My New Neighborhood

One of the first things we did when we moved downtown was make dates with some couples who already lived downtown. We'd met them downtown for meals before or visited in their places, but this was to inaugurate downtown friendships in this new way: WE LIVE DOWNTOWN, TOO! One couple mentioned how many places they walked to and it seemed like they really walked a long way. Since the weather was moving into the teeth of summer, it surprised me. But the longer we are down here, the more we realize how easy and fun it is to roam around on your feet.

When I walked to The Tavern on Tuesday for my friend's book signing, I realized how easy it was to roam over to things in that stretch of Lamar. Not just the venerable Tavern but Wink Wine Bar, an interesting looking health food snack bar, Betty Sport (sport stuff for the ladies) and Twelfth Street Books. The latter (where the picture was taken) is a real live (as opposed to WEB only) erudite secondhand bookstore. Most of those don't maintain a storefront anymore. (I saw my friend David at Momo's the other night and he used to run a great place called State House Books. He is still in the business. Only just virtually.) Which reminds me: my dad and I somehow got on the topic of 'book rate' postage and wondered if it still exists. And, yes, it does.

But I digress. My new neighborhood. Yesterday I only got out in the neighborhood for that walk over to the Four Seasons. I felt cooped up because, for the rest of the day, the closest I got to getting out was going to the parking garage to get some books out of my car and going to the concierge to get a package. I ordered some bookends. Given our decoration strategy (bookshelves, bookshelves, bookshelves with art and artifacts and gewgaws mixed in, all artfully arranged in the aesthetic of devil may care modern collector), our decorator said 'bookends are our friends.' However, only the right bookends work, in my opinion, so we gave some away, saved ones we thought would work and have used things that aren't really bookends. It looks nice, but we are still in the market for a few cool bookends.

But, yeah, digression from new neighborhood and walking in it. Did I mention that I'm stuck inside again today with workmen doing my 'final' AV stuff and motorized shades? Did I mention that Hurricane Ike has promised some stormy weather late tomorrow and early Saturday?

But really the possibilities for things to be walked to are endless. When we moved in, a friend who had been leasing in the Brown Building waiting for his place in this building, turned us on to the delights of Torchy's Tacos which had a trailer in Little Woodrow's parking lot a hop and skip down the street. But they moved! To S. First, I believe. Some people we had turned on to Torchy's just walked the mile and a half each way to satisfy their Torchy desires. Cool.

So, yeah I'm stuck inside getting stuff that makes you stay inside: fancy shades to block the early morning sun and fancy AV equipment. So, you know, you can stick in a Blu-Ray disk at seven in the morning and watch Blu-Ray DVDs all day long with surround sound. I've never seen a Blu-ray disk played (except maybe by accident in a store) and I've never owned a flat screen HD television bigger than the nineteen inch one I bought for a temporary one back in June. I don't own a Blu-ray disk. I thought of buying one (1) Blu-ray Disk but I couldn't find one at Costco. I didn't look too hard.

I wish I were out walking. Guys measuring and drilling in my condo make me palpably nervous. Forrest finds errands to do although I don't think it makes him as nervous. He knows I ordered this stuff and I have to answer questions. Although I can't imagine I'd know the answers.

There are so many places I could walk to. Even to the University on a good day. Or take the 'Dillo up there and then walk around. I could go to the Harry Ransom Center or the Blanton, shop on the drag. Heck for the price of the AV and shades, I could take a limo up there every day for a year or two probably and have them wait while I had a burger at Dirty Martin's.

We proved the other day that walking to toney SoCo is no problem. I could shop for weird bookends at Uncommon Objects. We could explore South Lamar, North Lamar (see above) and S. First. We could wander in old West Austin and Clarksville like we did the other day. Of course, downtown offers many wandering options. The library is on Guadalupe, not far away. It's true that the homeless population has made the Central Library a home away from no home, but there are still books there for ordinary people. Wait! I have enough books in the condo (after furious downsizing of them and with a few boxes pending at my dad's house) to last a reader a lifetime. Especially a reader who gets The New Yorker (fifty issues or so a year) and who has subscriptions to two seven-day-a-week newspapers, one six-day-a-week newspaper and one weekly newspaper and who occasionally picks up at least one free weekly. Ruined by Reading. Which is the title of a book that I don't think I gave away. I think it's still in a box at Dad's house.

I could walk to a myriad of coffee shops and write on my laptop or in a journal and look literary. I could walk to the Capitol and take a tour.

But today I sit, logged onto the Internet and worry at the sounds of drilling in the next room. Maybe I'll pop the DVDs of all issues of The New Yorker from 1925 through April 30, 2007 into my iMac and browse around. But I'd sort of rather be walking.

Transient

I'm the opposite of homeless. I'm homeful. This hasn't made me feel more at home, however. It's made me feel at loose ends. Like I'm on an odd working vacation in old haunts.

I feel like I'm on a trip and I keep losing my luggage. As I predicted, things are always in the wrong place. Need to write a check at the house? Checkbook is downtown. Come to the house and get a shower after tennis and then try to find a pair of loafers you like in the closet. Things I like to wear keep migrating downtown. I have to carefully sack up my sweaty tennis clothes, however, and take them downtown to launder them so I'll have them when I head to tennis.

When we are at our 'big house' we will go to places in the 'hood like we are folks returning to an old neighborhood where they once lived. Downtown we feel at home in the neighborhood and in our place but we have so little stuff down there that it is exceedingly odd.

There is still enough stuff at Shoal Creek to lead a life. I have a set of toiletries, a few clothes (although besides the loafer shortage I find that I never have a belt and keep going through ones FFP obviously hasn't worn in ages looking for one I can steal).

We keep thinning the stuff. Shredding ancient financial statements and business records. Putting out our 'free' sign with junk at the curb. FFP took another load to the thrift store, several boxes of kitchen stuff, clothes. I don't miss any of it when it's gone. Of course not. In the wake of all these departures, however, the stuff seems to be blooming and growing. Maybe it's dragging open cabinets and drawers and places of refuge. Maybe it's that there is some secret river of stuff that flows through this house.

I feel like I'm on a trip. I've taken along some old clothes and hope to just leave them behind as they get dirty. I haven't actually done this in the past, leaving behind worn out underwear and jackets and shirts with elbows almost (or actually) worn through. I wouldn't do this now if I were going on a real trip. Heck, I might get something new to wear.

The picture above was taken two years ago when we took a car trip in our old Accord. We'd driven straight through until we got to Baltimore where we stayed an extra night so we could have a look around, go to some museums. I don't know that we'd even thought of moving out of the house then. Forrest was settling into retirement. We wanted to go somewhere. And we did. I feel like a lot has changed since then.

Since I have so many places that I randomly find myself these days, I've been having a rather eclectic reading list. Our papers are delivered downtown, dropped in front of our door by the concierge. Sometimes at night I read them there. I have taken a couple of books down there that I'd been trying to finish forever. I have been reading Tobias Wolff's "In Pharaoh's Army" in Forrest's car. (And also when we are out in his car and we go somewhere to eat, just the two of us, which is a time when we read and only converse if the reading leads us to something we want to discuss.) I found myself reading magazines still scattered around the house when I'm there or a section of newspaper from months ago. While eating a sandwich in the kitchen of the house the other day, I read a little booklet of Globe Facts that turned up somewhere and that I was about to toss. The earth is almost a perfect sphere. However, the diameter from pole to pole is twenty-seven miles shorter than the equator diameter. This isn't stuff you need to save a little booklet for reference. (The booklet probably came with a globe I bought at some time in the past.) I should throw it away. But here I am reading it while eating a Thundercloud sub. We never seem to have food at the house and we have gone to the nearby Thundercloud for sandwiches several times. We have revisited Fonda San Miguel Restaurant, Billy's, Blue Star and Mother's in a similar sort of goodbye gesture. But we'll probably still go to these places. We went downtown when we didn't live there, after all.

There are so many things that need doing that I'm often paralyzed from it. I run away to the other house or suddenly 'have' to blog or do something on the computer. Inch by inch I get things done, though, or by power of suggestion FFP does them for me.

One thing I haven't found time to do is keep up my personal journal. I'm sure I'll regret that one day. I'll be trying to figure out exactly when something happened and then information just won't be there. Meanwhile, a pile of hand-written journals awaits the thinning in the storage room at the house. That's a tough one. I get set adrift on a river of memories and can't find my way back to shore.

In a way, when I'm not worrying and obsessing and trying to figure what the heck to do with something, I'm enjoying this. It's like being on vacation in two spots in my own town. I've become used to the keys and access cards for my hotels, found my favorite coffee spots and yet I'm distant enough from work and duty to just enjoy reading for pleasure. Then the work and duty comes roaing back.

Everyone says I will look back on this with amusement, that it will all be over one day. I guess. It seems to have become a permanent lifestyle.

Just Don't Stop

In 2000, in a walk around our neighborhood I shot this picture of a vehicle that had sat, inoperable, long enough that nature was beginning to absorb it.

Yesterday, I was thinking "don't stop doing the things that are working!" Sure there are a thousand details I need to attend to vis-a-vis the big move and all the attendant duties and decisions. Sure I need to find more time for my dad and more time for writing. But since I retired I have managed to improve my health by exercising. Just don't stop.

I played tennis. We played for over an hour and a half, but it was doubles and, although I ran for a few balls, it wasn't much real exercise. Maybe just some stretching and movement. Not bad, but not cardio or weight-lifting. So. After the tennis I worked up a sweat and elevated my heart rate on the recumbent bike. And I did some ab work and a few weight things.

Only then (after doing the thing that has been most beneficial to me in retirement) did I go to my dad's house and deal with some issues with his Life Line and cell phone and then run an errand. (Returning one of our set top boxes to the cable company. Score one for downsizing.)

I wasn't very productive the rest of the day. I did juggle some financial stuff. And find some more books to propose for elimination with FFP. I took out garbage, folded some clothes FFP washed. In the evening my friend came over and we went for some dinner while FFP did yard work and made himself fish tacos. Then we went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and looked at various things but bought nothing. She rejected some bar stools they had as cheap in price but too cheaply made. I couldn't find the exact replacement pan I was trying to buy (although I should go to the outlet mall for it). I considered buying some new containers to store sweaters but decided to swither more about it. There is a sort of step stool I want to buy but they didn't have one. So we wasted gas but spent no money.

But you can't stop. You have to keep going forward. Otherwise, the ivy grows right over you. As it will do one day anyway.

Tear Down

One of our Realtors (a mother and daughter pair will represent us on the house sale next year) suggested that our house will probably be torn down. I can certainly see that happening. It was more, obvious, however that this house a few doors away would be demolished. Who knew Habitat for Humanity had a service to do this and at the same time salvage materials.

It's hard to think of our house as a tear down, but it's a good-sized lot and I guess I could see someone with enough resources gutting it or even taking it down. It certainly puts all the touch-up paint and cosmetic things in perspective, though.

Sometimes Things Go Better Than You Hoped

I'm sure it wasn't a great day for everyone. But I got to play tennis. People were late arriving because there was a big fire. Apparently a giant house under construction burned. It was south of the club and I live a bit north and east. But ash from the fire fell on the tennis court here and there. And it was at least a mile away, the fire. Big fire. Someone said it damaged the house next door, which didn't burn but got so hot it was damaged.

But I got to play tennis. Because my dad felt better than I dreamed he would today. I thought I'd have to cancel tennis. But he was happy to wait a while for the delivery of some supplies and for me to do a few things like fold and hang up clothes. Which he'd put through the washer and dryer himself. That's what I'm talking about!

And the sweet doctor who has saved us from the emergency room by having Saturday hours and squeezing in patients with no appointments had called my dad to see if he was OK.

So this one day, yeah, things are going better than I had any right for them to go.

Besides I love this photo. I'm easily amused.

This is (not) a Toy!

A few days ago, I found this in our backyard, lying in the grass. It wasn't too far from the fence separating us from a neighbor whose teenager and his friends bang on drums and play guitars and have loud goings on in the backyard. I'm not saying some kid who was over there ditched it over the fence with the idea of coming back for it later. But I really don't know how it came to be in our yard. Just lying there in the grass. But it was mysterious. I was showing some people the backyard with the weird muscian junk sculpture and I saw it and said "Oh, what's this?" My guests were surprised, too, and wide-eyed at its gunness, even though it was clear plastic.

Now, I have read that 'toy' guns have a red or orange plug in the barrel so cops won't shoot children who are playing. Note orange plug. They didn't have that in my day.

So...it's a toy?

It has however, a safety switch. That sounds 'not toy.'

It has this printed on a label on the side: "WARNING: MISUSE OR UNSAFE USE MAY CAUSE SEVERE INJURIES OR DEATH FOR USE ONLY BY AN ADULT(18 or 21 years depending on state) READ THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL CAREFULLY BEFORE USE." And, yes, the punctuation and capitalization are just like that..."DEATH FOR USE ONLY BY AN ADULT."

This 'toy' gun had a WEB address printed on it, too. From the looks of it, there are much more serious-looking toys out there and conventions and everything.

This was, as I said not far from the fence of one neighbor. It wasn't really close, however. If it had been, it would have been in a bed of Asian jasmine and maybe never seen.

I have this real visceral reaction to guns. Even 'toys.' Imagine if I'd found a REAL gun in my yard instead of one that only through misuse or unsafe use may cause death. (Which is, in itself, kind of amusing in a horrible way. I mean real guns are safe enough if you don't shoot someone!) It's funny, too, because as a kid I lived in a house with a loaded shotgun and 22 rifle near the back door. Let's just say that one stray dog could be devastation for a sheep raiser. I remember being allowed to shoot at a target with the 22. It almost knocked me flat. I was a scrwany five- or six-year-old. I was being allowed to feel the power, understand the rules. I was never to touch the guns without my dad. And I begged for and was allowed to have a Daisy air rifle. I obeyed the Daisy Rules of Safety, though. I would have killed small animals, but I wasn't a good stalker or shot. I wasn't allowed to point plastic toy guns that did not propel missles at all at other people. Not when my dad was looking, anyway.

I'm not really a gun control freak. I am sort of a believer in personal responsibility and see nothing wrong with hunting (or protecting baby lambs from predators) or target shooting. If you point a gun at someone, though, I'm sort of like my dad...instant punishment. I think people should take responsibility for guns they have, however. And their children and dogs. (That's just an aside in case the neighbor is reading.) This (toy) gun in my yard didn't have any toy ammo (I don't think). But, yes, it gave me pause.

Love My Neighborhood

For a neighborhood to resonate with other people, it needs a name. In Austin if you say 'SoCo' everyone knows you mean a fast-gentrifying, once funky section of Congress Avenue south of the river. I don't live there.

We say, when asked, that we live 'North Central.' But I don't think there is a catchy designation other people would instantly recognize that gives people an idea of where we live.

When it's your own neighborhood, it is defined, in my opinion, by what you can get to by walking. This is why your neighborhood shrinks as you get older. My in-laws can't really make it to Burnet Road anymore and they are several blocks closer than I am. I can walk from here to Central Market or deep into Hyde Park if I wish. I have even walked to my club which is three miles away and on the other side of Mopac. That's reaching, however.

I'll stick to easy walks to show you around. Ones where I could take along the fifteen-year-old dog and she would only get a little tired. We won't actually take her along on this virtual walk, however, because then we will be able to go inside some of the business establishments. Virtually, that is.

The closest businesses to my house are Fonda San Miguel Restaurant, a high-end interior Mexican place with a beautiful bar and dining room; the Around the Corner Store grocery, a gas station convenience store which is quite literally named for its proximity to us; and the Austin Greek Deli which I've never tried but I think sells breakfast tacos along with gyros although maybe there was a taco place there before; and a hair salon, INNU. All these places are about three blocks from here. I don't patronize the latter two, but I buy a lot of gas at Around the Corner and I've been to Fonda about a hundred times, no exageration! For all the folks who live in gated communities far from a six pack of beer, gas or a quality margarita...envy me!

Hancock Drive and North Loop fork off at the Around the Corner. Hancock veers south. There is an odd little business tucked into a house there called Cindy's Games or something. Don't know. Don't want to know. But if you keep walking, there are other conveniences: a branch library; a Tex-Mex restaurant (Jorge's); the fire station (you can drop off unwanted kids there but I think they have to be newborn); and Billy's Burgers (home of fine burgers, delectable vegetarian fast food and a huge number of draft beers...along with pool, video games, darts, TV sports and Wi-Fi). There are other professional offices along the way and if the kidneys are deteriorating after years of sampling beer...there is a dialysis center.

At Billy's you reach Burnet Road. Billy's has a deck 'overlooking' this busy urban artery in fact. It's popular, though, because you can light up out there. This stretch of Burnet is thick with antiques and junk. There is a pretty good-sized antique mall. There are thrift stores operated by the Lutherans and Project Transitions and others. There are 'for profit' junk and vintage and antique shops. There is a joint where you can buy old pinball machines. There are a couple of dollar stores. There is a Mexican bakery. A Mexican take-out place. A liquor store. There is a place to sharpen knives, a barbeque stand, a South American restaurant (Sampaio's), a high-toned home cooking place (Blue Star Cafeteria, which is not a cafeteria), a sushi restaurant. There is Phoenecia Bakery, Upper Crust Bakery and Pacha (a South American coffee shop with delicious food). There is a place selling old vinyl (as in LPs). A CVS drugstore. There is a Thundercloud and a shoe store. If you strap on your hiking boots, you can get to my barber shop (Jane's A Barber Shoppe) and Amy's Ice Cream and Phil's Ice House (which I understand has good burgers but I never get past Billy's). Indeed, you will also find a big old HEB store, another liquor store, a truly weird place selling new and used geegaws called Cats 'N Kids and the Frisco Shop, the last vestige of the Night Hawk chain which is a local legend.

And, as they say, there is much more. If you are stout at walking, you can get your clothes dry cleaned. There is a laundromat near the Fonda. There are several doctors. There is a pet store and a 'good old boy' bar.

It's a nice neighborhood...colorful and pleasant with lots of independent businesses and all the services you'll need. The new sidewalks on Shoal Creek Boulevard are an amazing addition...we used to drive to Fonda at night not because of the distance but because walking wasn't very safe. I'm sure you could walk to Burnet or Bull Creek and catch a bus downtown. But I'll confess I've never done it.

Today's picture was taken of the window of Top Drawer Thrift Store (benefiting Project Transitions) around New Year's Day 2005. I'm thinking of using it for my holiday card next year.

Should I Practice or Save It?

I love daily bloggers. You can count on them to give you a little lift with their writing. Hardly the day passes that I don't check for updates from The Journal of a Writing Man and I'm rarely disappointed. I do frequent checks on Rob but he doesn't update every single day. So I'm not always rewarded.

Well, I signed up for Holidailies along with 150 or more other people and I'll be committed to writing from December 1 to January 1.

One question is should I waste words and pictures prior to the start of the daily rat race? Should I limber up now or should I be saving it?

Another question is what I should write about each day. Should I just tell what I did that day? You know: went to the gym, allegedly burned three hundred calories, ate nachos, drank beer, watched The Simpsons. Or should I have little daily rants with themes? Themes that could be generated from the day's events or come from nowhere. Or should I have an overall theme for the entire period? I actually thought of doing that...the overall theme thing. I thought of blogging about my neighborhood for the entire time.

The picture is from the South American coffee shop in our neighborhood: Pacha's on Burnet Road. I snapped it midway through a coffee and eggplant empanada on Sunday when FFP and I took the dog for a Burnet Road walk.

Hmmm...so what will it be? So many questions of so little importance! Also, I'm thinking maybe I should do this daily ranting, er, writing in my own space instead of here?

eXtreme dog walking and urban adventuring

I used to do a lot of eXtreme dog walking and urban adventuring. These are sports my friend SuRu and I invented. eXtreme dw involves two people, two dogs, those long (fifteen feet or so) reel leashes and the occasional cat or squirrel. Urban adventuring is the same setup with another person added to garner 'take ones' from houses for sale and hold things while pictures are taken.

Weather (too much heat and some serious rain) and circumstances have reduced the sport to the point that you'd be more likely to catch curling on TV. But yesterday was cool and sunny and the entire team set off when SuRu and Zoey, the black standard poodle, arrived from her new rental across the creek. This makes the third abode in our neighborhood that she's occupied. When she was on Woodview, we'd walk over to her place before the trek; when she lived on Ramsey we'd meet in the middle (somewhere near the now somewhat bland scary house); now it makes sense for her to walk here because in her direction the coffee shop choice is Russell's. And Russell's requires climbing the 'big hill' across Mopac and Russell's has no outside seating for dog owners.

Oh, did I mention coffee and snacks? Definitely a part of the eX dw and ua culture. We chose Upper Crust today. Outside tables? Check. Good snacks? Yes, a Petit Pan au Chocolat bigger than your head (well, maybe a little dog's head). Don't ever eat a cinnamon roll there, however. Gut bombs. Same cinnamon rolls show up at coffee shops around town that aren't also bakeries. Danger. Danger. Eat cinnamon rolls at Sweetish Hill. (Yes, sometimes the eX dw team drives to other neighborhoods and thus has other coffee shop choices.) However, almost everything else at UC is great. SuRu had a not too sweet cookie and FFP a scone. I filled my coffee mug before we left home and again at Upper Crust. Coffee is eX dw fuel.

So it isn't much of a walk from the house to Upper Crust. We went to Ramsey Park after and even south of there. We came back up Ramsey to see if the rental where SuRu lived was rented. No. Good enough for them. It's overpriced.

Along the way, on 40th St. I think, we saw a bush we couldn't identify with bees and butterflies all over it. It was fragrant. Because we had the extra hands for holding a squirmy dog, I took a picture. That is an advantage of urban adventuring, adding that extra person. True the two dogs and two people connected by the long reels of leash make most of the possible 'moves' of eX dw a reality. But there are extra points for capturing pictures like this.

I'm glad the weather has cooperated with my sports. Tennis is nice on a cool, sunny day, too. And I've been getting out there for a bit of that. Tennis is a bit more well-known, too. But I expect eX dw and ua to come into their own. Right now we are the premier team, however.