Harvest time!

Papa Tom was concerned that all the rain would rot out the tomatoes.  We did lose a few, but overall, the crop is gorgeous!  Thanks, Papa Tom!



And more to come!

Visiting with Cami: Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Roy's daughter Cami visited from Denver this week.  She misses fried okra so we had lunch at Threadgill's.  She and friends are on their way to New Orleans for a week.

Tuesday, May 26, 2015: the day after the flood

Just in case

What a difference a day makes!  Hard to believe the ditch was the site of a raging torrent the previous day (see Memorial Day post).

Memorial Day, Part II: Flooding!

The storm caused a brief outage during "Mad Max Fury."  That was okay.  I needed a few minutes to regroup from all the car chase intensity.  After the movie, Papa Tom and I waited for a break in the rain to run to the Zoomer.  Had to run through a puddle that was about 8" deep to get to the car:  red cowgirl boots didn't like that!

We crossed Arroyo Seco (literally, "dry ditch") on our way home.

The water eventually rose to the top of the ditch and flooded the road.  Yikes!

Memorial Day, Part I: "Mad Max Fury"

Remember 23-year-old Mel Gibson as the original Mad Max?   Alamo Drafthouse treated the audience to scenes from "Road Warrior" before starting the feature presentation.  And how, in "Road Warrior," all the stunts were actually performed for real?  How far (?) we've come!  Thanks to CGI (I'm guessing), Charlize Theron was able to portray the one-armed Furiosa in George Miller's latest. 

Papa Tom is a big Mad Max fan.  He was pretty excited about seeing the latest film on the big screen.

I, on the other hand, was prepared to close my eyes a lot if the gore became too much.  I mainly only had to close one eye.

Soul Supporters, one more time: Saturday, May 23, 2015

We enjoyed the Soul Supporters so much at the Skylark Lounge that we've been watching the music calendar to find out when and where they would be playing next.  Turns out it was at Strange Brew, in South Austin, on Saturday night.  They're 7-8:30 p.m. show time was perfect too, given Papa Tom's need to get up at 6 a.m. Sunday to go to work.

Wholly Cow Burgers: Saturday, May 23, 2015

Because Papa Tom did his usual "fix it" magic on the clogged sink at the condo, and we didn't have to call a plumber after all, we celebrated at Wholly Cow Burgers, former food truck now located inside the Zen Mart on South Lamar.  We tried the burgers between portabella mushroom caps instead of on buns.

Called the Paleo burger, because it's all meat and bacon and veggies, no bread.

Have you ever seen kombucha on tap?  I really like the ginger kombucha, which I sometimes pick up at Natural Grocers on Guadalupe.

A couple of things I saw on my walk home: May 22, 2015

Texas hood ornament. 

Better look over your shoulder, Ped!  You're being followed by Zumba!

Emma's Spring Voice Recital: May 17, 2015

Do you see Emma?  The soloists posed as a group after the recital.  Emma sang "Der Blumenstrauss," in German.  Translation: "The Bouquet."

Afterwards, we had dinner across the street at McAllister's.  Ice tea for the trip home, which was, thankfully, uneventful!  I missed Emma's choir concert at Reicher High School due to traffic delays on I-35.  Internet report is that a semi jumped the concrete barrier and hit another semi and/or van in oncoming traffic.  The northbound lanes were completely stopped from shortly outside Jarrell.  Fortunately, Al and Joyce routed me off the Interstate through Moody so that I made the 4 p.m. recital in time.  Serious goings on in Waco today though: rival motorcycle gangs brawled with knives and chains and eventually guns at Twin Peaks restaurant, leaving 9 dead and 18 injured.

Happy 22, Destry!

Sister Donna on May 17, 1975, ready for the Syttend Mai children's parade.  Not sure the parade is ready for her!  On this same date, in 1993, her first son Destry was born.



May 17th is Norwegian Constitution Day.  On May 17, 1974, I arrived in Norway for the first time, at the Oslo train station, which was packed and rowdy with revelers.  Still had to take the train to Stavanger, where my parents, Charles, Martha, and Donna lived.  My Dad worked for ODECO (Offshore Drilling and Exploration Company) and was in Norway due to the North Sea oil discoveries. 

Happy Syttend Mai!

Mom and Dad lived in Stavanger, Norway, in the early '70s.  Dad was with ODECO (Offshore Drilling and Exploration Company) due to North Sea oil discoveries.  Here's Mom, movie camera in hand, waiting for the children's parade to pass.  That's Dad above, watching from his office window.






MazdaSpeed6: who knew!

Friday night, we struck up a conversation with John, from the Winding Road race car business, about our MazdaSpeeds.  We have a MazdaSpeed3, a little Zoomer.  He has the MazdaSpeed6, no longer in production.  He and the Winding Road crew weren't going to be at their store on Saturday; they were going to be at the Circuit of the Americas racetrack.

 

Here's the skinny:

The 2006 Mazdaspeed Atenza (known as Mazdaspeed6 in North America and Mazda 6 MPS in Europe, South Africa and Australia) is a high-performance version of the Mazda 6. It features a turbocharged version of the 2.3 L MZR I4 which produces 272 PS (200 kW) (European version is detuned to 260 PS (191 kW); the North American version, at 274 hp (204 kW), revised to 270 hp (200 kW) for 2007). All models have 280 lb·ft (380 N·m) of torque. This 2.3 L DISI turbocharged engine features direct fuel injection and conforms to the new Euro 5 emissions standards. It has a revised front fascia with a raised hood, a 6-speed manual transmission, and all-wheel drive. The all-wheel-drive system uses Mazda's Active Torque Split computer-based control, which routes up to 50% of the power to the rear wheels depending on driving conditions.

Car and Driver magazine has achieved a 0-60 mph time of 5.4 seconds for this vehicle.^[5]

Home grown tomatoes: May 16, 2015

Hurry up June!

We've had so much rain that Papa Tom has put a tarp over the garden to give the soil a chance to dry out.  Otherwise, the tomatoes on the vine will rot before they ripen.  And rain is expected all next week.

Lucy on the porch

Lucy lazing on the porch on a sunny Friday afternoon

Training for John Muir Trail

So the serious training has begun.  I walked home from work four days this past week, two days when it was drizzling.  Was invigorating!  The rain was pouring too hard Friday morning for me to bus to work, so I drove.  But when I got home, I did 200 kettle bell swings (okay, in increments of 25 with a breather in between) and only a 15-pound kettle bell. 

Mother's Day: May 10, 2015

When Anjanette was 4 years old, she met Farah Fawcett at the Umlauf Sculpture Gardens.  Anjanette said she was impressed by how beautiful Farah's hair was.  Here, we are at Polvo's, for a Mother's Day dinner with Jade.  Thanks, Amon!

Jade gave Mama a chocolate/orange candy bar and "The Very Hungry Zombie," a parody of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar."

Muscles!

Jade's been working out!

Prepping for the JMT hike in July 2016

Amon's got enough space for the 60,000 calories of food he's planning to carry on the trip: 211 miles, 20 days (we're hoping) from Yosemite to Mt. Whitney.  Papa Tom and I plan to carry smaller backpacks and stop along the way to resupply.

You are one stylish hiker, Amon!

Mother's Day Eve: May 9, 2015

Since Papa Tom works Sundays, we celebrated Mother's Day with Grandma Evelyn on Saturday at Twisted Root Burger, which just opened in our neighborhood.  The franchise started in Shreveport and will soon open in Waco.

Amon with the Kevin Bacon burger.



Recycled lighting

Celebrating the pending arrival of Lucy and Jake: May 9, 2015

Oh my!  Here's Sarah with cute little clothes for the twins, Lucy and Jake, who should arrive in early July.

Happy 7, Otis!

Here's our birthday guy, when he was still 6.  You are so handsome and sweet, Otis!

Austin Blues Society Jam at the Skylark Lounge: May 8, 2015

We're members of the Austin Blues Society, whose members jam once a month or so at the Skylark Lounge.  (We hung back and listened: someday!) This was the real deal, an Austin dive bar smack dab in the middle of a junk yard surrounded by chain link fence with razor wire on top.

Seriously.  I told Papa Tom maybe we should drive the truck over next time, instead of the Zoomer.  The music was outstanding:  heard one of the best bands ever after the blues jam: Soul Supporters.  Also, the food was incredible.  The cook studied under Emeril in New Orleans and is currently on the culinary staff at the Governor's Mansion.  We had pizza with a garlic sauce base, topped with Italian sausage and mozzarella cheese.  Delish!

More classical guitar: May 7, 2015

Papa Tom and I attended a UT doctoral student's classical guitar recital.  Added treat:  he was variously accompanied by a flautist, celloist, and another classical guitarist.  The accompanying classical guitarist was Celil Refik Kaya, from Turkey, who first performed when he was 6 years old and has performed all over the world, including at Carnegie Hall.

We're thinking the Tower was orange in honor of the 2015 graduates?  We parked a mile from Jessen Auditorium so got in a 2-mile walk and didn't get rained on.

Looking away from the Tower, across the fountain toward the State Capital.

Dinner and yoga at the Triangle: May 6, 2015

I walked to the Flying Saucer at the Triangle (a little over a  mile from home) to meet Tom, Amon, and Jade for dinner.  Afterward, couldn't help but admire the flexibility and strength of this couple doing yoga in the park.  Could that be Papa Tom and me next year???  Or at any time in our lives???

I've never lost that healthy fear of falling that all of us are born with.  I probably would never want to try this: she flipped from the first pose to land in an airplane pose, balanced on his feet (see photo below).



Here's that airplane pose I was talking about above.

OK, I would do this one.  Papa Tom?

Mya is 7! Piper is 2!

Here are our recent birthday girls right after Mya's birthday:  Mya is 7 and Piper is 2.

Cinco de Mayo!

Papa Tom, Amon, and I walked over to La Mancha to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with $2 tacos.  This was the first of our John Muir Trail preparation walks: very short, only a little over a mile each way.

Look out for grackles!  One nervy grackle swooped down to the table full of people next to us and helped himself to a claw full of chips.