“A Dull Boy”
Another week of long work days for both of us. Becoming too much of a trend lately. We need to fix that soon. “All work and no play, makes Keith a very dull boy!”.
My comment about steak tartare last week prompted Raj to send me this hilarious clip of Mr. Bean about to enjoy the same:
We were paying close attention to Hurricane Barry on Friday, as it started to head towards New Orleans and surrounding areas. Denny and Anne returned form their European jaunt on Monday and had to move their cars out of their flooded street, and get ready for several days of being home bound.
Webster Street has never been this much flooded before, and the storm hadn’t arrived yet.
My friend Norma, from Guatemala, was trying to get to New Orleans on Saturday to see the Rolling Stones at the Superdome. This is the rescheduled concert from the Jazzfest 50th anniversary show that was canceled due to Mick Jagger’s illness. Wouldn’t you know she had to fly on Friday afternoon to get in ahead of the storm, only to find out that the concert was pushed back to Monday. We’re hoping she finally gets to see the band after so much effort. She was in Lima, Peru this week, planning for our new system to be implemented, and was complaining that it was mid winter and very cold. It will not feel like winter in New Orleans for sure.
Thankfully, New Orleans was not too badly impacted by Barry.
Out in San Diego, Campbell reported his best sales month ever, and best week ever to close out the quarter. Look at the salesman extraordinaire go!
This screensaver on my computer took me back to the gorgeous Scottish hillsides, covered in heather. Also made me picture Bramble, Elspeth and David’s new Labrador, out for a run and having fun. Correction – maybe she’s really Heather’s dog.
Our neighbours across the street are moving to a house with better “outdoor living” after 15 years in their current house. We’re very sorry to see them go – such happy people who would help us with anything. It’ll be interesting to see who moves in next.
I always enjoy waking up to the sunrise view and the Friday morning edition was very impressive.
Diana arrived on the afternoon bus on Friday and it reminded me to share this picture I snapped earlier in the week. One of the luxury Vonlane buses had broken down and the Corvette the mechanic drove over to repair it was hilarious. Zoom in and check out all that crazy air intake equipment.
Less than two hours after arrival, I had Diana over to Antone’s to see the amazing Marcia Ball. I just told her that I had a fun activity planned, and didn’t provide any more details. She was quite excited on seeing the billboard.
Part of the entertainment of a Marcia Ball concert is the way her legs and feet keep the beat. On good display in this clip:
We always laugh at the song, “Just Kiss Me Baby”:
Given Hurricane Barry bearing down on Louisiana, Randy Newman’s “Louisiana 1927” was quite poignant:
It’s amazing that a song about the flood of 1927 still seems relevant today. Here Marcia makes the song her own, following an excellent saxophone solo:
Ball is an impressive performer at the age of 70, having played in small clubs across the South for more than 50 years. Equally impressive are the charities she runs to provide housing and healthcare for Austin musicians.
The Boogie Kings, a band formed in Eunice, Louisiana in 1955, were billed as the headliners, but the crowd had cleared out a good bit for their set – most folks came to hear Marcia Ball.
Their soul music was very good, particularly the three horn players who had clearly being doing it for many years. Here’s the “Harlem Shuffle” showcasing the horns:
As we arrived back home to the apartment, the dull sheen of the work week was starting to wear off.
Saturday began with a swim and sauna, followed by a delicious Mediterranean lunch, coffee and crossword at Opa. Then a Target shopping run and back to the apartment for a nap for me, while McD joined the craziness of the monthly pool party, including a DJ playing music she didn’t enjoy.
Diana was in charge of entertainment on Saturday night, and she opted for a walk down South Congress. We paused outside the Continental Club to listen to a very good swing band – it wouldn’t have taken much to convince D to head on inside – and then continued our walk on down to the South 
Congress Hotel. There really are so many interesting stores and restaurants on this street – very unique. We enjoyed a drink at Craft and Commerce – commenting on the beautiful decor, and then walked across the street for dinner at June’s. We sat on the patio and enjoyed the people watching.
I was up early on Sunday to watch the Gentlemens’ Final at Wimbledon. Going to bed on Saturday, Diana said it started at 8am, and of course I had to argue – believing that was 8am Eastern. When I got to the TV at 7am Central, the pre-game show was just starting. Diana was right again. She always says, “What was that?”. I’ll repeat – Diana was right again! What an excellent tennis match. Federer’s single handed backhand is superb, but his forehand let him down too often to prevail. I think we shared the Duchess of Cambridge’s emotions.
Sunday morning continued with a swim and sauna, followed by brunch at El Alma – so good. I enjoyed an afternoon nap and some reading time. In the evening, we walked across to the lawn at the Long Center to enjoy the Austin Symphony brass section in a free outdoor concert. They really do take full advantage of the open spaces in downtown Austin. The concert was a good mix of Renaissance music, film scores, Texas songs, and marches. The crowd was the typical Austin mix of lots of dogs, kids, and even a guy doing yoga next to us. Here’s a view of the almost full moon over the Catherine from my lawn chair, as the sun set on activities.
Here’s a short video of the brass section performing the “Yellow Rose of Texas” with some views of the apartment and downtown:
I enjoyed the book, “Machines LIke Me” by Ian McEwan, very much. What an excellent writer and a creative premise. The novel is set in 1982, the miners are on strike, unemployment is soaring, and Margaret Thatcher has dispatched the Navy to protect the Falkland Islands from take over by an Argentinian junta. These are all historically accurate, and then McEwan puts a twist on things – the war in the Falklands is lost with 3,000 casualties, Lennon and JFK are both alive, and Tony Benn is challenging Thatcher for leadership of the country.
The biggest tweak to history is that Alan Turing is still alive and treated as a hero. He has built on his famous World War II code cracking machine, and created many of the foundational components of Artificial Intelligence, which he provides to all via open source. Charlie, the hero of the story, acquires one of 25 new androids, capable of developing a human-like personality over time. The novel deftly explores what can go right and wrong as androids become more and more human-like.
This book reminded me a lot of Roth’s “The Plot Against America”, with the slight tweaks on history. This one is equally well done. McEwan has certainly become more of a crowd pleaser with his last few novels, but still highly enjoyable and unique.
I include this first song just so that I can tell a short story that I learned recently. When receiving the rite of Catholic confirmation, participants choose the name a Saint that they admire. Diana chose “Bernadette”, best known for her visions at Lourdes.
Returning to Antone’s on Friday reminded me of my first visit there after moving to Austin, and the excellent Doyle Bramhall II show, featuring special guest Lukas Nelson.
I heard this wonderful Chopin Nocturne on Paradise Radio this week – they really do play a great mix of styles and genres.
A unique Prince cover finishes out the post for this week. Didn’t turn out being too dull of a week after all.
workouts and then lunch at Toulouse in Legacy West. Diana was excited when her choice for restaurant stuck – the other two options we discussed were closed for the holiday. We enjoyed a delicious white wine and steak tartare with frites. I know, you’re thinking our diet is almost exclusively raw meat these days – only when we go to French places that do it well.
And did you know that I’m highly allergic to wasp and bee stings – swell up like the Elephant Man. Turns out hornets nests are not always in trees. We found five piles of sand in the beds next to the grill, looking just like ant hills without the ants. Further investigation showed some kind of bug burrowing into the ground and kicking out sand. We decided to leave well alone and wait for the pest control experts.
early dinner at the Grape. She says she had been thinking about going all week – must have some special ESP going. We started by sharing the chicken liver mousse, which now has the pistachio topping added back – last time we visited, over a year ago we guess, they had changed it, and not for the better. Then we split a delicious salad, followed by steak frites for Diana and scallops for me. A lovely evening and way too long since we’ve visited the Grape.
“The Parade” by Dave Eggers, a very favourite author, is a spare and powerful story of two men, Western contractors sent to work far from home, and tasked with paving a road to the capital in a dangerous and largely lawless country.
“Biloxi” by Mary Miller is quite different than any book that I’ve read in a while. Miller skillfully transports us to her unapologetic corner of the South—this time, Biloxi, Mississippi, home to sixty-three-year-old Louis McDonald Jr. His wife of thirty-seven years has left him, his father has passed—and he has impulsively retired from his job in anticipation of an inheritance check that may not come. In the meantime, he watches reality television, drinks beer, and avoids his ex-wife and daughter. One day, he stops at a house advertising free dogs and meets overweight mixed-breed Layla. Unexpectedly, Louis takes her, and begins investigating local dog parks and buying extra bologna. Mining the absurdities of life with her signature “droll minimalist’s-eye view of America” (Joyce Carol Oates), Mary Miller’s “Biloxi” captures every day life in the South perfectly.
The week started well with a relaxing and delicious lunch at June’s All Day brasserie on far South Congress. This is the place that Mark took me to for lunch when I interviewed for my job in Austin, and I hadn’t been back since. Diana and I both loved our lunch – delicious wines, smoked salmon nicoise salad for D and steak tartare for K. The heavens opened as we were finishing up and so we had to stay for coffee and wait for a brief respite in the rain. Temperatures dropped 15 degrees in a few minutes and the humidity was thankfully gone from the air for a while.
Then they met up with Sean at the Continental Club to see the amazing Peterson Brothers. These two young men have so much positive energy and interact with each other beautifully. May they never lose those positive smiles they have playing music together. I was able to join around 7:30pm for the second half of the show. We particularly enjoyed the rendition of “Amazing Grace” on violin by Alex – it was his first instrument in school before graduating to bass guitar virtuoso.
Changing over from music to the literary front, I finally finished “The Parisian” by Isabella Hammad. This was a very long slog of a book with lots of Arabic dialog and names. I did learn a lot about the history of Palestine in the early 2oth Century, and the influx of Jewish immigration that ultimately caused the Israeli/Palestinian conflict that still exists.
This bar is most famous for featuring in one of the late, great Anthony Bourdain’s television shows. Particularly the taco truck that parks out front. I do think that this is a great place to settle in with a good book.
Dos Jefes cigar bar doesn’t look like much from the outside (in typical New Orleans fashion) but features great live music every night of the week. John Fohl, best known as the guitar player in Dr. John’s band for many years, has a standing Monday night gig. We saw him there a few years ago and really enjoyed his set. I enjoyed this riff on James Booker’s “Classified”:
Anne was able to join us for the show and, as is pretty typical, took time to have a long conversation with Fohl. Mr. “Good Lord” Alex was also able to join us about half way through the first set. Here’s another one of the songs from an excellent first night in New Orleans:
Tuesday festivities started at a new restaurant, “Justine”, in the French Quarter – thanks to Anne for “Oganizing” reservations. This is the new venture from Justin Devillier, the chef/owner behind “La Petite Grocery” – a place we’ve loved for several years. Justin appeared on Top Chef season 11 and has won many awards since beginning his career as a line cook in 2004.
Diana and Anne didn’t have much of a rest before heading out for oyster and champagne Happy Hour at Pascal’s Manale. This is always one of the highlights of McD’s trips to New Orleans, as she gets to catch up with her New Orleans girlfriends.
As we were getting ready to head out for the evening, Denny’s neighbor asked for some help pushing his 1956 Thunderbird into the garage, resulting in this entertaining video:
We hadn’t had quite enough music yet, and rode over to the French Quarter again to see Dragon Smoke at One Eyed Jacks – now having rendezvoused with Diana. This band is a kind of New Orleans supergroup that has come together on the Tuesday night of the week between Jazzfest weekends to perform a one of a kind show for the last 19 years. The members are Ivan Neville (Neville Brothers and Dumpstaphunk), Eric Lindell, Stanton Moore (Galactic) and Robert Mercurio (Galactic). I laughed at the sign outside the venue stating “Early Show – Dragon Smoke – Sold Out” which I saw after 11pm still waiting for the band to assemble from their other various gigs and start.
We had an excellent dinner experience at Patois, just down the street from Denny and Anne’s home. I started with a duck mousse pate that was amazing and Diana had some beautifully cooked octopus in a sizzling skillet.
Thursday also began with a pleasant stroll through Audubon park. I always enjoy seeing the moss in the trees that is so typically Southern. This was used to make mattresses and I’m sure was pretty comfortable.
Norma, my CIO for Latin America and based in Guatemala, bought tickets to Jazzfest when the Rolling Stones were originally scheduled to play on Thursday. She kept her plans to visit New Orleans and met us for a delicious Peruvian dinner at Tito’s Ceviche and Pisco. The weather was good and we sat on the patio and enjoyed a good sampling of the menu. The lamb shank and hanger steak with pesto linguine were my favourites.
legend, Johnny Sansone, in the event space of Monkey Hill bar. This was an excellent show in a great small venue. The blue lights at the front of the stage made it challenging for me to get good pictures and video. Things started out very well with Luke Winslow King and Roberto Luti. Luke is a good friend of my old boss, Vince, who had sent me a signed copy of his last album – it was very nice to hear it live.
The excellent evening closed with some Blues royalty. The band including Fohl, Crowne, and Sansone, were joined by Benny Turner, younger brother of Freddie King and bass player for years in the Freddie King band. What a treat and what a character.
Our Friday at Jazzfest was upon us. This is the 50th anniversary of this wonderful institution and we were hoping for good weather and a great day. As you can see, the skies started off a bit overcast and threatening rain.
From Congo we made the walk through to the Gentilly stage for Shamarr Allen. What an amazingly small cornet he uses, but still gets a great sound. McD was annoyed when Shamarr started her favourite “Weekend Dance” song only to be shut down by the festival police as he reached the end of his time slot – nobody goes over time at Jazzfest.
Next was a quick jaunt back to the Fais Do Do stage (Anne’s favourite) where a lot of local Cajun style music is featured. Cedric Watson was a classic example of this style. I was entertained by his punk rock, Joan Jett looking, washboard player.
Getting tired of walking and too hot in the sun yet? Me too, so we stopped into the paddock area for a breather and some shade.
Diana faught her way up front to get a better view and got this picture from the screen looking out on the extensive Jazzfest crowd. Can you see us back there on the left side?
Our New Orleans vacation started to wind down on Saturday. We had a midday flight but managed to work in one final meal with Denny and Anne before heading to the airport. Echo’s Pizza offers a very nice brunch – Diana and I shared the Echo’s Breakfast – avocado toast, eggs, bacon, and potatoes (delicious). The heavens opened just as we were leaving and so Denny and Anne very kindly dropped us at the airport. Those two are the best hosts you could ever hope for and have been to us for so many years – very special!
rocker still touring strong in his mid 70s – and grew up in Essex. He joined Procul Harem (best known for “A Whiter Shade of Pale”) in the late 60s and played on their 5 first albums. Trower then formed a power trio and is best known for his 1974 album “Bridge of Sighs”. I remember Andy Bull had that album on heavy repeat in one of our University flats. Here is a portion of the title song from that album from the Moody theater:
I read two good books this week. The first, Washington Black” by Esi Edugyan is quite the crazy saga. The story begins on the Faith Plantation in Barbados in the 1830s, where sugar cane is grown and harvested. Edugyan is brutally honest in her portrayal of the physical and emotional brutality of slavery. We meet George Washington Black, a six year old child born into slavery. Wash’s family is unknown to him and his desperation to “belong to” another human being is palpable. Serendipitously, Wash is chosen by the younger brother of the plantation owner, to serve as his scientific assistant. Under the watchful eye of Christopher “Titch” WIlde, the boy learns some reading and math skills, but especially hones his ability to draw natural objects. This first section of the novel is well written and credible but, after the two prepare for a trip aloft in a hot-air balloon, the novel begins to unravel quickly and become much less believable.
I enjoyed my second book, “The Great Alone” by Kristin Hannah, more than the first. I read this book over the course of the weekend and struggled to put it down. The novel revolves around the family of Ernt Allbright, a veteran returning from Vietnam and suffering from what we now know as PTSD. He moves his family to the wilds of Alaska to start their lives anew. Initially it’s a welcome change, but as winter approaches, and Ernt’s mental state deteriorates, his wife and daughter find themselves in an increasingly precarious position. Leni and Cora are the heart of what is as much a mother-daughter love story as it is a pressure cooker of the pain of living with PTSD. Together they reckon not only with the elements, but with some bad decisions, born from the stubborn faith that Ernt will somehow recover and become the loving person he was before the war.
Grissom happy hour residency. You’ll remember me raving last week about the film we saw about the Saxon Pub at the Dallas International Film Festival. One of the more entertaining characters is Chris who works the sound board and absolutely loves his job. He does an amazing job on the sound. Here is on Tuesday night working the sound and also the lights (using some special tool comprised of a rod with a tennis ball on top).
having been cooped up in meetings all week and then on the bus trip down. We had an early dinner at 2nd bar and kitchen – some of our usual favourites: smoked salmon rilletes and avocado fundido. After dinner we walked up Congress Avenue to the Listening Room at the back of The Townsend. This is an amazing room with perfect acoustics that only seats about 60 people.
We were walking back home down Congress Street when I heard a good cover of “Have you ever seen the rain?” by CCR coming from the Shiner Saloon. I had never been in this particular establishment and found it very pleasant – good music and a very nice upstairs patio with various games. We enjoyed watching these kids playing a very large Jenga game.
Easter Sunday morning started with workouts and then Diana joined me for a walk along the river trail – this time on the South side. Much of the trail on this side is an elevated boardwalk style path that is very well done. The views back into downtown are quite impressive.
Mott the Hoople’s Greatest Hits has been one of my favourite albums for more than 35 years now. I also enjoy the Ian Hunter (lead singer for Mott) solo albums and have one in my collection that I bought on holiday in France with my Mum and Dad (it’s aging very well). The band reformed recently for a few shows. Here they are in Boston performing “Saturday Gigs” and “All the Young Dudes” (a song written by David Bowie and gifted to the band as they were trying to get started).
James is the son of Larry McMurtry, the famous Western author (best known for Lonesome Dove), and his songs feel more like short stories than songs – so much colour and detail. His 12 string guitar playing was also very impressive. Here’s a clip of “Choctaw Bingo”:
Poor Diana had to leave on the bus back to Dallas on Wednesday morning – leaving the two of us unsupervised. She’s had poor luck on the bus trips lately and that continued as a truck dumped an entire load of lumber a few trucks in front of the bus. This caused Diana to be late for her client meeting in Dallas but at least she had a good story and accompanying picture.
Denny’s visit finished up with a very pleasant and relaxing lunch on the patio at Shady Grove. Denny bought himself a Continental Club t shirt that he’s sporting in this picture – he must have enjoyed that venue. Such a great visit but too short – looking forward to a return visit with Anne included.
Perry’s in Grapevine and Diana and Penelope picked me up there. We (Penelope was left outside glaring at a Jaguar parked in front of her) enjoyed some of their excellent steak tartare and then headed home. I complained about how spread out everything is in Dallas and McKinney after the compact, walkable area around the Catherine.
The documentary director, Jeff Sandman, and his team were on hand for a Question and Answer session after the film. This was an unexpected treat and it was obvious how much Jeff cares for the venue. A very nice experience and well worth the trouble we took to drive in extended thunder storms to get to the theater.
After the usual Sunday morning routine, we watched Tiger Woods pull off the amazing feat of winning his 5th Masters tournament. After that relaxation, I fixed Penelope’s windshield wipers and did some light weeding and trimming around the pool. Everything is in full bloom with all the rain and warmer weather. Our maple in front of the house seems particularly happy:
quiet time to finish up a book that I’ve been reading for several weeks. “The Unwinding of the Miracle” by Julie-Yip Williams is not a positive, uplifting book by any stretch. I won’t bring everyone down with a lengthy review, but it tells the story of Williams childhood in Vietnam, with cataracts that render her mostly blind, the family’s escape on a barely seaworthy boat, ultimate arrival in America, surgery to restore most of her sight, her graduation from Harvard Law and then, in her early forties, a 4 year battle with colon cancer. The book is very well written and brutally honest about all the challenges. The Epilogue by her husband is heart-breakingly hard to read. Let’s pick things back up now with some new music discoveries.
My arrival at the Catherine on Monday night was greeted by six packages that needed hauling up to the apartment. Thank goodness for the hotel valet style trolley that they make available. This time most of the boxes were of my own doing – cushions, a painting, and a lampshade to finish out my interior decorating. I think they all look quite nice.
Patty, Brent and Diana all arrived in Austin on Thursday for a long weekend. They share our love for good and interesting food, and we ate well all weekend long.
Saturday started with workouts and some of my special breakfast tacos, which seemed to be well received. We enjoyed looking down on the “National Taco Championship” in the parking lot of the Austin American Statesman. This not only included a taco championship, but also Mexican wrestling and a chihuahua beauty parade. You can almost spot the wrestlers with their masks in the picture.
I drove over to downtown to pick up the shoppers who had spent quite a bit of money on jewelry and ceramic bats. We had a small naming contest for the blue ceramic bat that now nests in our desk area. After some initial rejections, Brent came up with a winner. “He’s into the blues, so he must be Bats Domino”. Perfect! And another example of that amazing piece of human anatomy that is Brent’s brain.
Dinner was at Juliet Italian, which fortunately is almost a mile walk from the Catherine. We all loved our food and had lots of leftovers to carry home. The cioppino was a particular highlight and I loved my mushroom fettuccine. A night at Juliet wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the Carpenter next door to play a record. This time, Al Green was Patty’s choice.
After the long walk back (at least a mile and a half), we enjoyed a low key dinner and a movie. Then we ventured across the street to see if we could see the bats flying for the first time. There is a colony of over 500,000 bats that nest under the Congress Street bridge and are quite the tourist attraction. No bats flew on Saturday night due to the cold, blustery weather and so we weren’t sure we’d see any on Sunday either. The sun had almost set by the time the first few bats ventured out and then many more of them took flight. It’s tough to capture them in a photo due to the flight speed but you can see some little smudges (if you zoom way in) in the picture where they are moving.
Baby Penguin (BP) was my company in Austin Monday through Thursday while McD toiled away in Dallas. I found a new coffee shop reasonably close to the office, Trianon Coffee, and guess what? They serve TacoDeli breakfast tacos – perfect! I’ll have a Jess Special please. What’s that you ask? A delicious mix of eggs, cheese, avocado and some peppers.
have dinner with my boss and me. Our new colleague Damon joined as well. We started with a drink at the apartment Sky Bar and then walked across the 1st Street bridge to III Forks for a delicious steak dinner. Thanks Ron! What a great time we had reminiscing on work experiences, folks we worked with, and just generally catching up. We finished up at the apartment with some music and banter.
My favourite sunrise this week was Wednesday morning and yes, I was awake in time to see it after all the fun with the boys the night before. Pretty impressive I think.
We met Jens and Glenda for dinner on Saturday night at a restaurant that was new to us – Mexican Bar Co. at Willowbend mall. The food and company were excellent. We spent over 3 hours catching up on all that had happened in our lives in the 4 or 5 months since Jens’ 60th birthday party. I enjoyed a perfect chile relleno and elote (Mexican style corn on the cob with aioli). I had the leftovers just before finishing up this post.
listening to music. A couple of light rain showers, while the sun was out and the sky clear blue, interrupted us for a few minutes at a time. I went inside to take a shower before dinner and heard the tornado sirens going off – time to get out, put on some clothes and check the TV weather update. We believe the siren was warning us of heavy hail approaching. Heavy indeed:
I thoroughly enjoyed “The Weight of a Piano” by Chris Cander this week. Cander lives in Houston and has been a writer in residence for Writers in the Schools there. She also stewards several Little Free Libraries in her community.
The final two pages of the book are a piece of piano music named “Die Riese” (The Trip). I just tried out the first few bars and it’s a pleasant piece that builds in speed and intensity. The piece is in B major with 5 sharps – not my favourite as I typically play pieces with 3 or less flats and sharps.
I just finished up “Infinite Tuesday” by Michael Nesmith. There’s a special prize for the first of you to tell me what he’s most famous for. No takers? Ok, I’ll tell you – he was one of the Monkees, and was dubbed the brainy Monkee. The title is based on this cartoon (I love it):
Diana spent most of the week in Boston for a client visit. It was very cold there and we know that McD really, really doesn’t like the cold wintry weather. Fortunately she had some colleagues with her to scrape off the rental car and get it all warmed up before she joined.
Back in Austin, the guest bedroom mattress, desk chair, and bar stools were all delivered on Monday. I wrestled the boxes up to the apartment and assembled the chair and stools – they look good in position. The good news is that the trash room for recycled boxes is right outside our door.
My boss had a dinner recommendation from his Uber driver and so my friend Issac and I joined him at Lin Dim Sum. The food was very creative and tasty. They are known for soup dumplings but I didn’t think I’d be able to consume those without making a mess – particularly with chopsticks. We sat at the bar and I watched a couple of girls very skillfully manage an order. We shared a number of dishes and they were all very good. I’m looking forward to seeing what Diana thinks of this West 6th Street restaurant.
afternoon. We timed the drive to arrive just as Diana was returning from Boston and we were able to drive Penelope home from the airport together. I laughed as Vinod and I passed the Vonlane bus half way into our drive – I had been considering the big comfortable bus chair as compared to the sporty seat in Vinod’s BMW. We took the Fort Worth branch of Interstate 35 and I was able to check out the building at Gearhart where I first worked in Texas (back in 1987). It was fun to see what has become of all the lunch places that we used to frequent there. The Rig, a burger and steak restaurant, seemed to be a Mexican place. Nothing else had changed too much and the Gearhart building was occupied by another oil related business.
Sugar Bacon in downtown McKinney. We thought it was just going to be the four of us to listen to one of Steve’s friends providing the music, but there two other couples (Brian, Evelyn, Jeremy, and Diane) who also joined. Brian provided some unexpected entertainment when he asked to take over as the musician so that he could serenade Evelyn. I had ribs and have several left over for dinner tonight. They were very well cooked and tasty.
inconsequential details. After that, I became very invested in Tara’s journey to gain an education. When the Holocaust was mentioned in a BYU college history class, she raised her hand because she didn’t know what it was. She hadn’t been in a classroom until the age of seventeen. Her religious fanactic father was dubious of public education, believing it was the way the government brainwashes its citizens. Her mother was not at all diligent with homeschooling and Tara had to ultimately teach herself to gain the necessary score on the ACT to attend BYU. She eventually earns a PhD from Cambridge. The strength of Westover and the sacrifices she makes are phenomenal. This book really underscores the value and power of an education, something so many of us take for granted. I highly recommend this book and ask you to be patient in the first section as the middle and conclusion are worth it.