Dallas BBQ - Yum

Mostly traveling on business is just work, hotels, airports, and going from place to place. But occasionally something better happens. So last night I went to dinner at a BBQ place.   I'd no real expectations but just went where the concierge suggested and, wonder of wonder, YUM!, some of the best dry ribs I'd ever had. So good in fact that I overate a bit. Even so a fun experience and an unexpected treat, bar included. And icing on the cake, under $20 2 bears included!

Some 50 or so years ago I lived in Irving Texas. At the time it was a VERY small suburb of Dallas. Of course, over the last 50 years more than a little has changed and Irving is now a large town outside of Dallas hosting both DFW airport and Texas Stadium. Business took me to Dallas and I thought it would be interesting to see what became of our old houses. So armed with my trusty Nuvi 350 GPS off I went to visit old haunts.

This is the first house we lived in. Three small bedrooms for a family of 6. But it was our home and I have fond memories of it. Of course, 50 years ago there were no trees and the look was much drier. But time and water will tell and here it is now. The field and creek across the street are now an apartment complex and park complete with lake where the creek had been. Where there had been woods and fields there are now houses and all that comes with growth. Still, while really rather different it remains in many ways the same.

We moved from Larry Drive to Vance and this much larger house with 4 bedrooms. While I was taking this photo the owner noticed me through the kitchen window. I walked up to the front door and was surprised to meet the now much older people that had bought the house from us. They've lived there some 48 years. Imagine. We chatted a bit and they kindly invited me in to see the house. They've taken good care of it and it was much as I remembered it. If you want to see the video, click here.

Anniversy photos

	The lovely BB. Aren't I the lucky one.
	And myself.  How did I get so old?
	Still smiling and in love.
	And, of course, the lovely BB with some of the boats in the background.

Anniversy time and family events

Well it's my 5th anniversary being married to Barbara. It's been an interesting and occasionally challenging 5 years, 10 if you count the time we spent living together. We are still very happy together notwithstanding two recalcitrant children who opposed the marriage, a severe auto accident and 7 broken vertebra in my neck and back, burning the house down, and a brief separation when one of her sons became violent we're still together and in love. When you put it all down in one place, it's really rather remarkable.

On the rest of my family front:

• Seth can't afford to get his car transmission fixed.
• HB and Allen found that they have bed bugs (that's apparently what is causing issues with Max) and are in the process of getting rid of them. It's a major undertaking and she's under considerable stress.
• Mom fell and broke her wrist. She's really slipping and her memory is very poor to the point that she doesn't remember to call the desk to get help. We are all rather worried about her.
• Sister Avery is out the the hospital. She had some extensive surgery to repair several hernias. She seems to be doing well but will be out of things for a few weeks.

Reconnecting

I've recently been reconnecting with colleagues using LinkedIn. It's been interesting and so far I've found over a dozen. Curious how the net can being us back together. One was Dennis Beherman who sent along this interesting blog link (http://www.behrmannprojekt.com/blog/).

It's curious how people come and go in my life. I've been something of a vagabond, living and working here and there but never really feeling like I had roots anywhere. I suspect it's a reflection of my childhood spent moving from one place to another. Curious! In fact I'm always a bit surprised and in ways a bit envious of those who have roots in a place.

Last week - Looking for job and doing a bit of sailing.

Last week was spent looking for work and doing a bit of sailing.

On the work front, I've decided to work another year or perhaps two while BB and I get the house ready for sale and decide where we want to live what we want to do etc. I suspect it will take her a bit of time to come to grips with the issue of retirement as her life has been largely completely defined by work and children. So a bit of transition and sort of easing into the whole retirement thing seems like a good plan.

Tuesday Bob Landry and I went out sailing out of Boston Harbor Sailing Club. The day seemed rather doubtful with heavy overcast and developing thunder storms in Sudbury. It was so bad I tried to call Bob to see if he wanted to cancel. Fortunately, I was unable to reach him. While it was a bit soft in Boston when I arrived, it soon cleared, as it often does, and we had a really wonderful sail. I really must remember to do the sunscreen thing as I managed to get a slight burn.

Sunday, BB and I went down to Portsmouth, RI and sailing with Bob Zap, his wife Patti, and their three girls on the Moore Gooder. Bob moved the boat there to get a slip. While the forecast wasn't particularly good, the day was wonderful and we sailed about Mount Hope Bay anchoring behind an island for lunch. All in all good fun.



It's only about 1.5 hrs away so worth a think concerning where to keep a boat. On the drive back we ran into very heavy rain and hail just as we got to Sudbury but fortunately no damage to the car.