SXSW

So March was really taken up with South By South West - a quite spectacular music/interactive/film festival held for 10 days in Austin, and one of the biggest music festivals in the US.  I volunteered, a whopping 47 hours over a 5 day period (more work than I have done in a year!), which gave me a free music wristband (yay!) The first weekend and beginning of the week was interactive/film, and even at that point the city was pretty busy. 
One of my favourite experiences of the festival was manning an info desk in Austin Convention Center, where all tickets were collected, and lots of showcase lectures and talks were held (and free drinks sometimes handed out) on the changeover day between the 2 parts of the festival.   Watching the interactive/film-goers leave the building bedraggled and tired and searching for taxis to the airport, as the music-goers arrived, fresh and styled to the hilt, ready for the free booze, and looking for where best to be seen.  The number of hats rose exponentially on that day, and the number of Star Wars T-shirts decreased by about the same number. 

The whole city was soaking up the festival spirit, free reggae buses to who-knows-where, (and do you really care? You just want to get on, right?) and music and events from 9am in the morning.  Texas obliged with the best Spring weather it could offer, making millions of visitors think they would love to relocate here (without imagining, if it is summer in March, what does that mean for JULY?)

And in the middle of it all, it was St. Patrick's Day!  This is a pretty big deal all across America, and I reckon it didn't do any harm that the whole city was in holiday mode anyway (the university actually does coincide spring break with SXSW).  Anyone with remotely Celtic roots was required to wear green, and as you can see Captain Birdseye popped in after an official SXSW gig, to play some old sea songs for us.

I had made sure I had taken the Friday/Saturday/Sunday off volunteering, to make the most of the music.  On the Friday, Rich took the day off work, and we attended various British/Scottish gigs.  This one is Colin McIntyre from Mull Historical Society, playing at one of the clubs which had been taken over by the British Music Embassy for the week.  Unfortunately, this was at noon, and there were very few people watching the gig, but we still really enjoyed it.

In the afternoon we headed to another club, with various outdoor areas, to watch We Were Promised Jetpacks, and Frightened Rabbit.  Boyd and Lorraine were with us.  As you can see it was a belter of a day, and the four of us had to rotate under a tiny sun umbrella to protect our reddening Scottish skin!  Most of the Austinites seemed oblivious though.

Mid afternoon we went in search of something to soak up some of the alcohol consumed - the boys were particularly chuffed with the choice   -  Dr. Hoeck's Death Metal Pizza Takeout.

Boyd and Lorraine headed home after dinner (more alcohol-sopping food, burgers I think) and Rich and I went in search of some more, em, culture.  We watched this man.  I have no idea who he is, but we loved his outfit.  The queue for the venue was enormous, but upon Rich strolling to the front and enquiring about the chances of getting in (which were zero, as they had reached capacity) the bouncers seemed very concerned that we had travelled all the way from Scotland to hear whoever he was.  Next thing we knew, we had VIP access, including to the free bar!  Unfortunately (or possibly it was a good thing for our heads the next day) it was after 10pm and the free bar had been fully consumed.  Whovever you were, we loved your music!
And it appeared he must have been pretty popular, because we were next to these people, wearing T-shirts that said "I came here to get down".  And they sure were!

What a great event!  Really loved volunteering, meant that through the week I had a great sense of being right in the meat of everything, and got lots of hints from other volunteers of good places to go, and gigs worth seeing.  Can't say that I know the names of more than about half the bands/musicians I saw, but amn't too bothered, just happy to enjoy the vibe.  Can't wait for next year!

Biking at Pace Bend - March

I know, I know it blatantly isn't March anymore.  Or April.  And if I don't hurry up, it won't be May anymore either.  So I am going back in time a bit to show you some photos of our biking trip to Pace Bend.  This is a county park out to the north of Austin, in the lakes region.  As you can see it hadn't rained much when we went, the car park seemed just like a dustfield.  But as far as biking goes, that is the kind of weather we need!  You can imagine what happens to this when it rains, and that means no  more biking (boo).  The number of times it has rained on a Friday recently, means we haven't had as much biking this Spring as we would have liked.  This was a pretty good trip, though.

  Our biking expeditions in Texas have been pretty different to what we are used to in Scotland - sometimes it can be quite technical, like this, but it is rarely mountainous.    Below is one of the few photos of Rich getting any air - usually there isn't enough gradient for that to happen!

We were impressed to find some berms at this one, though, the first we have experienced in Texas.

And finally, one of my favourite sights, a dog in a truck!!  Don't know where they put the bikes!

Rodeo Night out

This weekend we visited Sara and Jason and their boys in San Antonio. We went to the Stock Show and Rodeo on Saturday night - and Ingliston Highland Show it is not!
It is held in the stadium for the San Antonio Spurs, which are the local basketball team. The stadium can seat about 18,000, and while it wasn't full, probably about 2/3 of the seats were taken and there was a great atmosphere.
Before the main events, there was a lot of flag flying, and horses riding around at top speed. A good spectacle.

And of course, there had to be a prayer, and the singing of the national anthem. Everyone stood at that point, and all the cowboys took off their stetsons (or baseball caps) and held them to their hearts.

Then the rodeo started in earnest. There were lots of events, including bronc riding. The riders only had to stay on for 8 seconds - easier said than done! The horses were so fast, I couldn't take decent photos of this event - but here is a video if you want to see what it was like. The buzzer that sounds near the end indicates the 8 seconds are over - not everyone made it that long! It was rather scary watching most of the riders limp off after their rides - I dread to think what they do to their backs in the process, especially as the rodeo travels round the country and they are doing this every week!


And then there was the mutton bustin'. No, this is not a classic Aberdonian pastime lost in translation, but is all about indoctrinating the young into this sport before they are old enough to feel the injuries. Basically they 'ride' (ie hang on for dear life to) a sheep for as long as they can. I think the youngest competitor was 4. Yes, as in 4 years old, barely old enough to walk.
The are very safety conscious, as you will see, they give all competitors a full-face helmet, and when they are trampled to the ground, a rodeo volunteer quickly picks them up and laughs in their face to show them that they are not really injured, so they shouldn't think about crying.


The rodeo part of the event finished with bull riding - a much more extreme version of the bronc riding, as you can imagine. There was a rather dubious 'clown', the only black man in the whole stadium, that I could see, and during the bull riding he chose to stay 'safe' in the middle of the ring in this - plastic barrel

The event finished with a performance by some famous country and western star - but unfortunately I hadn't heard of him and can't remember his name. He was good, though!

Burns' Supper

So, Boyd and Lorraine came over for Burns' Night - it was just the four of us, but we insisted the boys wear their kilts!
Boyd also brought his chanter, so far he has only learnt scales, but we forced him to play them for us anyway!
We are struggling a bit with some of the food over here - for example, their double cream just wouldn't stiffen up - possibly I should have started whipping it much earlier in the day, and definitely before Boyd and Lorraine turned up - it became a joint effort by everyone!


We finished the night with some Pictionary - boys v girls. I don't think we need to discuss which team won :-(

Lorraine's 30th

Last weekend we went out for Lorraine's birthday - and had a great night out in town.
This was an amazing sunset we saw the other day while shopping at Westgate. I love the donkey too - no idea what that is about!

Biking in the cold

So the first weekend back to Austin, we were keen to get some exercise in after large quantities of food and drink while back in Scotland. Suprisingly to us, it was below freezing for the first week or so, but nice, sunny skies, so we headed out to Nails Creek State Park, which is about an hour and a half east of Austin, for some gentle bike riding to get back into the swing of things. It was flat though!

On the way, we drove through Gidding - a classic small-town in Texas, with one of the best water towers we have seen!

Back in the Saddle!

So, as you can see, I sucked at keeping the blog updated past August - oops ! But, new year, new resolve, so let's see how many months I can last this year!
The most exciting thing that happened last year was our Thanksgiving trip to Big Bend - which was awesome. Cold, but great fun. There are too many pics to put up - the best are on facebook if you want to see them.

I was back in Scotland for all of December, and had the small matter of a hen night to organise for Lindsey. It went . . . well! I can't show you all the pics, but here are a couple of the earlier parts of the day:



It was cold and snowy at home - just what I was looking for after the heat of Texas.
I was getting a bit bored of it by the end of the month, though, as I guess were most Scots!

I met the beautiful Georgia:
And unfortunately missed Benjamin by just a week! Hopefully we will get home soon to see him, though.

And then there was Lindsey and Mark's wedding - a fab couple of days, and a great ceremony.
It was just as well we were staying at the castle - it was a late night, as is evidenced by the 'gangsta' moves in the library!
And as usual, Lindsey's leg was being used as an air guitar. My camera tells me this was taken at 9,10pm, but I reckon it must have been on Texas time!