Austin Texas Part One

Janet and I noticed, last year, that Jesse had a weird five day weekend in celebration of President’s Day and decided to take advantage by heading over to Austin. What a brilliant idea. I can’t remember enjoying myself that much on another trip in recent memory. It was all about the food. Oh…and we saw friends too, but it was mostly about the food.

It’s quite startling to get on a plane in Seattle and step out into Austin weather. It’s brutal in August but really lovely in February. We landed during the perfect Austin weather weekend: clear skies and highs in the low 80s. I can’t remember when I felt 80 in Seattle. August, maybe?

We dropped Jesse off with her BFF and immediately went to dinner. What can I say about our favorite barbeque place, Rudy’s? DELICIOUS! I swear I want to open up a Rudy’s in the Seattle area but I would not be as small as I am now. Janet ordered her usual moist brisket and I ordered the dry (I have issues with fatty meat). There was a long line and I love the fact they have bottles of beer and sodas lining the Disneyland like barriers.

We sat down like little kids and dug into our brisket, coleslaw, white squishy bread and delicious bbq sause. I hope the noises we were making didn’t go far beyond our table. You try and be discreet but sometimes, especially if it’s been a while, you just can’t contain the noises of joy. We had ordered enough for leftovers and rolled out to our rental Jeep, the sweet smell of brisket leaving a trail of delicious behind.

The next morning, fueled by a breakfast of brisket, we met a group of friends for a hike. We went to one of the gems of Austin: McKinney Falls State Park. I used to live just to the west of McKinney Falls, on William Cannon, and would go there to hike around and relax. I just love it there. The trail we hiked, the Homestead trail, hadn’t been too damaged during the October floods but parts of the park are still closed.

The women we went with, members of TOWN (Texas Outdoor Womens Network), were a joy to be around. I miss these women and their group immensely. I have never met a group of women who were as nice, caring, accepting and full of life as TOWN women. I miss them mostly because they made me realize how important friends can be in life. That’s what life’s all about, friendship; and brisket, of course.

jenn

Seattle Seahawks

I can hardly believe the Seattle Seahawks are NFL champions. My beloved city of Seattle is in full party mode right now. On the day after the Seahawks win, on a Monday no less, I had not one but two people use the word glorious in their morning greeting. How often does that happen? Never here in Washington; I can’t remember the last time two people said any kind of greeting.

Janet told me we should feel good about our win in only 37 years. She grew up in New England and apparently those poor Red Sox went a very long time in between World Series wins. Something like eighty years. I can honestly say I will not be alive eighty years from now, in case this is the Seahawks only win, so I will bask in the glow of Seattle goodwill for as long as I can.

I vaguely remember when the Seattle Supersonics won the NBA championship back in 1979. Wow, that’s a long time ago (if I’m trying not to admit how old I am). Come to think of it, I must have only been a couple of weeks old. Tee-hee. It sounded very similar: lots of fireworks, shouting and loud celebrations and partying in the streets; all of the streets. (I do want to say our WNBA team, the Storm, won two championships, I believe, but I was living in Texas at the time and as you can imagine I couldn’t follow the games.)

The celebration parade for the Seahawks was held yesterday and the route went through Belltown and Downtown ending at Century Link Field. 700,000 people showed up, filling the stadium and the two mile parade route. I’m not sure where all those people parked but I’m glad I live in far south Seattle and didn’t venture out in my car yesterday. I’m not sure if you’ve heard but Seattle has, on a normal day, traffic issues and I can’t imagine what it was like yesterday.

I want to explain how we won the NFL championship. It’s simple really. Some might say it was our defense. Some might point to a particular player or drive. I’m here to tell you the real reason: I didn’t write one word about the Seahawks all season. Yup, I’m just beginning to realize the full depth of my powers. So, I’m wondering…should I write about the team next season? If they lose, will I be blamed? Have I jinxed them already?

This morning, I feel emotionally tired, drained really. The actual Superbowl was easy…who knew Denver could be dominated like they were? No, I’m drained because being happy, smiling and high fiving strangers, inquiring into other people’s lives and feelings, is really quite exhausting. Now I realize why I don’t do it on a regular basis. I swear, if I see one more wonderful picture of a smiling Russell Wilson, holding up the Lombardi trophy, my face will crack and I’ll look just like Heath Ledger’s Joker.

Luckily, I now have Sundays to rest up and get back to my normal introverted ways. What else do I have to do, now that football is over? I’m sure Janet has a list of things we should do, now that Sunday’s many viewing hours have opened up to us. She probably has visions of us being productive and actually getting things on our list done. Hey, wait…don’t the Olympics start today?

jenn