Texas Roadtrips-San Antonio

While you are in central Texas, it 's easy and makes sense to do as many things as possible because (it's all relative-by Texas distances) nothing is very far from anything else. So a trip to Austin can be combined into a trip to San Antonio, only an hour away. I took the opportunity of tagging along on hubster's springtime business trip to pop in and visit Number One son, off on his grand college adventure. San Antonio is an old and historic city that has morphed recently into the seventh largest city in the USA ( Dallas is 9th and Houston is 4th, currently). Lots to see and do in this fun town. Just don't go in summer, it's too hot !

Non-locals will want to go to Sea World and Six Flags and all that. You can't make a visit to this town without a pilgrimage to the Alamo, an old fort and one of Texas' most sacred historical sites. The fun thing to do next is head a few blocks from the Alamo to the Riverwalk, and enjoy the many fine bars and restaurants located along this pleasant waterway. It's kind of like a Tex-Mex version of the French Quarter in New Orleans. Word of advice: I made a mistake of staying in a very luxurious hotel along the Riverwalk, once, thinking I wanted to be able to get drunk on margaritas and walk (not drive) back to my hotel. Big mistake! The mariachi music played all night long - until the wee hours -and I got no sleep at all ! While festive when you are awake, mariachi music will drive you insane if you are hung over. If you insist on staying in the area, be sure to book a room on the far side of the hotel, not overlooking the water. I promise you will regret it, however picturesque, if you do.

Locals know there are plenty of great restaurants, shopping, a beautiful garden/historic home district, a zoo, and lovely things to see and do that are away from the crowded touristy Riverwalk and downtown area. I personally favor a restaurant and shopping area a few blocks from downtown, home of the fabulous Mi Tierra bakery, bar, and cafe.I've been eating there since the 70's when I first discovered this spot on a high school field trip, and later became reaquainted with it on business trips to S.A. when I worked at P&G. It's full of locals and a destination spot for celebs - when I ate there in March, a famous football team was having some sort of recruiting dinner at the table next to us, and there were dozens of well known millionaire coaches and players chowing down not 2 feet from us.

My purpose in visiting S.A. this time was not to take in the touristy sights, but to visit Son Number One and all his college friends, his gf and roommates, and take them all out to dinner. Son No One got extremely lucky and randomly drew a great bunch of guys for his roomies, they all get along pretty well (they are living in a 4 bedroom 2 bath, on campus, apt style dorm, with its own kitchen and living room) and lord knows they have saved him from some serious scrapes his first year in college. It was so cute- when I arrived at their apt, they were hurriedly cleaning, putting things away, and one was mopping as I walked in - trying to make the place presentable for me to see.  I know they live like slobs most of the time, but I was touched that they made an effort to be presentable. We had a nice little visit, I took them all to Wal-Mart and let them load up a grocery cart full of stuff, we dropped it all off at the apt, and then went out to eat . Then I left. (This type of ideal parental behavior I learned from parents of friends of mine in college. Lord knows, not my own parents.) I did not inquire too closely nor query them too ardently. I'll save that for Son No One, later. :o)

Texas Roadtrips- Austin

Spring is the time of year when folk start thinking "roadtrips" - and of course, spring comes early in Texas. This past year, due to La Nina, we had no winter to speak of as it was. When I lived in Houston, we thought of February as spring, and started cutting class to go to the beach in Galveston, coming into the dorm cafeteria for dinner with patchy first sunburns, hungover, and full of that secret naughty joy at having skipped school. March and April are fickle in north Texas- hot and windy one moment, raining and cold the next. Just as soon as you put away your winter clothes, it'll drop down into the 40's to spite you. Just as soon as you plant your garden, we'll have one more frost. Yet everyone is in a rush to get their roadtrip underway before it gets too hot...it's a very narrow window of pleasant weather in spring and fall....and if you wait until late April, you'll miss all the wild flowers that bloom in central Texas near the hill country. While all the college kids head out for spring break to beaches in the Caribbean and Mexico, everyone else heads to central Texas for all the joyous things to see and do.

Non-locals will want to see the city of Austin and the State capitol building (proudly taller than our nation's capitol in Washington D.C.) Locals have seen it all before. Don't miss the Texas History Museum and all that stuff. It's fun if you like western things. In the 60's and 70's Austin was like Berkeley, full of hippies and eccentrics whose legacy lives on the popular "Keep Austin Weird" t-shirts that are now ubiquitous. However, something happened in the 80's that made the folk in Austin turn yuppie-fied and less interesting to look at. Maybe it was all the technology businesses that grew up there, turning the area into a Texas version of Silicon Valley. It's still a city of great clubs, music venues (the popular SXSW, i.e. "South by Southwest" music festival was in full throttle when we went, in mid-March, but tickets had long been previously sold out. I desperately wanted to catch Springsteen at a small venue this year, but it was impossible to get in to that show. If you want to go, buy your tickets early!), great shopping and restaurants- but the real lure nearly all year round is the outdoors.

Austin and surrounding towns are full of clear, spring fed rivers and lakes that stay 68 degrees year- round. People commence water activities- canoeing, kayaking, tubing, and swimming - just as soon as it is hot enough to tolerate the chilly water. Some great spots to get started are San Marcos, Gruene, and all the little towns in between  Austin and San Antonio, and places due west- just driving down the road one can follow the signs for "put ins" (where local entrepreneurs will drive you to a spot to enter the Guadalupe River in the flotation device of your choice, then meet you at a "take out" location, several hours and miles down river, and haul you back to your car, often in a dilapidated old school bus or pickup truck.I've done this 1000's of times - it's safe. Bring a picnic and its a wonderfully fun day.)

The annual event of millions of bluebonnets blooming across the state is not to be missed. Like the cherry tree festival in Washington, it is difficult to describe how magnificent the flowers are, and mere photos don't do it justice. Something magical just happens. Bluebonnets are wild flowers, meaning they don't do well in gardens but prefer dry, scraggly hills out in open fields with plenty of sun.The start blooming in late Feb-early March in south Texas, and through early April in north Texas. The highway dept seeds roadsides each fall, so there are plenty to view as your race by at 80 mph on the interstate, but it's much more pleasant to hit some of the back roads through Meridien, Blanco, Johson City, Brenham, Gonzales and Goliad, to see them. Another great daytime picnic event. It's a rite of passage that locals have to get their child's picture taken in the bluebonnets each year. You can flip through your family photo albums and watch your kids grow up on the pages, in front of bluebonnets as time marches on.

Hubster had a conference this year at The Domain, a high-end luxury mall (I know that sounds redundant, but the way the word "luxury" is banded about lately, just wanted to clarify) on the north side of Austin. I tagged along, making ample use of his swanky hotel with fabulous room service. Had a spa day at Spa Reveil, shopped, swam, ate out, toured the sites. Yes, its a rough life. We joined up with some Rice friends for dinner at a local brewpub.....nice little roadtrip, all in all. Rice University Trivia: The University of Texas tower, pictured above, was actually designed by an architect from Rice. When viewed from an angle, the top portion of the tower looks ever so faintly like an owl, with the clocks on each side forming the eyes, the corner architectural features forming the owl's beak. Can you see it ?  Hahahahahaha!

Denton Arts and Jazzfest

The University of North Texas is home to a mighty fine music school that specializes in Jazz, so it is no wonder that the hometown of UNT would host a local Arts and Jazz Festival. Spring is the time of year for festivals all over the place, and this one features a typical collection of arts and crafts vendors, typical summer fair type food vendors, kiddie activities, "green" vendors, and of course, multiple music venues large and small. There are geriatric cloggers, local school bands and choirs, big name groups from far and wide that span the genres from conjunto to swing to blues to techno jazz.. A few years back I heard Wynton Marsalis play at this festival (for free I might add) and it was awesome. Brave Combo, the grammy award winning polka band, nearly always closes out the weekend. This fest is always the last weekend in April ; come on by if you can ! It's free !

Bookclub(s)

For the past thirty years, I've been involved in several (mostly female member) book clubs. Sure, its a cliche, and we don't spend all our time talking about books, so the title of the gathering may be a misleading misnomer. Essentially, it's a regularly recurring semi-ritualistic female social gathering, which may or may not include references to books, but definitely includes delicious food, wine, gossip, chit-chat, and camaraderie. Previous generations have called these sort of gatherings knitting or sewing circles, Bible study groups, bridge/canasta/mah jong/bunco parties, feminist consciousness raising and bra burning groups, or the Joy Luck Club. Once, looking around the gathering of friends at my table (we rotate who hosts), I realized that what brought all of us together, how we knew each other, stems from the fact that we are all the mothers of sons. It's not just that we are trying to improve our minds in this setting, it's really that we are devoid of female companionship. The books part is just an excuse. In recent years, I have belonged to a "serious" book club, and a "social" one. I have to say - and my entire career involves all aspects of literature: reading, writing about it, teaching it, so you know I love it - I enjoy the "social" club more.

Secret Desires

Many people have congratulated me on finishing my graduate classes and returning to my "normal" life...whatever that is. What am I doing, plan to do, you ask? What am I looking forward to the most? Shhh!!!! Don't tell anyone.....I just missed the past year and a half of my favorite tv shows. While not a tv junkie (hubster, you know who you are- that man has a big screen in every room of the house, so he can wander about and never miss a moment), I do follow the occasional series. Favor police crime type shows, Masterpiece Theater, dramas, comedies. It is so restful to come home from work, have a glass of wine, eat dinner, and read or watch tv snuggling with my dogs. Sure beats being in class till late, and then having to read/study/write papers till late.
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Here are a few shows worth watching:
Masterpiece Theater "Downton Abbey" - This show has gotten a lot of buzz lately, and it is well worth catching. It debuted last year and, due to considerable media praise and audience acclaim, was granted a second season, currently under way, with a third being filmed as we speak. The story of a wealthy aristocratic family and their servants during the tumultuous WWI era in a Britain country estate, many will compare it to the iconic "Upstairs, Downstairs" but the characters of "Downton Abbey" are less lovable, more scheming, and the aristocratic Crawley family seems less moribund than the Bellamys ever were. This show dwells on themes similar to Upstairs Downstairs: societal events that contribute to the breakdown of British class relations during the WWI era. Female characters, especially the mother (Elizabeth McGovern), the mother of the heir apparent (Penelope Wilton), and the dowager mother (the inimitable Maggie Smith) play more vibrant roles as the try to out maneuver each other in various power plays, and the males are often the befuddled agents in their little games. Could be said to be the "Pride and Prejudice" of the Edwardian era, as romance and finding a suitable spouse are major themes for the three daughters and the various household staff .
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"The Good Wife" - I have to admit the trailer for this show left me cold and I only watched the first episode out of curiosity. After that, I was hooked. This is a high end, law firm soap opera, with well drawn compelling characters that leave you pulling for them. Every episode ends in a cliff- hanger that leaves me panting for more. The plot really isn't about the "good wives" we are used to seeing in the political realm, standing by their (scurrilous, rapscallion) men - the titular character is far more nuanced than that. Alicia Florrick (Juliana Margulies) is left to pick up the pieces of her life after her politician husband is sent to jail for something or other- she has to go back to work, take care of the kids, and keep her scheming mother-in-law from snooping through her drawers. As she moves back into the work force, she regains her sense of identity and redevelops her confidence. This leads to her eventual questioning of the meaning of her life and whether she truly loves her husband, (or what he has become) after all. Romance and intrigue are daily events at the law firm where she works, amid a cast of well-drawn characters who are good, evil, and a conflicted mixture of both. I absolutely love Kalinda Sharmos(played by Archi Panjabi), the law firm's hip bi Indian investigator, and Cary Agos (Matt Czuchry) as the sometimes good, sometimes evil, always scheming junior partner rival to Alicia at the firm. Whenever I get in a bind at work, I ask myself : "What would Alicia do?"
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"Blue Bloods" -This old style police procedural drama follows four generations of a New York Irish cop family as they struggle with issues of morality, both on the job and off. Once a week they all gather around the family dining table to discuss it all over the Sunday meal together. Charming in its antiquated notions, it reaffirms the myths we tell ourselves about what is good in American culture. Tom Sellick heads the cast as the gruff yet lovable patriarch. It's like the Waltons, complete with grandpa offering humorous advice from his days on the force, only instead of worrying about whether Jim-Bob won the spelling bee on Walton's Mountain, we worry if cop son Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) will get shot chasing heroin addicts through dark alleys.
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"Big Bang Theory"- This is my absolutely favorite comedy of the past few years. The basic premise is that a bunch of nerdy super smart young scientists, just living their daily lives, provide good material for humor, especially when love interests/young ladies are thrown in to the mix. I am married to a scientist and spent my childhood around guys just like these, and maybe that's why I find these characters so lovable. Being a bit of a nerd myself, of course, enables me to get all the jokes about Star trek, Star Wars, old science fiction books and movies, ComicCon, and other intellectual pastimes.
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"How I Met Your Mother" - Remember "Friends"? This show is the next generation version, following the dating foibles of a group of (originally playing 20-somethings, now they are well in to their 30's)young professionals making it in the Big Apple and finding love along the way. Cute premise has a frame story wherein the dad is telling his kids "how I met your mother", but just as in any long convoluted story, there are many digressions along the way. Neil Patrick Harris has finally escaped his Doogie Houser shadow and now I can only imagine him as Barney- wait for it ! Stinson. All star cast: Josh Radnor, Colbie Smulders, Alyson Hannigan (escaping her Buffy the Vampire slayer persona) and one of my all time faves, Jason Segal. (I still think "Forgetting Sarah Marshall " was a brilliant role for him,allowing him to showcase some of his many talents.)
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"Psych" - Fake psychic /con man Shawn and his best buddy Gus work as consultants for the local Santa Barbara police, never do things by the book, and are always on the make with the ladies. Along the way, they get into some Lucy and Ethel kind of scrapes and toss off humorous one-liners. James Roday reminds me of a guy I used to date, and maybe that is why I find him so appealing. Corbin Bernsen gets a redemptive, creative role as Shawn's old style ex-hippie now straight man cop dad.
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"Burn Notice" - Many of these shows on USA started, I think, as mid-season replacements during the writer's strike a few years back. Whatever their genesis, they each off a unique mix of drama and humor, an exotic setting sunny setting (perfect for winter snow and cold bound audiences dreaming of a warm locale), and a premise that is completely different, even fringe , from traditional tv shows of recent years. (Anyone tired of "Survivor" or "Big Brother House" yet? Someone, please vote reality shows "off the island" ! ) Burn Notice is no exception. Michael Weston ( Jeffrey Donovan) is a "burned" former US spy, dropped suddenly in Miami with only a few wacky friends and eccentric family members to help him figure out why, all while he operates as a "problem solver" to various desperate locals who need someone outside the law to scare away criminal syndicates, fetch their child from kidnappers, prove their innocence from crimes they did not commit, or take back the bodega from local drug lords. Many of these shows offer break out roles to older actors trying to escape an identity from iconic roles/series of their past and this show is no exception. Sharon Gless stars as Michael's typical Miami little old lady mom (stuck in the 60's, chain smoking, gold lame wearing, puffy white haired with giant plastic earrings and matching purse) - and I want to be just like her ! Watching old reruns of "Cagney & Lacey", I can't even imagine these two characters come from the same actor. What a great opportunity to create a role so different and refreshingly funny.
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"Royal Pains" - Mark Feuerstein plays the serious character, Dr Hank Lawson, while Paulo Constanzo plays his nutty eccentric conning "business partner" brother, Even R Lawson. Never mind that one is Jewish and one is Italian, they are brothers- accept it ! Basic premise is : the doctor gets fired from his NYC hospital job for not treating a wealthy hospital donor client before an indigent kid, and ends up free-lancing as a house doctor to rich people in the Hampton's. (What is that, some kind of hell? You get what you deserve? ) However, what makes this series charming is the ever-changing cast of eccentric rich patients, each with their own story to tell ( it ain't easy being rich!), framed by the ongoing foibles of nutty brother Evan, whom Hank has to constantly get out of trouble. Another very Lucy and Ethel type of comedy. Add a couple of strong female characters to fall in love with, and off you go.
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"Law and Order: SVU" -I have long enjoyed the mystery/CSI/ crime/police procedural genre, and shows with richly drawn characters draw me in, week after week, year after year. Of all these types of shows, this one is my favorite, mostly bc I love the characters Stabler, Benson, Cragen, Munch, and Finn. I love the main characters' back stories that seep in around the edges of each episode's main plot involving sexually related crimes in NYC : Stablers' on-again, off-again relationship with his wife, and his unrealized love affair with Olivia, his struggles with his faith, each character's family, fears, and foibles. I will be sorry to see Christopher Meloni depart the series, but I understand actors need variety in their careers. This long-standing role may feel confining to him, but I gotta say, I've seen him in other movies, and never liked him as much as I do here.
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"The Mentalist" - "This show, like "House" (which I used watch, until I got tired of the main character's crankiness, the constant arguing among the staff, and the fact that every episode was starting to become exactly the same: at 20 minutes after the hour, you knew some one's brain was going to explode, and at 5 min till the end, House figures out it was the very first disease he considered, only to have over-looked something key in his diagnosis), has a formula that is often annoying. However, once again, charming characters draw me in: I enjoy the back story of the hidden love affair between Rigsby and Van Pelt, the banter between Lisbon and Jane, and Cho's absolute tough guy persona as he tosses away in a completely dry manner these hysterical one-liners (mimic-ing old episodes of "Dragnet".) Simon Baker is an interesting, appealing actor- the character he played in "The Devil Wears Prada" reminded me of my old college archaeology prof.
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"Person of Interest" - The pilot of this show annoyed me, for some reason, and I missed the first few episodes. Hubster was watching it - he thought this was a sci fi show, as it has a giant computer like "Big Brother" that watches everything we do - and I caught a few episodes with him, and it started to grow on me. Mostly because I think Jim Caviezel is another interesting actor.....his character in this show is a former special opps kind of guy, also burned, who goes around helping people involved in crimes....hmmmmm, I'm noticing a trend here, are you ? Anyways, watching his gentle manner, I can't help but think of Jesus......... :o) ( joke)