A lot of folks made the trip to come home this year, some folks we have not seen in a long time. A long time. Besides the lousy outcome of the footballing contest, we had a great time. I went to Orlando the next day, stayed at Disney and didn't take a single "real" picture.
I was a little disappointed hearing the big new thing was Fried Butter. It didn't sound appetizing in the least. But Oprah was there, as was Gayle, and they seemed to like it, so I figured I'd better try it. I got the Grape Jelly variety. As you can see, they are about the size of golf balls and covered with grape jelly and powdered sugar. They tasted just like a hot buttered biscuit. That was not at all what I expected. It wasn't bad, but the fried cookie dough from the same stand gets a bigger thumbs up. Amy's fried s'more wins my Fried Food of the Fair award for 2009, however. Two thumbs up!
This wasn't too bad. The corn dog batter could have been a little sweeter. The sauce was tasty. I would have liked a bit more kick from the jalapeno. Still, shrimp, corn bread, sweet and spicy sauce all crammed on a stick! I just wish it would have been better. I got my Belgian waffle fix taken care of though.
Baylor baseball held their annual Burgers on the Berm. Designed as a fund raiser for the Diamond Girls, we are given a chance to check out the new team and enjoy some hamburgers in the early fall. There were few people there so the boys had a field day rounding up the foul balls. They had somewhere near 11 here. By the time we left, we were up to 15.
So far I've been to Sheboygan, Tulsa, and Southern Pines, NC. This week, I'm headed to Connecticut; next week, Brownwood, TX. Then maybe some of the madness will stop.
The trip to NC was a dark and early start. Fortunately we don't do those often. But it did provide an awesome sunrise. We played at Pinehurst #8 that afternoon. A little sprinkling that did nothing more than keep it cool.
Mid Pines is a really neat facility if you find yourself in the area. Old and quaint rooms, nice employees, two great golf courses, and a fantastic training center at Pine Needles. The area offers plenty of golf, for sure.
The newest addition to the Cameron Park Zoo. It was a little hot when we visited on Sunday. Hopefully our new friends will be more active when it warms up. There is a stone near the fence with a button on it. Apparently, they are trying to train them to press the button. The button sprays water on unsuspecting viewers.
Alix and Francis were in town this weekend, Saturday evening we took Alix over to Baylor campus. Reason 1) Dr Pepper Icees. Reason 2) To show her the campus. After walking around the Bear den and the Quadrangle, we swung around the end of Founder's Mall and the boys wanted to climb up on the statue of Judge Baylor.
It was a pleasant afternoon/early evening; a cool-ish front lowered the temps to bearable. I wish the book store was still open. You'd think that the weekend would be a good time for folks to buy t-shirts, etc.
We went down to Indian Spring park this Friday evening to see Ruthie Foster and Ray Wylie Hubbard perform. A Model A club was staying at the Hilton and had filled up the parking lot with their cars. Many of them looked factory fresh. John got a big kick out of sitting in one and honking the Aaoogah horn. the concert was great, too.
Did i? So here's the story. John Cleese had performed for or convention's big gala event the night before. Amy and I were lucky enough to get rooms on the concierge level of the Boca Raton Resort and Club for the convention. We love free breakfast!
So Thursday morning, after getting packed to head home, we ran up to the Commodore Room for a final breakfast. I saw him the second we walked in, he is a very tall man. I walked over and grabbed a plate just as he was leaving the eggs. We exchanged "excuse me"'s and I said, "We saw your show last night and really enjoyed it." He replied, "Really, i thought you seemed quite tired." I laughed and explained that we had just sat through an hour of guys exchanging jackets and being presented with crystal gavels, got my eggs and moved on.
After filling my plate, I looked around for Amy and see she is sitting at the table with him! Apparently there were no empty tables and she asked if she could join him. His reply: "The English are not very good conversationalists in the morning, so if that doesn't bother you, please do."
I walked up and sat opposite him quietly eating my breakfast, twittering and texting about with whom I was eating. I got up to refill my coffee and snapped this with the blackberry. While he continued to eat his eggs, dring his coffee and honey, and peruse the New York Times.
As he was wrapping up his meal, he asked us if we were leaving today, to which we replied yes. He asked where we were from, when we replied Waco, he told us that his soon to be ex-wife used to live in Waco. She was married to a pro-golfer from here in the 70's, Dave Eichelberger. "Steve Martin was born in Waco too," he said. We agreed. I said that I was glad someone knew some better things about Waco. Amy asked him if he was going to stay in Florida, he replied, "I should hope not, this place is what my mother should refer too as Hell warmed up." He said that he was flying up to Newark spending the night then back to London. He said because of his height, he can't sleep on planes anymore, I mentioned that I had that problem due to my width and he chuckled, I'm sure.
We exchanged farewells, he thanked the concierge, and made his leave. Then Amy and I started giggling. He was the only reason I sat through that gala. I've been a Monty Python fan for as long as I can remember and Fawlty Towers is simply the best. So I was quite giddy and maybe still a little giddy almost a week later.
We visited the zoo this Sunday. They were doing the Beasts and Blooms deal. The Blooms were not so much but we enjoyed checking out the animals again. It's a really nice zoo. Waco did a good thing.
I like the soft light and the monochromatic feel of this. This room looks like it will get some nice afternoon light.
We took the kids to the Autorama this past weekend. It seems the "girls" get skankier every year, and the cars not quite as cool as they once were. I loved watching John though. He likes his cars. It took him 15 minutes to pick out some hot wheels to buy.
This was the year of the Gran Torino. Due to the movie of the same name. This Studebaker was just in the parking lot and one of the better sites of the day.
You know that Good Times Video version of Pinnochio that was $4.99 at the Walmart cash register. The one your mom bought thinking it was the Disney version. I mean, Pinnochio and Giapetto are it's just nowhere near as good as the Disney one. That's pretty much the way I felt about the Clone Wars. The music sounded familiar but was no John Williams conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. They were decent imitations of the voices we became accustomed to over the last three movies.
We've also gotten to expect a certain level of realism in animation. This was something like a cut-scene from a video game from ten years ago. No facial expressions, the mouth movement was just wrong. Really disappointing.
So, I get over the music and the animation and start getting into the story a bit (the whole story line was a touch weak), but I finally start enjoying myself some and then comes the biggest wha-what EVER!
SPOILER ALERT:
A GAY HUTT, That's correct. Jabba the Hutt has a homosexual, strip-club owning, saxophone loving, fluorescent makeup, feather wearing, Truman Capote-esque uncle. Zero the Hutt. Absolutely insane. I found myself laughing out loud at this. "I always depend on the kindess of strangers."
All that said, my boys, 6 and 8, loved the movie and are ready for it to be on DVD. TV would have been a much better place for it.
Fairy Bread - this is not a recipe
First you take some bread and tear, not cut, the crust off.
Next you spread butter on the bread
Then you dust the bread with sprinkles of your choice
Finally, you eat it.
and that's all.
We've had a couple of days of winter. Mostly ice. Stuck in the house. Lots of Lego's Star Wars on the PS2.
