Category: Uncategorized

 

“Ian Morrison Robertson, 1936-2023”

My Dad, Ian Morrison Robertson, died on February 17, 2023.  He was 86 years old.

Here he is with me in the Whisky Cave at the Marine hotel at Royal Troon golf course, celebrating his 80th birthday.

 

 

 

And here’s Dad when we visited him in hospital before Heather’s wedding, 6 months ago.

My sister, Elspeth, did a lovely job of collecting some thoughts for input to the eulogy for Dad:

 

“Messages from the many cards we have received have shared a common theme, describing Dad as a true gentleman and a gentle gentleman. He was described as a dear and lovely friend and a family man at heart. There were many references to his sense of humour, exchanging merry banter, and the many laughs on church holidays. They described his “unfailingly thoughtful and measured opinions in discussions at session meetings”, his valued comments, and that he will be a loss to the church and community.

Personal reflections

I have many memories of wonderful holidays together as a family, firstly in our touring caravan, then at Glenluce, in our static caravan. We would travel there most weekends, and spend much of the summer there. Like Keith, I remember listening to music in the car, James Last, Herb Alpert, Tom Jones ( in particular “What’s New Pussycat?” and “Delilah”) and Simon and Garfunkel, remembering Dad singing along to “Cecilia”. It was always the highlight of the journey if you got to stop for ice cream at Ballantrae, or a fish supper at Girvan.

I have fond memories of dancing around the living room standing on Dad’s toes. I took this very seriously and truly believed I was learning to ballroom dance.

When teenage life made us too busy for the caravan, our holidays moved to France, and I have many wonderful memories. Dad , despite his limited knowledge of French, would read a paper every day, and had learned to order all our complicated ice cream flavours and combinations, but caused hilarity when he managed to order everything perfectly in French, but ended with please.

Dad had a lovely sense of humour. I remember being on a school trip to France. Dad spotted metal balls on the electricity cables and told us that this was how the French transported their cheese. He also told us to look carefully and we would be able to see the hunchback of Notre Dame. I couldn’t understand why I was the only one laughing, but he had sounded so convincing that everyone else believed him. We laughed about it later. I might add that he did this shortly after calling me “toots” in front of all my classmates!

Dad loved nature, and whenever we were walking, it would turn into a nature walk with him pointing out plants, trees, birds and animals. He loved to share his passion and continued this tradition with his grandchildren. He loved gardening and would spend hours pottering with his plants. Heather and Struan enjoyed “helping “ him with this when they were young, and I have a lovely memory of him pushing them around in the wheelbarrow.

His love of nature extended to water, so much so that he always connected with it, but not in the way he intended. He loved clambering over rocks, but was always so busy looking in rock pools that he invariably fell in.

Dad’s hobbies included completing jigsaws and crosswords. He had endless patience and was a mine of knowledge, although we used to tease him that he was full of useless information. This came in useful for quizzes, and there was always a fight over who would have him in their team for Trivial

Pursuit. He loved flower arranging and a favourite was a display he created of “The Burning Bush” which sat in front of the organ at the flower festival. His love of art has filled our homes with beautiful paintings which we will cherish forever. I only wish he had passed on some of his artistic talent!

Dad would do anything for any of us. He was always there for all events. He ferried me all over, and never missed a concert, dancing display, prizegiving, competition or BB display . This applied equally to Keith and I , and also Heather and Struan.

When Heather was born, we were very grateful for “Grandpa’s magic arms” as he had the perfect knack of calming her and getting her to sleep.

He enjoyed precious time spent looking after Heather and Struan, hearing all their stories and playing with them. Part of Struan’s weekly routine right up until he left school was watching Scooby Doo and Roadrunner with Grandpa.

Keith’s boys used to call Mum and Dad “Grannyampa”, which was lovely, because it highlighted that they were inseparable, and loved to do things together. They saw them as a combined entity.

Dad really enjoyed going on church holidays. There were many tales of the happy times he spent with friends.

I have always known how proud Dad was of me, and felt his unconditional love, but he was never overly generous with his compliments. If asked his opinion on, for example, outfits, he would often reply that they were “fine”. It amused me that when I moved to Aberdeenshire, I discovered that fine has a very different meaning, and actually means very good or special. I laughed with Dad that , of course, he knew that all along and that was always what he meant.”

Such great memories and wonderful writing.  This is a link to some of Dad’s favourite songs:

Here are some of my thoughts that I shared for potential inclusion in the euglogy:

Artist

Dad was a great artist and enjoyed his regular art classes – I think maybe just as much for the story telling as the art activities. I remember being amazed at the knights in armour he would draw for me as a young kid. A painting Dad did of a Tuscan scene for my 50^th birthday has pride of place as the first thing you see on entering my home.

Music

Dad loved all kinds of music. A fond memory is driving around in the Renault 16, listening to Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” on the 8-track player. I think I could still tell you where the “clunk” of the track changing happens on those songs. Some of his favourites were Abba, James Last, Neil Diamond and Tom Jones.

Dad invested countless hours ferrying me to band practice and patiently listening to many brass bands playing the same piece at competitions – and those were not popular hits type pieces.

Story Telling

One of Dad’s big enjoyments was telling a good story. “Jackanories” is what we called the detailed recaps of Dad’s day at school we listened to at the dinner table each night. Lots of detailed dialogue and plot lines. Dad did love to read and I enjoyed perusing his library for a good read during my visits and on flights home.

Boy Scouts

Dad put together and taught a course leading to the Conservation badge for my Boy Scout Troop. His teaching and story telling skills really made this a fun and popular badge.

Trying New Things

At the age of 80, Dad tried snorkeling for the first time at our wedding in Cozumel.  He thoroughly enjoyed the plethora of colourful fish in the reef.

Here are some pictures of the many flower arrangements and cards that were delivered to Merrick View.  You can see how many people in the community loved my Dad.

Here’s a plant that I received from work colleagues.  His name is Morrison, and he’s a Bromeliad (according to Google lens).  It looks like a species about which Dad would have had a lot to share.

A windchime that I received as a sympathy gift included this poem:

“A Letter from Heaven”, by Ruth Ann Mahaffey

“To my dearest family,

Some things I’d like to say
But first of all to let you know
That I arrived OK.
I’m writing this from heaven
Where I dwell with God above
Where there’s no more tears or sadness
There is just eternal love
Please do not be unhappy
Just because I am out of sight
Remember that I’m with you
Each morning, noon, and night
That day I had to leave you
When my life on Earth was through
God picked me up and hugged me
And He said I welcome you.
It’s good to have you back again
You were missed while you were gone
As for your dearest family…
They’ll be here later on.
I need you here so badly
As part of my big plan
There’s so much that we have to do
To help the mortal man.
Then God gave me a list of things
He wished for me to do,
And foremost on that list of mine
Is to watch and care for you.
And I will be beside you
Every day and week and year
And when your sad I’m standing there
To wipe away the tear.
And when you lie in bed at night
The day’s chores put to flight
God and I are closer to you
In the middle of the night.
When you think of my life on Earth
And all those loving years
Because you’re only human
They are bound to bring you tears.
But do not be afraid to cry
It does relieve the pain
Remember there would be no flowers
Unless there was some rain.
I wish that I could tell you
Of all that God has planned,
But if I were to tell you
You wouldn’t understand.
There is one thing is for certain
Though my life on Earth is o’re,

I’m closer to you now
Than I ever was before.
And to my very many friends,
Trust God knows what is best
I’m still not far away from you
I’m just beyond the crest.
There are many rocky roads ahead of you
And many hills to climb,
But together we can do it
Taking one day at a time.
It was always my philosophy
And I’d like it for you too
That as you give unto the world,
So the world will give to you.
If you can help somebody
Who’s in sorrow or in pain,
Then you can say to God at night
My day was not in vain.
And now I am contented
That my life, it was worthwhile,
Knowing as I passed along the way
I made somebody smile.
So if you meet somebody
Who is down and feeling low,
Just lend a hand to pick him up
As on your way you go.
When you are walking down the street,
And you’ve got me on your mind
I’m walking in your footsteps
Only half a step behind.
And you feel that gentle breeze
Or the wind upon your face
That’s me giving you a great big hug
Or just a soft embrace.
And when It’s time for you to go
From that body to be free
Remember that you’re not going,
You are coming here to me.”

I’ll finish with a few of my favourite photos that sit on my desk:

I miss you Dad!

 

 

“Construction Zoo”

It’s been quite a zoo at our home this week.  I made the mistake of contracting with a couple of guys to pressure wash and stain the fence and patio pergola at the same time as the bathroom guys were working away on fixing all the issues from the first contractor.  Why didn’t I just wait a week?  I suppose part of me thought we could get finished up with having constant traffic at the house all at once.  And that has been the case – it’s been such a nice Sunday with nobody but the two of us at the house.

We’ve been using the guest bedroom upstairs while the remodel downstairs has continued and continued.  And wouldn’t you know it – the air conditioning decided to croak this week.  On Friday we had eleven different guys at the house – plus all their trucks and equipment.  Diana made her largest ever order at Taco Bell to feed everyone lunch.  The neighbours must have been wondering what on earth was going on at our house.

The great news is that the bathroom guys plan to finish up tomorrow.  The new bathroom does look very sleek and modern – a huge change.  All that remains is a new glass door (that was measured incorrectly – to add to the list of everything else that was wrong with the first contractor) before we can try out the steam shower.  I’ll post some pictures of the finished product next week.  That and my new TV/stereo wall cabinet.  I did chuckle when I found the new bathtub sitting in front of the fireplace in the music room.  I was picturing McD with a fire going, glass of champagne in hand, and maybe some soothing piano music.

 

Other than the construction zoo factor, it’s been a typical week.  Work, exercise, some music and reading.  I did get a clean bill of health from the orthopedic doctor this week.  He reports that my leg has completely healed and I’m ready for action again.  I was able to “close all my rings” every day this week on the Apple watch.  I may have to increase my active calories daily goal a bit to stretch things.

 

 

We did try to get in the Labor (American spelling since it’s an American holiday) Day spirit with some outdoor cooking.  Griller D made some delicious bacon cheeseburgers and stuffed jalapenos.  What a nice treat.

 

 

 

It’s Marco’s birthday today and I enjoyed sending him this special meme greeting:

Football’s back!  I enjoyed watching Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints beat up on Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  The Bucs are going to be a good team once Brady gets them whipped into shape.  Hoping for a similar positive result when the Cowboys play the Rams in the new $5 billion SoFi stadium later this evening.

I learned a bit of “The Great Gig in the Sky” from Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” on the piano this week.  Here’s the original:

And my attempt.  What great chord progressions – like something Gil Evans would chart for the Miles Davis band:

I finished Stewart O’Nan’s thirteenth novel, “The Odds”, on the Monday holiday.  This is another very original, bittersweet story like the last book of his I read, “Last Night at the Lobster”.  It’s Valentine’s weekend, Art and Marion Fowler flee their Cleveland suburb for Niagara Falls, desperate to recoup their losses. Jobless, with their home approaching foreclosure and their marriage on the brink of collapse, Art and Marion liquidate their savings account and book a bridal suite at the Falls’ ritziest casino for a second honeymoon. While they sight see like tourists during the day, at night they risk it all at the roulette wheel to fix their finances-and save their marriage.  I won’t spoil the ending for you.

I really enjoyed this book – not quite as much as my previous O’Nan reads but still more than just about anything that I’ve read recently.

This paragraph made me chuckle as I was reminded me of my ever increasing piles of books to be moved around and sorted.

“She addressed her mystery again, tilting it to the beam of light from the overhead console.  She read two or three a week, the pile of cracked and yellowing paperbacks on her nightstand dwindling as the one on the marble-topped table by the front door grew until it was time to trade them in at the Book Exchange.”

Here’s a classic O’Nan recounting of the little things that make up a marriage:

“The one on the left was dressy, crushed velvet with a high heel, elaborate straps and a needle-nosed toe.  She loved them but they killed her feet.  The one on the right was plain, but much more comfortable.  

“The right,” he said.

“You really like that one better?”

“I do.”

“You’re so boring.”

“You’ve got a blister, and the restaurant’s at the end of the mall.”

“You’re right,” she admitted, but when she returned from the bedroom she was in her stocking feet, the fancier pair dangling from one hand.  “When else am I going to wear them?  I’m just going to have to suffer.”

“You said it, not me.”

“How long do we have?  I’m not putting them on until I absolutely have to.”

“Five minutes.  Before we get going, I’d like to get a picture of us.”

“You haven’t taken enough pictures today.”  She thought it was typical of him, wanting to commemorate their adventure.  He’d already chosen where he wanted her to stand.  She could see it being used against her in the future, but couldn’t refuse him.

“You don’t have to put your shoes on.”

“I do if I don’t want to look like a dwarf next to you.”

They were too narrow, and crushed her toes, her bunions flaring with every step.”

Well, there’s several pieces in that passage that I can relate to.

I continue to work my way through the Churchill book and learned a few new things this week.

While asking my Dad about the Anderson bomb shelter in his back garden, I learned a couple of interesting facts about his wartime experiences in Glasgow.  He told me about the house across the street being bombed and all that remained was the staircase from the ground to the first floor.  I also learned about the “smoke screen cylinder machines” that went around the streets producing smoke to hide the prime Glaswegian targets from the Luftwaffe.  One of those was the nearby Singer sewing machine factory which at the time was manufacturing war equipment.  That and the nearby Clyde shipyards, building battleships.  I don’t think I had ever equated the term “smoke screen” with the original wartime purpose.

Back to the book.  Violet Bohnam Carter is referenced a few times, and I wondered if she was any relation to Helena Bonham Carter (actress and wife of the director Tim Burton).  Turns out Violet was Helena’s grandmother.

“Soon after the bombing, Clementine, in a letter to Violet Bonham Carter, wrote, “We have no gas or hot water and are cooking on an oil stove.  But as a man called to Winston out of the darkness the other night, ‘It’s a great life if we don’t weaken!'””

An interesting and somewhat prescient quote from Roosevelt, “Of course we’ll fight if we’re attacked.  If somebody attacks us, then it isn’t a foreign war, is it?  Or do they want me to guarantee that our troops will only be sent into battle in the event of another Civil War.”

I didn’t know that Joseph Kennedy, father of John and Bobby, was the American ambassador to the UK in 1940.  Not a particularly helpful ambassador from what I read.

And lastly, an interesting note about Churchill practicing his speech to the French.  “He had difficulty with certain French linguistic maneuvers, in particular rolling his r’s, but Saint-Denis found him to be a willing student, later recalling, “He relished the flavour of some words as though he were tasting fruit.””

“American Dirt”, my swimming audio book, continues to expose me to the many issues associated with Latin American migrants trying to make their way to the United States.  Lydia and Luca made it on top of “La Bestia”, the freight train that runs from Mexico to the US, as far as San Miguel de Allende before having to take a break for food and sleep.  This is the town where we celebrated Denny’s 50th birthday, and the juxtaposition of the way we saw this beautiful town with the way migrants experience it was quite jarring.

I did a bit of research on “La Bestia” to understand how realistic the depiction in the book really is.  It’s a very scary reality and well described in the book as documented in this NPR story from 2014:

https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2014/06/05/318905712/riding-the-beast-across-mexico-to-the-u-s-border

Let’s switch over to music and some happier topics.  The Hayes Carll livestream on Tuesday was one of his best yet.  Joined by his wife, Allison Moorer, at about 49 minutes in, he plays one of my favourite songs and then continues with a few more excellent duets:

Something told me it would be a good week to tune into the Anders Osborne livestream on Friday.  What a treat – one of the best drummers in the world, Stanton Moore, and an amazing keyboard player, David Torkanowsky, joined Anders in his living room.  Excellent from start to finish:

https://m.facebook.com/AndersOsborne/videos/311878796765073/

Some new music that I enjoyed this week:

I stumbled on this version of Randy Newman’s “I Think It’s Going to Rain Today” by Jools Holland (Squeeze and “The Tube” fame) with David Gray (“Babylon” fame) on vocals.  Not quite up there with Curtis Stigers live, but a close second:

A timely Stevie Wonder song from the classic “Songs in the Key of Life”:

And lastly, something that I had never heard from The Bodeans.  It was playing on D’s playlist by the pool today and the opening guitar riff sucked me in.  Wouldn’t have picked it out as a Bodeans song:

 

 

 

 

“Austin’s Been a Friend of Mine”

I’m getting worse – three weeks since I provided an update – just a plain old slacker.  A couple of projects have been keeping us (mostly McD) quite busy over the last few weeks.

The bathroom remodel has begun.  The designer twins (Marci and Mindy) – identical so it’s helpful that they have different hairdos – visited us to finalize the tile and other design elements.  The tiles are actually white, grey and blue, although they look a bit beige in the picture.  Believe me, there will be no more beige in that bathroom.

We’ve moved to the upstairs guest bedroom and I’m now showering in the small bathtub area.  Should only be another few weeks or so – OK, maybe a month at the most, he said optimistically.

At this point, the demo has been completed, the new shower floor poured, and the steam shower mostly installed.  We have steam, coloured lights, and WiFi connectivity.  We just don’t have music coming out of the speakers.  Hopefully that will be resolved tomorrow and the tiling can begin.  Oh yeah, the aromatherapy hasn’t proven to be working yet either.

Diana has been doing an amazing job of overseeing the work.  Without her management, several more redos would have been necessary, and we would not have had helpful access to the area where the steam shower is installed.

The other project was getting packed up and out of the Austin apartment by the end of July.  Diana did another excellent job of getting everything ready for the movers.  What a great crew we had – showed up early, took incredible care with everything, and followed directions to a tee, all with kindness and a smile.  The movers taking the couch to Alicia were late, and so the McKinney crew was fully unloaded when we arrived.

We laughed at the debris under my spot on the couch – including a martini olive stick and a variety of crackers.  It really wasn’t as bad as I had expected but Diana was quick to point that there wasn’t a single crumb under her spot.  Perhaps she was sweeping things in my direction?

Bats Domino and Baby Penguin enjoyed one final pretty sunrise from the kitchen window.

It was pretty sad to see the empty apartment as we waited for our final walk through with the building management.

We did manage to squeeze in visits to another two of our favourite restaurants before leaving Austin.  June’s is always good and we loved the curried escargot with puff pastry and the bone marrow bolognese.  This is the restaurant where I had my lunch “interview” before taking the job in Austin.

 

 

 

After dinner we walked up to C-Boy’s Heart and Soul and snapped a picture – it’s not going to be open again for a while and we’ve had so many lovely evenings there.

And then on the walk home, we found the elusive Mr. Rogers mural on the side of Home Slice pizza – can’t believe we never noticed it before.

We also got to experience the new layout in the garden at Justine’s in East Austin.  What a great job they have done with individual awnings over tables with chandeliers and ferns to enhance the separation.  They also are employing the scan-able “Le Menu” that you pull up on your phone.

Farewell for now Austin – we’ve had such a good time with you this last year or so.  You’re not the same as you were now, but hopefully we can visit again when you’re feeling better and back to normal.

“But I never wanted to leave this town
Austin’s been a friend of mine
Texas we’ve had a time”

We listened to “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine” by Gail Honeyman on the drives to and from Austin.  Apparently this is soon to be a movie starring Reese Witherspoon.  I can’t quite picture that given the Glasgow setting.  I highly recommend this book – very unique, entertaining and heart-breaking at the same time.  The narrator of the audio book really adds quite a bit with her wide variety of male and female Scottish accents.

 

Alicia shared one of her jazz appreciation class assignments with us.  We had to write 1,000 words about this performance by the Yellow-jackets.  I gave some input that was incorporated into the final paper – particularly about an electric wind instrument that had Alicia fascinated – “It looks like it’s from the year 3000.”  Her paper was very enjoyable to read and must have covered everything the teacher was looking for – 250 out of a possible 250 points!

Tuesday night continues to be live music night with Hayes Carll followed by the Band of Heathens Supper Club show.  I particularly enjoy this Little Feat cover they put together from one of the Supper Club shows:

This CBS Sunday Morning piece about a conductor who has assembled the largest ever virtual choir is excellent.  Thousands of folks from around the world record their parts in time with the conductor’s video, and then a technical team splices together all the video and audio – what must be a painstakingly tedious process.

We’ve enjoyed a few of the episodes of Zac Efron’s  “Down to Earth” show on Netflix.  The one about free sparkling water fountains in Paris is quite good.

I watched the movie “American Folk” while Diana was sunbathing yesterday afternoon.  The film is written, directed and edited by David Heinz.  Typically an editor on major films, this is his only feature film and  I loved it.  A beautifully created, quiet film that just happens and doesn’t push anything.  It was originally titled September 12th, as it covers two strangers who meet on a plane that is forced to land as September 11th unfolds.    Amber Rubarth’s character meets Joe Purdy’s when she pulls out a splitter and plugs in her headphones to share his music on the plane.  The major themes are the kindness of strangers and the bond of music.  Joe Purdy and Amber Rubarth are great musicians and sing well together.  Highly recommended.

I mentioned the Hayes Carll Tuesday night livestreams earlier.  He is often joined on those by his wife, Allison Moorer.  I didn’t realize she was the younger sister of the equally great singer, Shelby Lynne.  They both had tragic upbringings, culminating in a murder/suicide of their parents when Moorer was fourteen.  She writes about her upbringing in rural Alabama in the book “Blood”.  I’m about half way through this (taking a break from the Susan Sontag tome) now and while the subject is very sad, the way Moorer writes about her memories and how she feels about them in her forties is quite beautiful and moving.  Here’s one of Moorer’s songs that sounds like it was inspired by childhood:

I stumbled into a large collection of Youtube videos by Rick Beato accidentally while doing some research for Alicia’s paper.  Beato is a musical genius, playing almost all instruments and with an infectious love of the music he discusses in his postings.  I love the way he breaks down the elements of classic recordings and explains the harmonic and melodic make up.  Here’s one about “Rocketman” by Elton John that is a great example:

I enjoy these postings so much that I have to limit myself to just one or two at a time.

Peter Green, founding member of Fleetwood Mac (way before Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham), died recently.  He has the sweetest tone of any guitar player and wrote so many amazing songs.  Here’s my favourite:

And finally, here’s a tune from Paul Desmond that popped up on a Spotify list.  I think he has the best saxophone tone, perfectly pure and full, like Chet Baker’s trumpet sound.

Stay safe and kind among the madness.

“That’s Just Torture”

An MRI at 8am on Monday morning.  What was I thinking?  In hindsight I clearly wasn’t thinking well at all, but was ready to figure out what was causing my pain.  Somehow I made it to this ripe old age without needing to participate in this very advanced form of torture.  Most folks with whom

I’ve discussed the attributes of this torture device seem to have had a few already.  None of them, including my darling wife, thought it would be a good idea to prep me about what to expect.  Even the technician failed to mention the 40 minute duration.  She did hand over some earplugs which had me very suspicious before things began.  Wow – that small tube that I can’t imagine myself fitting in – visions of exactly this cartoon flooding my brain.  Deep breathing helped deal with that anxiety.  But the aural assault with the echoing around the room – just ludicrous.  Hopefully never again!

I had barely squeezed myself back into Penelope when my doctor called and summoned me to her office to review the MRI results.  As I write this, I wonder why she couldn’t have provided those on the phone.  Maybe she just wanted to see my reaction to the interesting news.  What did it show that wasn’t visible on the x-ray from last week?  A stress fracture of the left femur just below where it hooks into the hip.  The good news is it wasn’t broken all the way through – only 75%.  That explains why I was able to walk with pain and hadn’t gone directly to the Emergency Room.  Before you all start telling me, I know the picture is of a right leg, but it was the one I found where I could draw the red fracture line easiest.  How did this happen – I really don’t know – some combination of my body rejecting my attempts at Couch to 5K, Zumba, yoga etc.

My doctor sent me directly to see this guy for an expert orthopedic opinion on what to do about the break.

  Dr. Haslam and his team seemed excellent and recommended having a couple of screws inserted through my hip area to aid the bones in healing.  They fitted me with a set of crutches and sent me off to get some blood tests that were required before having surgery on Tuesday morning.  At this point I was getting a bit tired of driving around in pain.  On arriving at Quest diagnostic testing at 4:31pm, they closed at 4:30pm, and explaining the reason that I needed the test, I was rudely sent away.  They were very clear to point out that if I had arrived a few seconds earlier then they would have been happy to see me.  Unbelievable lack of caring.  Another call to the doctor and I was bumbling across the parking lot to a hospital that would do the blood test.  I arrived home around 6pm, thoroughly worn out from the day.

In the spirit of transparency, I should report an error that I made while at Dr. Haslam’s office.  Realizing that Diana was at the dentist having a crown fitted, and that she was probably wondering where I was and what I was doing, I sent a text saying “Brace yourself, this is not good.”  That was it.  It has since been pointed out to me that this was not a very helpful communication.

Surgery was scheduled for 7:30am on Tuesday.  It’s amazing how quickly these things move when they need to.  We chose a sport medicine facility where they did not see COVID-19 patients, making us feel a bit safer.  Diana dropped me off, and then was quickly shooed out of the waiting room.  After a small meltdown about having to leave, she was promised regular updates from the front desk, and would be able to join me in the recovery room.

After parting with Diana, it was the pre-op flurry of activity.  Getting all prepped up, meeting with doctor, nurses, anesthesiologist, and having space-age compression socks fitted.  Through these conversations I learned that I’m somewhat of a celebrity now in the orthopedic community.  Several folks commented that they had never heard of anyone with a broken femur walking into a doctor’s office.  Usually they are in tremendous pain and go straight to the hospital.  Surgery began at 9:00am and was finished up around 10:20am.  I didn’t have any of the loopiness that I usually associate with coming out from under general anesthetic – much to McD’s disappointment.  I convinced everyone that the pain was sufficiently under control a bit before noon and we headed home.  Diana did have to stop in the parking garage as soon as we were out of sight to get me one of my pain meds.  Yes – I was in a rush to get out of there.

Back at home I settled into my spot and enjoyed the pulsing contraction and release of the compression devices.  They seemed fun to begin with, but as I write this I can assure you I am very tired of them and looking for a suitable place to throw them.  Diana is very rigorous about making sure I wear them for many hours a day to prevent blood clots.  Thanks D!

It seemed fitting that the Blue Angels did a fly over of hospital facilities throughout the Dallas Fort Worth area to recognize all the doctors and nurses on the front lines.

A very nice tribute!

Diana headed out for a run on Wednesday morning – just to rub it in that she was still all in one piece.  I worked a normal day and only needed a few of the lighter pain killers to make it through.  I count myself very lucky to have been referred to a great surgeon, and to have caught the break before it completed its journey.  A lovely gift basket with lots of my favourites showed up on Wednesday afternoon.  Thanks Damon and the rest of my team.

Thursday was another typical work from home day with lots of helpful coffee and food service from Diana to my inside and outside landing spots.  Some gorgeous flowers arrived from my boss and the executive team.  I was especially ready for our work virtual Happy Hour in the evening, and it was very entertaining.

On the gift front, we also received these humourous cookies from our financial advisor.  Is that really supposed to make us feel better about our retirement funds?

Brad told his amazing Irish wolfhound about my injury and then sent this picture and message.  Now that really did cheer me up:

Diana picked up her Mother’s Day brunch kit from Rye on Friday afternoon.  She did a trial run for dinner on Saturday night, with my only real contribution (other than cheer leading) being the poached eggs.  The pork belly and kale benedicts with hash browns turned out very well.  They’ll be even better for Sunday brunch.

I spent a pretty boring Saturday, mostly on the couch, catching up on some TV and magazines.  I did enjoy the ESPN documentary, “Bad Boys”, about the 1989/90 Detroit Pistons NBA Championship team.  It was very well done and took me back to when basketball was a lot more fun to watch than these days.  I also managed to catch up with Finn and Will by phone to update them on the week.  Will told me all about how he and his friends are taking advantage of the empty roads to practice their driving and riding skills.  The video won’t upload for some reason – probably just as well.

We watched some of “Becoming” on Netflix with brunch for dinner.  This is a documentary about Michelle Obama’s book tour.  Watching the various clips of the Obamas during their time in office made us both groan about how far we have fallen.

We had some fancy French toast for Mother’s day brunch – part of the Rye kit.  You had to soak the eggy bread in creme anglaise before grilling, then add raspberries and macadamia nuts – very tasty.  After that we participated in the Campagna Mother’s day Zoom call which Clorinda enjoyed very much.  That’s Francesca, the newest edition to the group, in the bottom row.

I haven’t done much reading this week but intend to start the Robin Williams biography (a very fat book) when I head out to join Diana by the pool later today.

The excellent Jason Isbell has a new album, “Reunions”, coming out soon.  I’ve been enjoying the preview singles very much:

“Billions”, one of my favourite TV shows, returned last Sunday night.  I’ve watched the episode twice now as I  always miss some of the key details the first time through.  This angry Patti Smith song featured in the episode as Taylor has a destructive fit in a rage room.

“Change of Plans”

What a difference a week makes in our situation and our outlook.  We knew that SXSW was cancelled but didn’t expect Austin to become a ghost town over the course of a few days.  This time last year the city was absolutely hopping with scooters zipping around everywhere and amazing pop up music shows on every corner.  Today there’s nobody on the streets and the restaurants and clubs are very empty.  Gatherings of more than 250 people are banned and I think the city will be in full lock down except for groceries and pharmacies in a week or so.

For the last year we’ve been looking forward to the Sun radio sessions that happen during SXSW.  Those looked like the one thing that might proceed amidst the cancellations.  They were canceled yesterday.  Look at this amazing lineup on Thursday and Saturday in particular.  We had both cleared our calendars to spend Thursday afternoon with the music.

Before things changed, we spent a quiet few days in McKinney.  Penelope passed her annual inspection (MOT in the UK) with flying colours on Wednesday and is legal for another year.  Such a good girl.

We made the long drive to Austin on Thursday in order to attend the Curtis Stigers concert at the Parker Jazz Club in the evening.  We first saw him by chance at Birdland in New York a few years ago and loved the shows.  The show at the Parker was equally great.  What an amazing set of musicians Stigers has playing with him, particularly “Scrapper” on trumpet and the piano player.  Stigers covered Nick Lowe’s “What’s so funny about peace, love and understanding” on the Bodyguard movie soundtrack.  That album sold 40 million copies and made him a lot of money and fame.

We really enjoy Stiger’s variety of repertoire and that was on full display – from Tom Waits and Randy Newman to Hayes Carll.

My favourite song in New York was “I’ll be home” by Randy Newman and I really wanted to hear it again.  When it didn’t look like it would happen, my wonderful wife asked “Any chance of something by Randy Newman?”  And the band went straight into it.  Check out the skill of the pianist:

Can you tolerate one more song from the amazing show?  Well here it is anyway, “Love is an anchor”:

Things started to change pretty dramatically on Friday, with a lot of cancellations and closures.  We walked to Antone’s blues club for a music charity showcase and concert, including a performance by Western Youth, only to find a notice on the door that the event had been canceled at the last minute.  Apparently Antone’s isn’t familiar with the concept of emailing its patrons when events cancel.  I got this cool picture of two Wonder Women on the walk over.  The Linc hotel has a very large mural to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote.

We walked around the corner to the Elephant Room and listened to some pleasant jazz with less than 10 other folks – starting to get weird.  Swift’s Attic, one of our favourite restaurants, is right upstairs and so I checked to see if we could get a reservation.  Weirder – wide open for any time I wanted – and you usually can’t get in on Friday unless booking at least a week in advance.  We enjoyed an excellent meal with a less than half full restaurant and an empty bar – very weird.  Swift’s had taken the smart proactive step of moving their tables further apart.  Squid fries, brussel sprouts, pork belly baos and those perfectly cooked scallops (I took D here on her first night in Austin and she fell in love with them).

On Saturday I finally got to try the Discada food truck in the Rosewood neighborhood of East Austin.  Discada is a style of cooking, also known as cowboy-wok cooking, that has been used in Mexico for generations.  The food truck serves only two things – their signature tacos and elote (Mexican style street corn).  The first bite of our tacos was underwhelming, but then all the amazing flavors caught up with us – delicious all around, and such a fun experience sitting at the picnic tables enjoying the day.

We passed Saturday evening with Chuck Prophet and his band at the Continental Club.  A few years ago, at Dan’s Silverleaf in Denton, there were only a handful of folks in attendance for Prophet’s show.  There was a good crowd on Saturday although far from sold out.  This was a very good, high energy, and interactive show indeed.  I think Prophet is a very underrated songwriter and under appreciated performer.  Charlie Sexton, Austin guitar royalty, waltzed in around 9pm and joined in with the band.  Here are a couple of videos:

We are so fortunate to be able to walk to such an excellent music venue.

We finally braved the grocery store chaos early on Sunday morning.  I suspected that the Randall’s on Bee Caves by my office would not be too busy.  It was actually very quiet and had a good inventory of just about everything – no toilet paper or other paper goods.  So we’re now stocked up with supplies to last a while.

After shopping we enjoyed a coffee and Taco Deli breakfast taco at Triannon coffee, had a workout, and then a quiet afternoon in the apartment.  I rented the movie “Knives Out” but fell asleep very early and will have to start it again.

I started “Christmas in Austin” by Benjamin Markovits but haven’t progressed very far yet.  The novel is set around a Christmas holiday and three generations of a family gathering in Austin.  The four Essinger children bring with them their own stories and situations.  I’m enjoying the writing and characters so far and think this book should be a good companion this week as we spend more time at home.

 

 

I can remember buying this Green on Red album when living in Basingstoke, England.  I heard a song on the radio and liked the sound a lot – quite different than anything else on the radio at the time.  Any guesses on who was a founding member of Green on Red?  Well done – it was Chuck Prophet.  Here’s a song from that album:

Now some more recent Chuck Prophet – quite a change in style as he’s aged.

John Sneider played trumpet with Curtis Stigers on Thursday night and has the nickname “The Scrapper”.  Here’s something from his album by that same name.  Scrapper’s son joined him on stage at the Parker for a song and did very well.  We chuckled on seeing him getting into a minivan as we were standing in line to enter the Continental Club – the Parker Jazz Club t shirt confirmed D’s suspicion that it was him.

Curtis Stigers inspired me to listen to some Tom Waits – such a weird and varied catalog of work.  The only guarantee is that scratchy voice and something far from the mainstream.

 

“La Tristesse Des Herissons”

Tuesday was a good day for dining.  Diana invited me to lunch, a rare occasion indeed as she’s usually busy with meetings most of the day.  We enjoyed some fine, fresh seafood on the South Congress patio of Perla’s and completed some annoying online financial paperwork with our cappuccinos.  It’s nice to find some time to relax amid the busy work schedules.

In the evening I had a work dinner at Geraldine’s in the Van Zandt hotel.  It’s a great idea to go here with a large group because you get to try so many of their shareable plates.  Beet salad, charred brussels, steak tartare, and several others that I don’t remember now.  I was even able to bring back some leftovers for McD’s lunch the next day – I knew it wasn’t possible that she’d have a lunch break two days in a row.  This restaurant has such a nice setting on the pool deck of the hotel and live music every night.  Some folky indie lady was playing – pleasant background but nothing memorable.  I had a very enjoyable and wide ranging conversation with Gordon, the head of the vendor group that was hosting us.  As we drifted into music, he mentioned a love of karaoke and that gave me a thought.

The group relocated to Ego’s, just across the street from the Catherine, and offering karaoke every night of the week.  Gordon’s favourite is Elton John and here he is performing “Your Song”:

It really takes a lot of courage to do that – not for me for certain.  Any of you like to sing karaoke?  What are your go to songs?

One of the challenges of waiting too long to write the blog is that I don’t always remember what happened when, if I remember what happened last week at all.  All you youngsters laughing will get to this age someday too!  I think I had this excellent D created pizza with mushrooms dish on Wednesday night.  Either way, the mushroom medley with the special champagne cooking trick was amazing.

 

Friday evening was a long awaited night out with Brad and Jocelyn.  Brad joined my company several months ago and we both enjoyed their company at the Christmas party.  They’re the couple with the two Irish Wolf Hounds and a Bullmastiff.  I’m so jealous of the Wolf Hounds, but they most certainly wouldn’t fit in our apartment.

We started with a visit to the Central Machine Works, the brewery that Denny found on Superbowl weekend.  I love the way the old machine works has been converted and they have a great, expansive patio.  Talking of dogs, Damon had reported earlier in the day that he would be “offline for a couple of hours, taking the doodles to the groomer”.  I sent him this picture of a doodle enjoying the patio, and he responded with this:

If you zoom in you can see they are enjoying their own beers.  The one on the right might have had more than one.  They do look all trimmed up though.

We walked across the CMW parking lot to Justine’s for dinner.  This is an excellent French brasserie and I particularly enjoy the casual atmosphere and vinyl records.  Diana and I split steak tartare and a phenomenal duck cassoulet.  Finishing our drinks in the restaurant garden, I made a note that it was way too long since we had visited this establishment.  The evening finished at a respectable hour with a visit to Whisler’s for their excellent Old Fashioneds – best in Austin in my humble opinion.

Saturday was a quiet day, starting with a workout, and then lazing around watching movies and reading.  I enjoyed “The Secret to a Happy Ending”, a documentary about a southern rock band named The Drive by Truckers.  This was the band where Jason Isbell, one of the best songwriters performing today, got his start.  We started to watch “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”, the Mister Rogers movie with Tom Hanks, on Saturday evening.  One of us fell asleep shortly after the movie started.

I caught up to the spot where Diana stopped watching during my workout on Sunday morning.  I was so caught up in the story that I delayed our departure for McKinney so that we could finish the movie together.  We highly recommend this film – that would be four thumbs up.  It was not at all what I expected, telling the story of Fred Rogers through his relationship with a journalist writing a bio piece of him for Esquire magazine.  Here’s a link to the piece, and if you watch the movie you’ll see the stories used mostly appear in the article:

https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a27134/can-you-say-hero-esq1198/

We like to pass the time on our drives to and from McKinney with audio books.  After finishing the last few minutes of “The Red Road” by Denise Mina (not my favourite), Diana picked out “Truly Madly Guilty” by Liane Moriarty (Big Little Lies fame) as our next accompaniment.  And it will accompany us for a while at over 17 hours long.  I really enjoyed the first 3 hours – such clever character insight and development, and very well read by Caroline Lee, a native Australian.

There’s always something to be fixed on our visits back home – this time a wheel and drive assembly to be replaced on Stanley, our pool cleaner.

My book this week was “Einstein’s Beach House” by Jacob Appel.  This is a short story collection and I only got through the first two stories.  I had seen a documentary on Appel recently and was interested to try some of his work.  He has 14 degrees from prestigious universities and is a qualified doctor, lawyer, and psychologist – makes me feel very lazy.  In addition to all of that, he has written over 200 books – and he’s not that old.

This is some of the most weird, quirky and interesting writing that I’ve come across.  My favourite of the stories so far is “La Tristesse Des Herissons” – Adeline is hysterical about her pet hedgehog, which a psychologist tells her is depressed.  At the same time, she uses this hysteria to put Josh, her boyfriend, through hell.  Absolutely laugh out loud hilarious.

On the music front, the massive South by Southwest (SXSW) conference and festival was canceled this week due to the Covid-19 outbreak.  This was huge news as this event has been a mainstay in the Austin calendar for 37 years and will cost the organizers over $350 million.  Many bands got their start in the numerous music showcases that occur at SXSW.  In late breaking news, all gatherings of more than 2,500 people are also banned in Austin.

This cover on the current New Yorker magazine seemed a bit at odds with these precautions taken in Austin – but does make its point very clearly.

The cover art is titled “Under Control”.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time with Marcus King’s new solo album “El Dorado” this week.  I love it – right up K alley.

This song by Guy Clark popped up on a playlist.  It’s been a long time since I heard it – what a classic:

 

 

 

“Spewing Volcano – Should We Be Concerned?”

This was my first busy work travel week in a long time.  It’s been almost a year since I visited my team in Guatemala and I had not yet visited the team in Mexico – overdue for a visit.  Damon and I flew to Guatemala City on Monday afternoon and were very pleased to find our driver waiting to take us to a much nicer hotel than the one I used on my last visit.  The hotel was in a pedestrian outdoor shopping and dining district that was really lovely and very upscale for Guatemala.  We met the team for dinner at Cafe Escobar and had a typically relaxed 3 hour meal – nothing seems to happen very quickly.  It was really nice to get to chat with everyone in a relaxed setting.  I heard they had been really nervous about presenting to us, and this allowed them to relax with us before the next day of work.  The 5,000 foot altitude didn’t seem to have any real effects on me.

View from the hotel balconyTuesday was a full day of updates and presentations in the Guatemala City office – a big upgrade from the office that I visited a year ago.  A very productive day with lots of great information shared.  In the evening we drove to Antigua, a UNESCO world heritage town about an hour from Guatemala City.  This is a truly beautiful town, surrounded by volcanoes, one of which is quite active, spurting every 10 minutes or so.  Antigua was the capital of most of Latin America in colonial times, and hasn’t changed a great deal since then, with the original buildings still intact.  It reminded me a lot of San Miguel de Allende, where we spent Denny’s 50th birthday.

We started at a rooftop deck above the Antigua Brewing Company and enjoyed the amazing views.  Can you see the active volcano in the distance?  The spiral staircase used to access the rooftop would never be allowed in the US.  Then we walked through town to the El Convento boutique hotel for dinner.  What a gorgeous setting with a small restaurant that only seats 24 people.

Wednesday was a long travel day, starting with a flight to Mexico City, and then a long 3 hour drive to Queretaro where our Mexican operation is headquartered.  There was an interesting scene at the Mexico City airport with hundreds of policemen in riot gear, expecting to repel an attempted take over of the airport by protesters.  I understand that the protest didn’t ultimately happen.  We were tired on arrival at another lovely hotel, and ran into our colleague Issac, also visiting from Austin.  He convinced us to join him for dinner outside the hotel, and Damon went all out with a cabrito.  Do you know what that is or can you tell from the picture?

It’s a roasted goat kid leg.  Damon claims it was delicious.  For a smaller guy, he can certainly put away the meat, and actually complained that it was a pretty small cabrito. Poor guy.

Thursday was another busy day of meetings in the Queretaro office, followed by a delicious dinner hosted by our CEO for Latin America, Francisco.  I enjoyed some delicious octopus and shrimp stuffed in a portobello mushroom with a yummy sauce.

I had intended to make the 3 hour drive back to Mexico City on Friday morning, and then catch a flight to Dallas.  Come to find out there’s a direct flight from Queretaro – but only at 6am.  The 4am start was worth it to avoid the long drive and get home much earlier.  My immigration picture shows how early the start really was:

Interestingly, the PGA golf tour is in Mexico City this weekend.  On TV they mentioned that Rory McIlroy’s 7 iron went 160 yards at the tournament last weekend and is going 220 yards at the almost 8,000 foot altitude.  Must be a huge adjustment for the golfers.

After a relaxing Friday evening by myself in McKinney, it was time to make the drive down to Austin.  Penelope did a good job on the drive with no issues at all.  I ventured out to Antone’s on Saturday night to see Ike Stubblefield and Walter “Wolfman” Washington.  I did make a stop at Mai Thai on the way to try their Thai fare.  Very mediocre at best.  Still haven’t found a good Thai place in Austin.

Antone’s was busy with a lot of folks in Mardi Gras garb.  We’ve seen Wolfman in New Orleans a number of times, often in very small venues, and always enjoyed his performance.  Ike Stubblefield is a world renowned Hammond B3 organ player, and he was fantastic.  He’s played on hundreds of recordings and toured with Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones and many others.

Sunday was a relaxing day for me, with workout and good quiet reading time.  I even was able to do my own laundry.  Meanwhile, in California, McD was working her way through thousands of her Mum’s photos, and trying to put them into some kind of order.  She’s been sending various pictures that she likes on texts.  Here’s my favourite:

And my next favourite with 13 year old D helping people learn to swim:

Did you find her in the picture?  I know, it’s hard to miss that smile.

I found myself without any new books backed up, and so reread an old favourite, “The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway.  I love the descriptions of 1920s Paris and the journey the group takes through Spain.  And the classic ending:

“Oh, Jake,” Brett said, “we could have had such a damned good time together.”

Ahead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic.  He raised his baton.  The car slowed suddenly pressing Brett against me.

“Yes,” I said.  “Isn’t it pretty to think so?”

After so many disappointing endings, it’s nice to revisit such an excellent closing.

I was listening to a Spotify playlist while reading this morning, and heard this excellent song from Uncle Lucius, the band that was fronted by Kevin Galloway before he got tired of touring and now plays solo in small venues around Austin.

I love the new album from The Highwomen (Brandi Carlisle, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris, and Amanda Shires), a new collaboration last year.  There’s an excellent cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” on the album, but this is my pick:

And finally a solo song from Kevin Galloway of Uncle Lucius fame.  I really like his voice and arrangements.

 

“Be a New Orleanian, wherever you are”

The week started out quietly and calmly, and ended the same way, with a lot of activity in between, thanks to a visit from our New Orleanian friends Denny, Thom, and Alex.  Those boys take the saying “Be a New Orleanian wherever you are” seriously – it’s hard to keep up.

My anticipation was building for Wednesday evening, and a “date” night that Diana arranged for us.  A visit to Warby Parker to try and get our glasses adjusted was first on the agenda.  Neither one of us was totally happy with our vision after the visit, and I suspected my lenses were going to have to be remade – it’s a lot of hassle getting old.

The somewhat frustrating optical visit was followed by a delicious dinner at June’s All Day.  I opted for the taste bud delight that they call “Bone Marrow Bolognese”.  It was an easy downhill stroll back to our apartment from this South Congress dining institution, and a rare McD planned evening drew to a close.  Thanks for the date D!

The New Orleans crew showed up early on Friday afternoon.  Denny really wanted to reprise the lunch at Loro when he visited with Anne, and so we all headed over to South Lamar.  The guys loved Loro and the bavette steak, corn fritters, and a number of other smoked meat delights that I can’t remember.  Just around the corner from Loro is a place that I had been waiting to try – The Austin Beer Garden Brewery (AGBG).  We enjoyed the sun in the beer garden and caught up on life.

A short walk down South Lamar, and we were rendezvousing with Diana at the Saxon Pub for the Denny Freeman happy hour show.  The guys were amazed at how many people were in attendance so early on a Friday night.  Things don’t get started until much later in New Orleans.

Thom was a wee bit “sleepy” after the Saxon Pub, so we took him to Jo’s coffee on South Congress, and got this adorable shot with their “I Love You So Much” mural:

The guys were surprisingly hungry (I thought Loro would sate them longer) and so we stopped in next door to Guero’s for a Mexican dinner.  That was followed by a leisurely stroll down to C-Boy’s Heart and Soul for the Jimmy Vaughan 10pm show.  It’s always a huge treat to see him in such a small venue and we were lucky to get a booth right in front of the stage.  What a great show, besides the Dutch sounding guy that didn’t understand the rules about getting in other folks personal space, even after a demonstration of where he should be standing.  Even the cocktail waitress was getting frustrated with him.

After the busy Friday, I suggested some light activity to start out Saturday, only to be told what a silly idea that was – a hike up Barton Springs?  Absolutely not!  A round of pitch and putt?  Even worse!  A compromise was struck, and we walked a half mile down Barton Springs to El Alma for brunch on the rooftop deck.  It was a tad chilly but the sun felt good and they did provide heaters and blankies.

Everyone enjoyed brunch and then I was able to sneak in some more walking, with a quick stop into Carpenter Hall, followed by a walk along the river trail and past the Stevie Ray Vaughan memorial.  It’s sad to imagine what great music the Vaughan brothers would be making today, had Stevie not died in that tragic helicopter crash so many years ago.

After a short regroup at the apartment, we walked on the other side of the river to Rainey street, and stopped into the patio at the Half Step.  We followed that with a quick stop into Geraldine’s at the Van Zandt hotel, unfortunately with no music going.  Then the group splintered, with Diana and I heading back to the apartment to rest, and the boys heading off to meet various sets of friends.  The two of us were so tired that we slept through several phone calls from poor Mr. Denny, attempting to get up to the apartment.  We had neglected to tell him that he was on the list to be let into our apartment whenever he wanted, and so he ended up crashing with the other two at the Hyatt across the parking lot.

I walked over with the boys for breakfast tacos on Sunday morning, and then Denny relaxed in a less crowded bed, while the rest of us headed off for some shopping.  Best for everyone, as Denny’s only good for about 2 minutes of shopping activity.  We started at Whole Earth Provisions on North Lamar (similar to REI with outdoor and camping gear, but with a bit more eclectic selection), then wandered down to the classic Austin institution,  Waterloo records,  where Alex picked up a couple of  albums.

Denny and Diana met up with us on the fancy El Comedor patio for brunch.  I loved the TX mushroom quesadilla, the corn tortilla had an amazing flavour – right up there with Suerte.  Poor Diana did have to try three times before getting a poached egg that didn’t have a yoke that was too hard – part of the problem is that with her dish they serve the poached egg cold, and it’s hard to get a runny yoke with that approach.

 

A short Uber ride took us to the totally different neighborhood feel of  East Austin and the patio at Whislers.  From there, some excellent research from Denny took us to Central Machine Works, a new massive brewery and outdoor patio space in an old industrial machine shop building.  This will be a good place to visit on warm Spring evenings.  I like that they “rescued” one of the old machines to be mounted above the bar.

We made note of Sawyer & Co. across the street, a 50s style diner with Cajun Creole style food that gets good reviews – it’s on the list for an upcoming brunch visit.

Diana and I opted to head back to the apartment to rest, while the boys ventured off to find a suitable place to watch the Superbowl.  I had to laugh as their black Suburban Uber pulled up and Diana and I jumped into an old lime green Toyota Corolla – we weren’t going far.  The crew arrived back at the apartment in time for the second half, and then were off home to New Orleans.  Whew!  That was a busy weekend.

With all that activity, I was still able to get some quiet reading time in, finishing up “Such a Fun Age” by Kiley Reid.  This book is on all the “Best of the Year So Far” lists, and so I thought I’d try it out.  Here’s a typically effusive review:

“A striking and surprising debut novel from an exhilarating new voice, Such a Fun Age is a page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.”

I sort of enjoyed this book, a quick page turning read, but found it trying too hard to make the racial and class divide commentaries.  Sometimes reading like a typical summer “beach read” and others quite preachy, I did enjoy the chapters told from the different character points of view.

I made a note to myself that if I see one of those “Reese’s Book Club” (Reese Witherspoon) stickers on a dust jacket, I’m likely not going to love the book – this is my second miss of two that carry her recommendation.

The South Austin Moonlighters was a CD on one of the listening stations at Waterloo records.  After 30 seconds I knew I really liked the sound – great production and excellent harmonies.  I think this sounds like something in between the harmony of the Eagles and Crosby, Stills and Nash, and I like it a lot.

The production sound of the album is excellent, with all instruments clear and natural sounding.  I just did some research on the band, not knowing anything about them prior to the Waterloo visit, only to find that this album was produced by Anders Osborne, my favourite New Orleans singer-songwriter.

The band is comprised of veteran musicians who got together to “moonlight”, and just enjoy playing music together – now it’s become their main gig.  And you can see them at a small Austin venue like Threadgills for $10 in a couple of weeks.

“Hot Pepper”

Damon joined us for a “Bachelor Watch Party” on Monday evening.  Really, he and I did watch and provided lots of helpful input on the show for Diana’s entertainment.    We did have a slight dinner snafu – Damon is a bit meat eater, and we had decided to have burgers since we don’t have a pan suitable for cooking steaks.   The issue came when McD started to mix the “ground beef” with some pork to make the patties, discovering that Whole Foods had delivered some plant based ground beef substitute.  We actually couldn’t tell the difference at all – the burgers were delicious.

Diana left on the bus for Dallas on Tuesday morning for client meetings, and I had a quiet evening in at the apartment.

A work event had me fighting traffic up MOPAC (a highway named after the Missouri Pacific railway line that follows its path) to the Top Golf complex.  I had been dreading playing golf on a very dreich (you don’t know that word? – damp and wet) day, but the heaters and shelter of the multi-tiered golf bays worked very well, and I ended up having an enjoyable evening.  In my welcome speech I had mentioned that I hadn’t played much golf, which everybody finds strange, anticipating that everyone in Scotland is an avid golfer, and surprised myself and others by winning the competition in my bay.  My competition was trying to blast the ball as far as possible on every shot, with mixed results, while I just took it easy and was able to be more consistent.  Something about a tortoise and a hare I think.

Diana graced me with her presence again on Thursday evening, and I dragged her out to see the late music show at the Saxon Pub – Eric Lindell performing a rare solo show.  We’ve seen him with his band and Anson Funderberg a number of times, but never solo, and I really enjoyed the acoustic renditions of his catalog, and a few covers, including this version of Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing”:

 

You might notice a better quality level in my video clips going forward – thanks to the 3 cameras on my new phone.  Lindell shared that he had found the acoustic guitar at a Pawn shop for very little and had a luthier put a new neck on it – sounds good, don’t you think?  He also welcomed his friend, “Rudy from San Antonio” – we met Rudy after a Delbert McClinton show in Dallas, and it was nice to catch up again.  Here’s our favourite Lindell song, “Lay Back Down”:

The Friday morning 6:00 am alarm that Diana set came way too early, and I’m sure I’ve whined before that we’re getting too old to stay out late on school nights.  There was some entertainment at the office, with a Tim Tam Jam in the accounting department.  Our Australian treasurer had a whole display and demonstrated how to eat a Tim Tam properly – bite each end off, sip coffee through the middle bit, and then “Jam” it in your mouth before everything gets too messy.  Who knew?

Diana joined me for a work happy hour at Baker St Pub on Friday evening.  I’m fortunate to work with such a fun and nice bunch of folks.  We tried a new place, Winebelly, afterwards – a place we’d seen a few months ago when enjoying brunch at Phoebe’s Diner, and thought it looked intriguing.  The ambience, service and food were excellent.  We started with shishito peppers and a superb chicken liver mousse.  There was a wee incident with the peppers – typically every 10th pepper is hotter than the rest – in this case Diana got the “hottest shishito ever” and “it feels like hot knives are being stabbed into my tongue.”  About 20 minutes later things had calmed down and we were ready to explore the rest of the menu.  Chicken empanadas were “the best I’ve had” and the mushroom salad was also very good.  We left perfectly sated.  Oh, I forgot to mention this funny sign that was on the wall by the restrooms.  Partially funny because McD used to use the mnemonic of “W.C. Fields” to remember the names of my 3 sons, Will, Campbell and Finn.

 

 

 

Saturday was a relatively lazy and quiet day – workout, coffee and crossword at Opa! (don’t ask about the service and food mixups from a usually great place), shopping for supplies for Denny and crew visiting, and then relaxing with books.

Comedor is a new and very well reviewed restaurant in downtown Austin.  It’s been open for a few months now and it’s possible to get reservations less than a month in advance, so we thought we’d try Sunday brunch.  The 75 degree weather was perfect for a casual stroll across the 1st street bridge and into downtown.  The design of the place is really stunning with huge windows and a lot of bare metal.  There’s also a very nice patio.

The service was very friendly (not always the case in popular, well reviewed spots) and the food was amazing.  Check out D’s Papas Fritas –  rosti style hash brown, soft egg, cured salmon, creme fraiche, smoked trout roe – she loved everything about it.

My Pambazo Torta with red chorizo, potato, fried egg, guacamole, queso fresco,  and black bean was an explosion of flavours and plenty to send me home with dinner as well.  All in a perfect huge brioche bun.

The remainder of Sunday was relaxing, with D cranking out some work, and me blogging and catching up on some reading.  All interrupted by the stunning news of Kobe Bryant’s death in a helicopter crash.

I finished the memoir “Uncanny Valley” by Anna Wiener this week.  As I was searching for an online picture of the book jacket, I came across some interesting material on the “Uncanny Valley Hypothesis”, and why not share this likely useless information with all of you?  The hypothesis states that as the appearance of a robot is made more human, some observers’ emotional response to the robot becomes increasingly positive and empathetic, until it reaches a point beyond which the response quickly becomes strong revulsion. However, as the robot’s appearance continues to become less distinguishable from a human being, the emotional response becomes positive once again and approaches human-to-human empathy levels.  The valley is clearly seen in this chart:

Back to the book, after that random distraction, exactly how folks lose hours down online browsing rabbit holes.  This newly released book was recommended by just about everyone that recommends books – New York Times, Washington Post, and on and on.  What’s all the fuss about?  Well, I enjoyed the conversational memoir style, and the setting (Silicon Valley during the technology boom) is one that’s reasonably familiar to me, making for a fast paced and relatable tale that does raise a number of ethical and social questions.  Here’s how McMillan describes the book:

In her mid-twenties, at the height of tech industry idealism, Anna Wiener—stuck, broke, and looking for meaning in her work, like any good millennial–left a job in book publishing for the promise of the new digital economy. She moved from New York to San Francisco, where she landed at a big-data startup in the heart of the Silicon Valley bubble: a world of surreal extravagance, dubious success, and fresh-faced entrepreneurs hell-bent on domination, glory, and, of course, progress.

Anna arrived amidst a massive cultural shift, as the tech industry rapidly transformed into a locus of wealth and power rivaling Wall Street. But amid the company ski vacations and in-office speakeasies, boyish camaraderie and ride-or-die corporate fealty, a new Silicon Valley began to emerge: one in far over its head, one that enriched itself at the expense of the idyllic future it claimed to be building.

Part coming-of-age-story, part portrait of an already-bygone era, Anna Wiener’s memoir is a rare first-person glimpse into high-flying, reckless startup culture at a time of unchecked ambition, unregulated surveillance, wild fortune, and accelerating political power. With wit, candor, and heart, Anna deftly charts the tech industry’s shift from self-appointed world savior to democracy-endangering liability, alongside a personal narrative of aspiration, ambivalence, and disillusionment.

Unsparing and incisive, Uncanny Valley is a cautionary tale, and a revelatory interrogation of a world reckoning with consequences its unwitting designers are only beginning to understand.

Khruangbin is an American musical trio from Houston, Texas, with Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald Ray “DJ” Johnson Jr. on drums. The band is known for blending global music influences, classic soul, dub and psychedelia.  The band members originally bonded over a shared love of Afghan music, and I think you can hear that coming through – not that I’ve ever listened to Afghan music, but you know what I mean.  Here they’re joined by another Texan, Fort Worth’s young soul singing superstar, Leon Bridges.

Here’s a song I heard this morning that might just be what Afghan music sounds like?

Mitch Webb and the Swindols were scheduled to play the regular Wednesday night Sun radio showcase at Guero’s, but were a victim of the rain that continued all day.  I was interested to see what they sounded like and am pleased to share that with you as well.  They are based in San Antonio and you can hear the influences from south of the border – and I have heard some of that for sure.

I heard this song on Paradise Radio and was reminded of the live version that we enjoyed at the Kessler – gosh I miss that venue, even with all the excellent alternatives in Austin.

And finally, here’s a Glenn Miller tune that I heard this week.  I forget how much I love his orchestration and arrangements.  The brass accents at 2:00 in are perfect, with the hushed trombones chugging in the background.