The weekend - Day 971 (Year 3, Day 239)

Austin, TX

Sorry that it's been 12 days since I've written.  Unfortunately, not a whole lot to report on until today, which after you read this, you'll agree, it really isn't very exciting.

Saturday was the 2nd week we went to the synagogue in Austin.  It's ok, although I admit I've been setting the bar pretty high.  On a scale of 1-5, where 5 is the best, there have been 3 places I'd rate a 5: Fanwood NJ, Oklahoma City, OK, and Sugar Land, TX.  To me, what constitutes a 5 is what I could call "ruach" (pron. roo-ak), which roughly translates to "spirit".  Think of the Southern black Baptist churches with loads of singing and ecstacy.  That I would rate a 10!  Not only joyful singing, but some prayers in English, explanations and learning sessions (with Q&A), and a friendly, welcoming congregation.  So this place I would probably give a 3.5.  It's a very friendly congregation, but it could use improvement on the singing, and although the rabbi does give a very interesting interactive talk, his voice is very soft-spoken and monotonous.  Still, I'm grateful to have a place to spend the Sabbath so not really complaining.

Today (Sunday), we found a local farmers market that was actually opened on a day other than Saturday.  I have no idea how the GPS decided to take us, but it brought us to the absolutely wrong place.  Whereas it should have taken us about 10 minutes and 6 miles, we were driving around about 45 to finally reach it.  Thankfully, it was well worth it.  It was almost like a street fair, with rows and rows of vendors; mostly with locally produced organic fare.  Sadly, there wasn't a whole lot in the way of veggies as it's not really the season for much more than root vegetables such as beets, turnips, radishes and carrots (which I can't eat) or bitter greens such as arugula and the tops of the root veggies.  There was a place that had about 1/2 lb of cilantro left and gave it to us for $1.00.  There were quite a few vendors with fresh baked breads (another no-no for me), food vendors, meat and freshly made cheeses.  We bought some duck eggs and free-roaming chicken eggs, as well as some garlic infused oil and a chocolate bar with no sugar and 84% dark chocolate (which I can use in baking recipes containing almond and/or coconut flour).

The market is located along a park with a lake and we brought our urb-es to ride around there.  Unfortunately, most of the path looked like dirt/gravel (can't ride on that).  Plus the weather was not that great and we still had shopping to do, as well as my getting a haircut.

Real exciting day, huh?

Actually, next weekend should be interesting.  There's a Facebook group I belong to for RV Entrepreneurs and they're having a conference (about 80 people) in Fredericksburg, TX, about 80 miles from here.  We decided to take the rig and go.  It will be a great opportunity to network, as well as enjoy the Texas wine country (there are 6 vineyards within a mile of the campground!  And yes, wine has no carbs so I can drink all I want.  But alas, it does have calories, so no, I can't really drink all I want).  We'll leave on Friday and return on Monday so we'll have a full weekend.