The Information Super-Frog

Also a treat:

"Mid Summer Mardi Gras" in the streets of your neighborhood, allowing one to party, stop back by home to use the facilities, geek a little, get a fresh beer, and go party some more. Yay.

mshollie has been better about posting about our trip than I, despite the fact she's been busy pagenting, photographing, and webmastering the last 3 evenings.

Our hotel is in an area of modern generic off-Interstate-Highway America, but as it's in an example of such with a Panera rather than just a McDonald's we're not suffering.

Wednesday we had an excellent day in Providence. We drove in the morning to a light rain and drove around town and went into the Rhode Island State House. We met Kerri for lunch at Paragon on Thayer Street. Afterwards to the RISD museum, a teaching museum with some very fine collections. Afterwards we took look around Prospect Park before meeting Jacob at Coffee Exchange. Jacob took us on a walking tour of historic and wacky sights around downtown Providence and some good beer at Trinity Brewhouse.

Thursday we looked around the town of New Bedford, which was the world's busiest whaling port in the early 19th century -- yes, the seaman's church really does have an altar shaped like a ship's prow.

Yesterday back to Providence to eat Italian lunch at Venda Ravioli and look around the Federal Hill District. We got some pastries to go at Pastiche before heading back.

Today Hollie decided to stay at the hotel and "power nap" in the afternoon. I went over to Fall River, where I visited the historic society museum, in an impressive early 19th century mansion. I was interested in the art and architecture. Everyone else taking the tour was conversant with all the details of the Lizzie Borden case. The museum has a room dedicated to the Borden murders, advertised as "The World's Largest Lizzie Borden Exhibit". The Borden fans probably would have spent the rest of the day in the room discussing the case, but the tour guide eventually pushed the group on. (One hundred and ten years from now, will groups of tourists be debating the details of a late 20th century case at an O. J. Simpson museum?) The museum shop had some strange bottled soft drinks; I had a "Dandelion & Burdock" ginger drink which didn't taste as unusual as it sounded.

Hollie is at the big final night of the Miss Mass Pagent now.
Tomorrow we head on to Cambridge.

Interstate 10, which had closed areas Houston through Lake Charles LA, is supposed to reopen Monday, which means we can take the shorter quicker route to go back home. Yay!

Got a buncha stuff from Home Despot to take back home for the cleanup. Depending, after I get home I may be needing to make more daytrips or 2 day trips back out for such stuff.

Yesteday night I went to Scholtz's, an old German immigrant Beer Garden from the mid 19th century. I was invited to sit in with "The Wurst Band". It was a big group, some 8 trumpets, 3 other trombones, 2 tubas, drums, assorted reeds, etc, that plays for beer Thursday nights (although curiously this was their last one, as they don't do it in October-- go figure). Apparently this is the closest thing Austin has to a Tumble. Who shows up varies. I seemed to be the only one who didn't know most of the pieces by rote &/or was able to sight read their part. I tried to beg off on the German polkas and marches which I didn't know at all, but was encouraged to dive in, and thus occasionally was able to make the Wurst band just a little worse. Ms. Hollie said the whole agravation had the sound of too little rehersal and too much beer. I had fun however. There were several music books which the leader called tunes from. A few were clearly beyond the band and fell apart and were cut short. We played some Wagner-- hey, I've heard this one in a Bugs Bunny cartoon, though Carl Stalling's arrangement was a bit diffferent. In honor of yours truly being a guest, a they called a couple of tunes like "Way Down Yonder In New Orleans" and "Panama". One of the musicians who also plays Dixieland warned that the arrangements were very square, which was accurate. On a couple I did my best to drag forward in temporal hepness to about 1916 or so. Some of the results occasionally reminded me of Tom Brown's recordings with New York studio groups. Each of the three sets ended with a very loud version of "In Heaven, There Is No Beer" to prompt delivery of fresh pitchers. It wasn't jazz, but it was fun, and the Austinites could hardly be any nicer.

Tomorrow Saturday is a music festival to benifit New Orleans musicians which will be iin South Austin.

Sunday we have our private jam & soak party at a friend's.

Monday, proably take care of any final errands, get some groceries for ourselves and for our gracious amazing hosts, and perhaps one last Tex-Mex meal.

Austin area internet aquaintances are hereby warned that chances possible IRL meetings are in limited supply; grab 'em while you can.

Hurricane coming!!

Quick!

Everybody get naked and have a beer!!

I love this time of year in New Orleans, with confederate jasmine, magnolia, and gardinias blooming in profusion here in uptown. Also, free yummy loquats. Mmmm, loquats.

I had a band practice with friends out on Bayou St. John Monday evening. It being Cinco de Mayo we wound up improvising a piece alternating sections of the Marsallies and La Cucaracha; sort of an 1862 Overture.

The amp on my main sound system blew out (just turned it on and it was dead). Damn, I don't want to have to buy a new one. Saturday I found one better than what I had at a yard sale just around the corner for two dollars. Yay.

I cleaned out a kitchen cabinet and found a forgotten bottle of "Samichlaus", the Swiss beer so dark and thick it makes Guiness look like Miller Lite, which someone gave me at least four years ago. I opened it up, it didn't smell skunked, tried a sip, but it's heavier than I like. I decided to try another use for it. Best batch of beer-bread EVER!

An acquaintance once told me that if he had a lot more money, the only change he could think of making would be that he'd drink Michelob every day, rather than Miller on weekdays and Micheloeb on weekends.

While I don't think much of his taste in beer, I have to salute with awe his level of contentment with life.