“Penguin Out”
I’m back.
Did you miss me?
That’s very sweet of you to say.
Yes – with all this staying at home I’m capable of carrying on extended conversations with imaginary friends. With no concerts to attend or restaurants to visit, I wanted to wait until I had something interesting to report before writing this report. You can be the judge if there’s actually anything in here or not.
Let’s start out with some humour. I agree, something we all need just now. I received a package with a card reading “Thought you could penguin out while in quarantine. Love you from A, A, L, M, & F”. Those initials are Amy, Adamo, Luciano, Massimo, and Francesca, and we know now that Amy was behind this. She had a great giggle at this picture, as did Diana.
And then… another package showed up in the evening. Guess what? Yes – a smaller version.
That has to be one of the more ridiculous sights in a while. Anybody have an entertaining onesie picture they’d like to share with us?
Our couch to 5K running program continues. I’d like to say it’s going well and it’s pretty hard work at the same time. McD continues to join me and is doing very well. We finished week 3 and are nervous about the jump up involved in transitioning to week 4.
In retaliation (maybe too strong a word) for running, Diana has me doing Zumba (who knew there were so many different salsa, sambas and the like?) and Yoga with her. I’m enjoying the variety and she’s getting a kick out of how silly I look doing it.
We enjoyed Easter Sunday video calls with both sides of the family. My Mum and Dad, Will and Christine, Campbell, and Alicia were first. The technology worked well and it was really nice to virtually see everyone. Then we had the extensive Campagna clan joining Clorinda. It took a while to get Grammie’s video working and then she had a great time chatting with all the grand kids. Marco started with a virtual treasure hunt, shared a video of Olivia’s choir group all performing together virtually, Giancarlo read a recent poem of his, and then we heard from each grand child. The lower IQ group joined from Puerto Rico, and had to leave the call to go and pack in hopes of catching the last flight off the island in the morning.
I’ve been using some of my extra time to take an online piano course. It’s by Willie Myette and I’m working my way through the Blues piano section. I highly recommend this course – it’s great to be able to start and stop and learn at your own pace. I’m working on “Frank’s Blues” just now and maybe I’ll post a video when I get it down. That reminds me – I had to come up with the trivia for our team virtual Happy Hour on Thursday, and decided to play the intros to some songs on the piano and guitar and see who could guess the song and artist first. Here’s some of the silliness on the guitar. I need to get back to online guitar lessons next.
It’s fun to meet families and pets on the video calls. Brad has two Irish wolfhounds – I’m very jealous. Here they are recovering from Happy Hour.
Rye, our wonderful little downtown McKinney restaurant, continues to keep us well fed with their meal kits. We enjoyed some redfish ponchatrain – an excellent New Orleans style sauce – and the best asparagus I remember tasting, last week, and then steamed buns (bao) with pork belly and all the fixings this week. It’s really nice to be able to support this great restaurant this way.
Here are a couple of pictures that I enjoyed recently – my Dad’s garden planter and a view that one of our neighbours took from our apartment building – I like what the Fairmont hotel is doing in the distance with the heart of Texas.
And here’s a wee funny about the stress that isolation can put on relationships:
I really enjoyed “The Adventurer’s Son” by Roman Dial. This is a true story of Dial’s search for his son who goes missing hiking solo in the Costa Rican rain forest. The book starts with great stories about Dial’s adventure exploits prior to kids, continues into describing the trips and activities that he completed with his son, and ends with his search for his son. There are a lot of twists in the search with a great amount of misinformation and story telling from the Costa Rican authorities. I have recommended this to the “Manly Book Club” in Austin. The descriptions of hiking in the jungles of Guatemala and South America were really interesting. It’s amazing what some folks are willing to undertake.
We lost three amazing musicians over the last 2 weeks. Ellis Marsalis, patriarch of the most famous New Orleans music family that includes Wynton and Brandford passed away from pneumonia caused by Covid-19. Marsalis contributions to music are huge – particularly as a teacher. Here he is in the jazz tent at the New Orleans Jazzfest:
Bill Withers death was not related to the virus. He retired from music many years ago but a few of his songs have lived on – “Lean on Me” seems to be everywhere these days. Here’s “Ain’t no Sunshine” from the excellent Old Grey Whistle Test series:
Finally, and having the most impact on me this week, John Prine passed away from the virus as well. He is one of my all time favourite singer songwriters. Best known for “Angel from Montgomery” and the Bonnie Raitt cover, he has penned and performed numerous haunting and deeply insightful songs. There is an excellent show that he did for the Sessions at West 54th series several years ago – highly recommended. My favourite is “Hello in There”:
I also love the NPR Tiny Desk concert that Prine did recently:
Be safe and kind!
The other way we’re getting exercise is with C25K (Couch to 5K). This is an application that coaches you from sitting on the couch to being ready to run a 5K. It’s an 8 week course with three 30 minute sessions each week. The duration of runs versus walks increases each week. I never expected McD to do this with me, but she’s doing really well and we completed week 1 successfully.
People have been trying hard to stay connected with everyone working at home, and I shared my Wednesday dinner creation and asked my team what they’d been cooking. Sole meuniere ended up being much easier than I anticipated – I added a bit too much lemon juice but otherwise it tasted quite good. Nick responded with a picture of one of his favourites – mixed cheese stuffed bacon wrapped jalapenos – don’t those look amazing?
nother way we’re staying connected is with virtual happy hours. Here’s some of my team participating in the Thursday night version. Michelle on the top right lives on a boat on Lake Travis – a great setting but very tight quarters to be cooped up in. We were treated to an excellent version of “Rocky Raccoon” by Will, a very talented colleague who is leaving us this week for a new opportunity.
We’ve been doing whatever we can to support our local businesses – the restaurants, music clubs and artists that we enjoy most. The Kessler, an amazing venue in Oak Cliff, south of downtown Dallas, started selling t-shirts to support their staff while closed down. I think they came up with a great design.
I finally finished “Christmas in Austin” – it’s been a while since it took me 3 weeks to get through a book. Nothing much happens in the book beyond what I reported over the last two posts. The family did climb Mount Bonnel this week, reminding me of when Diana and I dragged Alicia up the 99 steps to see the terrific views of Austin.
The word of the day from dictionary.com this week sums things up nicely – “Stir Crazy”. After three days of both working from home in our Austin apartment, we decided that some more space would be a good idea, and so drove up to McKinney on Thursday. The roads were quiet, particularly through the log jam that is typically Waco on I-35, and we made good time.
I particularly enjoyed Nathaniel Rateliff and highly recommend his new solo album. Then the finale by Willie and his sons, Lukas and Micah, was quite something. Here are a few jittery videos I made from the TV since this particular live stream wasn’t saved for future viewing. Thanks Amy for letting us know this concert was on. We had been watching a different stream from Gordy Quist’s (Band of Heathens) kitchen table and then switched over to watch this one. Such a great way to be able to contribute to the musicians while they’re not able to perform live.
were so fresh and delicious, and I learned a new brunch recipe. Oh, there was a langiappe from the Rye visit, Diana ordered me a quart of their excellent barrel aged Vieux Carre cocktail to go, and surprised me with one as I was cooking. Thanks McD! This cocktail was originally created at the Carousel Room of the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans around 1930.
McD arrived back in Austin on Tuesday night, worn out from all those days sorting documents and pictures, and generally organizing her Mum’s house. It was a pretty day in San Francisco when she left, as shown in this shot out the plane window. I zoomed in on the second one to show how stunning the city is from the air. Much prettier than this shot as she came in to land in Dallas:
to wait a while for a gate. I always wonder why they can’t tell that flights are arriving to the minute and plan ahead on gates – I’m sure it’s much more complex than it seems. Anyway, Diana was one of the last to make the plane, and a passenger in the first bulkhead row was putting his bag up for takeoff. “Oh, excuse me”, he said to Diana, and as she got a look at him, realized it was Bill Murray. I wonder what he’s doing in Austin this week. I’m sure I would enjoy being a part of whatever it is.
We received this picture of the storage unit leaving ‘the hill” from Adamo. That unit has been there for more than 10 years, and it was a huge accomplishment for the kids to get it emptied out and off the hill.
On Wednesday I asked Diana if she would like to go out to see Kevin Galloway performing at the Continental Gallery (the living room sized venue above the famous Continental Club). We were both tired and non-committal and settled in to catch up on episodes of the Bachelor that we had missed while being separated for 10 days. Just before 8pm, I decided that we should get out and enjoy some live music. You might remember that the last (and only) time we saw Galloway was at Geraldine’s in the Van Zandt hotel with noisy, disrespectful people in front of us. I was hoping this show would be different.
Diana couldn’t help but tell them how much she enjoyed seeing them get up to dance. The venue, company, storytelling and excellent musicianship combined to make this one of our favourite shows in a very long time. Another classic and unexpected Austin evening.
Saturday was one of those fun days that just unfolds as it goes – I love those days. A work colleague, Roy, who is in transition from Australia to Miami, was spending the weekend in Austin and so we invited him to join us for Saturday afternoon at the Continental Club. John X Reed, from Amarillo, TX, was playing the 3pm show, with an excellent mix of old school country music. The dancers were very good, and provided very good entertainment.
My book this week was “The Cracked Spine” by Paige Shelton. Advertised as “a Sottish bookshop mystery”, this book had set my expectations set high. The story starts with an advert for help in a bookshop, that is answered by a museum curator from Kansas:
A break in my schedule on Thursday allowed me to enjoy a decadent lunch at Bayou Jack’s in downtown McKinney. I do love their red pepper crawfish bisque, and it’s been too long since I enjoyed a cup.
“The Truants” by Kate Weinberg was my book this week. Here’s what a review said:
A work happy hour had me stopping by the Gibson Street bar on the way home. It’s right next to the Odd Duck and we had been wondering how it was – the verdict: a very nice bar with good service, comfy booths and a good patio.
Red Young and his Hot Horns were playing, and I loved that they started out with a number of songs by Allan Toussaint, the legendary New Orleans piano player, composer, and producer. Here are a couple of those. Red’s piano skills are top notch, with a mixed quality in the horns.
If you know my musical taste, you can hear that this is very appealing to me. Disappointingly, the live sound did not match up, with overdriven, blurry vocals and none of the nuanced guitar playing and drumming in the set above. I lasted a couple of songs before suggesting that we head across the street to III Forks for a drink before Big Head Todd started. The smoke infused negronis were delicious.
We went straight home after the show to avoid any more injuries. The last time we visited the Moody theater was when I broke my finger. Interestingly, as a complete aside, my fingerprint has changed after the surgery. The gym uses a combination of phone number and index fingerprint to sign in, and my right one doesn’t work – have to use the left hand index. Who would have thought that? I’m sitting here wondering if Global Entry at the airport uses finger prints – I don’t think so and hope not.
Elton John’s “Me” was my literary companion this week. The book is well written and is a fast, page-turning read. I enjoyed the earlier chapters, more focused on Elton’s musical experiences, than the later sections covering all his addictions and excesses. Ultimately I found this book pretty sad overall – such a troubled relationship with his parents that was never overcome, and so much wasted time and money. Not to take away from the $450 million raised for his AIDS foundation and the music that I’ll always treasure.
Wednesday was a long work day for Diana, and I was determined to get her out of the apartment on Thursday night. We both have new eyeglass prescriptions, and so we headed to Warby Parker on South Congress to see what we could find in the way of frames. We put Vincente, the store manager, to work finding us the perfect frames and he did a great job. Within a few minutes we had five pairs picked out – regular and sunglasses. I have grey and blue frames and some nice sunglasses, while Diana has gold and very cool sunnies. We snapped these pictures int the photo booth before leaving:
We sat in this covered patio area and enjoyed an amazing scallop and beet appetizer, with very fresh and perfectly cooked scallops. I hadn’t had enough beets, and so went for the beet salad while McD chose the meatballs and tagliatelle.
It was still raining after dinner, and so we were “forced” into the Continental Gallery for some music. Monte Warden and his incredible band were performing as we relaxed on a comfy couch in the living room style setting. It turns out Monte is a famous songwriter, having written songs that have sold over 100 million copies, for folks like George Jones. I loved the trumpet playing of Erik Telford, and the entire band were great musicians. Here’s a #1 song that Monte wrote for George Strait, “Desperately”:
I had just arrived home on Friday when a text came in from my Minnesota friend, Greg: “where can a guy find some good jazz in Austin tonight?” Greg and Kristan were in San Antonio for a conference next week and decided to drive up and experience Austin. We made quick reservations for Peche and the Parker jazz club. Kris Kimura, Parker owner, did not disappoint with an excellent set of classic jazz.
I love the sound of the bass flute on “Wonderful World”. After the Parker, we had a quick stop at the Elephant Room, for some more modern jazz and then called it a late night.
Sunday began with the usual workout followed by coffee (or mimosa) and crossword at Opa, and then got more interesting with a walk up to the Continental Club and Jimmie Dreams. New Orleans music is all that Jimmie plays, starting with six excellent Allen Toussaint songs. Midway through the set, McD was heard to say, “We could live in this town”. Such great musicianship with no cover on a pleasant Sunday afternoon. Here’s a Toussaint song recorded by Ernie K’Doe:
In related news, this large looking mountain lion was caught patrolling around Grammie’s house again. Apparently (according to McD) they make a 150 mile circuit around the Bay Area. I’m not sure I want to come face to face with this guy – the bobcats are one thing, but this seems a lot more challenging. Speaking of bobcats – here’s a picture of a mother and baby on Gypsy Hill this week – lot of nature going on up there on the “hill”:
The setting is sophisticated but casual, with a very comfortable feel. The bar area was very cool and has a great all night happy hour menu. I laughed when our strategy guy, a 6 foot 6 inch Swede, left his menu on a candle until it almost caught fire – reminded me of a trip to the City Winery in Nashville when our group had a similar experience.
I finished “The Quaker” by Liam McIlvanney this week. Liam is the son of William McIlvanney, one of my favourite authors and writer of my number one book – “Walking Wounded”. This book was a Christmas gift from my parents, under the heading “getting you back in touch with your Scottish roots”. It was the Scottish Crime Book of the Year in 2018.
And finally, D’s spin art from the Christmas party was installed in the Austin bedroom as well. It’s an album by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, a glam rock band formed in Scotland in 1972. I can remember checking their albums out of the High School library in Stewarton. How did the spin art folks happen to have one of these albums in Austin, TX? I think Diana created a very interesting piece.
The poached lobster and duck confit risotto were absolute standouts. Great choice Issac! We wandered around the corner to Antone’s blues club to close out the evening and posed for these fancy pictures in front of Eddie V’s:
walked across the street to the Parker Jazz Club for the early show. The House Band was playing, but we got very lucky. The trumpet player Mike Sailors was sitting in, along with club owner Kris Kimura (who plays 10 different instruments including various clarinets, saxophones, flugel horn, and 
ukulele), and an excellent trombone player. Sailors has been a big name in New York for the last several years, playing with the Village Vanguard orchestra and the Birdland band, among many others. He just moved back to Austin to take the role of jazz trumpet professor at the University of Austin, and this was his first gig. What a treat! The music was very much focused around Louis Armstrong – perfect for me. Here’s a sample.
patio at El Alma – such a good, close spot. Then we drove over to Covert Park to hike up to the top of Mount Bonnell. This is the highest spot in the city limit of Austin at 785 feet – I know, not that impressive in the scheme of things, but does offer some excellent views of downtown, and up and down river. There are some little multi-million dollar shacks right below the peak. It’s 106 steps up from the parking area to the top of Mount Bonnell. Whew, we made it!
“Mission Song” by John Le Carre was my first book this week. I “borrowed” it from the bookcase at Mum and Dad’s house. The story is told from the point of view of Bruno Salvador, “Salvo”, a very talented interpreter of African, particularly Congolese, languages. This is Le Carre’s 20th novel, published in 2006, and it focuses attention on the atrocities committed in the Congo, and largely ignored by the British and American press. Salvo begins his interpreter assignment thinking he is helping Britain find a good solution to the problems in Congo, then realizes it’s just another plan to take advantage of the region’s natural resources. He decides to attempt to stop the plan, with dire consequences. This was a typically beautifully written Le Carre book, with another really disappointing ending. A 375 page book, that comes to a conclusion with a report occupying the last page and a half – I’m getting really tired of less than rewarding endings. The commentary on the role an interpreter plays and the skill associated with the position seemed very well done.
My second book was “Made in Scotland” by the hilarious, and very Scottish, Billy Connolly, a Christmas gift from my parents. What an excellent read, but fair warning, the language is very salty at times.
David arrived in Stewarton on Sunday evening in time for some of my Mum’s yummy steak pie. Diana found the two of us waiting patiently in anticipation of the pie quite entertaining for some reason.
We expected an early start on Christmas Day with the young girls in the house. They were exceptionally patient, and even waited through breakfast before heading to the living room to open presents. There were lots of fun presents for everyone. Here’s McD with one of the stuffed trophy heads we received from Elspeth and David. Aren’t they hilarious? They did generate some interest on the trip home as they peeked out from Diana’s carry on bag, even getting the once over by the Dallas customs team.
We drove to the nearest decent sized town, Inverurie (Diana can do a decent Scottish accent on this one), for an Indian dinner. Rajpoot was very good, with everyone really enjoying their meals. The owner thought he was funny bringing me a kids dessert served in “Miss Pinky” – I had laughed when I saw them on the menu.
