On the Third Day of Christmas

Saturday, December 27^th

The day dawned warm and overcast. It still seems strange to have an overnight low of 72 at Christmastime. Thankfully the construction workers appear to be taking a four-day weekend and all is peace and quiet.

I just fulfilled my threat to make a batch of corn tortillas. Having no point of comparison I have no idea about the success of the venture but I believe them to be moist enough to sustain re-warming without becoming over-dry.

Already a group of bicyclists have passed by on Barton Stprings Rd and the sun is slowly working at appearing through the clouds. A cold night is in the forecast but for the moment my A/C works away at cooling the RV.

Yesterday I took a walk down South Lamar all the way to a watering hole called the Alamo. Alamo is an iconic word in Texas raising connotations of bravery, nationality, and pride. In the same small plaza is a movie theatre, a religious bookshop, and a guitar store along with the usual hair saloons and such like. For my return trip which was largely downhill I took the residential street, Kinney Ave with its modest homes and unique landscaping and colour schemes. Just before the scarp that leads down again to Barton Springs is a large estate which has a Purple Martin Sanctuary complete with signs and park benches.

For supper I walked down again to Chuys and discovered the joint jumping with a ten-minute wait for a table. I ordered a shot of straight tequila as planned along with another Strawberry Margarita and a Taco Salad. Plain tequila, with or without salt and lime slice seemed rather tasteless save for the sense of the liquor at its base. I like margaritas and the Taco in which the salad was served was a might doughy. The noise of conversation was so loud I wasn’t even aware of the child squalling immediately behind me. Must go back at least once more when things aren’t so busy. My salsa bowl was allowed to sit empty and neglected.

In the evening began the series Heroes of which I’ve already acquired season two on the strength of its reviews. Now that I’ve watched several episodes I’m surprised that it has managed to survive the ratings game. Series with such diverse and distinct characters on several continents that require an audience to be cerebrally engaged don’t normally survive even the first season let alone get renewed for their third. Especially when so many of its main characters are nerdy misfits. After I’ve had opportunity to get more involved with the characterization I will write a review.

After just over 4 months on the road I’ve finally accomplished two things that had so far eluded me. After getting my FM Antenna properly connected to my fancy onboard AV Player I managed to tune in my favourite NPR Station. Then I set about getting my Archos Player connected; through the TV rather than the DVD Player itself as it happens. All it took was sufficient time to fiddle with connections and read manuals. When dealing with three disparate systems a wrong setting on any one of them can throw things off.

In the evening the weather began another mood screen dropping to a low of 44. At least we were spared the violent weather that was threatened to accompany the gusty winds that brought in the present cold front. I spent part of the evening taking advantage of my ability to listen to radio.