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“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.

 

 

“Happy Birthday McD”

Gemma was our destination for Diana’s birthday dinner on Wednesday night.  The drive took about an hour, and we commented that if we were in Austin it would have been a 5 minute Uber ride.  The food was worth the wait with delicious baby octopus and trumpet mushroom appetizers.

The owners worked in restaurants in Napa valley prior to moving back to Dallas to open Gemma.  The lighter California touch on French and Italian recipes is very pleasant.  Diana enjoyed a generously sized pork chop and I had an excellent papardelle with braised rabbit.

Fortunately the drive home was much quicker.  We needed some sleep before packing up and heading to Scotland on Thursday afternoon.

Both flights were smooth and on time, resulting in a lunchtime Friday arrival in Glasgow.

Our taxi driver down to Stewarton was quite entertaining with stories of the Christmas gifts he had organized for his family members.  He also made me laugh when he reminded me of the “Horsey Huts”, where I attended primary three.

We had a very nice time relaxing with my Mum and Dad on Friday evening.  I had to find a guide to the Quality Street chocolates for Diana, so that she could identify the Orange Cream.  Can you guess what colour the wrapper was?

Saturday started with my favourite breakfast delicacy – Stornaway black pudding.  Where is Stornaway?  Here it is on the map – in the very North West of Scotland on the island of Lewis.  You can also see Aberdeen (where we’ll be spending Christmas) on the North East coast.  I wonder why the black pudding from way up there is so much better than any other that I’ve tasted?  Could it be something about the water?

Diana entertained herself by “helping” (she actually did quite well) with my Dad’s jigsaw puzzle.  It’s a Lowry painting, and very challenging.

David showed up on Sunday and was a good helper, while BP kept a watchful eye on the proceedings from atop Geoffrey the giraffe.

We were treated to a live view of the “crampons” that my Mum and Dad use to walk in the snowy and icy conditions.  Still not what we’re viewing as a great idea, despite all the locals siding with my parents.

Sunday’s outing was to the Eden garden center in Dundonald.  We enjoyed lunch in their cafe.  I was trusted to drive there and back – only once cautioned about my speed in a 20 mph zone, and fortunately the passengers didn’t react too negatively to me not noticing the road humps or “sleeping policemen”.

We perused the merchandise while waiting for a table in the cafe, and Diana thought she was funny pointing out the sign on the right hand side of this picture, until I pointed to the one on the left.

My Dad seemed to have a fun time at lunch:

We have certainly eaten very well during our first few days in Scotland – fresh Pittenweem salmon from the Friday fish delivery man, stuffed chicken breast, and my Mum’s special steak pie were all delicious.

The pictures from my company Christmas party were published and here’s one of us that we like:

Even with flying time and jet lag interrupted sleep, I still wasn’t able to finish a book this week.  I’ll try to be better next week.

I read that the Boomtown Rats, popular when I was in high school, and led by Bob Geldoff (famous for planning Live Aid in 1985), were performing in Glasgow next year.  That reminded me of this song (you haven’t lived until you’ve heard my brother in law David playing the intro):

Since the blog comes to you from Scotland this week, here’s one from our most famous band, Runrig:

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Racing Will”

Lots of work this week for K and D.  We were both so worn out at the end of the day that we didn’t do much in the evenings either.  I did drag Diana over to the Hyatt on Tuesday night just to get her out of the apartment for a little while.

All my excitement came vicariously from my boys.  Campbell and his crew traveled to Chicago last Sunday to watch Nick Bawden play for the Lions against the Bears.  That’s the trio of Cameron, Campbell, and Grady in the middle – friends since they were in kindergarten.

Doesn’t it look freezing cold?  Campbell said the wind was blowing directly in their faces at these elevated seats.

Will was checking off one of his “life goals” around the same time.  He spent the weekend getting track driving lessons in his new BMW M2 competition (rated Road and Track #2 car of the year – behind what? – the 911 of course) and loved every minute of it.  He got  lots of great photos and I enjoy zooming in to see the concentration on his face.

The stitches came out of my finger on Wednesday and things are healing up nicely.  I’m even able to change the dressing solo now.  After that excitement we made the drive up to McKinney in the afternoon.

The weekend was quiet also with a lot of work interruptions for me.  I’m watching the Cowboys playing the Lions as I write this post.  It’s an evenly matched game so far and fun to see Nick Bawden on TV.  Campbell must be torn about who to support.

When the game finishes, we’ll make the drive to Austin and are planning on watching the start of the new season of “The Crown” on Netflix when we arrive.

What a great album cover – Elvis Costello and the Attractions “Armed Forces”.  Anne texted me this picture from the Costello concert in New Orleans.  Her friend, Margaret, is a huge fan and you can tell they have very good seats.  This reminded me of the album Costello made with Allen Toussaint after Katrina.

 

 

Sticking in New Orleans, I was listening to Luke Winslow King this weekend and came across this gem.  I love his guitar playing.

I’ll finish up with JM Stevens from Austin.  Wish we had reserved enough energy for his album release show at the Continental Club last week.

 

 

“Ouch, that really hurt!”

Thanks to all of my faithful readers who reached out with concern about the missing post last week.  I suffered a wee accident that will be revealed later in this post.  That will also explain the somewhat terse nature of this post.  I’m going to rely on pictures more than words.  D and I did watch a good movie this weekend – “Words and Pictures” starring Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche – an artist and a writer competing on whether words or pictures were more powerful.  I recommend this movie very much.  Clive Owen quoting Ian McEwan’s “Saturday” to his class is worth the price of admission.

Cat was in town again last Wednesday night and joined us for a night of jazz at the Parker Club.  We really like this venue and Julie Slim was playing some French cafe style jazz, complete with accordion.  She put on a great show with her band and we stayed longer than expected.  Here she is doing some Cabaret:

We visited a bar across the street to watch a little bit of the World Series baseball and took this silly picture for Cat to send to Kristina.  He had a splint on his finger due to arthritis – more on that later.

Next door the regular Wednesday night 80s band, the Spazmatics were playing and we couldn’t resist – a very fun band as evidenced in this video – wait for the classic D moves:

 

Thursday night brought the much anticipated Austin City Limits Hall of Fame Induction ceremony at the Moody Theater.

The show started with the Austin Samba Club performing in front of the stage – very New Orleans style, marching in with drums and dancing.  Then Jackson Browne (one of our favourites) inducted Shawn Colvin.  It was interesting to see such a seasoned performer get nervous talking to the crowd.  Each of the three inductees performed 4 or 5 songs with special guests,  and the musicianship was superb.

Then Jimmie Vaughan inducted and played with the amazing Buddy Guy – 83 years old and very spry and energetic.  Sean Penn (also surprisingly nervous to start) inducted Lyle Lovett.  Lyle won over Diana with his story telling and humour during his acceptance speech.  I enjoyed Edie Brickell covering one of his songs very much.  Then it was time for the grand finale with everyone on stage.

 

The excellent show finished after 11 and we were both hungry.  It was raining outside as evidenced by Wet Willie, and 2nd bar and kitchen was closed, so we went across the street to the JW Marriott.  That turned out to be a mistake.

We got seated and I headed for the restroom.  On the way back the door slammed on my finger, breaking and lacerating the tip.  It was dangling and looking pretty nasty.  Diana very expeditiously ordered an Uber, and we headed for a night at Dell Seton Emergency Room.

Things moved slowly to reinsert my right index finger nail and stitch me up, with us ultimately discharged after 4am.  What a long, frustrating night.  I tried to leave a couple of times, with my wonderful wife handling me well.  You’ll have to ask her for some of the more entertaining details.  Also good stories about our fellow patients, and the paramedic who stopped in just to hang out with some sane folks for a bit.

 

My finger was numb all Thursday and so I was able to go into work in the afternoon.  Not so much on Friday, woke up with some pain and then flew to California in the evening for Clorinda’s 88th birthday celebration.  We enjoyed the Fairmont hotel all lit up for Halloween in downtown Austin.

I made Clorinda one of my special omelets to kick off the celebration and then we had dinner in Redwood City with friends and family.  In classic form, Grammie had to get a picture of her 88 (piano birthday) candles.

While we were enjoying dinner, the power was proactively shut off in Pacifica.  The old, above ground equipment had caused several massive fires and the winds were high, so while very inconvenient, also understandable.

On Sunday morning, I headed down to San Jose to meet Will, Finn and Christine for a car show at Santana Row, followed by lunch at Sino.  I’ve never seen so many Lamborghinis and McClarens in one place.  And then there was a classic Austin Healey among them.

It was really nice to see Finn after so long.  He’s finally looking good again after all he’s been through.

And great to see him with an appetite for the yummy Sino dim sum.

Back in Pacifica, we celebrated our nephew, Massimo’s, 3rd birthday.  We’re hoping he quickly grows out of his current behavior phase.

Still no power on Monday morning.  Will welcomed us to his place for hot showers and power to work.  It was typical Will when we dropped off the key at his office, and he brought his entire team out to meet us.

Sometimes challenges are fortuitous – the power still out meant Adamo had to cook up all his lobster tails that had defrosted – absolutely delicious.

I always enjoy the views from the Campagna property.  Here are some pictures from this visit:

 

 

We flew back to Austin on Tuesday and chuckled at the wifi password in the Admiral’s Club.  We’re looking forward to our Scottish trip.

Back in Austin, I visited the hand specialist on Wednesday and was scheduled for surgery on Thursday early – 5 am back at Dell Seton.  All went smoothly and we were at the Carpenter for breakfast by 10am.  Here’s a before (bottom left) and after picture.  The wires come out on December 3rd.

We drove back to McKinney on Saturday and have been enjoying a lazy weekend.

I was able to finish three books with all the flying and downtime.  “The Last Days of California” by Mary Miller is an interesting tale of a family driving cross country to California before the Rapture.  The book is told through the eyes of the 15 year old, younger sister of the family.

I didn’t enjoy this as much as “Biloxi” but it was still a pleasant read, with many interesting characters and exploration of fundamentalist religious beliefs.

Next up was the Steve Forbert biography from his show.  This was a joyous read with so many great music stories.  He was raving about Shawn Colvin, who we saw inducted at the ACL show.  His writing is very engaging and personal and really communicated the struggle of a singer songwriter.

 

 

 

Last was a short read from the amazing Stewart O’Nan – “Last Night at the Lobster”.  I loved his “Henry, Himself” a few months ago.

This story is about the last day of a Red Lobster that is closing due to poor performance, and is told through the eyes of the manager.  Having been to Red Lobster many times for kids birthday parties, and having spent a few months in the restaurant business, this resonated with me quite a bit.  The characters who work there and the various parties – the office celebration, Moms with an out of control kid, and old ladies lunch group were covered perfectly.

My hand is tired, and so I’ll skip the music section this week.  Should be back to weekly updates next week.  Be careful out there with your digits.

 

 

 

 

“Angry Bevo”

We started the week in Austin, enjoying a reasonably long stay this time.  Celebrations and self congratulations continued on Monday afternoon as we had an afternoon office party to celebrate the rollout of our new system.  The balloons say POS2 – our highly original name for our new version of the Point of Sale system.  One of the really nice features of a small company is the way the whole office comes together to recognize accomplishments like this.  Beer, wine, and snacks at 3:30pm didn’t hurt either.

That’s my Development leader, Doug, cutting the cake.  He’s been working on this for several years and certainly deserved the recognition.

Diana joined Damon, Mark, and me for continued celebrations at Uchi on Tuesday night.  This time we were celebrating a successful migration from our old cloud data center provider to Microsoft Azure – another activity that had been planned for a long time, and consumed a good part of our normal weekend sleeping hours.  Sushi is not the best choice for Damon, who can consume massive quantities of beef for such a small, skinny guy.  As a result, we got to sample a decent amount of the menu.  My favourite was the maguro (big-eye tuna) with goat cheese mousse.

One morning this week, Marc Cohn and the Blind Boys of Alabama performed “Work to Do” on the Today show.  It’s a great performance that took us back to that wonderful evening at the Mountain Winery:

https://www.today.com/video/marc-cohn-blind-boys-of-alabama-sing-work-to-do-on-today-71287365656

I planned out an evening of new experiences for Friday night.  We were very adventurous and stepped outside our standard 2 mile radius around the Catherine, starting with a lovely Indian dinner at the Clay Pit.  Curried mussels with garlic Naan to sop up the sauce, chicken pakora, and lamb Rogan-Josh were all excellent.  It’s been so long since I had a decent Indian meal – and who knew there was a good place within a 5 minute Uber ride of the apartment.  I look forward to going back soon.

After dinner, we walked up “the drag” (Guadalupe street by the University of Texas), to the University Union and the Cactus Cafe.

This is a small music club that features folk-rock singer-songwriter types.  It just celebrated a 40 year anniversary and has hosted many of the greats as seen in these posters.  It did seem a bit strange to wander through UT students, studying with laptops out, to get to a show where the median age was at least 50.

Our entertainment for the evening was provided by Steve Forbert, top middle in the poster from 1994.  If you’re like most of the folks I’ve talked to since this show, you may not recognize the name.  Here’s his biggest hit, Romeo’s Tune:

Did you recognize it?  No worries if you didn’t – it’s from 1973.  But is does have very close to 5 million listens on Spotify.  I’ll share another of my favourites later in the official music section.  What a unique voice.  Forbert has released 19 albums over the years, and so has a large catalog to draw from in performances.  We ran into a couple we met at the Bill Frisell show recently, and they reported very different setlists each time they have seen him.

I had heard about a new book by Forbert, and had waited to buy it at the show.  I was fortunate to get a personalized copy.

We slept late on Saturday morning, then I had a swim in the very chilly pool while McD had a workout.  Next we were off on a typical Austin Saturday trail – coffee and crossword on the Opa! patio and a stop to pick up wine.  Then another new experience.

We donned our UT burnt orange garb and headed over to the stadium parking lots for a “tailgate”.   For my overseas readers, a “tailgate” is a gathering to get pumped up before a big sports event, often involving barbecue and beer.  The term stems from dropping down the gate at the end of a pickup truck bed to make an informal table.  Our event was a bit fancier, with sun awnings, TVs, catered barbecue, a wide selection of drinks, and games.  My vendor who organized the event did a great job – she had to arrive at 6am to stake out the prime, shady spot, and the party didn’t start until 3pm.

Over 100,000 fans attend the University of Texas Longhorns games – it feels like the whole city is involved, with lots of people traveling in from around the United States.  Bevo is the longhorn mascot, and I got Diana an “Angry Bevo” tee shirt to war to the event – she got lots of compliments.

I was sporting my new “Allright, Allright, Allright” shirt.  Matthew McConaughey, the actor, is a huge UT fan and that’s his catch phrase.

Diana won a pair of tickets to the game in the raffle, but neither of us was pumped about sitting in the craziness for another three hours.  Like a couple of old folks, we headed home for a quiet night in.  The game turned out to be a very exciting and high scoring affair, with UT ultimately defeating Kansas.  That picture of D’s new shirt was taken inside a conch shell sculpture outside the UT Medical Center – she’s still very good at humouring me.

Sunday was another lazy start, followed by workouts, and packing for the drive to Dallas.  Thousands of others had the same idea, and it was a long drive in Penelope.  She was only able to achieve a comfortable cruising speed for short periods – always gets her dander up.

We did arrive home in time for me to settle into my spot for the Cowboys – Eagles game.  This was a very important game for the division lead, and the Boys got off to a great start.  For once, they were able to maintain momentum and win 37-10.  A very nice victory.

Mother Nature was extremely active during the game with severe thunderstorms in McKinney and tornados in North Dallas.  Our local tornado sirens went off a couple of times.  The damage was very severe – the worst since 1969.  The tornado was classified as an EF3 with 140 mph winds, and was on the ground for 16 miles across North Dallas.  The Preston Hollow area, with very fancy homes (including George and Laura Bush’s residence) was heavily impacted.  This article has pictures and videos of the devastation.  The great news is that nobody was critically injured – amazing when you look at  the pictures.  This is one of the advantages of all the technology and early warning systems, and lots of folks watching the football game that was interrupted with detailed warnings.  On the negative side, many schools were completely destroyed and it will be a logistical nightmare to recover.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/10/21/destructive-dallas-tornado-lofts-debris-twenty-thousand-feet-high/

Out in California, Will and Christine were attending a wedding at Lake Tahoe.  A typical silly Will pose, but he does look smart.  I did ask the typical parental question, and was told firmly that there are no plans soon.

I enjoyed a couple of quite different books this week.  I need to do a better job of recording where I find the recommendations that cause me to order up books – I can’t remember what chose me to order “Post Office” by Charles Bukowski.  This 1971 novel made its author famous, with the tales of a poor character who spends the majority of his working life in dead end postal service jobs.  He suffers through abusive bosses, alcohol abuse, and a racetrack gambling addiction.   So, not an upbeat beach read, but well written and it felt very real.

 

My second book was a complete departure from Post Office.  “The Balcony” by Jane Delury is a multi-generational tale based around a manor and cottage in Benneville, France.  I almost started to draw a family tree to keep track of all the various relatives that weave through the  book over 200 years.  I didn’t love the writing, which seemed to change styles with the different portions of the story, but enjoyed being immersed in French culture and language – much of it untranslated to give me a test.  I don’t think I agree with all the reviewers that have been raving about this debut novel.

As promised earlier, here’s my favourite Forbert song.  What a great sound:

A really good song from Taj Mahal, taking me back again to the Mountain Winery a couple of months ago:

A different version of an all time favourite:

And finishing out with something different, I really enjoy the piano on this one.