AUSTIN, Texas, May 22, 2005 — We seem to have vowed to take it easy today. To not feel rushed or compelled. To celebrate old times.

The dog wakes me up a little after seven. I let her out and go back to bed. FFP is up, maybe upstairs looking at e-mail. He comes back to bed and the dog jumps in bed and everyone naps a bit more. Still it's only eight or so and we are up making the bed. FFP suggests migas. Earlier he suggested going to Cisco's on the east side. A bit of nostalgia that would be. But, instead, we cook up our own migas, sharing the chopping of tomato and onions. I have a small portion instead of

the big plate I would have had at Cisco's with the refried beans and all. We discuss the newspaper and magazine articles in the magazines that came in the last couple of days. FFP decides to go outside and read and enjoy the cleaned up lawn furniture. I go check my e-mail and publish yesterday's journal.

By the time I go outside, FFP is inside. I go up to his office and he says the mosquitoes were biting. They haven't been bad until now. Perhaps the heat has brought them out in their usual force.

I sit in his office, surfing the WEB for a while. Not doing much, just checking links on one of my links pages. I also read a few journals and some of the comments.

I ask FFP if we are going to work out, but he says we will get enough exercise walking around downtown. We are going to the Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association home tour later. I say we should go early, eat something for lunch, go to the tour and then go to our early evening meal.

We head downtown, armed with a little money and some magazines. First we drive around SoCo and South First and South Lamar. (The scores, well tens at least, of Mexican restaurants are all full to the brim.) We look at houses, businesses, what's changed since we last noticed. We park on South Congress for me to milk a few more shop window pictures. We consider eating at South Congress Cafe but it's got a twenty-five minute wait. I tell FFP we should just go to the Hilton. No one will be pulling up to the corporate trough. Sure, it will be a few dollars more and not funky Austin, but we can have a snack before the tour starts. We park downtown and walk over to the Hilton.

There is a multi-generational family group eating and no one else in the large Liberty Grill or whatever they call the casual dining. They leave and while we are there an older couple, dressed up in suit and dress and a woman alone, also dressed well, dine. A composed salad of Brie and lettuce and vegies and fruit and a glass of white wine is fine if not inspired and Austin-weird. Amazing how many people were crowding into the hip South Congress Cafe and every little Mexican joint on the south side. You'd think places like this would get some overflow.

We finish up and go to the 5 Fifty-Five (the condos in the Hilton). They have some large and small, finished and unfinished ones for viewing. One is astounding, huge with a big patio and kitchen with Wolf stove and all. It is sold. I'm always amazed at how many really rich people there are in the world. The taxes on the place are probably $35,000 a year. Even the tiny ones are quite out of our price range and have troubling views of IH35.

We go next to Avenue Lofts. A low-slung 1920's building renovated and added to it seems like a nice community. They have one available to rent for a little under $2000 a month. It has an interesting curved glass wall.

We go to the Brazos Lofts and see some great places in what is truly a renovated warehouse. One is an artist's studio. She has us look at one large abstract painting that looks like photo realism of nothing from a certain spot. Standing there it looks like Barbie dolls in a funhouse window.

We decide to go to the Congress Avenue residence on the tour next, slipping through the Driskill for a bathroom break on the way. We have been to two of the residences on Congress, but not this one, 811. It is astounding. Four levels (including the rooftop pool and yard, yes with grass). There are skylights in the bottom of the pool. Looking up from the stairs the light glistens through the pool. Incredible. More space than our house, on Congress Avenue. Modern Interiors fitted into the old brick work of the building.

We walk down to the AMLI apartments near the new city hall next. The apartments seem nice and, while expensive, they seem to have some reasonable amenities. There are lots of people out around the courtyard pool on this day which is warming up to set records. FFP said we'd get some exercise walking around and we have gotten a few stairs and blocks under our belts but we've managed to stay cool, slipping into the air-conditioned residences, the shady side of the street, drinking the free water they are passing out.

When we walk out of AMLI, though, we see a pedicab and we think, 'why not?' We get a ride back to the Railyard where we get a tour of the '80s apartments turned into condos. One of the remodels is amazing but the whole place still seems kind of '80's.

Having completed the living spaces on the tour we go to the Hilton. We think maybe we will have a drink and then go to the reception. On the way over, I listen to messages and find out that our dinner reservation is no good. The place (Pecan Street Cafe) was chosen because we used to go there when we first met. They took the reservation and told FFP that they were open Sundays. But the guy is calling to say that they close at three on Sunday. Hm, OK. We settle in and have a drink in the cool bar, watch a little basketball on TV. We head up to the reception at five but there is a crowd to get into the condo where it is to be held. We bail out.

We decide that we should go home, let the dog out, freshen up and go have fried things and beer at Billie's on Burnet. It's a relatively new place but it has a nice level of nostalgic funk anyway.

Billie's doesn't disappoint with some great gardenburgers, fries, ORs and Harp (for he) and Guinness (for me).

At home we get into reading and TV. FFP is serious about Desperate Housewives and I pay attention, pretty much, to Grey's Anatomy although I don't care much about it. Mostly I read papers.

It's been quite a nice day. The only useful thing we did was a couple of loads of laundry, getting our workout and tennis clothes ready for the week ahead. And soon we are in bed.