Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Good friends, good food, good wine, good times

I've been trying to enjoy some of the simpler things in life. For instance, instead of rushing around in the mornings, a coupel of times a week I get up an hour earlier and put on coffee, toast a whole wheat english muffin and place in between one scrambled egg, a piece of turkey bacon, and a smattering of reduced-fat cheddar cheese. Hang out at home and have a leisurely breakfast, which somehow puts me in a much better work mode.


Monday night I met with my friend Laurie Gallardo (you might know her as "The Voice of KUT"), and we spent the evening sampling an amazing rosé wine from Italy (Bisson's Golfo Del Tigullio Cieligiolo rosé 2008). We talked for a couple of lovely hours about life, love, music, books; and reminiscing about obsessions from our childhood. I had lamb fricassee, a beet salad with goat cheese and fresh tarragon, seared snapper and scallops with a lovely sauce and chunks of fresh watermelon. I finished with a scoop of blackberry sour cream ice cream.


In the mornings I've started getting up, throwing on a swimsuit and driving just a couple of minutes down the road to Barton Springs...where I wake the hell UP when I hit that water! I'm trying to build up my stamina to do some laps there, but it's a far cry from my gym pool and I'm only up to several back-and-forths so far.

I mean, it's a big pond...plus in the mornings (the best lap time) I'm terribly distracted by the wildlife under the surface of the springs. So many fishes, cliff drop-offs, and beds of seaweed (or springweed?) under the surface...but with its swimming pool sides and a diving board, you'd never know unless you went early before the murk's been kicked up.


Last night I visited with Kim Lenz...she's in Austin for a week between gigs at the Continental Club and some private party with Chris Isaak. I haven't spent any real time with her in years! I'm supposed to go sing a few songs with her, and I hope it all works out.


Sometimes in the morning, I hit Town Lake for a walk. Sometimes it's Deep Eddy after work. And sometimes I'll pop over to Monica's and we'll put Desi in his stroller and take a nice walk around her neighborhood.


It seems that my home life, though admittedly more solitary than I'd prefer, is developing into a peaceful place where I do stretches, hang out on my back porch, and check out the moon in the sky almost every night.


Another new turn of events lately is that I've recently been back in touch with an old friend of mine from Kansas City. For almost a year, we had one of the sweetest platonic friendships of my life. I know it's a universal feeling for people to rekindle friendships after losing touch, but this one really warms my heart and fills me with joy. I want to meet his little son and see where he lives, outside Sante Fe. Incidentally, since I've lived in Texas, I've wanted to pop on over and see many, many places in the state of New Mexico, which I loved as a little girl and has forever held a special place in my heart. Maybe I can do this in the next month or two.


So far my plan (quite unrealistically) includes:

- Santa Rosa, NM - The Blue Hole! It's a lake 81 ft deep/clear to the bottom, 63F temp year-round. Scuba/snorkel heaven.
- Tularosa, NM - 3 Rivers Petroglyph National Recreational site - 1000-3000 year old petroglyphs!
- Roswell, NM - UFO Museum and Research Center.
- Carlsbad, NM - Carlsbad Caverns National Park. 8th Wonder of the World.
- Alamagordo, NM - Museum of Space History.
- Lincoln, NM - Billy the Kid Museum, Lincoln National Forest (home of Smokey the Bear)
- Cloudcraft, NM - National Solar Observatory
- Clovis, NM - Nor-Vi-Jak Studios, where Buddy Holly recorded most of his hits.
- Los Alamos, NM - Bandelier National Monument - tons of 12th century Pueblos!

I love New Mexico. I love Texas. And life is a-ok.

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