shot Feb 13, 2005, 2:59 mins, 10.4 MB
compressed with Sorenson Squeeze at 360 kbps video, 96 kbps audio
music by Crosby, Stills & Nash
I’m just back from my third trans-Atlantic trip in six weeks, this one an emergency visit to Austin, Texas, where various of my relatives seemed to be dying. My aunt Rosie did indeed look like death when we arrived, but improved over the week; it now seems that she will survive this latest crisis. (Rosie’s health problems were originally caused by botched surgery, a long, painful story that I will go into some other time.)
Rossella volunteered to accompany me and shore me up emotionally, which she did very effectively. We stayed in hotels near the hospital and of course spent a lot of time at the hospital, but also saw a number of friends and relatives, and a good bit of Austin. I didn’t bother to rent a car; we got rides a lot of the time, and taxis are cheap. We also did an unTexan amount of walking, one day making a circuit from St. David’s hospital on 32nd street, through the University of Texas campus, down to 12th and West Lynn for lunch with a friend, and back again to 21st where we finally called a cab back to the hospital. Warm spring weather was an inducement to be outdoors – the Texas air smelled wonderful after three weeks of rain, and we knew we’d be coming back to more winter in Lecco (where it’s snowing today).
Aside from the circumstances, it was nice to be back in Austin, where I had passed some of my college years. The city has grown a lot, vertically downtown and horizontally towards the edges, but most of the areas familiar to me looked much the same, with funky houses and lots of trees. Sadly, many of the beautiful, twisty Texas live oaks are dying of oak wilt, leaving brown swathes among the green.
more Spankyville here!
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Julia and Dani for over 20 years. They are always the consummate hosts. In Texas we talk about “good people” meaning someone who you revel in their company. I’m pretty sure there are pictures of Julia and Dani under that phrase in the dictionary.