Latin competition

The Texas State Latin competition was this past weekend in San Antonio. This year, Jill and I offered to help chaperon the trip. These are magnet middle school kids, so they don't require a whole lot of chaperoning - just an adult presence is usually enough to keep everyone in line. Here we are on the bus ride to San Antonio. Jill is flying the Latin club colors:

I did get to see my sister in action as a teacher - a side of her that I usually don't get to see. Very impressive. Her husband also joined us for the trip:

The wild flowers were in a Monet-like bloom all along I-35 heading into San Antonio:

Being a first time chaperon to the state competition, I was amazed how long the days were. The kids were in tests or other forms of competition until past 11:00 at night. Then they started up again at 8:30 the next morning. Jill and I were tasked with helping to judged the art competition. I judged models - which were very impressive - from suits of armor, to metal swords, to a mausoleum made from cake. Jill judged Latin club scrapbooks. They take their judging very seriously, and we were there for several hours.

In addition to individual prizes, the kids ended up taking 7th place overall - based on all their tests and competitions (out of 25 schools). Pretty impressive to me, but my sister tells me that's the worst they've ever done while she's been in charge of the Latin club. But the kids were still excited. This picture was taken about 11:00 at night, when we arrived back in Austin - the kids look like zombies:

McKinney Falls

Jill and I went for a hike and picnic in McKinney Falls State Park Saturday. It was the first time there for each of us, which seems odd given how close the park is to us (it's actually in the Austin city limits). We purchased a year long Texas park pass, so we'll be visiting it and other parks soon.

Jill had some fun with the rock shelter:

It was a short but pretty hike to see the falls (bonus - there was actually water going over the falls). And we got a chance to wear our matching Alvin High School t-shirts (goofy, yes - but it's where Jill went to school and it's the obvious self-reference for me):

and finally, we settled down for a light lunch - all sourced from Costco (where we stopped on our way to the park):

Monument times

One of Jill's poems ('Precipice') was featured on the New York Times web site last week. To celebrate, we went to the East Side Cafe for dinner and dessert (an amazing blueberry crumble):

Today, Jill and I road-tripped out to East Texas. Great music, great conversation, and some mediocre scenery. On the way back, we stopped at the Monument Cafe in Georgetown for some good Southern cooking - liver and onions, with sides of fried vegetable strings, sweet potato fries, and eggplant marinara. Jill had pinto beans and a fruit salad.

Palm Springs

I'm trying to catch up on my posts, so I'm back-dating a few of them to order them chronologically.


I spent a week with Jill in Palm Springs from Dec 3rd through the 10th. She teaches in the Univ of Calif Riverside low-residency MFA program. The program meets for 10 days each semester at a Palm Springs resort and business center.

It was a really relaxing trip - I slept late, watched movies, visited with Jill's colleagues and students and did a little reading and running. The faculty that teaches in the MFA program really are a bunch of rock stars - from Tony nominated playwrights to Guggenheim and NEA fellows - and they were all really nice and interesting.

Our room was a mini suite with mild retro feel:


But the balcony patio was my favorite feature - and a nice place to hang out and read:


The resort had 2 or 3 pools. Unfortunately, the weather didn't warm up until the last day to be pool-worthy:



I went for a run most mornings - and even caught a sunrise one day:


Another day, my run coincided with Jill's daily walk:


There's a cool vintage car dealer in Palm Springs that had a number of lust-worthy samples on display. I figure they must get a lot of their business from retiring movie stars and the like:




The MFA program provides breakfast and lunch each day, but we were on our own for dinner. Jill and I tried out a number of interesting places in downtown Palm Springs. But one night, Jill had a lecture to attend, so I went to Denny's with one of her graduating poetry students. Denny's is one of my secret indulgences. Larry (the self-described black leprechaun) and I ate a bunch of greasy food that night:


The UC Riverside MFA program is relocating to an even nicer resort in 2012 (on the other side of Palm Springs). Looking forward to checking that one out also. Sadly, there won't be a Denny's nearby.

Reunion - part 2

The reason I only rode the metric century at the Livestrong ride on Sunday was because I had to catch a flight to Midland later that afternoon for Glady's funeral, and I needed time to pack.

The flight to Midland was uneventful. June and Shawn (her sister) met me at the airport that night and took me over to Shawn's boyfriend's place where I'd be spending the night. After a nice dinner and some reminiscing conversation, I was ready to hit the sack.

The drive from Midland to Floydada took about 3 hours. This is what the drive in looked like (you gotta love the big sky):



June comes from a farming family with roots in the area. The area is flat, and I understand the soil is rich. June and her aunt are looking for their old farm:


And here it is:


And this is Floydada, population four thousand or so:




The funeral took place at the grave site. It was a cool, sunny day and a strong wind blew. The funeral home set up a canopy for the 20 or so people who attended. The local Baptist minister said a few positive words, as did some of her family and friends. The whole ceremony lasted not much longer than 30 minutes.

Afterward, we retreated to a local restaurant for lunch. I had a chance to say hello to Gladys' twin brother, Glenn. The twins could not have taken more divergent paths in life. Glenn grew up with polio and later became the mayor of Amarillo and a successful businessman. Gladys was always the pretty one in the family who had more difficulties in life.

After lunch, June and her aunt dropped me off at the Lubbock airport for my flight home. Lubbock is only an hour away from Floydada and offered me a chance to get to Austin sooner than if I flew back out of Midland.

I had a couple of hours before my flight, so I ordered a sandwich and a beer from the airport bar. Sitting on my stool, I saw the horizon quickly getting darker and darker. Pretty soon, the large picture windows of the bar started shaking violently, the fire alarm sounded loudly, and the warning strobes fired off. Not know what to do, I ate my food and drank my beer while the sky choked with dust and went black. I did not, however, rush to the windows to take pictures and film videos. Even I'm not that foolish. I left that to the news stations and those who post on youtube:



Well, the powers that be shut down the Lubbock airport because of the debris from the dust storm needed to cleared off the runway. I was told I would be put on the next flight out to Austin - the following morning. Understand that it was only 6:00PM when I was told this. I had a long night ahead of me in an airport with limited facilities.

After sitting around for a couple of hours, the opportunity came up for me to take the last flight out of the airport - to Dallas. I jumped on that, figuring Dallas was closer to home than Lubbock. The plane arrived in Dallas around 10:00PM. In Dallas, I found a flight to San Antonio that left at midnight. And since San Antonio is closer to Austin than Dallas, I took that one also. Unfortunately, there wasn't a flight from San Antonio to Austin at 2:00AM, so I called Jill and asked if she'd come get me. She did - and I am forever grateful. We got back to Austin around 3:30AM. But I avoided spending a night in an airport, which no one ever wants to do.

Zoo

Continuing our theme of 50's style dates, Saturday we went to the San Antonio Zoo. Although it was over 100 degrees, there was a lot of shade, so we really didn't feel the heat. The aquarium and reptile areas also provided some air conditioned goodness.