Kicking off the New Year

Well, back into the swing of things. I had a good visit with the family and friends in the Indiana-Ohio-Kentucky region, despite the winter storm that brought between one and two feet of snow to the entire area the second day I was there. At least I didn’t have to fly into that stuff, since it was beautiful the day I got there. There was no going anywhere for two days leading up to Christmas Eve, with a layer of ice on top of the snow so thick you could walk on it without breaking through the crust in most parts. In Columbus, everything plant-like was covered in a centimeter or more of solid ice, as if it was encased in glass, and the trees continuously crackled as they swayed in the breeze. Of course, when I flew back to Texas, we were getting 60 degrees and all was good.

My brother came to see me for New Year’s and we had a good time seeing the sites and trying the local cuisine, including Stubb’s, Hyde Park Bar & Grill, and Kerbey Lane. We saw Scott H. Biram play a scorching set at Trophy’s, and someone building a house on Mt. Bonnell that blocks part of the view (reminds me of the unsightly apartment complexes built on the quay leading to the Sydney Opera House that now obscure the view from the city-I signed the petition to stop them when I was there in 1997, but they were already mostly done, so I’m sure they completed them).

We took my camera out to 6^th Street on New Year’s Eve to film the festivities as well as participate in them, and got a few revelers’ resolutions, as well as a do-over of the countdown when something went wrong the first time. Oh well.