Getting together with Leigh and Pat in Austin has become a regular event that Carol and I look forward to and plan on every time we pass anywhere near that delightful city.   We really enjoy their company and they do know the neatest places to see and tour in the city they both love.  Later in this week we will get to share our love of Austin with friends from Rochester, the Poleshucks, who we will be meeting here.

Yesterday, Saturday January 8, was an example of the diversity of culture to be had in this city.  We started at Flatbed Press, which is celebrating 20 years of fine art printing.

From there we went to the Austin Museum of Art where we saw many of the finished prints we had seen at Flatbed Press on display along with other interesting work.  We did find the labeling and references to audio on phone to be out of synch with layout of the images.  This was disconcerting to say the least.  In one case the reviewer starts with the image with on the label and digresses to an image that is in a different room and much further along in the progression of show.  Next stop was Arthouse at the Jones Center which was mostly about the newly reconstructed building which is a work of art unto itself.

This view is from the loft looking down on the second  floor gallery space.  There is a wall to the left (not seen) which is in sections and is hung from the rafters so the sections can be moved to create a wide variety of gallery spaces. We moved  on to coffee and then some sales galleries and finally to an opening of work where I lost Carol.  She was very struck by the first work she saw and immediately started talking with the artist about what she was seeing.  It was some time before she got past the first room of this extensive gallery.

Dinner was high end at La Condesa, which I would highly recommend.  The Duck in Mole was grand and the reports on the Scallops and other dishes were also excellent.  Service was friendly without getting in the way and the atmosphere is a delight.  We were sated and barely able to move so we decided to partake of the Austin scene in a neighborhood bar.

 

In addition to a good group of Texas musicians; Guitar, Bass Guitar, Pedal Steel Guitar and drums playing fun country western there were a lot of people playing a game of dominos that made no sense to us.

It is called 42 and we are going to have some instruction in the rules before we leave town.  The story is at some point card gambling was banned so this game was devised to get around the prohibition.

We left early – about 11 PM – to get some sleep to prepare for another days.