Region begins on June 1st. This is Hurricane Preparation Week and the National Weather Service has posted some valuable information to help you and your family prepare.
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/intro.shtml

On June 19th, the annual Houston Galveston Hurricane Workshop will be held at the George R. Brown Convention Center from 10 am to 3 pm. Admission is free. Once again, I will be here moderating the session for the broadcast meteorologist public meet and greet. So put it on your calendar and get ready to pose questions to your favorite on air meteorologist.

At the pool this weekend, I met an amazing man, his family and friends. He was in a wheelchair and Sarah wanted to know why. Of course, he overheard our conversation. So, I looked him right in the eye and said, "She wants to know why you are in a wheelchair". Very patiently, he told us how he used to be a motorcycle police officer and one day as he drove down the highway, a woman turned right in front of him and he smashed full speed into her car and broke his neck. Now, he is paralyzed from almost the neck down and has only a little use of one arm. He can't regulate his body temperature. So, he has to be careful about being out in the heat. He recognized me from being on FOX. So I told him to look for me on Facebook and he would she my notices when I posted a blog. He was at the pool to watch his grandson. His former home nurse...now a best friend was also their with his wife and son. I was so touched by all of them and rejoiced that they are living life with as much joy as possible and to the fullest. God bless them and all who have had and are having such trials.

My dear Aunt Shirley passed away yesterday. He is what I posted about her this past February. I love you Aunt Shirley.

I was thinking about my Aunt Shirley. I used to visit her family during the summers...often for weeks at a time. I was one of those "city folks". But, my heart was in the country. I loved running around barefoot, collecting eggs from the chickens, picking blackberries from the wild bushes along the back fence, riding Sam the horse bareback and drinking milk (unpasteurized) from the cows. By the way, that milk tastes very different from what you buy in the store.

Anyway, Aunt Shirley was a joy! She had a great sense of humor. I used to ask her why she didn't have a dishwasher and she would answer...I already have 4 dishwashers. When I asked where they were she would point at me and say "you, and her and her and her" (she was pointing at her 3 daughters after pointing at me. Then she would belt out a hearty laugh. We were up around 5 or 5:30 to do "the work" and that was taking care of the animals. Aunt Shirley whipped up these wonderful breakfasts--my favorite was the cream gravy with bits of sausage over biscuits. She packed up huge lunchboxes and sent her 3 boys off to work the farm. During the day, us girls took care of the chore of the day. She had one day devoted to washing clothes. For a long time, she had one of those ringer washers. One day was for going "up to town" to shop for groceries and run errands. My aunt and cousins got dressed up...in dresses! Then, there was alway "the work" at around 5:30 pm which was again taking care of the animals. There was always a wonderful dinner too and usually dessert. Then, Aunt Shirley would stay up until about 12:30 am sewing clothes for extra money on the side. She made outfits for entire dance drill teams and made many wedding dresses. She was extremely good at what she did. Of course when I look back on all of this, I marvel at how hard she worked every minute of every day and yet had a ready laugh that shook the rafters. She was a blast!

Don't forget to hug someone you love extra hard this week.

Have a great week everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman