Brisket on Liberty Hill

At 6am it was still dark outside, but Amanda and I climbed into the car to drive out to the Cibolo nature reserve. When we pulled into the parking lot, a white pickup truck came in after us, crashing over the speed bumps. It parked a few spots down and remained idling for ten minutes. It was 6:40am.

We saw eastern bluebirds, ladder backed woodpeckers, summer tanagers, black crested titmouse, and, nashville warblers silhouetted against the overcast morning sky but no golden cheeked warblers. A few joggers came through as we stood staring out into the trees, and we heard two middle-aged women gossiping well before they came into view along the path.

We walked slow down the gravel path along the high fence that separated the public nature reserve from the private research fields. Strange birds flew in from this wilderness.

Then it was back to Jeananns at 9am where we sat down to a breakfast of eggs, bacon, and muffins with butter and jam. Jeananne couldn't remember most of what happened the night before, and was surprised we'd consumed a bottle of champagne. We chatted about literature and I mentioned I spent most of the morning while Amanda was getting ready reading her John McPhee book on oranges. A few minutes later she went into her room and returned with two collections of his writing.

"If you don't take them I'm going to donate them." She said.

"Argh." I said.

She pulled out a pair of image-stabilizing binoculars to donate to the Monterey Audubon, but we accidentally left them behind.

We drove up through Marble Falls to Liberty Hill and a strange isolated subdivision I can't find on a map where Uncle Tom and Aunt Laurie lived. The ground was flat rocky gravel, with just enough soil to support wildflowers. The community was established for horses, but we didn't see many.

Tom is large and gregarious, and he quickly got to talking about his trips to Spain to do the camino hikes. These are spiritual hikes between hostels which stretch for hundreds of miles across Spain. Taking us to a map of Spain, he pointed out all the hikes he'd finished. A little later he mentioned they were considering selling their house and moving to Spain to get away from the Texas heat.

After chatting for a while, Tom led us out to his golf cart and drove Amanda and I to the 26 acre community park. It was half mowed and boggy in the back, with two ponds filled with frogs and turtles. Amanda spotted a snake under a pile of stones, but it was already gone by the time I turned over the rock to get a better look at it.

We were on our way back when Tom met us half-way on his cart and informed us the brisket had arrived. The neighbor's son had just opened a restaurant, and the neighbor had been boasting about how good the meat was. Tom said he was calling their bluff by placing an order.

We waited for their sons, Eric and Chris to arrive before eating. Tom and Lois had chairs set up a few feet from the television and were watching the Masters golf tournament.

There was potato salad, barbecue ribs, brisket, which looked like a meteor (just as Arnie said it should be), and sausage with homemade barbecue sauce. The brisket was delicious and the ribs were so good I had seconds.

After dinner, we sat in the back chatting with Eric and Chris while we watched the miniature doves and swatted mosquitoes. Amanda brought up crazy chef, and we played a few rounds. They seemed to have fun, but they were being polite. I can't sell my game as hard as she does.

Tom and the boys spent the rest of the evening tearing the house apart to find a DVD containing a speech Tom had given to some military recruits. He was excited to show it to Joy, and he mentioned he gets paid for giving them.

Tom shared his secret to fix blisters with a needle and thread. You thread the needle and thread through the blister, cut off the ends leaving some of the string inside, so it can drain, and then every morning you wiggle the thread a bit to keep the holes from closing. This keeps the blister flat, and lets it heal faster.

Tom went to bed early and I excused myself to write while Laurie, Joy, and Amanda sat up chatting.

Only one more day in Texas and we have to get up early to catch our flight out.