And a lot of music

I thought I would dedicate a blog to the music shows we've seen this summer. I don't have pictures of all of them, but here's who we've seen over the past few months.

Last year we hardly missed any of these free Thursday night shows at Shady Grove but this year it wasn't until last Thursday that we made it to an "Unplugged at the Grove" to see Paul Thorn. He was the opening act for Bonnie Raitt who we saw in the spring at Bass Concert Hall. Paul is from Tupelo Mississippi and has the most drippingly sweet southern accent you've ever heard.

On Saturday night we had dinner at Waterloo and then walked over to Tim's Porch at the Backyard to see Eric Johnson. Eric looks like he's about 25 but is really 55! He is one of the most talented guitar players of our time. There was a gorgeous sunset before the show and the evening was not oppressively hot as it has been all of August. You could just feel a turn in the weather - it was actually pleasant and not even buggy.

A couple of other shows we've seen recently

Carolyn Wonderland at the Nutty Brown

and Stoney LaRue at the Nutty Brown

Spoon at Stubbs

Bob and the Texas Bluegrass Massacre at Threadgills

Gaelic Storm at Threadgills

Sir Paul McCartney at the new Dallas Cowbabies Stadium

They had fireworks inside this huge stadium!

The godzilla tron goes from the 20 yard line to the other 20 yard line. No football games had been played yet in this stadium when we went to the concert, but I am totally not surprised that punts are hitting this thing - it sure looked too low!

I thought this was a cool picture with the drummer on the side screen and how small the stage was in comparison.

It's been a great summer for music. ACL Fest is 4 weeks away!! Then we go to U2 in Phoenix in October. Mike has tickets to another Bruce in October (but I am not sure we're going to go). We are so lucky to live in Austin to be able to see such great music all year round.

Progress!

Here is the construction zone. I love the smell of fresh lumber :)

The upstairs deck has been powerwashed, bad boards replaced and a new railing is up!


Almost all of the planks have been removed. He will be able to salvage the frame, so that is very good news.

I'm not sure if they work on Satudays so you may need to wait for another update on this project until Monday night.

Not to worry, I will drag out some more "Lost Blogs" over the weekend.

TGIF!!!

Home Improvements

Tammy buried a St Joseph in my yard last week, but the two families interested in my house still haven't made offers. I think St Joe can't do this alone.

Apparently a stumbling block for selling my house is the deck. It is extensive and a has been a great feature of my house when I lived there. Both the upstairs covered deck and the larger deck are 21 years old. I knew they needed to be replaced, I just thought it would be a negotiating point when it came down to the end. I have given up on that and decided to just bite the bullet and get it done. So I got two bids and picked the deck builder I preferred (the one that drove a truck not a mercedes convertible!) and he got started yesterday. I drove by the house this a.m. and got these pix.

More tonight!

The Lost Blogs - final days at the beach

This is still one of my favorite scenes on the beach.

The lifeguards take these boats out once a day. On rougher days it is really a challenge to get these boats into the water.

One thing that you might not be aware of is that on the Jersey shore you must have a "Beach Tag" showing that you have paid for the privilege of using the public beach. These lovely plastic squares must be visible at all times. The Beach Tag Police roam the sand looking for violators and have no problem waking up someone to ask for their tag if it isn't visible. Even on rainy days you must pay to use the beach. Some of the more fashion-challenged beach-goers actually attach them to their swimsuits. The pin is so thick I would think that the swimsuit material would be forever damaged by doing this. Mine (displayed below) is attached to my beach bag.
This is my favorite shop along the Seaside boardwalk. LOL - Big Hearted John's "If you had a store...he would buy something from you!"

This was our last sunset

Bye, Lavallette! We'll be back again before the summer is over!

The Lost Blogs - Knitting a Sock

If you recall from a previous (and timely) blog, Steffi is teaching me how to knit. I started off with a washcloth. Simple, square, one easy stitch called the garter or garden or gar-something-or-other stitch. From the washcloth I made an incredible leap to starting a sock. It is really tricky working with multiple needles. I drop stitches, add stitches, knit upside down, purl from the back and all kinds of knitting violations. Steffi is a great coach and continues to remind me that there are no knitting police.

While the sock traveled with me to the beach there was no progress until the plane ride home. In first class, no less! Here is the sock in context of a glass of airline wine and a beer early in our flight home.



When we were getting close to Dallas and they wouldn't serve any more wine (I had to quickly take this photo before the flight attendant took my glass away) here is how much progress I had made!

After I had about 7-8 inches of sock-leg it was time to work on the heel:

At this point called "turning the heal" Steffi made me say "Oh, the cleverness of me!"
And now look! It just needs a toe and I will have a sock!!

Oh the cleverness of me!!

The Lost Blogs

Somewhere on our way from the beach back to Austin the dog ate my blogs. Or maybe they fell into a black hole created by the particle accelerator in Switzerland. Or maybe they were there the whole time but in invisible ink (or the equivalent white font). In any case, prepare yourself over the next few days for the Lost Blogs. This will sort of be like stepping into the past and well, it will be stepping into the past. Not very far, just a few weeks, but I'll try to get you caught up on what's been going on "Back at the Ranch."

Stay tuned...

Our last day at the beach

Today was the hottest day this year here all summer. And it was nowhere near as hot as our average day in June in Texas. The ocean was perfectly calm with only the occasional wave, so not a great body-surfing day. But a great last-day-at-the-beach-day for us. We may get a few hours in the sand tomorrow before we have to leave, but just in case, we have been pretending that this is our last day and trying to make the most of it.

See how calm the water is?I had my good camera at the beach today so I got a close-up of this bird.

and this bird

and this hunky lifeguard rowing the boat in the ocean.

Tonight we are going to the boardwalk again. What better way to spend our last night here than riding rides and enjoying boardwalk fries, $2 beers and softserv ice cream? Maybe not exactly in that order.

Having a wonderful time, wish you were here!

Slow Down!

Did you ever notice that time goes by faster when you are sitting on the beach than when you are sitting behind a desk? It is just not right.

It was another perfect day here. In spite of what the chair says, the water was very warm.

Sit on the beach all day. Swim in the ocean when you get hot. Enjoy ice cream from the Good Humor truck. Read another book. Listen to the gulls and the waves. What could be better than that? We have definitely gottent used to this routine.

Last evening we all wanted a good burger but none of us really wanted to go out to eat. So Meg assembled the George Foreman Grill (that we had bought last month and never put together)and Mike went out to buy burgers & fixins for our dinner. George really came through for us and we had a nice meal "in." Then we just stayed in and played cards at the kitchen table until 1 a.m. I thought this would be an early night!

Please can you make the clock hands go around a little slower today?

Having fun, wish you were here!

Lucky for us the weatherman was wrong!

Thursday started out rainy. Really rainy. That kind of rainy that seems like it will never stop. Rhythmic drip drip drip off the roof kind of rainy.

A good day for shopping though! We straggled out of the house at noon to purchase a digital converter for the TV that Mike's brother donated to the house. Without our government coupon it would have cost $55 (vs $15 with the coupon) so we decided that we had lived this long without a TV we could survive the rest of our trip without it. Oh well. We had excellent sandwiches for lunch at that Charlies place in Chadwick Beach. Then the sun came out and we went to the beach. Well, I took a nap and then went to the beach. As usual with rainy days here the sunset was fabulous!!

It is sunny this morning and I am excited to start a new book - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, recommended by Meg.

Having a great time - WYWH!

Down to our last week here

It's Wednesday morning which means we have less than a week left at the beach. Tears ;( It has been a lot of fun with so many people here at the same time, but I have to admit having a few relatively quiet days this week would be nice. Steffi and Duncan left yesterday and Katie left this morning. Stephen returns to Austin tomorrow. Poor Meg is stuck here with us since she is homeless until she moves into her UT house in few weeks.

Here are a few pix from the last few days:

Last day for the Chicago crew (Brian, Ann, Charlie and Beth), Jimmy's family and Steffi and Duncan

Stephen, Duncan, Stefanie
Charlie, Mary Beth, Kathleen and JohnStef actually went into the ocean this day! and seemed to enjoy it!

Tuesday, we were down to a small crew with just Maureen's kids and us. They bought a raft that provided endless hours of fun - mostly chasing after the raft after being dumped by a wave!

We have a scrabble game (abandoned last night at 12:30 a.m.) going on the kitchen table

and I am down to my last 50 pages of the 816 page John Irving book I've been reading. Book reviews coming in a later blog!

I don't want to come home! Wish You Were Here!

Rides, Games and Boardwalk treats

After raining all day long on Sunday the sun came out and presented itself in a most beautiful way.

The evening was too good to let pass just sitting around so a bunch of us headed to Seaside to the boardwalk. There was a group of "little kids" and a group of "big kids." We all enjoyed ourselves and everyone ended up with a prize of some sort for their efforts at games.

The Seaside boardwalk is very much like the OC boardwalk I grew up with. Rides, games, fries, softserve and great people watching...if you like tattoos. Mike and some of his brothers and sisters worked the rides and in the shops on this boardwalk as teenagers.

Duncan and Stephen were brave enough to ride The Slingshot which is a 2 person cage on huge rubber bands that gets launched straight up into the atmosphere. Well not really that high.

There is a live feed from a camera inside the slingshot to a TV where loved ones can watch the fear on the riders faces. Hmmmm. Doesn't look like they are very scared about this ride.

Meg and some of the "littler kids" road the Tower of Fear! Remember, I did this one last year with Katie?

Having fun, wish you were here!