Month: November 2021

Thanksgiving Weekend 2021

“Happy Thanksgiving”

What a lovely day on Gypsy Hill celebrating Thanksgiving.  All three generations posed for this picture before we drove up to #3 to meet the rest of the family.

Will, Christine, Campbell and Ollie arrived at the same time as we did, for their first Gypsy Hill Thanksgiving experience.  Christine had to deal with a hungry Clorinda as she assembled this delicious appetizer.  Grammie didn’t want to wait for the dill sauce and sprig and was happy to help herself to the cucumber and lox bases.

 

Ollie enjoyed playing with the new #3 dog, Molly.  I think they’re probably about the same age and really had a ball getting to know each other.

Everyone had a great time assembling snacks and dinner.

Luciano did a good job of making sure every last bit of turkey was carved.

Amy made a very passionate speech about being connected with the Earth and why we should all be thankful for that.  The Robertson boys hadn’t heard a speech quite like that before, and it was the first time Amy had sat down at the Thanksgiving table and given a speech.

Frankie took full advantage of the after dinner cookies with a double fisted performance.

We’re not sure what Clorinda thought was so funny as she was taking a picture with Giancarlo and family.  But it was clearly hilarious.

Soon it was time for Luciano and Massimo to relax with some TV.  They really were very well behaved all day.  Massimo reported the next day that “Uncle Keith is the best at spraying whipped cream into my mouth.”  Not sure that’s what I want to be the best at.

Some sunset pictures from both #3 and #1 – the sunsets were just beautiful every day we were there.

I always enjoy this New Orleans Thanksgiving table with the classic Hubig’s pie and James Booker in the bottom corner.

Will and Christine did it all again on Friday for their lunch with Melanie and Guy (Christine’s Dad).  Will was very proud of his bacon latticed turkey.

The girls (Diana, Alicia, and Caroline) spent a chunk of Friday putting up Clorinda’s Christmas tree and decorations.  Clorinda was quite happy to sit and read “The Lincoln Highway” that I had shared with her, while all the activity took place around her.  It wasn’t until Saturday morning that she really took time to investigate and enjoy all the decorations.

Diana went to sushi with Adamo and the boys on Friday night and had a good time meeting the owner and sharing some wine with her.  She did bring home a yummy soft shell crab for me.

Our flight home on Saturday was very smooth with no issues.  After all the warnings to expect disruptions due to low staffing of pilots, flight attendants and TSA staff, we had no issues at all on our three flights.  The airports weren’t overly busy and all our flights were on time and smooth.  Maybe we just got lucky.

Diana got this amazing aerial picture of Gypsy Hill as we flew home.  It’s the dark green wooded area right in the middle, above the golf course.  You can clearly see Adamo and Grammie’s houses as you zoom in.  Nice job McD!

It was nice to sleep in our own bed on Saturday night and we were fully rested for a run on Sunday morning.  Perfect weather – 55 degrees and sunny.  After the run we spent some quality time scooping leaves out of the pool.  Then I thought I would put the cover on the sunshade umbrella for winter.  Diana suggested letting it fully dry from the rain first, and then we discovered that about 50 wasps and other critters had decided to make the sunshade their home.  Note to self – open up the umbrella more often in the fall.  I sprayed all the wasps to kill them off, then realized the spray was staining the umbrella.  Some Spray N’ Wash and a good soaking with the hose and everything seems fine.  The easy things that turn into projects.  We finished up the manual labor portion of the day by retrieving Christmas decorations from the garage attic.  Now I’m relaxing with football and typing this post.

Stay safe and kind!

 

Several Weeks in Review – November 24, 2021

“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!

 

Week in Review – October 31, 2021

“Careful with that finger!”

We flew back from San Francisco to Dallas on Tuesday afternoon, unpacked, did some laundry, re-packed and started the drive to Austin on Wednesday morning.  I always enjoy looking out at the cloud formations on daytime flights.

The new VW Atlas performed very well on the drive – very comfy and smooth and with all the modern electronics that Penelope is lacking.  We met the Ogans for tacos at Nixta before checking into the hotel.  This is a place that I had been hoping to try for a while, and it was excellent.  Very creative and tasty tacos and tostadas.  It was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed the garden patio setting very much.  I had a beet tartare tostada that had some kind of whipped avocado base – highly recommended.

After hotel check-in, we had a few hours until dinner at Justine’s.  We found a couple of new cocktail establishments.  Higher Ground was just a few hundred yards from the hotel, and had great drinks and snacks – all cleverly named after the seven deadly sins.

Our next stop was at the Firehouse lounge.  This is a classic speakeasy hidden behind a sliding bookcase in the lobby of a hostel.  We enjoyed this stop a lot, with Diana and Anne very impressed that the bartender made them Old Cubans without any help on ingredients or proportions.

We sat on the patio at Justine’s and enjoyed a terrific evening.  Denny loved the ambiance and the food.  He and I both had a special clam dish with chorizo and frites.  What did Diana have?  Any guesses?  Yes – her first steak tartare of the trip.

Both Diana and I had work most of the day on Thursday and so Denny and Anne were on their own.  I ran into them (almost) on my drive to the office as they were scootering down Barton Springs.  I joined them for breakfast at Biscuits and Groovy – a very good food truck that even serves French press coffee.

We all met up for dinner at Peche before the concert at Austin City Limits.  What did Diana have here?  You are correct – her second steak tartare.  “But they’re all so good and so different from each other.”

We loved everything about the concert.  Three terrific artists/band were inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame.  We had excellent seats and plenty of room.  I’m going to share the pictures in order with the setlist from the evening.

Set list:

Alejandro Escovedo (inducted by Lenny Kaye)

1. “Algo Azul” (with Alex Ruiz and Lenny Kaye)

2. “Sally Was a Cop” (with John Doe, Alex Ruiz and Lenny Kaye)

3. “Put You Down”

Alejandro’s set was my favourite of the night – such a variety of musical styles and excellent song writing.  A highlight was him introducing his niece, Sheila E. from Prince’s band.  Now we know what the E stands for.

Lucinda Williams (inducted by Jason Isbell)

Certainly the most poignant moment of the evening.  We didn’t realize that Lucinda had suffered a stroke about a year ago – she can sing well but isn’t very mobile.  Isbell gave the best induction speech – highlighting the amazing lyrics of her songs.

1. “I Envy the Wind” (performed by Jason Isbell)

2. “Crescent City” (with Rosanne Cash)

3. “Changed the Locks” (with Margo Price)

Wilco (inducted by the lovely Rosanne Cash)

1. “A Shot in the Arm”

2. “Sky Blue Sky” (performed by Bill Callahan)

3. “One Sunday Morning” (performed by Terry Allen)

4. “Jesus Etc.” (with Michelle Zauner)

5. “California Stars” (grand finale with almost all performers)

If you look very closely in the bottom right corner you can catch sight of my grey hair.  It was about this time 2 years ago that I tried to cut off the tip of my finger in the J.W. Marriott door.  McD had me on a very close watch.  We introduced Denny and Anne to Velvet Taco for a late night snack – the chicken tikka tacos were a perfect end to a great and very unique evening.

The Ogans flew back to New Orleans on Friday morning, and so we had the day to ourselves.  We started out with a good long run along the river – that we seriously payed for over the next few days – not sure why our legs hurt so much.  I made a lunch reservation at June’s and teased D by asking her where she would like to pick for lunch  – she ultimately got to June’s and wondered if we could get a reservation 🙂  It was another lovely afternoon and we were able to sit out on the patio.  What did Diana have for lunch?  Yes – the trifecta of steak tartare was completed.  I enjoyed some salt cod croquettes and delicious curried escargot.

It was time to move again.  We walked about a mile and a half over to South Lamar and had a coffee on the wonderful Opa! patio.  One of the places we really miss for Sunday mornings.

After coffee, I took Diana to the tiki bar that I had picked out for Denny (before he had to leave early).  Tiki Tatsu-Ya was amazing – we were really transported into another world with outstanding details.  It has only been open a few weeks and is doing quite well, even though it’s hidden away behind the Saxon Pub parking lot.  Denny really missed out.  We’re looking forward to trying some food on our next visit.

Each drink had a very fancy cup.  We did not like the Tiki version of a negroni in that scary shot glass at all – needs some work.  A totally unique experience again.  The menu itself was very impressive.

After Tiki, I gave D the option of TG BAD (two guitars, bass, and drums) at the Saxon pub or an earlier than planned dinner at the Odd Duck.  She decided the Odd Duck couldn’t wait.  Wise move.

The Odd Duck and Opa! are probably the two places we miss the most in Austin.  The menu is always changing, so creative, and there’s no other place that mixes together so many flavours and textures so well.

We started with ceviche, quesadilla, and quail.  All fantastic.  Still a little hungry, we finished up with the scallops – perfectly cooked.  We really love this restaurant.

What an excellent day wandering around Austin and enjoying our favourite places!

 

 

Saturday started with a walk (a run was out of the question with our sore muscles) along the river.  Then we visited our last old favourite, El Alma, for their excellent brunch.  Eggs Benedict are probably not a great option before a four hour drive – that hollandaise sauce put me in a very sleepy state.  The Atlas made easy work of the drive back home – I think we’re going to get along just fine.

Finn came over for “football food” on Sunday after work.  I had suggested wings to D and she did a great job of cooking them for the first time.  The Cowboys didn’t play until the evening and were going with the backup quarterback, Cooper Rush.  We were all quite nervous, but they ended up being able to eke out a win to bring their record to 6-1 – best in decades.

We had planned to distribute Halloween candy until the game started at 7:30.  Business was light with I would guess a total of 30 kids or less.  Here are Ben and Lilly dressed up and ready to go in California.  And then Campbell and Molly are a bit scarier in San Diego.

I was too busy to get any decent reading done this week, and we’ve talked a lot about music already, so stay safe and kind!