Dr.P does Texas

[This post was written by the inimitable Dr.P.]

After a journey of 1400 miles, driven by moi-meme toute seule over three days and two nights, je suis arrive'e a' Fort Worth at about 1500 on Friday afternoon. I was surprised by the green-ness of West Texas and then the Permian Basin. It's much greener than Southern California, and there is a lot of empty space out there. There seems to be water from several rivers, some of which are underground. I came through Midland on the last day but gained no insight into the formation--or lack thereof--of our "dear leader."

I arrived in FW and alighted from my air-conditioned car; my first impression=HOT! Michael's directions led me easily to TCU--a lot more directly than Mapquest was sending me to their apartment. I met Michael in the visitors' parking lot, saw his spacious office complete with sofa and many books, and even met one of his distinguished and very pleasant colleagues. Then Mike and I proceeded to the now traditional first night in FW Mexican restaurant (Uncle Julio's) where we were soon joined by Kate, who had come from her work in Arlington.

Mike seems quite comfortable now and has become a master at doing all sorts of things with one arm--even cooking delicious waffles and pasta with homemade fresh tomato sauce!--although sometimes Kate provides the other arm.

On Saturday, we went to the Farmers' and then the Central Market, where we found white and graffiti eggplants. I was very impressed by a whole wing of the produce department at Central Market devoted to "Fruits from California." We came home to swim; Mike even worked out on the stationary bicycle in their exercise room--such spirit! The exercise room is air conditioned, but I felt warm while swimming my laps in the outdoor pool that was at an ambient temperature of close to 100 degrees. Then we had a yummy dinner of fresh trout, asparagus, and couscous topped off with fresh peach cobbler made by the team.

This AM, Mike made the perfect waffles, and then Kate and I went to a fabulous exhibit of Impressionist Art on loan from the Chicago Museum of Art. I just loved it, and so did a lot of other Fort Worthians; there were a lot of people there. On the way home I sampled some of the famous Texas barbecue recommended by my friend from Texas, Harriet.

So you can see that we did a lot of things in a two-day weekend. I'm happy to report for the benefit of future guests that their aprtment is light, spacious, and modern and that the Aero-Bed is most comfortable.