Category: Travel

“Spouting Volcano on the Horizon”

Monday was Martin Luther King Day.  Here’s an essay he wrote in 1964, after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, for the Berlin Jazz Festival.  What wonderful writing, capturing the role music has played in social change in a compact essay:

“God has wrought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures with the capacity to create—and from this capacity has flowed the sweet songs of sorrow and joy that have allowed man to cope with his environment and many different situations.

Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life’s difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph.

This is triumphant music.

Modern jazz has continued in this tradition, singing the songs of a more complicated urban existence. When life itself offers no order and meaning, the musician creates an order and meaning from the sounds of the earth which flow through his instrument.

It is no wonder that so much of the search for identity among American Negroes was championed by Jazz musicians. Long before the modern essayists and scholars wrote of racial identity as a problem for a multiracial world, musicians were returning to their roots to affirm that which was stirring within their souls.

Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down.

And now, Jazz is exported to the world. For in the particular struggle of the Negro in America there is something akin to the universal struggle of modern man. Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith.

In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all of these.”

I caught a flight to Guatemala City on Monday afternoon for work.  There were several guys sitting near us who were with an organization called “Stoves for Guatemala.”  Apparently rural Guatemalans often cook on unventilated wooden stoves in single room dwellings, leading to bad respiratory disease.  This organization has built 600 clean burning and well ventilated stoves already.

https://helping-guatemala.com/

Here are some aerial pictures of the Guatemala City area during landing:

BP was excited to be allowed on the trip, and insisted on having his picture taken on arrival at the airport.

I stayed in an area called Cuidad Cayala – a planned city done in the Colonial architecture style.  The GoWork office and restaurants were all a short walk for the hotel, which made things very easy.  Cayala is very pretty and safe – with many high end shops and restaurants.

I met some work colleagues for an Italian dinner at Tre Fratelli on Monday night.  We sat outside and it was very chilly for Guatemala (high 50s).  I needed my puffer coat as the evening cooled off, with no humidity at all.  The city is at 5,000 feet and so cools quite quickly this time of year.

Here’s a picture of a volcano spouting in the distance, taken from my hotel room balcony:

Tuesday breakfast was at Cafe Saul – a great spot that I found on my last visit.  It’s so nice to be able to get a perfect macchiato with no fuss.

My first meeting of the day was a one on one with Jorge, and we decided to sit out on the patio of Cafe Barista and enjoy another coffee.  Such a pleasant way to do business and get caught up before the rest of the day inside.

Lunch was again enjoyed al fresco – this time a Greek place called Arena.  The pulpo (octopus) and falafel were both delicious, and the setting delightful.

After a long afternoon of team meetings, we enjoyed a seafood dinner at Atuna.  The croquette appetizer was delicious and then I enjoyed a very impressive lobster thermidor.

Sunset behind the volcanoes after dinner was quite something:

Back in Pacifica, the girls were enjoying the sunny day and then afternoon tea – complete with some very fancy finger sandwiches.

Diana sent me this lovely video of Frankie showing me her penguin sweatshirt.  She can be so adorable when she’s not being quite stubborn and opinionated:

Wednesday was another busy day of meeting various teams.  That was followed by a steak dinner with the leadership team at Montanos.  We had a private room with a TV that allowed us to share videos and photos of hobbies.  Damon gave a short talk about his basement garden where he grows peppers and vegetables during the winter.  Josue shared videos of him drumming with his band that won the Guatemalan Battle of the Bands contest.  A fun evening.

With the new US COVID rules – test no more than 24 hours prior to flight departure, I had to take a test before dinner.  Here I am working away while awaiting the test:

We met with our Project Management team on Thursday morning, enjoyed another delicious lunch at Arena, and then made our way to the airport for the flight home.  I had an Ensalada Fatouch that was very fresh and yummy.  Finn always has a chuckle about “Fatouch”.  I don’t really remember why – think there was somebody he worked with that liked it.

I was fortunate again, with a smooth and on time flight.  Customs at DFW was very quick and I just had to wait a short while for Diana to arrive from San Francisco.

It’s always pleasant to return to my home office, and I worked in it most of Friday morning.  Then we picked up Finn from work and had lunch at the Mexican Cactus.  Diana tried the ceviche with barramundi and it was really fresh and delicious.

Will supervised the loading of Finn’s car on to a transporter that should deliver it here on Tuesday.  Will has put a lot of time and money into getting the car absolutely perfect for Finn to enjoy.  I only have a limited number of days to wake up at 4:30am to deliver Finn to work, and I know the retiree is quite happy about that.

Jens and Glenda are coming over for dinner tonight.  We’re looking forward to it as it has been months since we’ve caught up with them.  I think McD is planning her excellent shrimp and scallops – yum!

“The Blue Hour” by Douglas Kennedy was my companion on the trip this week.  What a well written and constructed book.  I was hooked on the first page and wasn’t disappointed after that.  Page one:

“First Light.  And I didn’t know where I was anymore.

The sky outside: was it a curved rotunda of emerging blue?  The world was still blurred at its edges.  I tried to piece together my whereabouts, the exact geographic location within which I found myself.  A sliver of emerging clarity.  Or maybe just a few basic facts.

I was on a plane.  A plane that had just flown all night across the Atlantic.  A plane bound for a corner of North Africa.  A country which, when viewed cartographically, looks like a skullcap abreast a continent.  According to the flight progress monitor illuminating the back-of-the-seat screen facing me, we were still seventy-three minutes and 842 kilometers (I was flying into a metric world) from our destination.  The journey hadn’t been my idea.  Rather I’d allowed myself to be romanced into it by the man whose oversize frame (as in six foot four) was scrunched into the tiny seat next to mine.  The middle seat in this horror movie of an aircraft.”

A good plot summary from Amazon:

“Robin knew Paul wasn’t perfect. But he said they were so lucky to have found each other, and she believed it was true. When he suggests a month in Morocco—where he once lived and worked, a place where the modern meets the medieval—Robin reluctantly agrees.

Once immersed into the swirling, white-hot exotica of a walled city on the North African Atlantic coast, Robin finds herself acclimatizing to its wonderful strangeness. Paul is everything she wants him to be—passionate, talented, knowledgeable. She is convinced that it is here that she will finally become pregnant.

But then Paul suddenly disappears, and Robin finds herself the prime suspect in the police inquiry. As her understanding of the truth starts to unravel, Robin lurches from the crumbling art deco of Casablanca to the daunting Sahara, caught in an increasingly terrifying spiral from which there is no easy escape.

For fans of thought-provoking page-turners such as The Talented Mr. Ripley, Douglas Kennedy’s The Blue Hour is a roller-coaster journey into a heart of darkness that asks the question: What would you do if your life depended on it?”

An example of the excellent descriptions:

“Simo insisted that I sit in the backseat, where I had both windows wide open to rid the car of his incessant cloud of smoke, and to provide some ventilation on a torpid night when the humidity and the actual mercury level made the air seem as glutinous as maple syrup.”

For a pleasant change, the ending of this story wasn’t rushed but unfolded at just the rate pace.

I really enjoyed the story, the writing style and the surprising twists of this book very much.  I understand that Kennedy is much better known in the UK and France than in the US, and maybe those folks appreciate this kind of writing for the same reasons that I do.

Cafe Saul in Guatemala plays an eclectic mix of music, with some really unusual covers of popular songs.  I had to use Shazam to identify who was playing this hit from David Bowie.  A typically subtle arrangement from M. Ward:

Something from my Spotify Discovery Weekly list.  The level of musicianship on a Bela Fleck album is always extraordinary:

A song from The National that I think I heard on a movie soundtrack, but can’t remember the details:

And lastly, a lovely song from the excellent Rodney Crowell:

Stay safe and kind!

“Happy New Year!, and Happy Birthday Jack and Mason”

Boxing Day afternoon was spent hosting Andy and Jude at Clorinda’s house.  It’s always so nice to visit with the best neighbours ever.  We had a very entertaining time and even had Clorinda telling some old stories to much hilarity.  We have some good videos of the stories, but are still working on getting them in the right format to be able to share with you here.

Earlier in the day, Diana participated in a virtual Secret Santa with Alicia and John and Joey’s families.  Bonna was D’s Santa and she put together a lovely champagne themed basket.  Diana was really delighted with the detail and with everything in the basket, and she had the perfect hoodie to complement it.

 

 

We flew home on Monday and were subject to the delays that thousands of other travelers experienced.  Our flight was delayed with a 3:30am arrival, and fortunately we were able to change to an earlier flight, making it home just before midnight.  Not too bad considering all the cancellations.

We were able to get out for walks and runs during the week, after no exercise in California last week due to the cold, rainy weather.  The weather in Texas was great this week with highs in the 70s – just like pleasant Spring days.

Wednesday was Finn’s day off and so I took him for a walk and then to Trader Joe’s to pick up some nice meals for the weekend, while we’re gone to New Orleans.  The rest of the day was catching up on some admin tasks that had been ignored over the break – expense reports and health care claims all filed now.  I know – very exciting stuff, but it feels good to have everything caught up and organized for the New Year.

“Emily in Paris” has a new season on Netflix and we’ve been enjoying that in the evenings.  It’s way too long since we’ve been able to visit Paris.

We flew to New Orleans on Friday morning for the fourth annual celebration of Jack and Mason’s birthday on January 2nd.  We spent the afternoon enjoying the new Ogan patio, and exchanged some gifts.  Anne loved her “champagne clutch” and Diana her tennis skirt (in preparation for taking up tennis during our NOLA residency.)

After enjoying the lovely weather on the patio, we got changed for New Year’s Eve dinner at Costera.

Costera was an excellent choice for dinner (thanks Denny) with multiple courses of Spanish tapas.  The menu was fixed and included a plethora of delicious courses – beef shank Bombas, scallops, and an amazing seafood paella were the standouts.  We were joined at dinner by the Kirshes, Krieks, and Eisles – what a fun group.

There was a bit of a wild party in progress when we returned to Webster street after dinner (and a few minutes after midnight.)  Things quietened down quickly and we were able to get a decent sleep.  Apparently a good enough sleep for McD to pop right up on New Year’s Day and head out for a run in Audubon park with Laura and Kara.  She particularly enjoyed the band playing at the park entrance.  Great job of starting out on the right foot Diana!

Denny and Anne hosted an open house on New Year’s Day afternoon, with oysters served 7 or so ways.  Frank and Macon showed up early to help shuck several hundred oysters – quite a special skill that Frank certainly has mastered.

Denny is an excellent chef, creating all kinds of delicious sauces for the oysters.  My favourite is the grilled version, and I’m glad Fire Chief Kenny was on hand to supervise the process.

Merry Lee, Jeff, Donna, and Steve (our friends from California) were able to secure an invite to oyster fest.  Merry Lee and Jeff have a condo in New Orleans now.  They seemed to enjoy meeting everyone and sampling the various types of oysters.

 

Chef Denny was finally able to relax with old friends and enjoy the evening with a cigar.  What amazing weather we had for both days.

The weather changed on Sunday as we planned to celebrate Jack and Mason’s 19th birthdays.  Can you get a better birthdate than 01/02/03?  We bundled up and headed to Cafe Sbisa in the French Quarter for brunch.  Other than an overly loud but very talented jazz trio, the lunch was perfect.  The boys invited some friends and seemed to really enjoy their lunch.  We had a brief ramble in the Quarter after brunch, and then retreated to Webster Street to watch the Saints game – they still have a shot at making the playoffs.

Have you read a book by Stuart Woods?  Apparently a lot of folks have.  He’s written over 70 books, and occupied almost an entire shelf at my local library.  I was looking for something light and easy to enjoy on the New Orleans trip, and decided to give him a try.

“Bombshell” is part of the series featuring ex-CIA agent and Hollywood producer, Terry Fay, and is co-written with Parnell Hall.   This is certainly easy reading, with each chapter 3 or 4 pages long.  You can tell that Woods has a formula that he deploys to crank out these books.  I don’t have any quotes as the writing is quite basic and used to drive the action forward, rather than set the scene or develop the characters.  I’m not sure I would select another Woods book, except maybe for some mindless poolside or beach reading.

Diana and I were chatting with Derek Huston, New Orleans saxophone player extraordinaire, at Oyster Fest, and D asked him who was his favourite musician.  After some thought, Derek gave an eloquent explanation of why that was Charlie Parker.  Here’s one of the more mellow and accessible Parker pieces:

Here’s a calm and relaxing guitar piece from an album that I love, Julian Lage’s “World’s Fair”:

And finally, the ultimate calming piece for me, Bill Evan’s “Peace Piece” – this is right up there with “Kind of Blue” as music that I can listen to every day and not tire of:

Please stay safe and be kind in 2022!

 

 

 

 

 

 

“We’re engaged, did you guys all know about this?”

Jose and his crew were coming to replace the kitchen floor last Monday, so we decided to exchange our Christmas stockings on Sunday night.  I love these three little penguins nesting in my stocking.

There were a couple of gifts that I couldn’t resist for Diana, but which didn’t fit in her extra large stocking.  She had mentioned enjoying spirograph a few months ago, and I was trying to describe the fancy set I had.  She’s pretty excited to try out this classic set when we get back to McKinney.  I’m not sure if that will be before or after she tackles the “Where the Crawdads Sing” jigsaw puzzle.

I saw the “Champagne Clutch” from Neiman Marcus and knew that McD needed one of those also.  Enough room for a bottle of champagne, a credit card and an ID.

My favourite gift is this Pooh cushion.  The other side has the “We’ll be friends for ever, right Pooh?  Even longer,” classic quote.

We think we may stick with the stocking stuffer only Christmas gift tradition.

Spending the night at the Grand Hotel in downtown McKinney seemed like a better plan than getting in the way of Jose and the flooring crew.  The Grand is such a lovely, old school hotel with a great location on the square.  We had dinner at the Urban Bar and Grill – a new restaurant where Bayou Jack’s used to be (I loved that New Orleans style place.)  Our meals were great – particularly Diana’s mussels.

We took advantage of some of the photo opportunities on our walk back from dinner.  Diana always says we rarely get pictures of the two of us at busy times like this – so here you go D:

I saw storms and flight disruptions forecast for San Francisco on Wednesday, and so changed our flights to Tuesday.  That way I could be sure to be ready to go to celebrate Will and Christine’s engagement.  You hadn’t heard about that?  Oh my goodness, what a production.

But before that, we celebrated McD’s birthday again with Adamo, Amy and crew.  A creative cake indeed.  It wouldn’t be a complete visit if Diana didn’t have kids hanging off her.

Now back to the engagement event – eleven of us were staged in a limo bus just down the street from the site of the proposal – in a “taxi” outside Christine’s house, where they first met.  We were provided with a detailed set of instructions, including a dress code.  As we exited the bus to offer congratulations, Christine said, “Did you guys all know about this?  Oh, of course you did.”  Pictures were taken in front of the old apartment, and then we all rode in the bus to the restaurant where Will and Christine were going to have a special celebration dinner.

It turned out the place Will had chosen for dinner was right next to the Tadich Grill, a favourite of mine when I would occasionally work in downtown San Francisco.  This is the oldest restaurant in California, dating back to 1849.  We decided to have dinner there rather than riding back in the bus and catching an Uber from the drop off point.  This was a great decision – wonderful oysters Rockefeller, petrale sole and cioppino.

After dinner Diana wanted to check on the newly engaged couple.  She asked the maitre d’ to take us to the couple with the white jackets.

We had our gift exchange with Will, Christine, Campbell and Ollie in Redwood City on Thursday night.  That was followed by a delicious meal (outside so that Ollie could attend) at Terun.

The visit gave the girls a chance to admire Christine’s rock again.

I think I was a pretty good helper for Diana as we assembled Christmas dinner from the remainder of the seven fishes dinner from the previous evening.  Marco and Giancarlo’s families joined us and we had a very nice time.

We certainly got plenty of celebrating and time with family in this week.

I did find enough time to finish up “I Dream He Talks to Me” by Allison Moorer.  This is about her experiences raising a non-verbal autistic son, John Henry.  The book certainly brings perspective to the challenges of raising our kids.

“I suspect he hears music all around him because he stops what he’s doing and he listens.  My son has taught me countless lessons, but the biggest one may be that there is music in everything.  I don’t know what role it will ultimately play in his life, whether he will pursue it professionally or if he will just enjoy it.  I only know that music might very well be his language in some way.  What he cannot say, he might one day sing too.”

A beautifully written book about treasuring all the small moments in life.

I love this song by The Delines, a band from Portland who describe themselves as retro-country:

And here’s one from the Scottish band The Blue Nile.  Their music is always so well produced:

Stay safe (it’s getting crazy out there again) and kind.

 

 

 

 

“Happy Birthday McD, Happy Christmas Finneroo”

We drove down to Austin last Tuesday afternoon, arriving in time to meet Brad and Jocelyn for a lovely dinner at Eberly.  We drove by this iconic Austin restaurant many times and had never tried it.  We were missing out.  It was great to catch up with friends.

My work Executive Committee had a holiday meal at Garrison in the Fairmont hotel on Wednesday evening.  This was another amazing meal – the octopus appetizer, and then the ridiculously decadent duck and foie gras tower, topped with black truffles (one of the best dishes that I remember from this year.)  It’s so nice to work with a group of folks whose company I enjoy so much.

Our corporate center Holiday Happy Hour was on Thursday night at the Fairmont hotel.  We had reserved a combination indoor/outdoor space and the weather was perfect for enjoying both.  Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time.  Here’s the motley IT crew (the official picture will be much better), and Diana with our friend Neffie.

I think Diana looks wonderfully sparkly and festive.

On Friday, we had lunch at June’s – steak tartare and bone marrow bolognaise, and then endured the very long drive back home to McKinney.  This week was a great start to the holiday season.

On Wednesday, we had our Christmas gift exchange with Finn.  We ordered in Thai food and then had Finn open his stocking and gifts.  He was really spoiled and very appreciative.  He also did a lovely job with his card and gifts – very creative and thoughtful.  I love my whisky glass with Emperor penguin etching and Diana is quite proud of her hand-blown glass mermaid.

The Atlas came back from getting wheels “powder coated” on Thursday.  Diana is quite happy with the way the all black rims now look.

 

 

 

 

I got a haircut on Friday and decided to have a snack at the neighboring Lion and Crown afterwards.  Scotch Eggs!  This place had all the classic pub food favourites and I’ll have to plan another stop in.

 

 

 

Diana added another year to her age on Saturday.  We had dinner at the Capital Grille – we hadn’t been there in a while and were not disappointed.  Such a classic steak house with excellent service.  McD had the full experience – filet mignon Oscar style (crab, béarnaise, and asparagus) with a lobster tail on the side.  Not to mention the sides of lobster mac ‘n cheese and mushrooms.  We have lots of leftovers for dinner tonight.   The hostess sprinkling sparkly confetti shapes on the table as we were seated to celebrate the Birthday was a fun touch.

Today we’re planning to pick up Finn from work for a sushi lunch, and then enjoy the Cowboys/Giants game.

I finished three books over the last fortnight.  First was completing “Crossroads” by Jonathan Franzen.  This book felt quite long at 575 pages, and a bit plodding in places.  And then, to add insult to injury, Franzen used quite a twee technique to finish things up.  The conclusion to the story was told in a couple of letters sent between the key characters.  It almost felt as if Franzen realized the book was already too long and didn’t feel like editing things down and providing a satisfying conclusion.  I would still recommend this book for a good holiday read – it’s the kind of book you can settle into for several hours and just enjoy the characters.

My next book, “Mayflies” by Andrew O’Hagan, is a Christmas present from Mum that I couldn’t resist sampling, and then couldn’t resist finishing.  It’s in two parts – a group of mates from the Glasgow area attending a music festival in Manchester in 1986 as teenagers, is part one, and part two is the same group in their 50s in recent years.  Part one got a bit repetitive after a while – kids being silly at a music festival, but part two was excellent.

Page one sets the backdrop for part one:

“Nineteen eighty-four was the end of old Woodbine, or 1985, when the strike ended and the Ayrshire men returned one by one to the pits, met at the gates by women giving out carnations.  The miners had fought hard, but they were all sacked within a month.  ‘He takes his shame out on us,’ Tully said.  ‘I suppose Thatcher never really got it about the enemy within.’  And that comment was pure Tully.”

On the life-changing impact of a great school teacher:

“After the results came in, I went to school for the last time.  She was sitting with a huge pile of jotters. ‘Ah, James,’ she said.  ‘I gather you got a place.’

‘Strathclyde.’  She jumped up from her desk and hugged me right next to the blackboard. ‘Susan,’ I said.

‘Mrs. O Connor to you.’  She was smiling,  I didn’t know what to say.  It can take a whole lifetime to know how to thank a person.”

The mates are constantly arguing about top 3 lists:

” ‘Top three goals ever scored by a Scottish player,’ Tibbs said.

In unison: ‘Archie Gemmill.’

‘Too obvious,’ he said.

‘Have there been three goals?’ I asked.”

How a Kenny Dalglish header inadvertently led to the rise of Thatcherism:

” ‘In 1978,’ he said, ‘Ally McLeod whipped the whole nation into a patriotic frenzy so he did, which ended in ignominy and humiliation.  The aftermath of the Argentina campaign is widely accepted to be the main reason the Scottish devolution bill failed in the referendum of March 1979.  That led to the Scottish Nationalists withdrawing support for he minority Labor government and the subsequent vote of ‘no-confidence’ led to the election won by Margaret Thatcher.’

He was a juggernaut of reason.

‘Open and shut case,’  Tully said.  ‘Goal makes Dole.'”

Some local colour, Elspeth’s wedding reception was in Seamill:

“Seamill – on the north Ayrshire coast.  I see my father pointing to the Isle of Arran from a tartan blanket on the beach.  He held my finger up when the sun was blinding and traced the shape of Beinn Tarsuinn and Goatfell.  Forty years on, a caravan stood empty on a ridge above the beach, so I took it over and fixed it up, filling it with cushions and Chinese lanterns.”

Revealing the title’s meaning:

“‘A beautiful publication,’ he said.  ‘Swammerdam believed that no being was higher than any other being, a revolutionary thought at the time.  He wrote this book one summer in Sloten, outside of Amsterdam.  He filled it with poetry and visions as well as anatomical observations.’

‘It’s really wonderful,’ I said.  ‘Mayflies.’ “

What an enjoyable read!

My third book was “Lucky” by Marissa Stapley.  This is a quick and fun read that I finished in two sittings this weekend.  I think Diana will figure out the puzzle quicker than I did.

A grifter/con-artist wins a $390 million lottery, but can’t claim the ticket because she’s wanted by the police at a federal level.  The book alternates between time slices each chapter, piecing the back story and the lottery plot together piece by piece.

As is typical, the ending was a bit far-fetched, but enjoyable nonetheless.  Recommended for a rainy or cold weekend.

I went on a deep dive around Tim Buckley’s “Song to the Siren” this week.  Many versions exist and all are quite different.  I’m partial to the “This Mortal Coil” version.  What do you think?

That’s enough of that one, but there are many more interesting versions to explore.

I loved this Lyle Lovett song that popped up on a playlist – excellent musicianship and production:

This one from Mary Chapin Carpenter (one of McD’s favourites) has been on heavy rotation recently.  Great guitar work:

I’ll leave you with this excellent instrumental from one of the great guitarists, Brian Setzer:

Stay safe, kind and patient with everyone!

 

“Watch my hand!”

You’ll have noticed that I haven’t posted in a while.  Why is that you ask?  Off to watch the Cowboys game?  No – I had hand surgery a couple of weeks ago and it was a pain to type with the wrap on my right hand.  The surgery was to remove something called dupuytrens – a cyst like growth and ligament hardening common after prior surgeries on your hand.  Everything was very smooth with the operation and I was in and out of the Craig Ranch Surgery Center (wonderful facility and people) in less than 2 hours.

A week later I went to have the dressing removed and all seems to be progressing well.

I needed to have a splint made to straighten my fingers out at night when sleeping.  Leaving town the next day, I got an appointment for just after lunch.  I stumbled on Mexican Cactus for a delicious taco lunch – great sauces.  A nice new addition to the taco rotation.  The splint appointment was painless and the lady also gave me a series of exercises to do every hour – I couldn’t say that I’ve been religious about doing them every single hour, but not too bad.

Diana had been gathering special ornaments for a small tree that she got for Finn.  All his favourite things – Pokemon, Star Wars and Pandas.  We had him over to deliver McD’s Christmas tree kit – he loved it all.

What a nice job Diana did on this, and she was very pleased when he had it all set up the next day.

Speaking of Diana and Christmas, a friend was visiting Clorinda and brought over a box of photos – including this gem.  Two year old Diana with the baby Jesus from the nativity scene.  Hasn’t changed a bit?

And continuing on the Diana theme – her retirement from NTTData was officially announced this week.

I know Timmy is very sorry to see her leaving him.  This note from a colleague made me smile – Diana used to tell me that if I would just work a wee bit harder then I could be a “rock star.”

I’m working with Diana on a list of activities to keep her busy in retirement – officially beginning on January 10th.

Last week I met some colleagues in downtown Dallas for dinner.  We went to a place called CBD Provisions, where the signature dish is pig’s head carnitas.  And yes, it comes served as a complete pig’s head – a bit strange but very tasty.  Traffic was awful on the drive down, taking more than 90 minutes (typically 40) and so I maybe wasn’t in the mood to fully enjoy such a different appetizer.

 

A few months ago, on a whim, we bought tickets to see Bryan Adams in Las Vegas.  The show was last Friday and we flew to Vegas on our way out to San Francisco.  Our room at the Encore by Wynn was very comfy and modern (Alexa was available to close the curtains and turn on the lights).  The show was at the Encore theater and so we just needed to ride the elevator down to attend the show – much easier than our typical drives to and from the Kessler for concerts.

Diana made us reservations at La Cave for pre-concert dinner.  What a great find this was – tapas style small plates and very creative.  The small plates weren’t really that small and we really enjoyed the meal in a lovely setting.  Diana liked her “Fizzies flight” – more fun than just one glass.

 

 

The concert was almost 90 minutes late in starting.  Somebody had taken a tumble on the balcony and apparently it took that long to deal with it.  The crowd was definitely getting restless by the time the band took the stage around 9:30.

It’s been 37 years since Adams released the “Reckless” album with so many of the hits that he’s still playing.  The first big hit in the set was “Heaven” with the crowd doing a great job on the first verse.  We think this song is a good one for Diana to learn on the piano – one of her retirement plans.

Next up was the classic “Summer of 69”, perhaps his best known song:

I enjoyed the guitar work on “Cuts Like a Knife”:

As is typical, Adams finished up with a couple of solo acoustic songs.  Here’s “Straight from the heart”:

A very enjoyable and well produced show all around.  Diana was very happy.

We stopped by the Eastside Lounge on the way back to our room and listened to the dueling pianos version of “Hotel California”:

We had a lazy start on Saturday with workouts in the fancy gym, lunch at the poolside restaurant, and then reading books by the lovely pool.  BP kept watch from the room.

I had made dinner reservations at Brasserie Bardot in the Aria resort.  We thought it was a good idea to walk the mile and half down the Vegas strip to dinner – work up an appetite.  Not a great idea – the strip was so busy and I quickly grew tired of bobbing and weaving through the herds of people.  When we finally arrived at Bardot we were seated inside next to a very loud table of guys.  The entire place was soooo loud.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to stand it and so we moved out to the front patio – much better.

We weren’t super hungry and decided to order a selection of appetizers.  Every one was amazing.  I highly recommend the food at Bardot, just make sure you sit on the patio or wear ear plugs.  We enjoyed foie gras two ways – as a torchon with black truffles, and seared over pineapple – both perfectly prepared.

As my regular readers know, it’s very hard for McD to say no to steak tartare.  In addition to that we had escargots en croute, and I think this was my favourite dish – so different from the typical presentation.

After dinner we called it an early night and were well rested for our flight to San Francisco on Sunday.  Again the airport was pleasantly uncrowded.

Monday was a busy work day for both of us, but things started to slow down on Tuesday and we were able to get out for a walk by the Pacifica beaches and to enjoy a coffee and a quiche at Soul Grind.

Andy and Jude invited us for Happy Hour in the evening and we enjoyed the wonderful sunset views.

We went for a walk on the hill on Wednesday morning and ran into the whole crew coming down.  It takes a while to make progress with Frankie collecting rocks, Luciano melting down when he falls off his skateboard, and Massimo moving along on crutches.  Here are some short videos that capture the scene.

Frankie yelled goodbye from her spot on top of the hill.

Grammie has been enjoying the lovely weather and her new patio set.

I highly recommend the new Tom Hanks movie “Finch.”  It’s amazing how much we come to care about robots.  Just a really well done and quiet movie.

I finished a couple of books over the last weeks.  First was “Oh, William!” by Elizabeth Strout.  Similar in style to the wonderful “Olive Kitteridge”, this follows the life of Lucy Barton and her ex-husband William.  I didn’t enjoy this as much as “Olive” but it was still a very good read.  This is the third book in a trilogy and I might have enjoyed it more had I read the first two books more recently.

 

My second book was “The Lincoln Highway” by Amor Towles.  I loved “A Gentleman in Moscow” and was excited to read his new book.  I thoroughly enjoyed the tale – quite different than “A Gentleman”, with much more action and a faster paced story.  At the same time, there was plenty of detail from 1954 (the book takes place over 10 days) to settle in and enjoy.  Here’s what Amazon had to say about it:

The Lincoln Highway might just be one of the best novels of this decade, which is a feat considering A Gentleman in Moscow, also holds that distinction (in this reviewer’s mind, anyway). Set in the 1950s, The Lincoln Highway is filled with nostalgia as well as the gentle naïveté and hijinks of those who are young, optimistic, and on a mission. The story follows four boys who set out to travel the country in search of a fresh start: Emmett and Billy want to find their mother who left them when they were young, and Duchess and Woolly are on the hunt for a stashed wad of cash. Sometimes their dreams are aligned but often they are not. In other words, adventure ensues: There’s train hopping and car stealing, and with that comes the inevitability of trouble sparked from both good and bad intentions. Each of these young men is chasing his dreams, but their pasts—whether violent or sad—are never far behind. A remarkable work of storytelling that is a 2021 favorite.

Enough music already, so I’ll save some of my new finds for the next posting.

Stay safe and kind!

 

“Cowboys Win – twice in one week”

After many meetings in Mexico on Monday, we retired to an excellent Argentinian steakhouse for dinner, and to watch the Cowboys destroying the Eagles.  Damon was the only Eagles fan in the group and it was hard not to feel badly for him.  This picture shows the fancy disinfecting unit in front of the restaurant – only Eagles fans had to walk through it 🙂

I thoroughly enjoyed the overall meal and experience.  The shrimp empanada appetizer (served in a burlap sack) was a great start.  My dry aged chorizo steak was a wonderful way to continue.  I’ve never had such a large table side menu before.  That’s Norma (my LATAM CIO) and Francisco (LATAM COO) in the picture.

They had the most creative dessert menu presentation that I’ve seen:

The flight back on Tuesday evening was very smooth.  Except for Blair.  He was catching a flight from Dallas to Austin, circled for an hour in thunder storms, and ultimately returned to Dallas.

I forgot to mention that I woke up on Tuesday to the news that Alicia had totaled her Jetta – not her fault.  A girl ran a red light and ploughed into the front left side of the engine.  Damon spent the night with us after the flight from Queretaro and agreed with D’s suggestion that we ship our Passat out to Alicia and look for a new car.

I took Finn for sushi after I picked him up from work on Thursday.  He loved the place I chose.  The salsa dancer (pictured here) was a great dish, and we picked out a couple of others that were equally delicious.  McD was surprised that I wouldn’t go for sushi with her but took Finn.  Can’t win!

The Passat was due for a service on Friday.  I took D over to drop it off and then we enjoyed a Taco Deli lunch.  Always so good.  I arranged for us to test drive the VW Atlas Cross Sport when we picked up the car on Saturday.  The first test with a V6 engine didn’t work out – under powered for the car.  The second drive with the turbo engine was better, but we’re not convinced yet.  The price point is quite attractive, so we’ll see what we end up doing for a second car.  Penelope is quite concerned.

Ollie made a trip down to San Jose on Saturday and accompanied Will on the patio of Rosie’s Irish Pub while he enjoyed a shepherd’s pie.  I’ve had that there before and it’s delicious.

 

 

 

I was texting my friend Tom in New York on Sunday to see what was new.  Was not expecting him to reply that he had triplet grand-children.  The guy in the middle, Michael, was only 1 lb. at birth and spent 4 months in the NICU- I’m sure he’ll catch up quickly.

Cowboys watching on Sunday was very pleasant.  A great win over the 3-0 undefeated Carolina Panthers to advance to 3-1 and top the NFC East division.  Finn watched with me and enjoyed D’s pigs in the blanket football snack.  There was a gecko on the patio trying to get into the action.

It’s always fun to text with Campbell and Tim during the games.  Especially when the Cowboys are doing well.

I really enjoyed S. A. Cosby’s “Razorblade Tears.”  Even better than his last, “Blacktop Wasteland”, with more complex and relatable characters and more vivid action.  Not for the feint of heart, but really well done.  Here’s the Amazon review:

“We couldn’t have loved Cosby’s last book, Blacktop Wasteland, more, so it’s gratifying to report that Razorblade Tears is just as good, if not better. Cosby has an uncanny knack for weaving righteous anger, heartfelt reflection, and even the inarticulate space between those two, into compulsively readable prose. Ike Randolph, a Black man fifteen years out of jail, meets his son’s father-in-law under the worst circumstances. Buddy Lee is also an ex-con, and his anguish at hearing that his son and his son-in-law—Ike’s son—have been gunned down in cold blood, is outpaced only by his guilt at how unaccepting he was of his son’s sexuality. But if these men missed the mark with their boys during their lifetimes, they will not let them down in death. The two horsemen of the apocalypse—driven by vengeance, race, and grief—make for a killer thriller. —Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Book Review”

I’m about 2/3rds of the way through “Away with the Penguins” by Hazel Prior.  This was a book that Heather gave Dad for his birthday, and I thought it looked really interesting.  It was described as being similar to “Eleanor Oliphant is Just Fine”, a book that Diana and I loved last year.

I’m really enjoying the book and the comparison is very accurate, with Veronica and Eleanor sharing many characteristics.  I like the first person narrative from Veronica’s point of view very much.

More to come next week when I finish up.

A new song from Nathaniel Rateliff is always a highlight.  Not my favourite but still a good song:

Here’s a great new song from Hayes Carll.  Not with his wife, but equally great:

And finally, I was looking for an album to play this week and came across an unopened copy of this gem.  I remember not loving the record when first released (hence the unopened album), but now I can’t imagine what I was thinking.  So many great songs.

Stay safe, kind, and patient!

“Happy Birthday Marco!”

Denny and Anne celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary last Thursday, and Anne chose this picture to commemorate the occasion.  It was taken on a trip we took with them to Nashville in December 2017.  Classic Denny and Anne.

 

Finn has been treating us to several new and experimental dishes that he’s been adding to his repertoire.  First a novel breakfast toast where he cuts out the inside of the bread, replaces it with an egg, spinach, mushroom mixture, and then reattaches the bread with some melted cheese.  Hard to describe but delicious.  On Wednesday, he surprised us with a wonderful chicken curry – just a delicious mixture of flavours in the sauce and perfectly cooked chicken.  We were both very impressed.

Last Friday we flew to San Francisco to celebrate Marco’s 50th birthday.  Alicia drove us from the San Francisco airport to the San Jose airport since there were not any rental cars available at SFO – such a pain, but many thanks to Alicia.  It was dinner time when we arrived back in Pacifica to collect Clorinda to drive to Sonoma.  Amy had pizza ready to enable to a quick turnaround.    We arrived at the lovely farmhouse in Sonoma around 10pm.  Marco and his friend Jeff were enjoying the hot tub when we pulled up.  He was quite surprised to see us and particularly his Mom.  Julie had rented the house and hadn’t told him who was coming to spend the weekend.

We hung out for a while on the lovely porch and then called it a night.  Coffee the next morning was challenging – the high-tech, automated house and equipment were almost too much for us.  Diana finally rebooted the fancy coffee maker and we were in business.

The rest of the day was very relaxing, just hanging out by the pool, reading, chatting, and playing ping pong.  At one point, Clorinda headed for the ping pong table at high speed and really enjoyed a game.

The third picture above is Marco modeling our gift.  Will suggested hybrid shorts (both swim and regular wear) that change pattern when wet.  Here Marco has dipped the bottoms in the water to get a “marlin cuff” pattern.

Adamo and the boys showed up in the afternoon and enjoyed all the facilities.  The tree swing out back was a big hit.

Giancarlo arrived in time for dinner, only living 20 minutes or so away from the Sonoma farmhouse.

Dinner was again technically challenging – we couldn’t get the fancy pellet smoker to work well.  McD and I muscled through and were able to do a decent job of barbequing/broiling dinner for the crew.  Birthday cake was served after dinner – I climbed up on the step ladder to get the group shot.

This was one of the after dinner games we enjoyed.  I laughed because Finn is someone that absolutely knows the answer to that question.  Another game was a combination of Pictionary and the Telephone Game called Telestrations – highly recommended.   That was a big hit with the group.

Gianluca was the only one awake when we ventured into the main house on Sunday morning.  He walked down to the French patisserie with us, we enjoyed breakfast (Croque Madame for me), and brought back a selection of pastries and quiches for the gang.  I couldn’t resist taking a picture of this T-Rex enjoying a Trump snack in a yard we passed.

Then it was time to drive back down to Pacifica and relax for the evening before flying back to Dallas on Monday afternoon.

Diana treated me to dinner the next Saturday night since I was headed to Mexico for a few days on Sunday afternoon.  We decided to Uber to C.T. Provisions in downtown McKinney.  The driver told us the streets were closed off for Oktoberfest.  This was not something we hadn’t realized, although I was wearing an Oktoberfest t-shirt that Finn had brought me from Market Street, with the dates on front.  Street blockage didn’t cause us too much trouble and provided some fun entertainment.

I had mentioned to Mum and Dad that I was hoping they would have a stuffed quail on the new Autumn menu – and wouldn’t you know it, they had a delicious dish on there.  The overall new menu was filled with things that are right up our alleys.  Mussels, octopus, pork belly – all great.  Uber back home was a bit more work, but not to huge a hassle.

 

I caught my flight to Queretaro, Mexico on Sunday afternoon.  It’s only 2 hours from DFW and was a very smooth journey.  Turns out only a 30 minute drive from San Miguel de Allende, our destination for Denny’s 50th birthday.  I’m going to take Diana on my next trip and we’ll spend the weekend there before I start the week in Queretaro.  Our driver gave us a brief tour of downtown before delivering us to our hotel.

There are some very interesting stories about the origin of the aqueduct on the left.  Aqueduct Construction of the Queretaro aqueduct began in 1726 by Juan Antonio de Urrutia y Arana and was completed on October 19, 1738. The 1,280-meter (4,200-foot) aqueduct transported water gathered from various springs to fountains within the city’s convents and plazas.  Several different tales are told about why Juan Antonio was compelled to build this – and they all include a lady that he was interested in and wanted to provide safe water to, the difference being which lady.

We hung out at the hotel for dinner and Sunday night football watching.  These are my traveling companions Blair and Damon exchanging views on the game.

 

I read “Lake Success” by Gary Shteyngart in a couple of days early this week.  It’s a quick and easy read with a constant oscillation from quirky humour to truly sad situations.  The challenge is that the main characters really do come across too much like caricatures, and the main plot of Barry Cohen, uber rich hedge fund dude, abandoning everything to cross the country on a Greyhound bus, just a bit too far fetched.  The book made all the big top 10 lists when published in 2018, and I think part of that was driven by the back drop of the Trump election and how that features prominently in this tale.  I did learn a lot about very expensive watches – Barry’s passion.  Here’s the Amazon review:

“An Amazon Best Book of September 2018:: By most measures, Barry Cohen has achieved the American Dream. He manages a hedge fund with $2.4 billion in assets. He lives in Tribeca and has a beautiful wife. He even has a case full of extremely expensive watches. He appears, at least on the surface, to be a highly unlikely candidate for a cross-country journey to find himself. But when we first meet Barry, he is stressed out and unhappy, and he is bleeding because his wife recently attacked him. Soon we learn that there is more imperfection in his life: his son is autistic and an SEC investigation is hanging over his head. So when Barry gets on a Greyhound and tries to leave it all behind (naively seeking out a long lost college girlfriend), we understand the allure he finds in busing himself into the unknown. There is humor in this novel, much of it recognizably Shteyngartian; there is also a dark line running across this story like a line drawn across a map. Shteyngart traces that line, setting his story in the summer of 2016. As Barry meets “real” Americans—i.e. the other 99.9%– they help to fill in the parts of Barry that are missing. Some readers will feel for Barry’s plight, some won’t. It was Shteyngart’s incisive observations about how we view ourselves and our country that drew me in. There are many different American Dreams out there. But are dreams real?”

My second book was “What’s Mine and Ours” by Naima Coster.  It’s been a week or so since I read this book, and I couldn’t remember the plot or characters without some internet research – probably tells you this was not very exciting or memorable to me.  I did enjoy the read but it certainly didn’t have too much to embed itself in my memory.  Here’s the summary review:

“From the author of Halsey Street, a sweeping novel of legacy, identity, the American family, and the ways that race affects even our most intimate relationships. 

A community in the Piedmont of North Carolina rises in outrage as a county initiative draws students from the largely Black east side of town into predominantly White high schools on the west. For two students, Gee and Noelle, the integration sets off a chain of events that will tie their two families together in unexpected ways over the span of the next 20 years. On one side of the integration debate is Jade, Gee’s steely, ambitious mother. In the aftermath of a harrowing loss, she is determined to give her son the tools he’ll need to survive in America as a sensitive, anxious, young Black man. On the other side is Noelle’s headstrong mother, Lacey May, a White woman who refuses to see her half-Latina daughters as anything but White. She strives to protect them as she couldn’t protect herself from the influence of their charming but unreliable father, Robbie. 

When Gee and Noelle join the school play meant to bridge the divide between new and old students, their paths collide, and their two seemingly disconnected families begin to form deeply knotted, messy ties that will shape the trajectory of their adult lives. And their mothers – each determined to see her child inherit a better life – will make choices that will haunt them for decades to come. 

As love is built and lost, and the past never too far behind, What’s Mine and Yours is an expansive, vibrant tapestry that moves between the years, from the foothills of North Carolina, to Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Paris. It explores the unique organism that is every family: what breaks them apart and how they come back together.”

I popped the CD of Jason Yates eponymous 2009 release into Penelope this week and remembered how much I had enjoyed this when it first came out.  Such understated but very catchy songs.  This one has been stuck in my ear for days:

I heard about Sandy Nelson on a drumming documentary that I enjoyed last week.  What a great sound:

Stay safe, patient and kind!