January weary

  • iris and treehous

Wildcat Bluff held their annual Burns supper last week.  The Esquire Jazz Club donated their facility in the old Woolworth building downtown which was just right for people, some of them in kilts, to come and celebrate the work of Robert Burns.  I thought about borrowing a kilt from Dave to wear that evening and wisely chose not to.   It is best to keep my elderly shanks covered, not only to avoid offending the delicate sensibilities of those around me but to conserve as much body heat as possible this time of year.  Also, it isn’t just the kilt.  Those who did wear them were fully decked out from head to toe in gear that looked to me like it would set a person’s pocketbook back considerably.  Those who wore them really looked sharp.  Though with McBrides on my mother’s side and McKetters on my father’s, I have never gotten into the Scotts schtick but there are those that do and there were several examples that evening.  I enjoyed a couple of Kiltraiser ales and we both enjoyed the music and the poems.  WCB raised some money and it appeared everyone was having a good time.

Amarillo’s downtown is beginning to offer a nice variety of restaurants, clubs and other sources of entertainment.  The baseball stadium under construction a couple of blocks east of Polk will open this year and we’re looking forward to cheering on them Sod Poodles.  The Esquire Jazz Club mentioned above is a good example of some the other establishments popping up in that area.  It is small, cozy you might say.  The emphasis is on live entertainment by local talent.  A fellow at our church plays there sometimes, I think.  We’ve heard him play the piano at church and we’re tempted to try to take in a performance at the Esquire.  Just the other day while going to the downtown post office I noticed a coffee and burrito shop I hadn’t seen before.  Their signage makes grand claims about their offerings.  I don’t see how one could go wrong with burritos and coffee.

Kari has been texting her mother from Nicaragua where she is on sabbatical again this year.  The feedback I get is that she is embellishing her Spanish to her satisfaction and generally enjoying herself.  Rebecca is counting the days till she returns home.

Abigail and her friend Aaron spend time together on the weekend.  Friday evening is spent at Abigail’s house and Saturday evening at his, or something like that.  I’m told Aaron made pancakes for everyone Friday evening.  We didn’t get an invitation.

Rebecca's guitarGenna gave me Grandmother Rockwell’s guitar sometime after we moved back to SA.  I didn’t know Grandmother had a guitar.  It languished in the attic lo these many years until I dug it out two or three months ago, had it brought up to snuff and gave it to Rebecca.  She had been using Abigail’s little guitar.  This one is probably 100 years old, give or take, but has a nice sound and a nice patina.  It’s bigger than Abigail’s, though still not a full-sized guitar.  It’s probably what’s called a parlor guitar.  Even still, it’s a little big for Rebecca.   She has to stretch to reach the frets but she’ll grow into it and, though she may add other guitars to her collection, it is an instrument she can keep all her life, or until someone else close to her wants to learn to play.

Garland is hogging all the moisture and we are getting very little.  If this keeps up, it will be a dry spring.  That doesn’t stop the weeds but we’ve had some decent (sunshine, not-too-windy) days and I’ve been applying RoundUp to those that are particularly egregious to good effect so maybe I’ll have a leg up on them when the weather begins to warm.

2 thoughts on “January weary

  1. Nice to get an update from home. Looking forward to seeing y’all tomorrow. Abrazos cálidos de Nicaragua.

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