Weekend wrap-up.

We had a great time with Mom last Friday. In fact, the whole night was excellent.

It started with driving over to Temple to get Mom and takin’ her to BJ’s Brewhouse.

It was her turn to choose, and pay, and she chose BJ’s. This Friday is Denise’s turn, and then the next Friday it’ll be my turn again. Everyone knows where I’ll wanna go. No mystery there at all.

















We started with our traditional appetizers; Tater Skins and Southwest Spring Rolls. Mom was really excited to get these spring rolls again. Her mouth was watering, just thinkin’ about these little tid bits.

We’ve been to this place enough now that we’ve found out what we like and don’t like. This time, we quickly decided on our main course. Denise chose the Fish ‘n Chips, while both Mom and I decided to order the New Orleans Jambalaya.

Now and then, Denise likes to try something that purports to me “British” on a menu. She’s become something of an authority when it comes to the restaurants that provide authentic tasting fare from her home country. She says that the Fish ‘N Chips at BJ’s is usually pretty good. She loved the stuff the serve at the Cotton Patch too.



The Jambalaya is wonderful. We're talkin' blackened chicken, shrimp and Chicken-Andouille sausage, sautéed with bell peppers, onions and tomatoes in a spicy sauce. Served over rice pilaf and topped with green onions. It’s HOT and spicy, just the way I like it. I was in the mood for something that would clear the sinuses and make my head sweat. I wasn’t disappointed.

Mom loved it too. Where do you think I learned to love spicy food? Even so, it turned out she couldn’t finish hers, so guess what happened?

Yep, we traded plates and I took one for the team. Mmmm, sweet misery!

After that Denise and I drove mom home and headed over to over to Academy to enjoy another high school football game.

It turned out that last Friday was Academy's Homecoming game, and the bleachers were packed beyond capacity.

We looked in vain for seats in the stands, and then decided to go sit with the visiting team. They turned out to be from Lexington, a little town about 50 miles East of Austin. Seems like a hell of a long way to go for a game, but there you go.

The game was a close one, with both teams playin' hard, but Academy ended up on top, something like 21 to 15.














After that we drove back up to Temple and headed for O'Briens. You remember that great little pub I told you about a while back? I'd learned from looking at their web site that this dude, Chris Lopez, was gonna be playing there that evening at 10PM, it turned out that we got there about 30 minutes into his set.

We saw this guy the first time at a Blues festival in Marble Falls. He was playin' this blisterin' guitar, doin' covers of Stevie Ray Vaughan tunes in the back room of a little house, just off the main square.

I was blown away by his talent then, but we were pooped from attending a chili cook-off in Johnson City, and didn't have the stamina to stay.

I was jazzed then, checking out the list of upcoming shows set to appear at O'Brians and see Chris on the schedule.

Looking back, it seems that he's a regular there, so I'll look forward to seeing him there again.

As we walked in and payed the $5 cover charge, and ordered drinks, I realized he was playin' a great Smashing Pumpkins tune called "Hummer". I couldn't believe it! I LOVE that tune.

One dude in the audience was lovin' it too. He jumped up and stared doin' that manic hippie dance. You know, the one that makes you look like a mental patient who's wandered away from the home and off your meds. It was like he was tryin' to get a Mosh Pit started. It didn't last long though. Wrong vibe for the pub.

We found a little table just to the side of the stage and sat down, drinks in hand, and spent the next hour and a half in rapture. At least I was havin' a great time. I think Denise was mostly puttin' up with the noise for my benefit. His sound was maybe a little too loud for her, but now and then he'd play a Hendrix tune, or something by the Beatles, and I could tell she was enjoyin' it. Then he'd bust into something by Alice In Chains, or Rage Against The Machine, and I could tell she was thinkin' it was a little much. I couldn't believe the groups range, and how tight they were, shifting from one tune to the other with nary a mishap.

About 30 minutes into it the band took a break. His sound guy turned on some other great tunes and our waitress brought over our second round. I took a cigar out of my pocket and lit up, and had the camera set up to take a few shots when the band got goin' again.

We stayed till about midnight. I would have stayed for the whole show, but I'd had enough to drink by then and I could tell Denise was ready to go. It'd been a very long day. I handed her the keys and dropped some cash in his little bucket as we headed out. He thanked me as we left. It was wonderful. I can't wait for him to come back.

The rest of the weekend was a lazy haze of sleeping in and taking meds for some friggin' post nasal crud that I picked up that Friday. Mom came over to my place Saturday and brought dinner to us, and then we all met back at her place Sunday for the Cowboys and home made peach ice cream and fried chicken, but more about that later.

Yea, I'm spoiled. What about it? Cheers!