Austin in June

Three of us from ACU library went down to Austin Tuesday to visit a donor. You could tell we have had a rainy spring -- the flowers were lush along the roadside: meadow swaths of little yellow daisies, or white ones, standing cypress rockets of red, horsemint with its knee-high purple pagodas, banks of Indian Blanket (firewheel, gaillardia). Another indicator of how moist it has been in Central Texas: creeks and springs and glades full of water, my, my.

We came into the south end of Austin from the west, so I saw residential areas I had never seen. The limestone rocks remind me of Nashville, just with smaller trees, but lots of them. There are so many luxury homes in that area, where there are magnificent views. Some of the most spectacular are on the bluffs above the Pedernales River (pronounced LBJ-style as PERD-uh-nallis).

Tuesday evening we met Don Davis at Ironworks, a former wrought iron forge turned bbq restaurant. It sits right over a creek. http://www.ironworksbbq.com/about-us.asp We had great bbq and I think the mosquitoes also enjoyed our open-air dining. At lunch Wednesday, our host treated us to lunch at Green Pastures, a late 19th century mansion turned fine restaurant. http://greenpastures.citysearch.com/ We ate in the Music Room, with an immense antique piano at one side. Both meals were the finest of their kind, but at completely different ends of the spectrum.

On the way back Wednesday we ate supper at Hard Eight Pit BBQ in Brady, Texas. The pitmaster greets you outside the entrance, opens the immense smoker, and cuts the meat you point out. I had chicken, but they also serve quail, goat, and of course turkey, ham, beef, and sausage. After getting your cut of meat on a paper lined tray you proceed to the inside, choose your side dishes (beans and bread are free) and drinks, pay, and then proceed to wooden seats mounted on posts in the floor. The trestle style tables have spindles of paper towels, condiments, whole loaves of Mrs. Baird's bread, and huge jars of jalapenos. Eating with fingers is required, but you can get implements for the beans, potato salad, cornbread salad, and pie. Or you could probably just grab one of the many sets of antlers adorning the room and stab at your food.

As we left the restaurant Beth and I met a young man with a bandana head rag and a jawline beard smoking at one of the outside tables, accompanied by an immense and friendly black and tan long haired dog. He said she rides in his pickup inside on the seat with a seatbelt. I could believe it. She might even drive, she looked so intelligent. She wasn't smoking, but I think she had been eating barbeque.

We returned with a dozen boxes of books and memorabilia. Mark estimates that's ten percent of what we will eventually receive for preservation.

All the way down and back we talked library shoptalk, of course, but just for fun I got Mark started on auto racing. He's a very knowledgeable fan. I always learn something. In fact, we had to stop at Gordon Motors in Brady so Mark could peer in the display window at the restored vintage automobiles on display. When he and Barbara lived in Indiana, they knew driver Tony Stewart's family.