January 22, 2000

barbecue and gardening labors

I'm not that big a fan of barbecue or gardening. It's hard to avoid eating a fair amount of Texas barbecue in Texas. It's considered appropriate fare for lots of business lunches. So one finds oneself a captive at the 'working lunch' loading up on brisket and chicken and sausage with a sweet tangy red sauce and onions, pickles, cole slaw and potato salad on the side. It's not bad food, it sometimes hits the spot, I guess. But I usually don't volunteer to eat it. Just go along when necessary. As we did today. Friends of ours wanted to drive to Lockhart and eat at Kreuz Market. This is surely the strangest experience in the state. Probably in all these United States. (I'm sure the world at large offers many things stranger.)

This was our first trip to Kreuz Market since they moved from their location near the town square. The spanking new building is huge. They tried to recreate the atmosphere of the old place, though, with the open fires showing and the old chained butcher knives hanging on the wall as decoration. Here you get some meat and some white bread and a plastic knife. No fork. You can buy soda, whole tomatoes and avocados, onions and pickles, chunks of cheese. No sauce. They have brisket, shoulder, sausage, pork chops. I decided on sausage and thought I'd have three as I waited in line. (I was basing this on the price, $1.50 with the white bread.) When I saw the sausage, I decided on two. I ate one and a half with bread, tomato, onion and some cheese. I was full. It's an experience. Not one I crave that often, however.

Enjoyed talking to our friends on the ride. They are looking for a new computer. He doesn't want to buy anything and then decide that they wish they'd gotten something else. "Just don't buy one, then," I advise as the wishing for something else is inevitable. He wants a WEB presence and to print price lists with color pictures but for 'pennies' not 'dollars.' But he doesn't understand the WEB, printing nor e-mail. His wife is frustrated with his Luddite talk. "It's all too much for a trombone player," he asserts. The business he wants to promote is freezing musical instruments to make them sound better. Well, it's not really freezing them, exactly. It's some kind of cyrogenic deal. He gave us some cheap razors he'd treated to the cyro vats and which he claims will last forever.

We drove by some land he bought with one of those Vet loans. It's 15 or 16 acres and he doesn't have anything on it. Across the road they were developing lots. Growth comes to rurual Lytton Springs/Dale/Lockhart.

When we got home, Forrest went to Gardens and came back with more plants! It's January, but we are having a Project Transitions benefit here on February 5 so we want it to look nice. I did grubby stuff, too, for a change. I untangled hoses and carted stuff to the compost and did a little clean up here and there. Managed to come in filthy and damp with little to show for my efforts. I did learn one thing: wearing old hiking boots in the garden is a good idea. When I splashed water on my waterproof boots, I was pleased not to feel that disconcerting seeping of water into shoes. Somehow I didn't mind the splashes on my jeans and the dirt on my shirt as much as wet feet. (I was so happy about this that I tossed an old pair of running shoes that had been sitting in the garage forever. I'm always saving old clothes and shoes 'for the garden.' Never mind that I rarely work outside and, if I did, how many grubby outfits do I need?) The yard is looking better. But it's January for Heaven's Sakes! It's going to freeze from now to March 8, right? Anyway, tomorrow we are going to clean out the garage and storage room so the caterers will have room to move about for the party. It is small, however, so they can mostly use the kitchen.

When dusk came, we knocked off, showered and watched Jim Jarmusch's 'Down by Law.' Wow, it really is good. Long time since I watched it. Didn't realize that Roberto Benigni was in it. ('Life is Beautiful'). Hey, in another trivia note: Jim Jarmusch plays a bit in 'Sling Blade' selling french fries to Karl at the Frostee Cream. That Frostee Cream looks suspiciously like Sandy's on Barton Springs, doesn't it?

"How deeply seated in the human heart is the liking for gardens and gardening. "

Alexander Smith, Books and Gardens