Jack Marshall from my old Los Gatos neighborhood was in Dallas on Tuesday and we were able to meet up for the evening. We were in the Indian Guides together when Cody and Campbell were much younger and reminisced about all the fun camping trips we enjoyed with the boys. Jack and I met at the Cowboys Club and then Diana joined us later for a lovely dinner at Neighborhood Services across the field. Diana had heard a number of stories about Jack, including the Alcatraz swim adventure, and had a good time getting to know him.
The middle of the week was pretty quiet and uneventful – always a good thing.
On Friday we had tickets to the sold out Marc Broussard concert at the Kessler. We decided to stay in downtown Dallas rather than make the hour drive home after a late concert and so checked into the Joule hotel in the afternoon and headed to the Twilite Lounge, our favorite spot in Deep Ellum. This is a New Orleans bar where folks gather to watch the Saints and listen to the jukebox. The Rebirth Brass Band was playing when we walked in and so Diana was able to tell the bar tender about going to see them at the Maple Leaf Bar on her first night in New Orleans.
Pre-concert dinner was at a new restaurant called Stock and Barrel in Oak Cliff. Dinner was good but didn’t quite live up to the reviews and hype that I had read when choosing it. I did have a nice Sazerac and the wine list had a good variety. We were planning to enjoy a walk from the restaurant to the Kessler even though Diana claimed she didn’t have appropriate shoes but Patty and Brent came to the rescue after a short walk and “Whubered” us to the venue.
We ran into Marc Broussard on the way in to see the opening band and Diana took a picture with him. The opening act was the Devon Gilfillian band – Diana said his name sounded Welsh but he grew up outside Philadelphia in a musical family and now lives in Nashville. His sound is a combination of gospel-blues and southern soul with a lot of musical variety from song to song. Part way into the show the band surprised us with an a cappella version of “Lean on Me” with the audience singing along nicely.
My favorite song from his 2016 release is “Here and Now”.
Marc Broussard is from Carencro, Louisiana and his music is described as “Bayou Soul”. He has released eight albums and seems like an old musical soul although he is only thirty-six. Here are a couple of videos from the show with the usual excellent sound at the Kessler.
My favorite song from Marc’s latest album is “Don’t Be Afraid to Call Me” which has a great message.
On Saturday we had brunch at Smoke since their outpost in Plano closed recently. We love the pulled pork eggs Benedict and cheese grits. Then we took advantage of being in the Oak Cliff area to visit the excellent Wild Detectives book store for coffee, crossword, and a couple of new books. This funny sign was on display in the store.
Superbowl Sunday was a fun time at our home. Patty and Brent brought “crabby tater tots” which were a huge hit with tater tot loving D. Diana made her bacon cheese puffs and special Bolognese. The game was quite close with the Philadelphia Eagles ultimately winning in an exciting ending. The much anticipated episode of “This is Us” aired right after the Superbowl and eventually told us how Jack dies. I’m not sure there’s been so much suspense in a TV show since “Who Shot J.R.”.
Diana finished up her very difficult 1500 piece puzzle after many hours of 
dedication. She is really addicted to jigsaws – once she starts she has to finish. This one is of the Place du Tertre in Montmartre in Paris where we spent some pleasant time watching the artists at work. I need to try and make her wait a few weeks before starting on the next one.
I finished up the new John Le Carre book, “A Legacy of Spies”. This was much lighter than the typically dense Le Carre spy fare but I was frustrated with the open ended and inconclusive ending. Right up until the last page I was convinced that things were going to come to a good end – but no – left hanging. George Smiley did not come to the rescue although I think that’s what the reader is supposed to assume.
If you haven’t had enough music already, here’s a new discovery for me this week from Buddy Miles – I like the horn arrangement very much. Miles was a drummer in Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsies and, from the little known fact department, also was the singing voice of the “California Raisins” claymation adverts.
I arrived in London on Monday morning for a few days of work. The Tower of London was right next to my hotel and so after a nice rejuvenating swim in the hotel pool I went for a wander around the neighborhood. Thai food was my choice for dinner and then off to try and sleep.
quite brisk and refreshing. It took me a few minutes to understand that I was headed to East Croydon and had to type that in to buy a ticket. The new and fully automated station didn’t have anyone to ask for help. The train journey was less than 15 minutes and the office was directly across the street from the East Croydon station – easy peasy. Meeting the EMEA team face to face for the first time was very nice – I even got to play some ping pong in the newly modernized office. The walk back to the hotel numbed 
my toes and my colleague informed me that those in the know wore thermal socks – not something I considered when packing for the trip. Some clients took me out for drinks and dinner when I got back into central London and scotch eggs on the menu was a pleasant surprise.
50th birthday. The flight landed just ahead of a snow storm and I was glad David had his Land Rover to collect me. The drive to Stewarton was uneventful. Here’s a map that shows the location of Stewarton on the West coast of Scotland.
We had a lovely, leisurely meal and the ladies finished up with some fancy sundaes. Many but not all of the abandoned cars had been retrieved by the time we made the drive back home.
The turbine housing at the top is the size of a large caravan and you really don’t appreciate the scale until up next to it. Walking in the snow and wind certainly blew out the cobwebs and I was glad to have Struan’s hiking boots.
I finished Tom Hanks’ new book, Uncommon Type: Short Stories, on the flight and highly recommend it. Each story starts with a picture of a typewriter from Hanks’ collection which features somehow in the story. The quality of the short stories and the everyday characters captured in them was surprising – what a talented man.
sign in front of the entrance to my office. Not sure what you’re supposed to do in response to the sign, look up? Temperatures rose each day that I was there and as usual I tried to make the best of being in New York in the evenings.
well known saxophone player from Australia. She and her son were spending some time in New York before heading to Cuba to perform in the international jazz festival. They were friends with both Aaron and Joshua and so I got to have a nice chat with them as a result. You might remember that I met Joshua once before at the Village Vanguard when McD shared her champagne with him.
Work involved many long meetings with vendors, and it was easy to drift off into enjoying this excellent view of the Brooklyn Bridge and East river from the conference room.
eon in Tribeca for dinner on Wednesday night. We’d been there once before with Mary and Chuck and I remembered enjoying the French brasserie feel. A nice bracing mile walk helped me work up an appetite.
After workout and coffee and crossword on Saturday, Diana got sucked into the puzzle that my Mum and Dad sent for Christmas. We noticed that the title of this challenge is, “The puzzle that ruined Christmas”. It’s similar to the Frenchy (New Orleans artist) puzzles in that it doesn’t have any edge pieces and the pieces are cut in interesting shapes. The majority are Christmas trees and Diana had a small outburst saying that, “Ah geez, three pieces fit together to make another Christmas tree shape”.
week. This story is appropriately set in New Orleans and follows three generations of an African American family from the 1940s until today. I enjoyed the read very much and gained a good insight into the class and racial struggles in the city through the years.
“Baby It’s Cold Outside”. Snapped this picture on my walk back to the New York hotel on Thursday night/Friday morning. Another cold and unplanned week there for work. But I’m getting ahead of myself already.
I left for New York very early on Wednesday morning for the remainder of the work week. As I said earlier, it was quite cold with snow and cold winds on Thursday morning. Thankfully I had the right clothing on this trip. There was a work Christmas dinner on Thursday night at Joseph’s Italian restaurant which was very nice. The appetizer plate of various Italian favorites was a great start. A long three hour dinner was followed by a quick visit to the Dead Rabbit, voted the world’s best cocktail bar a few years running. I can’t resist whenever I see scotch eggs on the menu and claimed that as my dessert since I’d been too full for dessert at Joseph’s.
A little relaxation time was had prior to the “2017 ClaraFlute Christmas party”. Alicia had around 15 (they come and go so much that it’s hard to get an accurate count) clarinets and flutes over for cookie decorating, sock exchange, Christmas games and general noise making. I did notice that a bassoon (who happens to be very adept at noise making) snuck in as well.
Do you know what’s special about this Sunday? Don’t stress too much, I didn’t guess correctly either. It’s our 6 month wedding anniversary! I’ve been remembering having all those wonderful people with us in Cozumel for such a wonderful few days all day long.
I finally finished up the 866 page “4321” by Paul Auster this week. Remind me to avoid tomes like that in the future. I enjoyed the book quite a bit but needed a change of pace in my reading relaxation time. Apparently Auster worked on the book 7 days a week for 3 years and wrote it long hand. I’m sure he was ready for a change of pace after that as well. The novel was shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker prize.
arrived on Friday afternoon and relaxed by the pool with books until Kris and Cat arrived. Dinner was at Seersucker in the Gaslamp district and it was fun to observe all the folks out enjoying the evening in their Halloween costumes. The fantastic Whiskey House was an after dinner drink stop on the way back to the hotel. Kristina had quite a time selecting a scotch from the extensive menu of over 1,000 choices.
The afternoon on Saturday was spent exploring the Pacific Beach area. A quick google search of “Best beach bars in San Diego” led us to the Lahaina Beach House which had a great patio right by the boardwalk with great views of the beach and the ocean. Again we enjoyed the people watching of folks with crazy Halloween costumes on for an early Saturday afternoon drink. A ramble along the boardwalk continued to provide entertaining sights including a gaggle of roller blading “Ducks” from Oregon. We laughed as the last rollerblader 
bringing up the rear had “Robertson” on the back of his jersey. There were several beach cottages and hotels along the boardwalk that we noted for future visits. After a snack at the Firehouse restaurant it was time to head back to the hotel to meet up with Campbell and Molly. The Firehouse food was very good with oysters, char-grilled Brussel sprouts and an excellent ceviche.
Campbell and Molly met us for a very enjoyable dinner at Roy’s which backs up to the Marriott hotel pool on the marina side. We sat outside and enjoyed the gorgeous evening weather and views of the marina. I had the San Diego sea bass and Diana the shellfish combination. Everyone seemed to enjoy their food very much. Campbell and Molly headed off to celebrate Halloween with friends and we made a trip to the Nolen rooftop bar in the Gaslamp district. This was a very fancy rooftop with great views of downtown San Diego and again lots of Halloween costumes.
Kelman, who was born and lives in Glasgow but has taught at both the University of TX in Austin and at San Jose State University. The book follows the travels of a Scottish father and son who go to visit the father’s brother in Mississippi. I’m really enjoying the tale so far and particularly the son’s descriptions of the American musical styles he encounters. There’s a great scene where he joins in on accordion with a Zydeco band and plays Scottish jigs for the Louisiana crowd.
week. I haven’t started it but chuckled at the continuing antique typewriter theme. The reviews are very good and I’m looking forward to pulling this one out of my growing “to be read” stack.
around pretty gingerly on her injured left foot. The pain is certainly a lot less than it was last weekend but she still can’t rotate her foot on its vertical axis at all (no yaw is possible in McD’s foot). One more week and then she’ll see the doctor if it’s not a lot better. I’m enjoying grocery shopping and a few other tasks that are normally in Diana’s domain while she tries not to walk too much.
On Saturday we made an impromptu decision to attend a celebrity cooking demonstration and lunch at the Granada theater. First time either of us had been to anything like this and we were very pleasantly surprised. Chef John Tesar was quite the character, with an endless supply of stories from his years in the kitchen and on shows like Top Chef and Restaurant Wars. The first course was risotto with duck confit and wild mushrooms. The duck confit preparation technique was quite interesting and the risotto delicious. Everyone’s name was placed in a hat for a raffle at the end of the event and I was lucky enough to be 
pulled out in time to claim a huge tray of the risotto. It has been a nice accompaniment to football watching today. The main course was Beef Wellington with dauphinoise potatoes – also very good but a huge palaver to cook. I looked up palaver just now to make sure I was spelling it correctly (it’s a West of Scotland word meaning a lot of fuss and bother) and was surprised at how many fake definitions there are published on the internet. Lunch ended with the pastry chef from Tesar’s “Knife” restaurant demonstrating his special technique for chocolate mousse – again very good but quite rich after the first two decadent courses.
videos of the devastation in the Virgin Islands. All the leaves and limbs have been completely stripped bare from what used to be jungle like vegetation and many buildings are completely destroyed. I really worry about the future of these islands as they are so dependent on the tourist economy and it looks like it will be many years before they recover. We count ourselves lucky that we were able to enjoy such a wonderful vacation on St. John a few years ago (see post from February 28, 2016 – https://www.keithjrobertson.com/?m=201602).
Cowboys Club for dinner. He’s a diehard Eagles fan but really enjoyed the club and a lovely sunset from the terrace. I collected another “small world” story – my boss was a chef in Bucks County, Pennsylvania before getting into IT. He ran the back of the house operation at several restaurants and on occasional nights was a guest chef at the Ottsville Inn which my Uncle Scott and Aunt Evelyn ran for several years.
where a watercourse has cut through a shelf of hard rock creating a narrow, steep-sided cut through which the watercourse runs. Now the name and logo make sense – the needle in the record grooves.
Saturday started with a workout at Cowboy’s Fit followed by a delicious lunch at Neighborhood Services Grill across the way from the gym. This location of NHS opened about a month ago and proved to be just as delicious as the original that we enjoy so much on Lovers Lane in Dallas.
I’m currently making slow progress (combination of being busy at work and the density of the prose) on Paul Auster’s book “4 3 2 1”. The book tells the life story of Ferguson in four different variations. The first couple of chapters show how small variations in the story line can start to have dramatically different impacts on Ferguson’s life. I think I’m going to enjoy getting into the meat of this one.
Tuesday through Thursday of this week was spent in New York in meetings with Microsoft. Their offices are next to Times Square which is filled with hustle and bustle at all hours of the day and night. The view from the conference room included the New York Times building and huge TV screens with advertisements and breaking news – quite distracting. I stayed at a hotel called The Sanctuary which is at 47th Street and 8th Avenue – half a block off Times Square but a quiet and modern boutique hotel which was a nice find.
Much of Friday was spent working from AutoHans while Penelope was attended to. She needed an oil change and new brakes. I did find a very nice neighborhood bistro only a five minute walk from the garage called Astoria. I was able to sit outside in the nice summer transitioning to autumn weather and enjoy lunch, the newspaper, and good coffee.
outside and finished the book “Bruno, Chief of Police” by Martin Walker. This was a light, quick and thoroughly enjoyable read. Martin Walker was born in Scotland and moved to the Perigord region of France in 2006. He published the first Bruno novel in 2007 and has been pumping out a new one each year since. I enjoyed the local village characters and the food and wine descriptions – life in St Denis sounds perfect.
The weekend was spent catching up on some exercise, relaxing by the pool, finalizing the wedding albums, and pulling together information for our estate plan – nothing very exciting. I did watch most of the movie “Gentlemen prefer blondes” starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Mansfield (a native of Dallas). I’d never watched more than a few minutes of this before and McD was entertained by my constant chuckling at what is a very silly but quite funny movie. It’s maybe best known for the song “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend”.
I finished “Bel Canto” by Ann Patchett this week. Given how much I enjoyed her most recent novel, “Commonwealth”, this was a disappointing read to me. The first section of the story where a world-renowned soprano sings at a birthday party in honor of a visiting Japanese CEO in an unnamed South American country and is then taken hostage, along with 58 other visiting dignitaries, in the vice-presidential mansion was quite engaging. The middle section where the hostage situation drags on for weeks and then months becomes slow moving and struggled to keep my attention. Interest peaks again in the last few pages as the hostage situation is resolved but it was too late for me to give this read anything above an average rating. On a positive note, the descriptions of the operatic aria performances and piano accompaniment are very well done.