A Little Bit of This and That

dad
Originally uploaded by sunasak

So I have a few moments...here's a photo of my dad, known as Poppy Prince to the kids. He had not visited in quite a few years until last week, because my stepmother is deathly allergic to dogs and can't climb stairs, so he'd have to leave her at home. She is not good at being alone, so it was quite a pickle. I did see him and her for those few days in North Carolina last year, but, sadly, we are unable to see each other as often as we'd like any more. Now my stepmom wants them to move to some old folks home place, which means they won't have a home to go to whenever she gets that to take place. So, I am glad he was able to visit, even if it was for just a few days!

And it was such a nice visit, only marred by a lot of rain that made it hard to do as much work around the yard as we'd wanted. Still, he and I pulled up a lot of weeds and murderized that evil grape VINE a lot more than it had ever been before. And he hung some pictures and other helpful things. I love Dad's visits.

It was too bad that I had to work the weekdays he was here, but it gave him time to hang out with the kids, who were on spring break this week, and with Lee. It is incredibly good that Lee and my dad get along so well. I know Dad is relieved that Lee is around and is a good guy, and I think Lee is happy to have a friendly in-law. Tuba Boy drove my dad around a bit, and no one died, which was excellent.

We ate quite a few good meals, too, between our cooking and restaurant jaunts. We enjoyed the local Mexican and Chinese places. It was South by Southwest week here in Austin, which means famous folks were everywhere in more central areas. We went to Artz Rib House for our combined birthday meal, and Jeff was there too (he was playing the break set, while Danny Santos was the main act, with our friend Eddie on guitar). Jeff came up all excited--he had spotted his literary hero, Harlan Ellison in the back of the restaurant. It was a really important evening for him! Ellison even said he remembered corresponding with Jeff. How cool!

(Jeff also played a local downtown hotel, where he entertained ZZ Top and the lovely Morgan Fairchild, but more thrilling: he got to sing a Beatles song with the star of Across the Universe! That cute English guy! Whoa! A good week for our local down and out singer, huh!)

So, how bout work. It is just fine. I am settling in a bit, and all my services are set up. I can eat outside and listen to carillons, which is very pleasant, and this week the traffic was great on the bus (spring break for the university, too). Today I got some software at discount prices, too. I recall that one of my last acts at Illinois was to upgrade my word processing software, knowing I'd not be able to afford it at retail!

I'll post some more tomorrow, I hope. I have a bunch more photos of the last week or so on Flickr, so click one of those links if you want to look.