Weekend in Austin

When we heard that Storyville would be playing at Antones in Austin on our 13th anniversary, we decided that this was a show that we couldn't miss.  Storyville hasn't played together in three years and we were very excited to be able to see them live one more time.

We bought tickets online for the Friday night show.  No sooner had I bought the tickets than Steve and Deb decided that they would love to see the show too, except they could only make it on Saturday.  No problem - we just bought tickets for that show too.  We didn't mind at all seeing them two nights in a row.

We hadn't been to Austin in several years and were really looking forward to the long weekend away.  We booked a room at the La Quinta in downtown Austin, just blocks from 6th street and from Antones.  We were able to walk everywhere and we had an amazing time.  It was really a perfect weekend. Both shows were fantastic and South Austin is a great place to spend some time.  Live music everywhere and plenty of interesting things to see and do.

One evening we decided that it would be fun to wait for the bats to fly out of Congress Avenue Bridge.  This bridge contains the largest urban bat colony in America.  We had seen them once, years ago and it was a pretty cool experience.  This time we got there a little early and the bats were not in any hurry to come out.  We saw a few but lost patience and left before they really started coming out in any big numbers.  It's hard to say if there were more bats or more people!

Deb lives in Austin and one of her best friends, Mateo, is moving away.  He had a surprise for her and his instructions were to go to a place on one of the walking trails in Austin where they sometimes walked.  She was to go between the hours of 10:00 and 2:00 and find a man named Woode Wood who sings and plays guitar there.  Mateo told Deb that Woode would have a gift for her.  Deb invited us along for the adventure (and maybe for a little moral support).  We arrived at the designated spot and found Woode sitting atop some rocks and playing for the walkers / runners / bikers that happened by.  Woode is quite a character and Mateo's gift to Deb was a song sang especially for her.  It was a very special moment from a good friend.  Deb invited us to her house the next night and we met Mateo, he made us dinner and we had a wonderful time.  Deb is fortunate to have Mateo for a friend.

Steve and Deb listen to Woode Wood sing Mateo's song

Storyville was awesome, just like we knew they would be.  It was great to hear them play.  I took my camera on the second night and got a couple of decent pictures.  On Saturday, we were standing at our hotel valet stand, waiting for our car.  We look up and see Malford Milligan and his wife waiting for their car too.  They were staying at the same hotel as us!  We had a little chat with them and told him about our boat and our plans for cruising.  I think that they thought it was really interesting that we had a boat named Storyville and we are planning a cruising adventure, then again, maybe they just think we are crazy!

David Grissom

Malford Milligan

David Grissom and David Holt

We didn't want the weekend to end, even though it lasted for four days.  It was great to celebrate our anniversary.  It seems like we are happier today than ever before.  Maybe it's because Troy really is a cancer survivor and we are so close to living out our dream of sailing away on Storyville.  We definitely feel so fortunate to be at this place in our lives.  All I can say is:  Life is good!

The only disappointment of the weekend was the fact that we did not manage to have a meal at Juan in a Million.  We saw this restaurant featured on Man vs. Food and we decided we wanted to try one of their burritos.  Unfortunately, we never got too give them a try - you can see for yourself why we decided to skip out:

The line is wrapped around the building!

Check out a collage of my photos from Austin and 6th Street:

A picture collage by Smilebox

Life Changes

Wow, what a surprise for me.  I was laid off from my job as Vice President and Commercial Escrow Officer for American Title Company on June 14th.  I have worked for American Title for 17 years, in fact, I was there when the doors to the company opened for business.  I think I can safely blame this lay off on the economy and big business.  It took me about a week to get over the shock of losing a job that I had held for so long.  It just seemed like that company was part of my life.  More so the people that I have worked with on a daily basis for so long. I definitely went through a range of emotions.

There has been at least one positive effect of this job loss:  I can finally talk (and blog) about our future plans without feeling like I am jeopardizing my job. I always felt like it was better to keep our plans on the down low, or else, I might lose my job. (haha - now that just strikes me as funny).  Anyway, no need to worry about that now!

In case I haven't mentioned it before - Troy and I will be leaving on our sailboat to cruise to Mexico and South America and wherever the winds blow us.  Our plan is to leave at the end of this year.  I have come around to thinking that this lay off was a blessing in disguise.  I just wish they would have waited another few months.  Anyway, I hope to start updating the blog more (I know, I know, you've heard that one before) with our cruising preparation.  We are really getting excited as we realize that we are closer than ever to our goal.  December will be here before we know it and we need to be ready - and have Storyville ready.

I was looking forward to having some time to work on my photography and start getting our storage unit pared down to a manageable size, but that was not meant to be.  I was without work for just a few short weeks when I got an offer to work for an abstracting company doing title research, some of which can be done from my boat.  It is contract type of work, getting paid per tract sort of thing.  The owner knows about our crusing plans and this job is really just to help him get through a major project that he has due at the end of August.  It just seemed too perfect to pass up, so here I am, employed again!

One more piece of really great news.  Troy had another PET Scan in last June.  He remains NED (No Evidence of Disease) and his doctor was really positive about his situation.  In fact, in place of my usual quote, I will leave this blog post with a quote from Troy's oncologist:

"I see nothing that would preclude you from dying of old age." ~ Dr. Robert Amato

Pine Gully

Kayla and I took an unexpected and spur of the moment side trip to Pine Gully the other day. Despite the humidity and the fact that we weren't dressed for the occasion, it was a nice little excursion.

KAYLA JOE

Ominous Sign

The only reptile in sight! (Kayla was disappointed that we didn't see an alligator)

The poetry of the earth is never dead. ~John Keats

You must not know too much, or be too precise or scientific about birds and trees and flowers and water-craft; a certain free margin, and even vagueness - perhaps ignorance, credulity - helps your enjoyment of these things... ~Walt Whitman, Specimen Days, "Birds - And a Caution" (Thanks, Corinne)

Caden's Adoption

After lots of waiting, the time has finally arrived. Caden's adoption was final on Tuesday (6/7/10). He became Jessica and David's son, Caleb's brother and our grandson and gained a whole family of aunts, cousins and various family that seems too complicated to even try to explain! His name was also officially changed to Caden William Evans. He has been a part of our family for almost two years now but it sure feels good to have the official paperwork done.

During the official proceedings the attorneys were speaking and asking all the required questions. Jessica and David were standing before the judge and Jessica was holding Caden. Jessica started to tear up a little and Caden was wiping the tears from her eyes. It was a very touching moment.

We are so very proud of Jessica and David and excited for Caden and the wonderful family that he has been adopted into. We love you Caden!

The judge commented that we already had a village!

 

Caden and Caleb - The Evans Brothers!

Caden, Kayla and Caleb - Cousins (These are my three grandkids.  I will be tongue tied forever trying to say their names!)

Aunt Shawnie celebrates with Caden at Cici's Pizza

Adoption is when a child grew in its mommy's heart instead of her tummy. ~Author Unknown

A Day With the Grandkids

We spent yesterday with all three of our grandkids. It was the first time that we have been in charge of the little two. Caden is three and Caleb is 17 months. They are both a handful and I was really nervous about it. Fortunately for us, Kayla is 10 and she is a big help with the boys. We spent most of the time in the pool. The all loved the swimming, Caden was just a little nervous about getting in too deep. Caleb is still at the age that he is fearless and ready for anything. It was a fun but exhausting day.

"A person's a person, no matter how small." ~Dr. Seuss (Horton Hears a Who!)

Memorial Day - Offats Bayou

We spent the Memorial Day weekend anchored out on Storyville at Offats Bayou in Galveston. Troy recently finished installing our new windlass. That is a device that pulls the anchor up and down and helps set the anchor. We previously had a manual one that I call Troy! Windlass Troy complained a lot about how heavy the anchor is and how muddy it is when he had to handle it himself. Our new windlass did not complain one bit (and neither did Troy). Between the new windlass and our great new anchor, I have a feeling that we will be spending a lot more time on the hook.

We decided to head out on Friday night and anchor out wherever we found a good spot. The evenings have been very calm with very little wind so we figured we would motor out and anchor somewhere around Bacliff. Well - no sooner did we get out of our slip and into the bay before the wind picked up and we could see lightening in the distance. The bay was white capping and the wind picked up to 25-30 knots for a little while. We were lucky that we never got any of the rain, just wind. We motored into it for about an hour and then headed over to Bacliff and set anchor for the night. Our friends Cory and Tammy on s/v Menestheus were with us. You can see that they were catching air:

Troy was up and working that new windlass at sunrise. We headed out to the Houston Ship Channel and towards Galveston. We had quite an incoming current that we were fighting against and not much wind to work with. We motor sailed all the way to Galveston. It was a very nice trip though, shrimp boats working and lots of dolphins playing in the wake of the tankers in the ship channel.

Shrimp Boat working the Houston Ship Channel

Dolphins playing in the bow wake of big tankers in the ship channel

To get to Offats Bayou you have to pass under the Galveston Causeway Bridge. The bridge is lowered for oncoming trains and, when no trains are on the track, the bridge is raised for boat traffic. Just our luck, we had to wait on a train. We just drifted around for about 30 minutes until it was our turn to get through. It sure is funny to listen to the bridge operator. Depending on which one is on shift, you can get a really cranky guy that doesn't want to get out of his recliner (and will be happy to tell you so), or a younger sounding guy that is really nice and willing to help out in any way. I will point out that it is not the bridge operators job to help recreational boats get back and forth under the bridge. His job is to make sure the bridge is down for trains. It was quite amusing to listen to the old curmudgeon griping to the tow boat operators about all the recreational boats. Guess he doesn't like anyone out having fun while he is at work. Can't say that I blame him too much for that!

We were just waiting on a train

The weekend was way fun and relaxing. We anchored out near 61st Street in Galveston with Cory and Tammy on s/v Menestheus and Trey, Kat and Anne on s/v Dawntreader. Saturday in Offats Bayou was really busy with lots of boats anchored out and lots of jet skis and skiers and wake boarders. We spent the weekend swimming, relaxing, partying with friends and just having a good time in general. The weather was perfect and so was the company.

Storyville at anchor in Offats Bayou


Dawntreader at anchor in Offats Bayou

Menestheus at anchor in Offats Bayou

Cory going for a swim

Anne came to visit Storyville

The only problem was that the weekend wasn't long enough. We all weighed anchor and headed back up the ship channel on Monday - back to reality.

Dawntreader headed back to the ship channel -time to go home :-(

Monday was Memorial Day, a day to honor our veterans, particularly the ones who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we can be free to enjoy the freedoms that we have today. I am definitely proud to be an American!

And I'm proud to be an American,where at least I know I'm free.And I won't forget the men who died,who gave that right to me.~Lee Greenwood

Lookin' for Lunch!

Texas Panhandle

I have a family connection to the Panhandle of Texas. My mother was born in Amarillo and my dad's family has lived there for generations. In fact, while I was visiting my family recently in Pampa, my uncle gave me some family information that I thought was interesting. My great, great grandfather, Newton Franklin Locke was born in Alabama but he lived in the panhandle of Texas he was a Texas Ranger for a while and even took part in the Oklahoma Land Rush.

We took a trip to the Palo Duro Canyon as well. I haven't been there since I was a child and it brought back memories of visits there with my grandparents. The Canyon is 120 miles long, as much as 20 miles wide, and has a maximum depth of more than 800 feet. Its elevation at the rim is 3,500 feet above sea level. It is a beautiful place to visit.

Check out the photos from our visit to the panhandle and to Palo Duro Canyon:

http://imageevent.com/deanaj/texaspanhandle?n=0

Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted. ~John Lennon