at the airport

Yesterday was a really good day. It was mostly sunny and much of the treacherous ice in the driveway had melted by the time we returned from our errands. I checked this morning and the towels we had put down for Lori to walk from her car into the garage were frozen solid to the ground! The front walk still looks like it has about 2 inches of solid thick ice. Luckily no one needs to use the front door.

Mom and I got a lot accomplished on Thursday and Friday. It's too bad we lost 2 days to the snow and ice, otherwise we could have made even more progress this week. We continue to learn new things about support services for seniors and important lessons learned from almost everyone we talk to. While we were out yesterday I ran into Wally World and purchased a carbon monoxide detector for their home, too. I used O's credit card and had to sign "Mrs. O." LOL. I messed up on the electronic device the first time but fortunately there is a clear button and I remembered to sign it as Mom directed me to the second time. Luckily the cashier did not ask me for an id to match the credit card because Mom was waiting in the car.

Now I am at the airport and have 2 more hours before my flight. I rode here in a shuttle from the eastern shore with 2 other men and the driver and we had interesting conversations. You never know who you are going to run into when riding on these buses. One of them is a 6th generation eastern shore farmboy and now operates an aerial photography business. That link will take you to his business website which has lots of great photos of the eastern shore. He used to be a blimp pilot! (As an aside, stating that as your line of work sounds like it would have a similar success rate as a "pick up line" as if you said you were a zamboni driver.) He is in the process of organizing a website to post photos of environmental concerns so that the agencies who are supposed to protect our environment are embarassed into taking action. Apparently he has reported several potential offenses to the Coast Guard and Dept of Natural Resources and neither agency did anything. I wish him success with that - we need more people like him who care and try to preserve our environment.

On the way into the airport we saw the Southwest plane painted as the Maryland flag. I have flown on their planes painted like Shamu, but had no idea there were any other themes. I walked over to the A gates to see if it was still there to get a photograph, but it was gone. I found this photo on this SWA website:

There are 10 planes painted with state themes, one of them is Texas!

Pretty cool. Only an hour and half until flight time! I wonder if I will get to fly Shamu or Maryland One or one of the other themed planes!?

One mission accomplished

Check out this sunset!

We put seed out for the birds after the snow. We actually saw a real blue bird - the "of happiness" kind in a tree outside my bedroom. He never came to get any seed though. There are lots of blue jays and cardinals and there is one woodpecker. The jays are the bravest and biggest bullies to the other birds. The cardinals seem to be able to sense that I am there with a camera and only come to the bench when I am not waiting for a picture. The woodpecker will land, grab a seed, and take it somewhere else to eat it. He reminded me of my 3 dogs and their food - Boo has taught the others to fill their mouths with food, carry it to the foyer and drop it on the rug to eat! It is endearing. Really. (not!)


Last evening there was a herd of 8 deer out in the field. I had been seeing tracks in the snow on my way to the mailbox so we knew they were around. Mom says she hasn't seen the herd in their yard in a long while.

One of the things I wanted to do while visiting my Mom this week was to fill her freezer with easy-to-reheat meals for days when she needs a break. My Mom has always been a wonderful cook and what I make is nothing in comparison to what she is capable of preparing herself. But we all know some days we just don't feel like cooking and it is nice to reach into the freezer and heat it up. So here's what I stirred up for her:

Sausage and 3 pepper tomato sauce. We purchased some fusilli pasta to go with it.

Turkey chili

ham and navy bean soup

2 brocolli ham quiches

a lasagna with beef and spinach

and a simple zuchhini squash casserole which was not photo-worthy. It is Mom's recipe that she gave me eons ago and I make it all the time.

Last night I made chicken parm only I used swiss, so I guess it was "chicken swiss." lol

A tour of my old bedroom

Before we start the "art tour," isn't this a pretyt view? It is the view from the family room at Mom's house. That's the Wye River out there. It is just so peaceful.

Mike has gone back to Austin and I am staying at Mom’s for the week. We had plans to do some things but now a snowstorm has come today and we moved our appointments to the end of the week. Today I was wandering around my old bedroom and the shrine to my old art projects. I thought you might enjoy looking at them.
I always liked doing art projects and when I found out that I could satisfy the home-ec requirement by taking art, that sealed the deal for me. This is the Humpty Dumpty that I made from plaster and painted with acrylics in 8th grade I think. The interesting thing about Humpty is that he was assulted by another student who the art teacher caught in the art storage room sawing Mr Dumpty's arms off! I was called into the office to hear the bad news. Fortunately I was able to repair him. The other student was suspended from school for a few days. What a sicko.
I went through a gnome phase for a couple of years. The ones on the right (male and female) were made from clay in art class (maybe 9th or 10th grade?). The one on the left, without the hat, is made of wax. We were studying the lost wax method of sculpture. I made him in college and the teacher had intended for us to go to a foundry to have our wax creations cast in bronze. I think the idea was to create the shape in wax, somehow bury the wax in sand and then pour the hot bronze in. The wax would melt and disappear and the bronze would fill the space. The hot metal would cool and voila - after dusting off the sand I would have my bronze gnome. I worked really hard on warming and shaping the dark green wax into the gnome most of a semester. We had other projects too and I always enjoyed going into the studio and getting lost in my projects for hours, even on weekends. The trip fell through and now I just have this wax model. I think I got an A in the class though. Someone dusted his hat once and it broke, but my Mom just can't throw him away.

Here is the Hickory Dickory Dock clock made of clay. There is a mouse peeking down at the clock from the cone-shaped roof. And mice and other creatures are dancing around the face of the clock as it strikes 1.

Orville, my step-dad, used to go out in the river in his rowboat and "run the crab pots." I made this piece out of clay showing him smoking a pipe and scolding a crab that had escaped from the basket.

I really enjoyed "thowing" pots on the potters wheel in art class. Here is one of the bowls I made. I loved using multiple layers of glaze. Maybe someday I will take a pottery class and get to do this again.

Here is a project where we started with a large rectangular block of plaster and the idea was to carve out to create a 3d image. It was a harder project than I expected. Once an area was carved out you couldn't get it back again so it really required a lot of planning and thought. If you can't tell, it is a ski racer going around the gates. Much to my daughter's surprise, I also did needlepoint, crochet and embroidery in highschool. Here is one of the pillows I made.

Looking at these brought back many memories of other art projects that didn't survive. All those 2 point perspective drawings, a crab made of paper mache and covered with tissue paper (my friend Kate made a life size scuba diver!), the pyramid made of sugar cubes, books of charcoal sketches and linoleum blocks for printing. I hope you enjoyed the tour!

Happy Birthday to Mom, part 2

I am feeling guilty for not blogging in a while. I am in Maryland this week and I should have already updated you on the birthday party for my Mom on Sunday. Mike and I traveled to Maryland on Saturday morning. Southwest has a nice direct flight from Austin and we landed around 1:00. We didn’t need to go to Mom’s right away so I decided to take him to McGarvey’s down by the harbor for lunch. McGarvey’s and Riordan’s are to pubs/restaurants that have always been there and I am sure everyone who grew up anywhere near Annapolis or ever visited Annapolis has been to one or both of them. Anyway, I have fond memories of McGarvey’s and they make great burgers so it was fun to go for lunch.

On Sunday we traveled up to Baltimore and met the others for brunch at the Turf Valley Inn. My sister Leslie was the surprise guest for my Mom – she suspected that Leslie would come, but when she didn’t turn up with us on Saturday Mom was disappointed. It was all I could do not to tell the truth.

After eating about 5 courses from the brunch we waddled to the cars and went to my Aunt’s house nearby to open birthday presents.

My cousin Sue Ellen made a hummingbird cake, which had banana in it! That actually was very delicious (in spite of the banana). I am adding “Eat a banana” to my 2009 To Do list. Does eating a cake with banana in it count?
Here is a funny coincidence! When my little family found out that Mike would be attending the birthday party one cousin (one of the Sue’s) decided that she would create a test for him to qualify for entry into the family or something. LOL. There are so few of us, I think we should be recruiting more actively! And poor Mike, it turned out, would be the only male at the birthday party. I think that qualifies for an automatic “Acceptance!” When we arrived, Sue started off by asking for Mike to pronounce various words like "water." She asked him where he went in the summers – the shore or the beach? And what subway he rode to his house. Somewhere in the list of questions it was revealed that both my cousin Sue and Mike were at Barnard and Columbia the same years and lived in the same dorm one year. They had both grown up on other sides of the Bronx, and ended up at sister schools at the same time. At that point the list was tossed aside and I think it was an automatic “pass” – or more likely I think Sue was afraid Mike might actually have some scoop on her that she didn’t want revealed! At the end of the afternoon it was like Mike had been part of the family for years.

For some reason I have not been in a photographic mood for a while. But I managed to get a few pix.

I think Mom had a really nice birthday!

Oops! Meant to post this yesterday!

In honor of the inauguration of our new president, I dressed up my cow in her patriotic outfit. Normally she only wears this from Memorial Day through Independence Day.

I am in Boulder this week and the weather is absolutely fabulous - 70 degrees and wall to wall sunshine. Who woulda expected that here in January?!

Yesterday was one of those days, in my opinion, that we will always remember where we were and what we were doing when Obama took the oath of office. Where were you? I was in one of our stores in Boulder, the "Pearl store," standing near the express checkout line watching the large screen TV that the store team leader had rented for the day. The store had an inauguration party and paper visors and balloons to hand out to the customers. There were probably 100 people at the front of this store watching. It was amazing. No one checked out until the ceremony and his speech were over. Although we went back to work shortly after that the topic continued to come up all day long and everyone seemed to be in a happy and hopeful mood.

Happy Birthday Mom! part 1

Ellen Lee Sack, born January 17th, 1924

Happy Birthday Mom!

What a cute baby you were! I hope you had a spectacular day today. I can't wait until your party next weekend!

20 miles

I tallied up my week and it totaled 20 miles. Not bad for a first week. Next week I am traveling to Boulder and staying in a hotel with a marginal fitness center, if you could even call it that. My travel companion is an exercise fanatic so I know he will encourage me to at least give the fitness center a chance. He will probably be running 6 minute miles out in the frigid Rocky Mountain air while I trot along on the treadmill inside. I read somewhere that it takes a month to establish a new habit. I've only been at it a week and I feel established. Next week will be the first test.

Last night Mike and I saw the Benjamin Button movie at the Alamo South. It is a very looooong movie but the Alamo provides everything you need - big screen, comfy seats, dinner, drinks - everything except for a pause button so you don't miss anything when you need to take a break. The movie was sweet and Brad Pitt gets more and more good looking as he gets younger through the movie. I do think they could have cut out about 20 or 30 minutes from the movie. I mean how did they even turn a short story into a 3 hour long movie?! Imagine if the story had been a regular lengthy novel. Neither of us were sure why the background story was hurricane Katrina. The paper gives it 2 stars, I would give it 3 for eye candy value alone.

For Jonah

Steffi's beloved fish, Jonah, has gone to the big fishbowl in the sky. I hope he is happily swimming around in fishy heaven with all the other pet fish we have had. If you recall, we had a scare a few months ago when we thought Jonah was on his last fins. I guess he hasn't really been himself in a while. But what could we have done? At least he didn't jump out of the bowl. We had an angelfish who used to jump out of the tank all the time, well at least 3 times that I can remember. Somehow we would find him in time and put him back in the tank. He ended up living for years! Jonah was given to Steffi by a boy, I think it was freshman year in highschool. This is the funny part - the boy now works the fish counter at HEB. Am I the only one who thinks that is funny?!

It's always hard to say goodbye to a living thing, no matter how small. A fish, a frog, a bunny....a dog. They become part of the family, even a fish. They are constants. At least for a while. We talk to them and they understand. They talk to us and we understand. They are our friends.

So goodbye Jonah. Thank you for entertaining us at breakfast everyday and reminding us to take our vitamins whenever we fed you. We will miss you.

Wednesday

The middle of the week already! Today I got up a few minutes earlier than yesterday so that I could get some exercise in before work AND then get back in bed and read the paper AND still make it to work for an 8:30 conference call. I had to get on the call while still in the parking garage so the timing wasn't perfect. Oh well - I made the call and got a space so there are no complaints!

To make up for no exercise yesterday I did double duty today - morning and evening for about 1 and a quarter hours and over 5 miles on the treadmill. I don't run the whole time, I walk a lot still. It's the duration that I want to keep up. Anyway it feels good and I think I can keep this up.

In other news of the number 5 - I counted the number of turns that the muffin plate made it before falling off the back of Kerry Lynn's car and it was 5.

Steffi and I worked out a plan today for her meals at school this semester where she will not feel compelled to buy everyone's lunch at the end of the year because she still has unspent dining hall meals. Hopefully by the time she graduates in 2012 (!) we will have determined the ideal combination of meal plan dollars and money for her to cook on her own. If we do, I promise to share the secret.

Update on Marilyn - still has the bag on her head but today someone has moved her to one side of the room, kind of parallel to the wall. No sign of the previous occupant of that office though.

The Muffin Mystery or the Fate of the Plate

The following is a true story that made us laugh this evening so I decided it was blog-worthy. Besides, it will distract you from wondering how many miles I did on the treadmill today.


Duncan and I have been pretty regularly spending Monday evenings together. Sometimes we go to movies, sometimes a haircut and dinner. Last night was dinner and a passport photo.

I know, that is not very interesting, but it is what it is and we had a nice time together. While the passport photo was being processed we ran over to the HEB and I picked up a few things, including some poppyseed muffin mix so I could make my beloved son's favorite muffins for his breakfast. When we got home, I made the muffins and in the morning I lovingly left three out on a plate covered with saran along with a note to have a nice day. I have recreated this for your visualization.
I had to leave before he needed to get up so I phoned him at the predetermined time to wake him up and wish him a nice day again. I reminded him that I left his favorite muffins made with love on the counter for him to heat up for breakfast.


By the way, I have found a flaw with my new oven. It only beeps once when the timer goes off and if you don't hear that one beep you are out of luck. Fortunately poppyseed muffins generate a really strong smell when they bake so I got them out before they were completely burned.


Back to the muffin mystery! This evening I got home and noticed two things: 1. that Duncan had called the home number around 9:30 a.m. and 2. there was a message blinking on the answering machine. Most messages are just junk and I just erase them without listening, but for some reason I decided to listen to the messages in case Duncan had actually left one. Which he had. The message went something like this. "Um, hello, this is Duncan. Kerry Lynn, if you can hear this, I was looking for something in the garage and um left a plate of muffins on your spare tire and um, I'm at work now, and um I didn't want you to back over them or anything. So um, I lost all the numbers in my phone so I don't know your cell phone. Okay, I hope you see them. Bye!"


After I heard the message I peaked out the window to see if there was a shattered plate and muffin crumbs all over the driveway and there wasn't. I figured that either Kerry Lynn had indeed driven over the muffin plate and cleaned it up or a miracle had occurred and she had found the muffins before driving away put them someplace safe. I checked the trash can and the fridge, but there was no trace in either location. Hmm.


Later this evening when I got home from watching TV with Mike, I asked Kerry Lynn 'what happened to the muffins?' She gave me a very puzzled look. I played the message from the answering machine and then Kerry Lynn burst out laughing! Apparently this morning as she drove out of the neighborhood she turned the last corner and heard a loud crashing sound - like breaking glass. She looked in her rear view mirror and all she could see was a little bit of paper or something so she continued on her way and didn't give it a second thought until just now. I reckon that muffin plate made it about a mile riding on the top of her spare tire before it met its fate. Hope the deer enjoyed the muffins and didn't get cut on the glass!

I still love you Duncan!!

On another subject, it looks like someone got tired of looking at Marilyn so cheerful all day

Waiting for Roy

3 more miles this morning before work. I’ve had to change my morning routine a bit. I set up the coffee maker the night before so I don’t have to spend time making it in the morning. I also set my alarm 6 minutes earlier, and only allowed myself one snooze. “Such discipline” I hear you saying! That way I had 45 minutes to get my 3 miles in and still have enough time to read a bit of the paper and drink a little coffee before jumping in the shower and hustling out the door. If only every day was a school holiday and we had enough parking spaces at work so I didn’t have to worry about not getting a spot. It was chilly (30 something degrees) this a.m. and I was not about to risk having to park across the universe and walk. On warmer days it won’t be such an issue.

When I got to work my usual neighbor had been replaced with this:

Pretty face, but not much of a talker.

Roy is coming to visit me this evening so I had to leave work a bit early. Roy is my UPS driver and he is terrified of my dog Topher. Who is very fierce you see.

Seriously, I have been at home before waiting for the UPS delivery and seen Roy pull up, observe the dogs lying on the driveway and then drive away. No kidding. I have chased him in my car when I was down to the “3rd and final” notice. I finally gave Roy my cell phone number and now every time he has a delivery for me he calls me to ask if I’ll be home. All of this because of Topher The Terrifying Chihuahua. Hahahaha. Tonight, Roy is bringing me wine. I just now at 6:30 p.m. chased a random truck down the street thinking that Roy had seen an imaginary dog in the driveway and fled, but it was just a work truck from up the street.

I neglected to mention the other day that on Saturday Mike and I attempted to go see James McMurty at the Cactus Café. James plays a regular midnight show on Tuesdays I think at the Continental Club, but that is like way to late for me to go to a show that hasn’t already started. If it starts at 10 and goes until 1 or 1:30 I can do it, but if it starts at midnight and ends who knows when, it would take me days to recover. Not worth it. By the line on Saturday night I’m guessing there are several hundred others who feel the same way and said to themselves “Hey, a chance to see James McMurtry at a decent hour – let’s go!” The line was crazy long and the person at the front said she’d been there since 6 p.m. For an 8:30/9:00 ish show! He is really popular! The venue only holds 150 people. We had already shelled out a whole $6 for parking and now had nowhere to go.

But wait! I remembered that my friend Kelly sent an email the other day saying she had reconnected with a friend of a former jr high school boyfriend via Facebook and did I know of either of two restaurant/bars he had opened in Austin? One is LoveJoy's which is a microbrew place just off 6th street that has been on Mike’s list for quite some time. We tried there on New Year’s Eve but they weren’t open at the time we went by because they were opening late that night. The other place, Drungo Ice House, is near the UT campus and I happened to remember the name and address and it wasn’t far from where we were. Too cold to walk that far so we drove the 6 blocks or so. Turns out it used to be an Italian restaurant that Mike knew and is very near one of Meg’s college apartments. There was live music and the menu was decent. Definitely Baltimore/Annapolis area influences on the walls and menu. Her friend Chip’s picture was on the wall advertising Trivia Night. I should have taken a picture of it. We’ll definitely go back, most especially to get the scoop on Kelly’s jr high school escapades.

Roy is still not here!

Achoo! and 3 and 4 miles

It is cedar season in Austin and the newspaper has been lying about the pollen levels. My nose knows it's in the Ultra High range this weekend, not Medium as reported. Cedar Fever, as it is called here, is the one downside of winter in Austin. Other than the cedar fever you can't complatin about the usually sunny and warm winter weather in Austin. I love the opportunity to go Christmas shopping with short sleeves, and not all bundled up in coats and scarves. We usually have a few days of official winter, and those are over by mid-February.

If you're prone to pollen allergies, you can live here for a few years before it hits you, but when it does, you'd better know a good allergist. This year it started late, after Christmas and came in like a lion! Steffi gets it but Duncan doesn't. Mike doesnt' have it either, but his daughter Meg does. That link from Steffi is her blog from a few days ago dedicated to the subject of cedar. Last week I was on the east coast and my allergies went away for a few days. I have a couple more trips planned and I am really looking forward to them! Usually by early February the pollen starts to decline and life can go back to normal. Until then my purse and pockets are stashed with Kleenex. Ok, enough about allergies!

So the other topic around here these days and probably everywhere else is New Years resolutions to take off those holiday pounds or start an exercise routine. We've just started a Fitness Challenge at work and I think I am going to participate. Mike and I decided that we would get into an exercise routine together too. I have a treadmill and am going to report through this blog my miles each day. Yesterday I did 3 miles and today I did 4. I have to use the treadmill at least until the cedar is gone. Usually it is too boring to use a treadmill that long, but I got a really long extension cord to connect my headphones to the TV for distraction.

There's a guy at work (I'll call him Dave since there are a lot of guys named Dave at work you won't know which one) who decided to lose weight by walking in the morning and in the evening. He eats whatever he wants at lunch, and skips or has a very light evening meal. He has lost a lot of weight and with the exercise is much healthier. I am telling you this because that Special K challenge advertised everywhere in the grocery store has some similarities to that routine, at least as far as eating, so I am giving it a try for 2 weeks. I've done WW successfully in the past and figured out that the Special K challenge is 2-3 points for 2 meals and a few snack points throughout the day. Two meals are Special K products, but the 3rd meal, which can be whichever meal you want, you can eat whatever you want. By combining this with WW I know how many points I can have in that 3rd meal. Anyway, today is day 2 and I am only a little grumpy. After the Special K products are gone, I'll just switch to normal food and counting points. As they tell you at meetings, WW is not a diet, it is a life long way of making good choices and eating the right portions. A little boring but it works if you stick with it.

Just beachy here in Florida

Just checked in to the hotel here and walked out on the balcony and this is what I could see...

Beats the views of parking lots from the majority of the hotels I stay in!

We're about to go out in search of a restaurant and someplace to watch the first half of the UT game.

ttfn

TSO

Last night we saw the Trans Siberian Orchestra at the Erwin Center. It was the very last show of their annual tour and they really put on a special show. Cameras weren't allowed but I snuck mine out at the very end.

We had great seats. On the floor in row 12. Mike has done this many times but it was our first experience. I hope it will not be the last.

They made it snow inside!!

There was fire! and we could feel how hot it was from our seats. The performers must have been cooking in their tuxedos.

There were other light effects.

Seems like this was the official end of the holiday season. Everyone is officially back to work tomorrow and schools are starting to begin classes. Steffi has another week off - lucky her. I leave on a trip later today (Monday) to balmy Florida, where our first priority tonight will be to find out where UT fans will be gathering to watch the Fiesta Bowl. All in all, it has been a great holiday and I feel energized to get underway with the new year.

Some MEAN baking

MEAN as in the Mean Eyed Cat Bar. The bartenders have t shirts that just say MEAN on the back and I saw a bumper sticker that said the same thing. Perhaps these have been around town all along and I just haven't noticed them before? The bar on 5th street near Mopac has certainly been here as long as I can remember, but last night was the first night either of us ever went in. Mike and I had had dinner at El Aroyo aka "The Ditch" with Meg and her friend Abi and the girls had time to kill before meeting up with their friends so we wandered across the street to the Mean Eyed Cat Bar. It is full of Johnny Cash memorabilia. There is a chainsaw above the bar itself and if you go out to the website and click on an icon you can hear a chainsaw buzzing. There must be a story behind this bar! But I don't have time to read up on it right now. Save it for another time.

Today, Saturday, has been a very busy day. I spent a lot of time on the phone, running to goodwill & the St Michael's Thrift Shoppe and baking. My house in disarray with Steffi trying to get her room "excavated" and packed up and all of the Christmas containers are back out in the living room so everything that was just brought out a month ago can go back in and away for the next 11 months.

Did I mention that I am one of the private label brand taste testers at work? Well I am and it is usually an easy task requiring only about 5 minutes about once a month to taste something and fill out a questionnaire. Before Christmas I volunteered to take home about a half dozen boxes of organic cookie and cake mix to bake, taste and evaluate before January 7th. Steffi and Brandy made some cornbread and brownies the other day and today I realized that I have to bake the other 4 boxes of things today and tomorrow because I leave on a trip on Monday. Hence the baking frenzy going on in the house today. Each mix requires approximately 1 organic egg and a pound of organic butter. So far the flavor has been pretty good in each one I've tasted, but with a stick of butter spread between 12 cookies, how could it not taste good!? None of the mixes make a large quantity, so that is good considering how many baked items I have on my counter at the moment.

Happy New Year!!

Wow. 2009. Seems like yesterday it was just 2000. How did 2009 get here so fast?!

Here is Steffi on the eve of New Year's 2000 with her Millennium bug and it looks like Duncan is going to clobber her with a bottle of sprite?! Must have been a warm night if I let these two out with shorts and t-shirts! That's why we live in Texas!

Last night was great. We stayed at the Hilton downtown, which was completely sold out and from what we saw (and heard next door) many rooms had large parties. We had dinner at Carmelo's, an Italian restaurant on 5th street. Both of us had veal, something we hadn't had in many years, but it was a specialty on their menu and we both enjoyed it. (See, Kelly, we do eat something other than chicken!)

After dinner we walked toward Antone's and along the way were were amused by all the clubs with long lines of happy people celebrating the new year and just how many styles of short, sleeveless black dresses there were on display. We had a drink at the Gingerman and talked to a guy who was celebrating his 30th birthday with a bunch of "over the hill" balloons tied around his neck. He was celebrating two days early because he said all his friends were always too tired after New Years to go out again on the 2nd.

Then we wandered over to Antones where the Bob show had been advertised to start at 10, but we knew it would be 11 at the earliest before he started to play. We had missed the first warm-up band but caught the second one. We wished we had missed that too. The band was called the Black and White Years but they played 80's style music. I'm pretty sure we had color in the 80's so I don't know what their name was all about. They were loud and were kind of a mix between Soft Cell and Devo. Some people enjoyed them, but the consensus in the line to the ladies room was that an hour of muzak would have been better. Here is the lead singer and drummer in the background. I really took this picture for the 2009 balloons in the background.

Bob came on pretty promptly at 11:30. By then we had moved over to the right side of the stage where we wouldn't be trampled by people going to and from the bar and bathroom.

Bob had pretty much the same band he had at the Paramount the other night with the addition of Billy Harvey (far right in picture below). That's the lovely Harmony on bass (in one of those sleeveless short black dresses! and her silver 4" heels), Rafael Gayul on drums and Jeff Plankenhorn on the other side of the stage. He had his trio of horns up there too.

Susan Antone came on stage to count down to the new year for everyone. They let a bunch of balloons drop from various areas around the club and for the next several hours people bopped them around. Occasionally one would hit a ceiling fan and shoot out in a random direction.
It was a great show and a fabulous way to say good bye to 2008 and hello 2009.

Happy New Year from Mike and me!!