Old salts.

They made it. Finished the Texas 200. Boat, trailer and two sailors back in Austin. Well done, boys!!
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Work and werk.

Back home now, trying to focus on work.   At the same time, Monte and Dan are sailing the catboat up the coast on a 200 mile adventure that I wish I was there for, but will have to be content with providing support from afar when needed.   I wonder how they did this, back in the day, without cellphones, gps and google maps?!
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Leaving is always the hardest part.

Sunday already!?   Today we all rolled out of bed for mimosas and crepes.
Then checked out around noon.
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Back in Austin the skies were colorful; remnants of today’s rain showers:
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I picked up Keeto after I got home, and we enjoyed catching up on our favorite crime dramas…
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I wish tomorrow was not Monday!!  :/

San Diego – Day 3.

We had a blast last night.  Today we set out for Balboa Park in the morning, and Coronado in the afternoon.

One of my favorite places in Balboa Park is the botanical gardens:

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And its lily pond:
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We strolled over to the rose garden:
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A great morning spent amongst the beautiful San Diego architecture:
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And over to Coronado for lunch at the Sheerwater @ the Hotel del Coronado:
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Then we went to a nearby art street fair, and grabbed a late dinner at the bar in the hotel.

A LOVELY day, indeed!

La Jolla!

Today we set out for La Jolla beach, rented bikes, enjoyed a picnic on the shore.

Pelicans flying overhead at La Jolla Shores:
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An artist’s vantage point at La Jolla Cove:
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Pelicans and seals nesting on the rocks:
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Back in San Diego watching the America’s Cup boat Stars & Stripes tacking across the bay:
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Safe and sound back at the Palomar lobby in time for happy hour:
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Dinner tonight at Cafe Chole.  Didn’t get a picture of the restaurant, but the food and the service was excellent.

Back at the penthouse, there was table dancing into the wee hours.  No photos here, but what a fun time!

Girls’ trip!

Sort of spur-of-the-moment, but with just-enough planning, I left today on a girls’ weekend to San Diego with Lori, Doray, Laura, Ann and Irene.   Here are some sights from today.

We flew Southwest – my first time on that airline.  Ended up with a window seat.IMG_1167 We had reservations at the Palomar Hotel in the Gaslight district.  AAAWESOME!!!!  No complaints on the lodging.
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Dinner at Croce’s restaurant Thursday night.  Good jazz, kind of loud, and very busy.  BTW, they are not closing, they are moving, so check them out in their new location.
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Overdue.

I’m way overdue for a pedi, so I dashed out tonight to get one.   Voila!!

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Grassy Ass!

After a busy year, Julie left to spend a few weeks at home for the summer.  She gave us some awesome margarita glasses, and a Thank You card that is right up my alley. 🙂 L.O.V.E. I.T.!!
Looking forward to having her back in the Austin hood.
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Happy birthday!

It’s JUNE already!  Where did the year go?!  Today is Dave’s 40-something-th birthday.  Happy to celebrate with him.

Here’s to the rest of the year!

Happy Birthday, Dave!
Happy Birthday, Dave!

Steel drums.

Yay Friday. We went to a party at friends’ home tonight. They designed and built this house themselves and moved in 2 years ago. This week they put it on the market and it sold in about 5 days. So in 3 weeks they move out and will do it all over again on a new lot in town. An amazingly beautiful place.
They had friends come in and play steel drums for entertainment. A great sound. I have only a picture to share.

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Peace, love & pizza.

Tonight is Julie’s last night in Austin before heading home for the summer. So we declared it Pizza Night, of course. This is a close-up of one of the pies tonight. Delicious!

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Walking 9 (well, 14 really).

At the beginning of the year, I had scheduled today as an extra day off after the long weekend. Bonus! I relaxed, swam laps at the gym, and then this evening monte and I zipped over to the newly renovated Morris Williams golf course for the sunset rate. We usually can only squeeze in 9 holes before sunset. But we made good time today and finished 14. The golf course looks really great and there is a fabulous new clubhouse.
This is a shot from the 15th green looking west right before sunset. You can see the old Robert Muller airport control tower still standing in the distance.

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And this is a shot of the new clubhouse as we were heading in.

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Back to work tomorrow. Yay 3 day week!

A Monday to remember.

We anchored out again last night in about the same place as the night before. A really pleasant night. This morning we headed back about 10am. And wouldn’t you know it…we hooked (we think) the same tree stump. This time we just snagged it. It didn’t catch us up, but it was a very heavy drag on the line. This time we tried to drag it close to shore before it fell off the anchor.
Back at home we put out the flag on the porch, grilled up some delicious cheeseburgers and are getting ready to snug in to watch a movie.

It’s not about the barbeque, though. So let me pause and say Thank You to those who bravely gave their lives in service to defend both the simple and the profound freedoms we enjoy every day.

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Lake view.

The full Flower Moon.

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We spent a nice day on the lake. We pulled anchor today and brought up a tree stump. I wish I had taken a picture but there wasn’t time. This stump was about 10-12 inches in diameter. A good 2 feet high. With roots, one of which was about 6 feet long. The windlass couldn’t handle the weight so I got to pull it up by hand. Whew!
We set anchor in the same cove tonight. Let’s see what we pull up tomorrow!