Kandie's folks are in town this week, so we did a little sight-seeing down town today. Went down to the Alamo, then over to the Riverwalk for lunch at County Line.
Brisket sandwich (diet back on Sunday,really). Mmm, brisket. I had never had brisket before we moved to El Paso. I had never even heard of it. I guess that shows the regional differences that still existed in the 70's and 80's - I grew up in New England and bbq wasn't quite as readily available as it is now.
Then off to the Japanese Tea Gardens again for a quick after lunch stroll.
Tonight we're heading to Retama Park to see the thoroughbred races. Hoping that's a good photo-op.
Admission was free - is free, I should say because there is another day of it today.
People were enjoying the music, dancing, clapping, and tipping back a few - a generally happy time. We sat across the river from the stage on rock steps. It was fun to see the river boats go by the stage as the performers played.
The first band we saw was a newly formed composite of two groups who are apparently going to be touring together now - a Cajun duo called Jesse Lege and Joel Savoy, and a country band called the Caleb Klauder Country Band. They were terrific, but it was hard to get a decent shot of the whole band because we got there late and the place was completely packed and I had to elbow my way through the crowd to find a place to stand.
Fun, high energy performance.
The second band we saw was called "Solas" - they came in from Ireland for the festival. They played a variety of Irish music with terrific presence and energy as well. It really just felt like they were genuinely having a good time performing.
(they are actually in the first photo of this post, too, but it's so far back, it's hard to see them)
The guy on the left played at least 5 different instruments during the performance - banjo, guitar, sitar, and two different flutes that I remember.
They had a new vocalist with them who had a lovely Irish voice.
Here's a very muddy recording I made with my cell phone (without the vocalist).
But perhaps the most entertaining member of the band to watch was the fiddler,
who you could just tell was entirely a part of the music from the way she jumped and stomped while she was playing, and tapped her bow when she wasn't.
I have to admit, at first I wanted to go to the International Accordion Festival out of a strict sense of irony. But being there, it's hard not to get caught up in the passion these people have for their music. It was a genuinely good time.
I haven't been posting much because, frankly, we haven't been doing much worth writing about. Kandie and I are both on diets, so we haven't been going out to try restaurants, and work and kids' activities have kept us grounded from going and doing much of anything.
But I wanted to throw out an endorsement for Sonrise Sprinklers (no, that's not a typo).
I first called Terry Ragan, the owner of Sonrise Sprinklers, at about 7:30 PM one night shortly after moving in to our new house because I had stepped on what I thought was a part of the sprinkler system in our yard, and something had broken and water was gushing out into a hole under ground.
Terry came out without hesitation, evaluated the situation and informed me that what I had stepped on was not in fact a sprinkler head, but the main water line to my neighbor's house. A neighbor I had not even met yet. So after, "Hi, I'm Mark, your new neighbor, and I just wanted to let you know I broke your water main", Terry set to work for the next four hours working on a fix for my neighbor. Needless to say, there was a lot wrong if I could break it by stepping on the box over it. His rates were remarkably reasonable and you could just tell he was such an honest guy that I've had him out to work on my sprinkler system twice (my sprinkler system was thoroughly trashed by the prior owners).
It's rare that I feel like I completely trust a repair person - since there's usually such an asymmetry of knowledge - but I really can't say enough about Terry. I'd recommend him to anyone looking for sprinkler service or installation.
Terry's contact info is:
Terry Ragan
Sonrise Sprinklers
5806 Sun Farm
San Antonio, TX 78244
(210) 661-2622
More soccer down at San Antonio's STAR complex - really such a nice facility. Just a few more Saturdays left in the season - then I think we might be able to get out and see a bit more of the area.
S & N love playing soccer, and we've got them involved in the local youth league here. They play at the South Texas Area Regional (a.k.a., "STAR") Soccer Complex. It's a very nice facility with more than 20 fields. I've never seen anything quite like it. It's in an old quarry, I think - you can see some of the raw hillsides in some of the pictures.
The teams are co-ed, which is interesting because the girls haven't played on co-ed teams since about 2nd grade.
The play is fun to watch, and it's nice to see the girls not back down from boys on the field.
Just a few highlights from the last two games. The girls aren't in these. Maybe another post just for them.
We went out last night to Cha Cha's for Kandie's cousin Sharon's birthday. There was mole on the menu, so you know I had to have it to test the quality of the restaurant.
I liked Cha Cha's flowery, fountained interior, even if it was a bit cheap. The standard roving mariachi band was fun, and they cornered us for a song and a tip after they performed a lovely ballad and happy birthday to Sharon.
It reminded Kandie and I both of our time in El Paso almost 20 years ago - in particular of a restaurant called "Forti's" that we used to like to go to now and then.
So the mole sauce was actually quite good. It had the right balance of sweetness, thickness, and most importantly, chocolate. But unfortunately, the chicken was done to the consistency of shoe leather in some parts. I have to say, 60% of the meat was divine with the mole sauce, but the other 40% was really just about inedible.
Everyone had a good time, but I left a bit conflicted. Good mole sauce is not a thing you take lightly. But you certainly don't pour it over badly cooked chicken. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that the fry cook was having a bad night.
I sub'ed for a friend tonight at University of the Incarnate Word - taught a class in Managerial Economics. I think it went pretty well - no one threw anything at me, so that's a good sign.
I've only taken one class at a private college, so I haven't spent a lot of time on private university campuses. But I'd have to admit - you get what you pay for. It's a very pretty campus right on Broadway, which is the coolest area of San Antonio outside of the River Walk (which is very cool, but very much a tourist destination).
Kandie and I started a diet yesterday, so I didn't get a chance to indulge myself at one of the cornucopia of restaurants down there.
