I talk...a lot.
I talk with my family at the dinner table, with my patients at work, with myself in the car.
I talk a lot.
I also talk at a lot of conferences, around the country, and luckily enough, around the world.
Last weekend, I got to give a few talks at the annual meeting of the Texas Chapter of the American Academy of Orthotitsts and Prosthetists. Such opportunities are usually not all that blog worthy, but this one was special for a few reasons:
1) Jennie agreed to come with me
2) We got to go back to Texas.
The Texas meeting is one of my favorites, probably because the first talk I ever gave was as a recently certified clinician at the 2004 Texas meeting. I looked it up. I presented there again in 2005, 2007 and 2008 (In 2006 we were busy moving from Texas to Utah). However, it had been 5 years since I'd presented in Texas, and it's always a bit of a homecoming to get back to my Texas heritage. I gave my first talk there in 2004, I returned last week to give my 72rd and 73th (tragically, I do keep track of all these).
Life has been more than full, so we didn't have much time to plan for this quick get away. It wasn't until Thursday morning that we were able to look into things. I found out that Jim Cullum's Riverwalk Jazz band was still playing live music on Friday nights at the Broadway Bistro. I decided to surprise Jennie by calling and making dinner reservations. I hung up the phone...and opened an email she had just sent me, announcing that the Jim Cullum Jazz Band plays the Broadway Bistro on Friday nights, and wouldn't it be fun to go listen. I had to call and fess up.
By Thursday afternoon, we were making a brief but vital detour for the annual neighborhood campout. But 24 hours after doing this:
We were doing this:
Eating a five-course Mediterranean meal while listening to this quartet of old time jazz masters.
So why was this such a big deal?
In our early days, during our 2 year honeymoon in Seattle, Jennie and I were always out playing and exploring on Saturdays. It almost always involved a drive somewhere, and on our way home we would always listen to NPR's Saturday afternoon broadcast of "Riverwalk Jazz, live at The Landing with the Jim Cullum Jazz Band"
If you want a sample of that unique sound, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqsVliFE1_k
So while "the Landing" isn't there any more and Jim's getting a little older, we had a great time listening to that music and reminiscing of those simpler times.
Thanks Jim!
you brought back a lot of great memories!
The next morning, while I was talking (remember, I do that a lot), Jennie met in front of the Alamo with like minded sicko's that think that a vacation wouldn't be complete without a morning run. So they met in front of the Alamo and went for a 3 mile run tour, complete with a tour guide and 15 stops along the way.
(you can add pictures here if you'd like to sweetie...and I didn't mean that "sicko" part...it was just a little joke)
Jennie can now add the Riverwalk to her list of cool places she's run. It already includes such niceties as the Normandy Coast in Northern France and The Green on Oxford University.
With my talks complete, we were able to explore the Riverwalk, which in August is really about trying to enjoy the sights while not melting.
If you've never been to the Riverwalk, it looks something like this:
Now, if that little row of colored umbrellas caught your attention, you're not alone. It's a restaurant called Casa de Rio and it's the subject of a lot of local art. Seemed like a nice place for dinner. Bit of a wait, but worth it in the end.
The wait for a table at Casa de Rio meant we had to eat rather quickly to make it to our last stop, Fiesta Noche de Rio. The Riverwalk has a unique theater where the seats are on one side of the river and the stage is on the other. During the summer time, there's a fundraiser/concert on the weekends that celebrates the music and dance of Latin America. We're more music than dance people, but we both agreed, it was a much better evening than we expected.
The highlights were this guy:
a very talented flamenco guitarist
(you can see someone else's video post of him here:
it's long, but I'm sure he practiced for decades, you can give him 3:41 of your time)
and these guys
a Mariachi band that set up on the bridge that spanned the river
(you can see clip of their performance here:
not the way I'd spend every weekend, but a nice splash of the local culture
The next morning we were up at 3:45 AM so we could get to the airport and get the primary president back for her triple S's (Standard Sunday Stresses).
But a wonderful get away. Thanks for joining me Jennie!!!
1 comment:
Loving the blog, Jennie and Phil. Keep writing. Now I just need to do the same.
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