Food – Page 14 – Keith Robertson

Week in Review – March 26th, 2023

“Aztecs for the upset!”

Finn had the day off on Monday. He came over to be educated on how to take care of Morrison when we’re in New Orleans. I think he was suitably entertained by the way I spritz the leaves using an olive oil spray bottle. Diana provided some instruction on making sure the pool is in good shape.

In exchange for listening patiently to the instructions, we treated Finn to lunch at Square Burger in downtown McKinney. He didn’t think he’d been before but recognized it when we sat down. I started off with some pea soup – really delicious. This place makes great soup – I really like the corn one they have sometimes. Even Diana enjoyed the flavour, and pea soup (at least a certain kind) is certainly not her thing. The burgers and sweet potato fries were all great. Finn was in great spirits, telling stories about the goings on at the grocery department.

Storms had been rolling through the San Francisco area again on Tuesday, and Diana was wondering if power and internet would be back on by the time she arrived on Wednesday evening. No such luck – a transformer blew and power was unreliable until Thursday. It was a bit later before the internet was resolved – I’m not certain if it is fully fixed at this point.

To entertain myself with McD gone, I watched “The Offer”, a series that I had started on a British Airways flight. Miles Teller stars as the producer of ‘The Godfather”, and the series is based on memoirs of all the crazy activities that went into the making of that film. I really loved this series and the various back stories of getting Mario Puzo to create the screenplay with Francis Ford Coppola, bringing Marlon Brando on board, the negotiations with New York Mafia groups, and on and on. It’s shocking the film was ever made. I highly recommend this series.

The San Diego State University (Campbell and Molly’s alma mater) Aztecs defeated the number one seed, Alabama, in the NCAA basketball tournament on Friday night. This was a bit of an upset, although the Aztecs have had a terrific season. They now play in the Elite Eight round on Sunday afternoon. Campbell was quite excited at the watch party:

I made a trip to the APEX center on Saturday morning – kicking back up the Couch to 5K program. I started back at week 3 and plan to finish the program again by the time we leave New Orleans. After that, I treated myself to a coffee at Duino and enjoyed some of my book. Then I undertook something I really don’t enjoy – went shopping for a new suit for Will and Christine’s wedding. I think I was successful – we’ll see what all the critics think.

I enjoyed a swim on Sunday morning, and then tried out the new dry sauna – very nice and relaxing after all those laps. Then I treated myself to a coffee and a quiche at Filtered with my Sunday crossword.

I just finished watching the San Diego State Aztecs defeat Creighton by 1 point in the final second. What an exciting game. Campbell is very pleased. On to the Final Four for the first time in history.

My book this week was “Our Missing Hearts” by Celeste Ng. Her “Little Fires Everywhere” was one of my favourites of the last few years, and so I had high hopes for this one.

It was an interesting read, but quite different and not as engaging as “Little Fires.” The plot elements are not so far fetched given the anti-Asian sentiment during the early days of COVID, the separation of children from families at the border, and most closely aligned to this story, the banning of books in Florida schools. Here’s an online summary:

“Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving but broken father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. His mother Margaret, a Chinese American poet, left the family when he was nine years old without a trace. Bird knows to not ask too many questions, stand out too much, or stray too far. For a decade, his family’s life has been governed by laws written to preserve “American culture” in the wake of years of economic instability and violence. To keep the peace and restore prosperity, the authorities are now allowed to relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian origin, and libraries have been forced to remove books seen as unpatriotic.

Bird has grown up disavowing his mother and her poems; he doesn’t know her work or what happened to her, and he knows he shouldn’t wonder. But when he receives a mysterious letter containing only a cryptic drawing, he is pulled into a quest to find her. His journey will take him back to the many folktales she poured into his head as a child, through the ranks of an underground network of librarians, into the lives of the children who have been taken, and finally to New York City, where a new act of defiance may be the beginning of much-needed change.

Our Missing Hearts is an old story made new, of the ways supposedly civilized communities can ignore the most searing injustice. It’s a story about the power—and limitations—of art to create change, the lessons and legacies we pass on to our children, and how any of us can survive a broken world with our hearts intact.”

Here’s an early passage where a teacher explains why books are banned to her students:

‘”Every school makes its own independent judgments, his teacher said. About which books are useful to their students and which books might expose them to dangerous ideas. Let me ask you something: Whose parents want them to spend time with bad people?”

She looked around the circle. No one raised a hand.

“Of course not. Your parents want you to be safe. That’s part of being a good parent. You all know that I’m a mom, too, right?”

A general murmur of assent.

“Imagine a book that told you lies,” the teacher went on. “Or one that told you to do bad things, like hurt people, or hurt yourself. Your parents would never put a book like that on your bookshelf at home, would they?”

All around the circle, children shook their heads, wide-eyed.

Only Sadie’s stayed still, her arms folded, her mouth a thin straight line.

“Well, it’s like that, the teacher said. We all want our children to be safe. We don’t want them exposed to bad ideas ideas that might hurt them, or encourage them to do bad things. To themselves, or to their families, or to our country. So we remove those books and block sites that might be harmful.”

She smiled around at all of them.

“It’s our job as teachers”, she said, her voice soft but firm. “To take care of all of you, just like I’d take care of my own children.”

“To decide what’s worth keeping and what isn’t. We just have to decide on these things.”

Her gaze came to rest, at last, on Sadie.

“We always have, she said. Nothing’s changed.”

Chilling. Here’s a passage that explains the new PACT law, enacted following “The Crisis”:

“PACT: Preserving American Culture and Traditions. A solemn promise to root out any anti-American elements undermining the nation. Funding for neighborhood-protection groups to break up protests and guard businesses and stores, for make-work projects churning out flags and pins and posters encouraging watchfulness, and reinvesting in America. Funding for new initiatives to monitor China and new watchdog groups to sift out those whose loyalties might be divided. Rewards for vigilance, information leading to potential troublemakers. And finally, most crucially: preventing the spread of un American views by quietly removing children from un American environments.”

I recommend this book, but don’t come into it expecting similar story-telling to “Little Fires Everywhere.”

Here’s something interesting that I came across this week – a collaboration between the amazing New Orleans drummer, Stanton Moore, and Eric Krasno. I’ve been enjoying this album all week.

I love the Bob Dylan outtakes and bootleg series. The latest is from “Time Out of Mind”. I know Dylan doesn’t love the Daniel Lanois production on this album, but I think it’s fantastic – so much atmosphere and a great sound overall.

I enjoyed this cover of the classic John Lennon song:

I listened to my friend Matt on Houston public radio on Saturday afternoon. That was followed by a progressive rock show, and I discovered a number of overdone, bombastic prog songs:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

Week in Review – March 19th, 2023

“Goodbye Dad”

The funeral service for my Dad was on Monday afternoon. Attendance at the 427 year old St. Columba’s church was one of the highest in recent years. Walking into the church after so many years to see the coffin, flowers, all those people, and the pictures of Dad with family rotating on the screen was quite overwhelming. Family in the front row did a good job of keeping it together. The kids in the second row not so much – lot of emotions there. Here’s the order of service:

George Lind, previously the minister at St. Columba’s and who presided at Heather’s wedding, did a very nice job with the service. Much more meaningful because he had been Dad’s friend for many years. George included all the notes that Elspeth, myself and the family had provided in his eulogy. That meant we were all quite familiar with the material, but I’m sure some of it was new for the rest of the attendees.

Here’s the announcements that were included in the order of service from the service last Sunday:

Here’s some more about the history of St. Columba’s:

“The building of 1696 was small and the unpretentious spire remaining today was then in the centre of the place. The only other part of that church still standing is the Corsehill Aisle. The Lainshaw Aisle is built in line with the Corsehill one and may not be of much later date. In 1772 the roof was removed and the walls heightened. The minister of that time wrote: – “it is now well seated and holds a great number.” This minister may have been well pleased with his renovated Kirk, but his feelings were ruffled over the conditions of the manse. It had been built in 1642, fifty years before the church. The minister stated that, although it had some small repairs at different times, it was still in a “very bad condition.” That can be easily understood because the manses of those far-off days were usually small and thatched-roofed with not much more accommodation than the traditional but-and-ben.”

If you’d like to read more about the history, there’s a lot more information here:

https://stewartonstcolumbas.org/about-us/

After the service, we made the short trip to the crematorium in Dreghorn. I was interested to hear George say that the hymn sung there, “Great is Thy Faithfulness”, was one of Dad’s favourites and he had signed that one in a hymn book George had when he retired.

The organist at the church was excellent. I only know that he is Joe, don’t know his last name. He had been out with knee trouble and we were fortunate to have him for the service. Joe also made the journey to the crematorium and played that favourite hymn.

There was a very chilly wind for the receiving line outside the crematorium, and there were a lot of people to thank for attending. It felt good to get back in the warm limo for the short ride to the Fenwick hotel.

There had been a lot of concern about how many people would arrive at the Fenwick. It’s so hard to predict with weather and other plans. Apparently my sister and Mum guessed perfectly – we had seven tables of ten, and that was exactly what we needed. The funeral tea was very nice – I got to talk to Mrs. Dunlop, Dr. Bob Dunlop, Cousin Jean, Wee Jean, The Barclays (May and Les), Robin and Julie, Lorna and Russell (what a wonderful set of couples), George and Audrey, Caroline and Jim, Christopher, and several others. My Mum and Dad have so many lovely friends.

Mum seemed pleased with the events of the day – which is what’s most important.

To finish off this section, here’s what was published in The Herald about Dad:

Elspeth and David stayed overnight and hung out with us on Tuesday morning. We enjoyed lunch together and then they left for Aberdeen. In the afternoon Mum and I tackled the cryptic crossword without the group think. We made relatively quick work of what seemed like an easier than normal puzzle – maybe we were just warmed up from all the chatter over the weekend.

Before they left, we looked through an art portfolio of Dad’s and I selected a couple of paintings to bring back. I just love this one of a guy fishing.

I came to understand how much better my sister’s memory is than mine. We were talking about a trip to Forfar for a Golden wedding on Monday night. She described the dress she was wearing (at the age of maybe 8), the dessert, the box of chocolates she won – what? I remember very little other than we drove through a snow storm and Dad thought it was a good idea to overtake the snow plough. There were many other topics during the weekend where I realized that Elspeth has a much better recollection of everything than I do. A bit disturbing.

We left for Glasgow airport early on Wednesday morning. Our flight to Heathrow was delayed by about 45 minutes, but we still had plenty of time to make the Dallas flight. On arrival we were delighted (sarcasm again) to find that there was no jet bridge and we had to descend the stairs with suitcases and ride a bus to Terminal 5. After wandering through the terminal for about 20 minutes, we made our way to the bus to Terminal 3. Another 20 minutes or so and we were relaxing in the British Airways First Class Lounge – one of the advantages of flying so much on American Airlines. Diana enjoyed the Champagne Lounge for 20 minutes and then it was time to head for our Dallas flight.

We rested up a lot on Thursday and Friday, and it was time to venture out in the cold on Saturday. We enjoyed a yummy but sad lunch at the Blue Goose. The usual sour cream chicken enchiladas for me, and chicken and shrimp fajitas for Diana.

“That does look yummy, but why sad?”, you ask. Well, today is the last day of operation for the Blue Goose at this original location. A lease dispute has brought the 39 year run to an end. Very sad indeed. I’ve been eating there since 1986.

Diana’s meal came with the fresh made tortillas from the inhouse machine:

We enjoyed a walk in the brisk weather this morning, and I’m now relaxing with golf and March Madness NCAA basketball.

My book this week was “Britt-Marie Was Here” by Frederick Backman. I bought this at the Book Nook in Stewarton and have thoroughly enjoyed the humour and care of this story. Here’s the online summary:

“Britt-Marie can’t stand mess. A disorganized cutlery drawer ranks high on her list of unforgivable sins. She is not one to judge others—no matter how ill-mannered, unkempt, or morally suspect they might be. It’s just that sometimes people interpret her helpful suggestions as criticisms, which is certainly not her intention.

But hidden inside the socially awkward, fussy busybody is a woman who has more imagination, bigger dreams, and a warmer heart that anyone around her realizes.

When Britt-Marie walks out on her cheating husband and has to fend for herself in the miserable backwater town of Borg—of which the kindest thing one can say is that it has a road going through it—she finds work as the caretaker of a soon-to-be demolished recreation center. The fastidious Britt-Marie soon finds herself being drawn into the daily doings of her fellow citizens, an odd assortment of miscreants, drunkards, layabouts. Most alarming of all, she’s given the impossible task of leading the supremely untalented children’s soccer team to victory. In this small town of misfits, can Britt-Marie find a place where she truly belongs.”

The story started out well and then fell into a bit of repetition about Britt-Marie’s habits. I was getting disappointed and then it quickly picked up again, with the main section on the Borg characters and coaching the soccer team finishing very strongly.

I enjoyed a couple of albums while writing some of this post on the flight from London to Dallas. The first is the latest from the wonderful Avett Brothers:

And then the latest from Samantha Fish – a wonderful modern blues guitarist:

And let’s close out with one of Dad’s favourites:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and compassion for all!

Week in Review – March 12th, 2023

“Cold, snowy and windy – typical Scottish weather”

We flew from Dallas to London on Tuesday afternoon. I was fortunate to get a last minute upgrade and so was able to get a decent amount of sleep overnight. Diana survived her exit row economy seat pretty well. We had a slightly longer than expected layover in the lovely (sarcasm) Heathrow airport due to snow in London and a French air traffic control strike – apparently causing the incoming flight to take a more circuitous route. We arrived safely in Stewarton in time for a warming bowl of Mum’s soup for lunch.

There were still a lot of pretty flowers left in the house. Here’s one of my favourites:

Mum had been going through old photos to select some for Dad’s funeral service, and had kept some out for us to enjoy. I’ll share some of my favourites here:

Dad with baby Finn and Will in San Antonio. Elspeth said Dad had “magic arms” as he could get the babies to calm down and sleep better than anyone else.

Brunch at the Crepe Place in Santa Cruz

A “real” margarita at the Oasis, Austin

Dad always enjoyed an afternoon margarita from the Taco Cabana close to our San Antonio apartment. He found the “real” margarita at the Oasis, overlooking Lake Travis, much stronger. Will seems pretty pleased to be wearing his Mum’s sunglasses.

Whoever took this picture, likely David, was doing something to get Heather and Struan’s attention. Mum also found an envelope of photos of my final year University project – a submarine and the electronics to control speed and depth.

Here’s a couple of old classics that I don’t remember seeing before:

Grandpa and Mum (who says she can’t ride a bike)

In fairness, that is a tricycle and not a two wheel standard bike. There’s always a Cairn terrier around grandpa. We were watching Crufts dog show this weekend and remembering that Grandpa had judged there. We weren’t impressed with the winner of the Cairns at Crufts this year.

McD (seems appropriate given the Scottish location) and I braved the weather on Thursday and Friday mornings for walks around town, with complaints that we weren’t going far enough – “But my ears are numb.” We stopped into the local independent book store, The Book Nook, on Friday and I picked up something for the flight home. You should be able to read about that next week. I enjoyed chatting with the man working in the store about his book club selections and favourite recommendations. The selection was small but very nicely curated.

Diana took this picture showing the snow melting on the sunny side and not at all on the shady side.

Diana took Mum out for a coffee on Friday afternoon while I did some work. She enjoyed beating Mum to the payment device at the end of their session, even though an ex-pupil of Mum’s was waiting on them.

By the time we returned from our walk on Saturday morning (warming up and so we went a good bit further, including the full length of Lainshaw Woods), Elspeth and David and the kids (Heather, Michael, Struan and Emily) had arrived for lunch. I laughed at this sign outside my old High School that would appeal to Finn:

We enjoyed some more delicious soup – this time vegetable and an apple crumble. After lunch entertainment included doing the Herald cryptic crossword – hilarious as David played quiz master, trying to keep up with Mum’s cryptic decoder skills, and watching the Six Nations rugby. Michael was not happy with the way the match was officiated.

Diana and David took Bramble for a walk on Sunday morning and seemed to have worn her out.

Bramble actually preferred stealing Diana’s seat, whenever she stood up, to sleeping in her bed.

We drove over to the Laird’s Table at Craufurdland for Sunday lunch. What a lovely meal. I had a chicken liver mousse with outcakes appetizer, followed by a chickpea curry – both excellent.

The owners of the Craufurdland estate are quite creative about maximizing the return on their property. They have zip lining, mud running, fishing at the lake, and this exciting opportunity for Bramble:

We finished out Sunday in similar fashion to Saturday – cryptic crossword with David and then watching Scotland get a good beating from Ireland in rugby. A very pleasant day all around.

Meanwhile, in California, a big storm arrived on Thursday. It broke the tree around which Adamo had built such a lovely tree house:

I borrowed my book this week from Mum’s library. I’m a bit over half way through “A Place Called Freedom” by Ken Follett. Here’s the online summary:

“Set in an era of turbulent social changes on both sides of the Atlantic, A Place Called Freedom is a magnificent historical fiction novel from the undisputed master of suspense and drama, Ken Follett.

A Life of Poverty
Scotland, 1767. Mack McAsh is a slave by birth, destined for a cruel and harsh life as a miner. But as a man of principles and courage, he has the strength to stand up for what he believes in, only to be labelled as a rebel and enemy of the state.

A Life of Wealth
Life feels just as constrained for rebellious Lizzie Hallim, as she struggles with the less cruel circumstances of wealth and privilege. Fiercely independent, she is engaged to a man she doesn’t care for, a landlord’s son and heir to an exploitative business empire.

A Search for Freedom
Lizzie finds herself helping Mack after he becomes a fugitive. Separated by class but bound by their yearning for freedom, they escape to London. True freedom, though, lies further afield, in a new life that awaits across the Atlantic Ocean . . .”

Not my favourite of Follett’s offerings, but reasonably enjoyable so far and an easy read.

Dexter Gordon would have been 100 years old recently. I think he has such a great saxophone sound:

I read a story that Allison Moorer wrote about the recording of this song. Very poignant.

And finally something from singer-songwriter Kevin Morby that popped up on my Spotify Discover Weekly playlist. There’s something about this one that really keeps my attention:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and compassion for all!

Week in Review – March 5th, 2023

“Excitable Will”

I had lunch with a couple of buddies on Tuesday. Robbie, Fred and I enjoyed a yummy lunch on the patio at Fork and Fire in Plano. Hard to believe I had shorts on in the 80 degree weather in late February. I hadn’t been to this place before and enjoyed the food and the atmosphere.

Earlier in the morning McD and I had enjoyed a walk as the temperature warmed up. Diana enjoyed some early in the year sunbathing in the afternoon as I returned to work.

Will and Christine were due to catch a flight on Thursday afternoon to come and visit us and Finn. That flight was cancelled due to a major storm in Dallas right at the arrival time. We had thunder storms and 80 mph winds, bringing several branches down. Will tried to switch to an overnight “red-eye” arriving at 5:20am on Friday. “Would you be able to come and pick us up Dad?” “Oh sure, Will.” I wasn’t overly disappointed when that flight was also cancelled. They finally arrived around 1pm on Friday – Finn and I provided pick up service.

We stopped at the new Andretti facility in Grandscape to investigate go-karting options. I had read that this place provided some very fancy and futuristic karting. Will went in to investigate and a few minutes later they were all suited up and ready to go..

I hiked up to the observation deck and was quite intrigued with the track.

Here’s some video to show what the track and the electric karts look and sound like.

Finn was very proud of his win. “Will spent thousands of dollars learning how to drive on a race track, and I still smoked him by 4 seconds.”

After all that, Will had worked up quite an appetite. We drove around to the Hard Eight barbeque and he enjoyed selecting from the available smoked meats.

We laughed when Will asked the pit master, “Do you have a lean piece of brisket?” He’s definitely nailed you as being from California. I think he managed to put together a good tray of food.

Later on, Finn came over to the house to join everyone for dinner and helped Diana put together some delicious chicken enchiladas.

On Saturday, the kids wanted to visit Hutchins barbeque in downtown McKinney to contrast their offerings with those from Hard Eight.

The report out was that some things were better (brisket), while others were not as good (okra). The “Texas Twinkies” – jalapenos wrapped in bacon and other stuff and deep fried, were a big hit.

Diana and I enjoyed a coffee at Filtered, not ready for a meat fest prior to a big dinner on Saturday night.

Dinner was at Fachini in Highland Park Village – a very ritzy part of Dallas. I had received a gift card to this place from Will and the family for my birthday last year that needed to be used. The boys admired all the fancy cars parked around Fachini – McLaren’s, Lamborghinis etc.

Things got off to a strong start with the complimentary appetizers – focaccia bread, ricotta cheese, meats and pickled veggies.

We followed that with some delicious lobster raviolis for the group.

Everyone ordered a different pasta, the exception being Diana, who ordered a veal chop that was amazing. Here’s the group preparing for a feast.

We were so full that the wonderful tiramisu was taken home for later.

As if we hadn’t eaten enough, we took the kids to C.T. Provisions in downtown McKinney for Sunday brunch. Our favourite here has been the voodoo Benedict – shrimp and crawfish in a delicious voodoo sauce and poached eggs atop excellent blue corn grit cakes. Apparently the chef changed recently, and while still good, this wasn’t as good as we remembered.

Will decided to try another menu item – the chicken biscuit. That was really good.

Then it was time to deliver Will and Christine back to the airport. I feel like I spent a decent amount of the weekend driving around. Time for a break. Wait – I’m back to the airport again on Tuesday. More about that next week.

Meanwhile, Tim, our CFO, was spending the week in New Orleans with his wife. I loaded him up with restaurant recommendations. He loved N7, and we haven’t debriefed on the rest of his experiences yet. I tried to get him connected with Denny and Anne for a tour of the French Quarter, forgetting that they were en route to London – Anne’s Christmas present from Denny.

They seem to have had a great time as usual:

My book this week was “Night Music” by Jojo Moyes. Mum had recommended this author recently and I was browsing around for a paperback to take on my trip, this one caught my eye.

An online summary:

“Isabel Delancey has always taken her gifted life for granted. But when her husband dies suddenly, leaving her with a mountain of debt, she and her two children are forced to abandon their home and move to a crumbling pile in the country.

With the house falling down around them, and the last of her savings fast disappearing, Isabel turns to her neighbours, not knowing that her mere presence there has stirred up long-standing obsessions.

As she fights to make her house a home, passions and lives collide. Isabel will discover an instinct for survival she never knew she had – and that a heart can play a new song .”

Isabel is lead violinist for a London orchestra, and I enjoyed the descriptions of her playing and expensive violin. My favourite characters were the local shop owners – the fount of knowledge on all local goings-on.

I suspect this wasn’t the best Moyles book to try first. I would give it a solid B rating – well developed and interesting characters, just a bit of a slow narrative. Not bad – just not as good as I was expecting.

. .

Will’s visit reminded me of this song from the excellent album of the same name:

“Dark Side of the Moon” by Pink Floyd was released 50 years ago this week:

I’ve been enjoying the Springsteen Soul and R&B cover album – thanks Diana. This is a great song:

And the original:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and compassion for all.

Fortnight in Review – February 26th, 2023

“Happy Saint Valentine’s Day, and Happy Mardi Gras”

Diana arrived home from San Francisco on Valentine’s evening. I had some pretty flowers waiting and we exchanged cards.

No fancy dinner or plans this year – just good to have my wife back home.

The flight path took Diana right over Pacifica and her Mum’s house.

Last Monday, our old friend Randy Clapp came to town for work. He moved from Denver to Toronto several years ago, and we calculated that it had been 9 years since we last saw him and Janice. We enjoyed a fun dinner at Pappadeaux’s, catching up on families and reliving old laughs.

Last Tuesday was Mardi Gras day in New Orleans. The Krewe tortured us with pictures of them out watching the parades. Campbell made it known that he would really like to go back next year – he and Molly had such a good time.

It seems that the Krewe of Campbell might have napped through Mardi Gras this year:

The weather has been unseasonably warm and we’ve been able to get out for several nice morning walks around the neighbourhood.

Our only really outing was to see a Carole King concert movie on Sunday afternoon. There were only two showings planned.

This is a concert from 1973 that Lou Adler, King’s record label owner, had in storage all this time. They added some intro documentary material that was well done.

Carole King walked out on stage to 200,000 people on the Great Lawn in New York’s Central Park, and started the show with just her and her piano – very brave. Half way through, she was joined by an amazing band of session musicians. This was a great movie.

My first book was “Siracusa” by Delia Ephron. Here’s the online summary:

“An electrifying novel about marriage and deceit from best-selling author Delia Ephron that follows two couples on vacation in Siracusa, a town on the coast of Sicily, where the secrets they have hidden from each other are exposed and relationships are unraveled.

New Yorkers Michael, a famous writer, and Lizzie, a journalist, travel to Italy with their friends from Maine – Finn; his wife, Taylor; and their daughter, Snow. “From the beginning,” says Taylor, “it was a conspiracy for Lizzie and Finn to be together.” In Rashomon style, with alternating points of view, the characters expose and stumble upon lies and infidelities past and present. Snow, 10 years old and precociously drawn into a far more adult drama, becomes the catalyst for catastrophe as the novel explores collusion and betrayal in marriage.

With her inimitable psychological astuteness and uncanny understanding of the human heart, Ephron delivers a powerful meditation on marriage, friendship, and the meaning of travel. Set on the sun-drenched coast of the Ionian Sea, Siracusa unfolds with the pacing of a psychological thriller and delivers an unexpected final act that none can see coming.”

I really enjoyed each chapter being written from the perspective of one of the four main characters. Finn’s chapters were often hilarious. Highly recommended and I have it on Diana’s list for her next book.

My next book was “The Thursday Murder Club” by Richard Osman, a host of British quiz shows. This was equally as entertaining as “Siracusa” and even funnier. The characters who meet to solve murders on Thursday night at the old folks development are hilarious. Here’s the online summary:

“In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together, they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club.

When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case.

As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it’s too late?”

I just read that this book is soon to be a movie, directed by Steven Spielberg. It will be interesting to see who he gets to play Elizabeth. Big recommendation on this one also – a fun and easy read. I’ll wait a while before sampling the other two books in the series.

There’s a new tribute album out for Leonard Cohen. Here are a few of the great cover versions:

And maybe my favourite, an instrumental from Bill Frisell:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all.

Fortnight in Review – February 5th, 2023

“Mexico City to Dallas – No go!”

We had some very light snow flurries last Tuesday – certainly an omen of what was to come.

Both of us had dental experiences last Tuesday. I had a cleaning and Diana went to the orthodontist to see about Invisalign stuff. I tried to go to a new empanada place I had read about close to Dr. Toney’s office but they were closed – next time.

The Ogans were in town for Cooper Clinic appointments on Thursday. Anne particularly likes to have Tex-Mex food when in Dallas – the only cuisine that they can’t find a better version of in New Orleans. We met them at Mena’s in Carrolton and had a lovely late lunch. They had carried a king cake all the way for us – so thoughtful.

Last Saturday was pretty typical – workout and a visit to Duino for avocado toasts. In the afternoon, I enjoyed this New Yorker article on the fantastic pianist, Brad Mehldau:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/30/brad-mehldau-trades-bach-for-the-beatles

Diana dropped me off last Sunday for my flight to Mexico City for our quarterly Board of Directors meeting. We decided it was smart to move her Tuesday flight to San Francisco up to Monday, given the increasingly bleak weather forecast for the rest of the week. I was able to watch the first half of the NFC Championship game between the Eagles and the 49ers on the flight.

Immigration in Mexico City was remarkably smooth and quick compared to prior experiences. After a 20 minute limo ride, I was comfortably installed in the Intercontinental El Presidente hotel. This is the sister hotel to the one we were married at in Cozumel.

Here are views of the city from my room and the elevator lobby on the 40th floor:

The hotel is in the Polanco district – apparently the fancy part of Mexico City. There are several excellent restaurants in the hotel, and we enjoyed an outstanding Italian meal at Alfredo di Roma on Sunday evening. They even provided a private room with a TV so that we could enjoy the AFC Championship game. The baby octopus (pulpitos) were yummy and the tiramisu was the best I’ve ever tasted.

There is a lot of theater in these restaurants – here Blair’s seafood pasta is being prepared:

I got up at night to adjust the thermostat and was tackled by this sculpture – those black out shades are very effective.

Our rooms came with access to the Club lounge on the 39th floor for breakfast and happy hour. I really enjoyed their chilaquiles with verde sauce, spicy chicken and eggs in the morning, and the excellent views.

I met Jose, who runs Latin America for me, for lunch at another hotel restaurant, Au Pied de Cochon, for lunch. The French food was very good – foie gras mousse and scallops on a bed of risotto. We enjoyed catching up face to face over a delicious meal.

I did some work in the afternoon, and then ran into Phil, our majority shareholder, who insisted that I join him and the Board members for dinner. Guess where that was – yep, right back at Au Pied de Cochon. I was able to sample some other delights. The theater continued with dry ice smoking over the oysters and table side preparation of my steak tartare.

Here I am with Jorge, who runs Operations in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras at the dinner.

The Board meetings on Tuesday were very smooth and my presentation was well received, without any tough questions. Then it was time for my favourite meal of the trip. We went outside the hotel for dinner at La Buena Barra. Pablo, our local Mexico City Board member, arranged a wonderful table on the terrace. Then he proceeded to order up some amazing appetizers – soft shell crab tacos (best thing I ate), tuna tartare tostadas, and various other treats.

I had a massive octopus for my main course, and it was perfectly cooked on top of a hot stone.

The churro dessert presentation continued the creative trend.

If you’re ever in Mexico City – this is the place to eat. Here’s a picture of the full group enjoying the meal:

I had planned to fly back to Dallas on Wednesday afternoon, but the ice storm caused all flights to be cancelled.

There are worse places to have to spend an extra night than the Intercontinental. Nikki and Sunil were also stuck and we decided to revisit the amazing Italian restaurant. I tried the mushroom risotto with truffles – so good.

I headed to the airport on Thursday morning to attempt a flight to Dallas. The ice was forecast to melt during the day and then refreeze in the evening. I was hoping flights would get out. But no, my flight was pushed back six or seven times with arrival scheduled after the roads would have frozen again. Time for a plan B. There was a direct flight to San Francisco, and I decided to go and visit Diana and Clorinda for the weekend, letting things thaw out in Dallas.

I had forwarded Diana this boarding pass, but she didn’t initially notice that it was to San Francisco. She did ultimately notice and picked me up in the afternoon.

We invited Andy and Jude down for Happy Hour on Friday. They insisted on bringing a bunch of yummy Italian food from a new Pacifica restaurant. We’ve been enjoying left overs for a couple of days.

Saturday was a rainy and miserable day and the only time we ventured out was for a coffee and snack at Soul Grind. They have a new menu item – empanadas. I chose a mushroom one and it was delicious. We’d love to pick this place up and move it to McKinney.

Gianluca joined Alicia, Carolina, and Lucas for art and craft time on Saturday afternoon. They created some really pretty pieces.

In the evening, the girls (Diana, Alicia, Aimee, Caroline and Carolina) went to the Eric Lindell show at the Longboard Margarita Bar – the local dive bar where I went to watch the Cowboys at Christmas. They had a great time. Aimee stayed over for a slumber party and we enjoyed catching up with her.

I stayed home and hung out with Clorinda, who was very well behaved.

The Ogans made a last minute trip to Park City, Utah for some skiing. The conditions look excellent:

In other news, Alicia started a new job as a Project Coordinator at Communiversity – a community outreach program at San Jose State. She had an internship there, and they liked her so much that they found a funded position for her to continue. Way to go A!

My book this week was “Lucy, by the sea” by the wonderful Elizabeth Strout. I loved this quick read and the way it captured all the fear and uncertainty of the COVID onset. Here’s the online summary:

“With her trademark spare, crystalline prose—a voice infused with “intimate, fragile, desperate humanness” (The Washington Post)—Elizabeth Strout turns her exquisitely tuned eye to the inner workings of the human heart, following the indomitable heroine of My Name Is Lucy Barton through the early days of the pandemic.

As a panicked world goes into lockdown, Lucy Barton is uprooted from her life in Manhattan and bundled away to a small town in Maine by her ex-husband and on-again, off-again friend, William. For the next several months, it’s just Lucy, William, and their complex past together in a little house nestled against the moody, swirling sea.

Rich with empathy and emotion, Lucy by the Sea vividly captures the fear and struggles that come with isolation, as well as the hope, peace, and possibilities that those long, quiet days can inspire. At the heart of this story are the deep human connections that unite us even when we’re apart—the pain of a beloved daughter’s suffering, the emptiness that comes from the death of a loved one, the promise of a new friendship, and the comfort of an old, enduring love.”

There are several paragraphs that I had marked to include here, but I’m getting tired. Trust me – this is another excellent book from Strout.

I love the spare guitar sound on this one from the Teskey Bros – an excellent new band from Australia:

One of the Board Members, Matt, recommended this band after we had been discussing our musical preferences for a while:

I can’t remember how Andy and I got on the topic of Glaswegian singer, songwriter John Martyn. Oh now I do – I was telling him about Matt sending me every live Grateful Dead show on a drive, and he mentioned a bootleg recording he got in his record store from John Martyn.

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

P.S. – the pilot on my United flight to San Francisco came out in the aisle and thanked everyone for flying with him. He went on to say he had flown for United for 23 years, and for the US Air Force for 10 before that, training up multiple teams. “You are all on my team today, and that means we treat everyone on board with kindness and respect.” What a great representative of the airline.

Week in Review – January 22nd, 2023

“Cowboys Lose”

Monday was a beautiful day for January – 76 degrees. I drove Penelope over to Watters Creek for a haircut, and she was excited to have the convertible top down for the first time in 2023. Diana had a dental cleaning around the same time, and so we were able to meet at the Lion and Crown (used to be the Londoner when I lived there) and enjoyed some scotch eggs and “English nachos” – waffle fries loaded up with all sorts of goodies. A nice treat to start out the week. A fun couple who had just moved from Woodland Hills, CA sat next to us as we were finishing up. We could easily have stayed and chatted with them longer.

Diana finished up her cacti puzzle before the Cowboys played on Monday night. Yes! – they beat Tom Brady and the Buccaneers to advance in the playoffs. Can they best San Francisco tonight? Of course, if the right team shows up!

I gave Diana her next puzzle, a Hawaiian sunset, and she made fast work of that one. A minimum of 1,000 pieces from here on out.

I took Finn to get his wisdom teeth out early Tuesday morning. All went smoothly except for his seizure type thing at the beginning, when he saw the needle. Just like his first COVID shot experience. The dentist was all over it – “I just cranked up the oxygen and raised his feet above his heart.” Apparently Finn apologized when he came back around. Poor guy. He slept for a few hours at our home, and then wanted to rest in his own bed. Isn’t that a nifty ice pack setup that straps around your head.

He had some pain on Tuesday night and has been doing really well since.

I had my annual eye exam on Wednesday, and as usual the crossword was tracking along with my activities. I was doing it while waiting for my eyes to fully dilate:

We watched a new to us series during the week. “In the Dark” stars a blind girl who is involved in solving a crime. We enjoyed it a lot and have three more series to enjoy.

We had an outing to Denton on Saturday afternoon. “A Taste of Herb”, a Herb Alpert tribute group, was playing at Dan’s Silverleaf. It’s been a while since we made that drive, and I almost turned around. The traffic with all the new building North of us was brutal.

We persevered and finally arrived at a new restaurant, “Barley & Board.” The blue cheese chips with bacon were ridiculously good. We followed that with a shared burger and fries. Equally yummy. We’ll have to try the closer version of this place again sometime.

Dan’s Silverleaf was packed when we arrived – very unusual for a weekend matinee show. We stayed for a little while and enjoyed the band and the eclectic crowd of patrons.

Sunday began with a workout at Apex and then Diana treated me to breakfast at “House of Bread.” She used a gift card from Finn – thanks Finn! That store smells so good, with the aroma of freshly baked bread wafting about.

This video of the waves crashing into the parking lot in Pacifica is pretty scary. We hope all the storms are over for a while.

Speaking of Pacifica, we chuckled on receiving a note that Eric Lindell is playing at the Longboard margarita bar when Diana is next visiting. That’s the dive bar where I went to watch football over the holidays. Apparently Lindell’s Mum lives in Pacifica.

Sunday ended poorly. The Cowboys lost to the San Francisco 49ers. Most everyone played well except the quarterback, with two costly interceptions. Campbell says he might not be able to support the Cowboys next year if they have the same quarterback.

I hope Will didn’t waste his money on these Cowboys items for Ollie – no more opportunities to wear them in support of the team this year.

I started “The Hero of this Book” by Elizabeth McCracken this week, and am really enjoying it so far. Here’s the online summary:

“Ten months after her mother’s death, the narrator of The Hero of This Book takes a trip to London. The city was a favorite of her mother’s, and as the narrator wanders the streets, she finds herself reflecting on her mother’s life and their relationship. Thoughts of the past meld with questions of the future: Back in New England, the family home is now up for sale, its considerable contents already winnowed.

The woman, a writer, recalls all that made her complicated mother extraordinary—her brilliant wit, her generosity, her unbelievable obstinacy, her sheer will in seizing life despite physical difficulties—and finds herself wondering how her mother had endured. Even though she wants to respect her mother’s nearly pathological sense of privacy, the woman must come to terms with whether making a chronicle of this remarkable life constitutes an act of love or betrayal.

The Hero of This Book is a searing examination of grief and renewal, and of a deeply felt relationship between a child and her parents. What begins as a question of filial devotion ultimately becomes a lesson in what it means to write. At once comic and heartbreaking, with prose that delights at every turn, this is a novel of such piercing love and tenderness that we are reminded that art is what remains when all else falls away.”

Here’s a passage on what it feels like to walk around Texas in areas that are only really intended for driving:

“The sidewalk of my suburban youth was like God, omnipresent and irregular. In Texas, where I’d lived for a decade, walking was seen as a form of peculiarity, perhaps a sign of northern-ness, even among my largely unarmed Texan friends. Sometimes in Texas as I walked, I would suddenly feel the presence of all the hidden guns around me, as though I were an x-ray machine.

Here in London, I knew that not a single civilian or police officer, for that matter- was armed.

Already I was lost. But there was a sign at the edge of the ungreen green that showed the neighborhood: what was within a five-minute walk of You are here, what within a fifteen-minute. Some things only the city itself can tell you, and other things you must learn from a map.

In Austin there are enormous streets called Lanes, as well as Drives and Streets and Circles and Boulevards; in my mother’s suburban Boston neighborhood, dead ends called Terraces. Trevor’s place was on a Close, and I was headed for Jerusalem Passage. Surely I would be changed upon it. I passed the Belgian bar Trevor had mentioned, now closed. A shared workspace, closed. Early Sunday morning in the business district: Everything was closed.”

Here’s a song that popped up to remind me of my time in Basingstoke – this album got a lot of play:

I get email invites to a house concert series in Austin, but have never gone. This one sounded interesting. Werner has entertaining lyrics about New Orleans.

And finally, something from Funky Friday on our local radio station, 91.7 KXT:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and compassion for all.

Week in Review – January 15th, 2023

“Penelope Hates Me”

I followed Diana over to the Volkswagen dealership on Monday. She was dropping off the BBB (Big Black Beast, VW Atlas) for a service and to get some minor things sorted. I picked her up and we headed home. Diana headed up to the grocery store in Penelope. About 30 minutes later, I got a panicked call telling me that Penelope wouldn’t stay running. We arranged for AAA to come and see if they could help.

You can tell from the above picture that things didn’t go well. I walked to the grocery store, arriving just as the AAA guys had decided that they couldn’t get things fixed and would need to tow Penelope to visit Alex. We Ubered back home with the groceries, and a nice gentleman came to pick up Diana when BBB was ready. He had quite the repertoire of jokes to share with her on the drive – she even remembered a few to tell me later.

I watched a really heartwarming movie about the power of music in the evening. “I Used to be Famous” is wonderfully acted and directed, and is a story about a washed up rock star who befriends an autistic drummer. I loved this movie – apparently having seen some of it before (must have fallen asleep early.)

Diana started a new puzzle on Tuesday morning. It’s the album cover for Jackson Browne’s classic “Late for the Sky.” And it’s double sided for extra complexity. One of my all time favourite albums, with amazing guitar from David Lindley – perhaps the best supporting guitar ever!

Diana concocted some kind of strategy where she did the less challenging parts of both sides of the puzzle, then flipped one to match up. What she thought was going to be impossible lasted less than 3 hours.

It’s hard to pick a favourite song from this album, but here’s what I’m going with – so amazing when we heard Jackson and David Lindley play it live many years ago in Grand Prairie, as a tribute to Little Feat drummer, Richie Hayward, who had died a few days earlier:

If you’ve never listened to this album all the way through, you should do that today.

We picked up Penelope on Tuesday afternoon – something about a vacuum fuel line in a manifold – I just nodded and agreed with Alex. I did let him know that McD was driving, as is typical when things go wrong with Penelope. I think he gave a small German chuckle – hard to tell.

We completed our Golden Globe award ballots and started a new show while recording the awards – there are so many things that you need to fast forward through. The new show was “Georgia and Ginny” on Netflix. The first episode was mediocre, and then it started to become pretty funny and entertaining.

How did we do on the ballots? Here you go:

That’s 14-7, for those keeping track.

The storms in California continued to wreak havoc with power and roads. Clorinda lost power to her house, and the line coming down caused a bunch of things to blow out – including the fridge, toaster and coffee maker. PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric) came out to assess the situation – fortunately Caroline went to High School with the PG&E guy, and soon there were 6 vehicles working on the repair.

Diana ordered up replacement appliances, and worked hard the rest of the week to coordinate delivery of the fridge. Thankfully, it was completely installed on Friday night.

Finn texted me that he had a day off on Wednesday – would I like to meet up for lunch. A first! I finally delivered his Christmas coffee table, and took him to a new place, Yaba Java, for lunch. This place was great – lovely design, great service and delicious food. I had a Mediterranean panini – it came served on pita bread straight from the pizza oven, reminding me of Shaya in New Orleans.

On Friday night, we watched an episode of “Break Point” on Netflix. This is a show about tennis players, filmed last year. The first one featured is Nick Kyrgios, the Australian bad boy. It’s amazing to consider that he doesn’t have a trainer or a coach, and just plays when he wants. He had a great run in the U.S. Open, and has more natural talent than anyone else – just can’t keep himself under control mentally. You have to wonder what he could do with professional coaching – maybe it’s too late.

Saturday started with an overdue trip to the APEX fitness center. We followed that with a trip to Yaba Java, so that I could show Diana what a great place I had found. The food was great, but the coffee operators were hopeless – creating what Diana described as the worst cappuccino she’d ever tasted. The avocado and egg toast was given a big thumbs up.

This weekend marks the start of the NFL playoffs, with a host of great games to watch. I proactively ordered a 1,000 piece puzzle to keep McD entertained while I watched. She might be making quicker progress than desired on Saturday afternoon.

Before the playoffs started, I watched a bit of the Grammy tribute to Paul Simon. Greg had recommended this when we were in New Orleans. What an amazing show – each performance better than the last. “The Boxer” by Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, accompanied only by his acoustic guitar, is my favourite so far.

“Bridge Over Troubled Water” was one of my Dads favourite 8-tracks to play as we drove around as kids. Listening to this performance brought all of that back to me – I think I can even tell you where the click-thump is when we change to a new one of the 8 tracks.

The San Francisco 49ers vs Seattle Seahawks playoff game provided some good entertainment, with the 49ers pulling ahead nicely after halftime.

McD took a break from her puzzle and we watched an episode of “Emily in Paris.” A silly but pretty entertaining series.

We sampled a bit of the evening playoff game. The Jaguars won with Trevor Lawrence, their quarterback, throwing 4 interceptions – a very unlikely win.

As I submit this post, Diana is still plugging away at the cacti puzzle. It seems to be lasting well.

I continued to work my way through “Like a Rolling Stone” by Jan Wenner this week.

I really enjoyed the first section, and am now becoming a bit disillusioned. It seems like the purpose of the book is for Wenner to tell us about all the famous people he befriended, and how much fun he had. That gets a bit tiresome. I met up with Jackie Onassis, and then met John Belushi in the evening – blah, blah, blah.

I did enjoy a couple of sections on the passing of Ralph Gleason, who helped Wenner start Rolling Stone magazine:

“It started with Lucille Armstrong, Louis’ widow, and Mercer Ellington, Duke’s son. Dizzy Gillespie wrote, “I have been knowing him about thirty years and he hasn’t deviated one centimeter from what he sees as the truth – in music, in politics, or any other field of human endeavor.” There was a letter from Lenny Bruce. Frank Sinatra called him a “rate and gifted friend.” Miles Davis wrote one line: “Give me my friend back.” Jerry Garcia, Paul Simon, Robbie Robertson, and John Lennon all paid tribute, too. He had helped them all.”

“the last words Ralph ever wrote: “Stone is the journalist as incorruptible man, honesty personified and as such brings to life an American myth: that the honest journalist is a saint who can save us all by his integrity and his dedication to truth. He is reporter as a poet, Knight of the Holy Grail of Truth. He cares passionately about humanity and about truth, he doesn’t expect people to be perfect or truth to be absolute, but he does care. He is a testament to the possibilities left in man, and we need the inspiration he can give us these grim days.”

I really hope the remainder of this book tends more to substance than fancy friends and capers.

Jeff Beck passed away this week. We were fortunate to see him a few years ago as part of the Eric Clapton guitar festival, where he was joined by Johnny Depp. Here’s one of my favourites:

I read an article where the drummer for Blur was talking about his five top albums. He talked about “Spirit of Eden”, the 1988 album from Talk Talk. I agree it’s one of the best technically recorded and emotional albums. I listened on Saturday morning. The unique sounds from organ, trumpet, and guitar are amazing. And the songs are given the time to develop and layer.

This led to the wonderful Blue Nile, and this gem – also beautifully recorded by Linn:

Finally, an excellent cover that played after the Blue Nile. What excellent musicians – the little slide guitar touches from Gary Clark Jr. just make the recording:

Sad that this song is still so relevant.

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all.

Fortnight in Review – January 8th, 2023

“Happy New Year”

We finally made it up to Amy and Adamo’s home to exchange gifts on Monday afternoon. Bad wind and rain was forecast for the evening and we wanted to be home before that. It was a very strong storm, keeping us awake most of the night. Francesca was quite pleased with her doctor kit. She listened to our hearts, took blood pressure, gave shots as needed. “I think you’re ok.”

We got clever gifts. Our first matching tee shirts:

And a round jigsaw puzzle with fancy words. They even have definitions and “use it in a sentences” inside the lid.

I took a minute to inspect the treehouse in the back yard that Adamo has been improving. The decks and views are very impressive, with the original building needing some repair/upgrades.

Tuesday was a rainy, lazy day. We watched the huge waves crashing on the pier from inside. And, of course, Diana started on the jigsaw puzzle. Thankfully, she didn’t stay up all night working on it. It must have been Clorinda’s help that allowed completion at a regular hour.

The kids invaded in the afternoon, and opened their gifts from Grammie.

Wednesday was the first day that I had felt up to a workout – so we started our day with that. Then we drove down to Redwood City and enjoyed a fun and delicious lunch at Pasha with Sean and Sheri. Such good Mediterranean food, just around the corner from Will’s place. It’s been a long time since we got to catch up with the Meeksies.

After lunch we drove over to Marco and Julie’s home to meet the new, as yet unnamed, Havanese puppy – Gianluca is pushing hard for “Yeti.” The dog arrived on Monday – just in time to complete the move back into their home.

The Havanese is the national dog of Cuba and is part of the Bichon family. He’s very fluffy, soft, and calm.

The move wasn’t entirely complete. We helped Marco move Julie’s desk setup and the food from the freezer, before driving back up to Pacifica. I did really enjoy seeing this picture that Marco’s cross country students made for him pre-surgery.

We flew home to McKinney on Friday. This is an interesting cloud formation from the plane:

We were home just long enough to unpack, do some quick laundry, then repack for our flight to New Orleans midday Saturday.

Alex and Laura hosted the New Year’s Eve gathering this year, and it was very pleasant to be able to relax and catch up with friends that we hadn’t seen in a while. Here are a selection of photos of the attendees:

The ladies commandeered the dining room for their private session:

Here’s our midnight selfie:

Denny was up early on New Year’s Day, making all of his oyster sauces and getting organized.

He dictated various recipes to Anne as he worked away – “In case somebody asks how they can help – I just give them the recipe card and off they go.”

You’ll notice an important note on the spinach salad card – “Do Not Ask Keith.” That was after I spent a solid 30 minutes de-stemming the spinach leaves.

Folks started showing up around 1pm, with most leaving by 7pm or so.

The oyster shucking team did great work – Greg commenting that he hires a shucker for his parties. Fred has some real skills, and as always, Frank was a big help.

Then it was down to the Three Musketeers – Greg, Denny, and Kenny, with the girls retiring early. Denny was finally kicked back and relaxed.

And then it was just Denny and me. “There’s a good show at the Maple Leaf.” “I’m in.” Joe Krowne was joined by an excellent drummer and amazing harmonica player. Always a great venue to see a show. My phone died prior to any video opportunities – it had been providing the patio soundtrack all day.

We had a lazy start into 2023 on Monday morning. The boys left for Cooter Brown’s to watch college football games. I opted for some more sleep, and then joined Diana and Anne at Basin Seafood for a late lunch. We had a pleasant chat with saxophone Derek and his Mom as they arrived at the same restaurant. The food was yummy – blue crab beignets and those wonderful little goat cheese croquettes in the beet salad.

We arrived home to a surprise. All the guys were back, and had decided to fry the remaining oysters for po-boys. Delicious.

Our flight home on Tuesday was a bit delayed, but overall, we continue to be lucky with our travels.

Settled at home, we started to worry about all the rain and very high wind in California. As it turns out, we had good reason to worry. Here’s Amy giving a tour of the damage:

And the challenges continued as the storms kept coming. Fortunately Adamo and his crew were able to make quick work of unblocking the driveway:

I spent Saturday and part of Sunday on a bit of a silly mission. The fluorescent light in the laundry room has been down for a while. I replaced the bulbs and they still flickered dimly. Time to replace the ballast. I spent some happy time extracting it so that I could get a replacement at Home Depot. In a call with Damon, he told me that I could get a new LED replacement unit for the same price as a ballast, and never have to replace a bulb again. Sold! Why didn’t I research that before all that work?

A new light unit was purchased, but now it’s smaller than the old fixture, and so the ceiling had to be painted before installation. Next is to patch the part of the hole that sticks out.

After that fun, I moved on from playing electrician to plumber. My Grandpa would be pleased. Alicia’s sink has been stopping up, particularly when the A/C drains into it. We had an A/C “expert” out again to look at it. He gave me an illogical story, and I decided to purchase a drain snake and try to unblock it myself. After some fun pushing and pulling the snake, and getting splattered with dirty gunk, the sink is now flowing freely.

A wobbly ceiling fan is next on the Handyman list for me.

While I was messing around with all of that, McD tackled the puzzle Mum gave her for Christmas. Here she is 2 hours in:

And completion at the 5 hour mark. So much patience.

Campbell was another year older on Sunday – sharing his birthday with Elvis. He celebrated with a meal at Louisiana Purchase – a New Orleans style restaurant. They had an alligator and andouille cheesecake, similar to the one that we enjoyed with them at Jacques-Imo’s in New Orleans. Looks delicious.

Clorinda really enjoyed “West with Giraffes” by Lynda Rutledge, and I have it a shot these last few weeks. Here’s the review summary:

“Woodrow Wilson Nickel, age 105, feels his life ebbing away. But when he learns giraffes are going extinct, he finds himself recalling the unforgettable experience he cannot take to his grave.

It’s 1938. The Great Depression lingers. Hitler is threatening Europe, and world-weary Americans long for wonder. They find it in two giraffes who miraculously survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic. What follows is a twelve-day road trip in a custom truck to deliver Southern California’s first giraffes to the San Diego Zoo. Behind the wheel is the young Dust Bowl rowdy Woodrow. Inspired by true events, the tale weaves real-life figures with fictional ones, including the world’s first female zoo director, a crusty old man with a past, a young female photographer with a secret, and assorted reprobates as spotty as the giraffes.

Part adventure, part historical saga, and part coming-of-age love story, West with Giraffes explores what it means to be changed by the grace of animals, the kindness of strangers, the passing of time, and a story told before it’s too late.”

I enjoyed this passage from the book – I agree that life is all about collecting interesting stories.

“It is a foolish man who thinks stories do not matter – when in the end, they may be all that matter and all the forever we’ll ever know. So, shouldn’t you hear our story? Shouldn’t you know how two darling giraffes saved me, you, and your mother, a woman I loved? And it is a selfish man who takes stories to the grave that aren’t his and his alone. Shouldn’t you know your mother’s brave heart and daring dreams? And shouldn’t you know your friends, even though we’re gone?

I knew, then, there was something an old man could do. I found a pencil and I began to write.”

I found this tale a bit slow at times, but did really enjoy the history of the Depression era and the Dust Bowl challenges in the Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma.

Let’s start out with some classic Stevie Wonder:

And continue on with some classic funk:

Finishing up with some Aretha:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and compassion for all!

Week in Review – December 25th, 2022

“Christmas is Here”

John and family joined us again on Monday for brunch. I loved watching Lilly assemble a meat and cheese platter, and then, without any prompting, creating a plate for Grammie.

On Wednesday evening, Diana and Alicia drove down to San Jose for a special “Cousins Christmas”, hosted by Joelle. I made Clorinda a dinner that she wolfed down, and then described as “fine.” She asked where Diana was. I tried to tell her but she couldn’t hear me. Ahh – I’ll use the notepad. “Who’s Tooey?” Good grief. Finally, the lower case version worked. “Why weren’t we invited?” “It’s only for cousins.” “But I’m a cousin.” So entertaining.

The girls had a nice time at their exclusive event:

Thursday was the anniversary of the night that Will and Christine got engaged in San Francisco. Diana and I had dinner at the Tadich Grill that night, next door to where the newly engaged couple was celebrating. Will suggested that we all have dinner at the Tadich to celebrate. What a great idea!

The restaurant was nicely decorated and I always like the old school white dinner jackets on the waiters and bar staff.

The seafood was just as wonderful and fresh as we remembered – oysters Rockefeller, lobster, petrale sole, cioppino, sea bass. What a feast!

We celebrated the Robertson family Christmas on Friday evening. Diana did a great job of putting together the first of three dinners in a row. Alicia’s stuffed mushrooms were yummy. I contributed a tiny bit to the rack of lamb – finding the recipe and helping set them up to marinade.

Dinner was very well received all around.

Campbell enjoyed his Mardi Gras themed gifts, and Clorinda wrestled her very large candle open:

Thanks Diana and Alicia for all the cooking and cleaning.

The Cowboys played on Christmas Eve, and the San Francisco 49ers played at the same time. Diana and Alicia were gracious enough to offer me the home TV, and they would go to the bar. I thought it would be a better idea for me to watch from the dive bar – the Longboard Margarita Bar – one of Pacifica’s finest.

A couple of friends were there to watch with me.

The Philly cheesesteak guy showed up and set up his station outside the bar. Yum!

This sign made me chuckle:

There was a nice crowd of folks in the bar, including one Cowboys fan, Mike. The 49ers fans were quite loud, but we had fun together. And the Cowboys were able to eke out a win against the league rival Philadelphia Eagles.

The Saturday evening sunset was amazing – all the reds and oranges that made me think of our Cozumel wedding sunset.

Then it was time for another feast. This time the pseudo feast of the seven fishes – angel hair pasta with anchovy sauce, and a bouillabaisse with excellent mussels and other seafood. Adamo and family joined us, along with surprise guests Ken and Barbara, and Andy and Jude. It was a lovely evening and we were all remiss in our photography – probably a sign of a good night. The only picture I got was Frankie showing her manners, while serving me up a nice tea party.

Christmas morning started with Timmy sharing his creative reindeer and candy cane breakfast.

Clorinda enjoyed her new swiveling patio chairs and particularly her new, warm jammies.

I think Grammie enjoyed opening Alicia’s stocking just as much as she did.

Then Diana and Alicia were back in the kitchen for the third big feast in a row – lamb and ham this time around. Marco and Giancarlo and families arrived and the festivities got underway.

Marco was delighted to finally get the Sorel boots he’d been hoping for 40 years ago.

It’s always heartwarming to see Clorinda enjoying a visit from her family.

Thanks once again to Diana and Alicia for all the time in the kitchen over the three day marathon.

In other news: Raj sent me this delightful video of what happens when Pakistan and Scotland collaborate – the sound is really different and top quality:

And Vince sent this treat on Frank Zappa’s birthday. Such a creative musician and excellent guitar player:

One of our project managers in Guatemala sent this out. We are all on edge during our busiest days of the year, with most of the team on vacation:

My book this week was “Walking with Ghosts” by Gabriel Byrne, the Dublin born actor, best known for is roles in “The Usual Suspects” and “In Treatment.”

I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir, finishing it in just over a day. This review captures my thoughts well:

“In pared down prose both luminous and raw, Walking with Ghosts is about first things–parents, siblings, loves, heartbreaks, parts, failure, success, loss, but most of all it is a tender embrace of the past as Byrne discovers and accepts the truth of who he is in all his human struggle to be at peace with oneself and one’s imperfections. In a voice full of warmth, compassion, humor, and wonder, Byrne steps into the role of writer with the same assurance, humility, and intensity that he brings to his acting roles. More, this debut marks a welcome new voice that blends memory and imagination for an all-encompassing and wise memoir that reads like a novel.”

Speaking to his mother at the end of the book:

“I sat by the bed. You were smaller, the roots of your hair showing through the dye. I thought of the gratitude I owed for what you had given me. Your love of poetry, your love of the sound of words. Yeats, Robert Burns. Your favourite quote was from Shelley. “Fear not the future, weep not for the past.” I try to live by that still.

That last time we sat in a crowded room at a party, you recited Keats:

“O what can ail thee, knight at arms,

Alone and palely loitering?

The sedge has wither’d from the lake,

And no birds sing.”

Everyone applauded and I realized maybe you had missed your career, that you might have been an actress or a performer of some kind, because you were so alive and so happy in that moment.

Had marriage and children been enough?”

Highly recommended!