we're all searching for a heart of gold

One of the things in the supermarket that I've never heard of. You can see that this spiky green object is neither white, nor tuna, but quite a steal at 5 white tunas for only one dollar. I tried to use context clues to help me figure out what it was. It was near the nopales and the coconuts, so I'm not sure what to make of that. Hey, for 20 cents, I'll pick one up next time.

Dia de los dinos

Today we went to Zilker Botanical Garden's "Dino Land". Thirty life-size dinosaurs. We saw this guy:and these baby dinosaurs in a nest in a tree:
We tried to take some "Help! I'm being eaten by a T-Rex!" pictures, but I think I look decidedly less afraid than I would if a T-Rex were actually about to sink his claws into my soft flesh, and I think that James looks like he's starring in Godspell. He's got the jazz hands down.


Of course, who knows what you would actually do if you were at the mercy of a dinosaur. Maybe you would start singing Broadway tunes (who is the land for, the sun and the sand for, oh yes, it's all for the best!)
Thus:
There's a really pretty Oriental garden there, too. We both want to go back on not a Saturday afternoon and find a quiet spot for reading and writing. (I'm currently, yes STILL, reading GWTW. I'd give it up, but you don't get 570 pages into a 735 page book just to STOP reading it. It's good, and I will be glad to have read it, but I wish it would BE OVER ALREADY. I've been living in that world for 3 months now and if it doesn't end soon, I'll be working the land in a hoop skirt). The garden:
Just as soon as I said, "This place needs a koi pond," lo and behold:


James said he wants to construct such a place in our backyard. By the time we get a backyard and have our very own zen garden, I'll be back from driving my carriage back and forth to my mills in Atlanta and will be able to enjoy it. (See GWTW above).

We don't have fall colors, sadly, but we do have pumpkins:
and while I miss the fall colors, we've both decided that the fact that James hasn't pulled out his hoodie yet and I'm still in short sleeves might be a fair trade.

I like this picture of James. He's a cute boy.
And just when you thought I had ceased to exist, here's proof that you're wrong:
I'm off to drink some acai berry tea. My accupuncturist in Asheville told me that it's good for my kidney pulse. What's good for my kidney pulse is good for me. Happy trails.

The Aforementioned Brief Photo Essay

James already posted pictures of The Grackles, so I'll spare you those, though certainly the pictures we were able to capture really don't give you any perspective on the volume of birds that fill the sky and cover the telephone wires, rooftops, trees, etc., but whatever. Come see them. On to one of my other Austin loves, Topo Chico.
My co-teacher introduced me to this delicious sparkling Mexican mineral water, so I gave him a Topo Chico birthday. I asked everyone I could think of to bring him one bottle of Topo Chico ("each one, teach one", "for the cost of a cup of coffee, you could bring birthday joy to a poor, unassuming teacher," etc., etc.,). He ended up with about 40 bottles. Some people decorated theirs, thus, the mask. There is a depiction of a mysterious figure on the Topo Chico bottles. This princess/squaw/warrior of ambiguous nationality is kneeling by a flowing stream, sipping the sweet, sweet elixir of Topo Chico from a cool mountain stream. Now I hear that this person is the daughter/bride/son (this varies, depending on who is telling the story) of Montezuma and that he/she was afflicted with dysentery/typhoid/old age. Until he/she stumbled upon this naturally carbonated stream, sipped from it, and well, you know how the rest of the story goes. The deal is, that this stream is rumored to exist, and that it is naturally carbonated. How does this happen? I don't know, but I need to investigate.

Now, here's a question for you. I pass this every day on my way to work. A building, with a car sticking out of it, metal peeled back around the car as though it were a flower. How does this happen? Did a car actually fly off the road and crash into the house, becoming lodged there? At this point, did the owner of the house say, "Well, it's already here, might as well incorporate it into the overall theme of our property," or is it some sort of art installation? I don't know, but I intend to investigate.

Last weekend, to celebrate my co-teacher's birthday (we'll call him "Jason"), we went out to this place:

Afterwards, we went to watch his band The Lennings at The Troubador. We had plans the next night to go see another one of my co-worker's three bands play, but we didn't. (Everyone is a musician in Austin; I think I'd better pick up a guitar). At any rate, the set at The Troubador was great.

They played my favorite song. Well, my favorite Lennings song.

A Tale of Two Plagues

Earlier this year, when we were both still in Asheville, we had a plague of Cicadas. These things were everywhere, and noisy. Their discarded exoskeletons covered two outer walls of our house. The droning noise of their mating calls filled the air and crept into your psyche. You couldn't walk outside without crushing them underfoot. It was kind of amazing, these little insects that came out enmasse every seven years to eat, mate and die.

And now, in Austin, we are experiencing a plague of Grackles. The common Grackle is a smallish black bird with reddish accents. They look somewhat similar to crows or ravens, but smaller than either. It seems that they winter here every year, flying in from all over the country. They are quite unintimidated by humans. One was standing on my car this morning, and didn't fly away until i was backing out of the parking space. They roost together at night in a stand of trees that Amity passes on her way to work in the morning, and then disperse in the morning to do whatever it is they do through the day, like stand on people's cars. Amity is often driving past while they are in the act of waking and dispersing. She got me up at six am to go see these birds. To those of you who know me well, it should be a testament of my love for her that i got up at six am to do anything.

There are thousands of these birds roosting in these trees. They are squawking at each other as the hop from tree to power line. Then they fly off in groups of hundreds, circling the trees and flying off in different directions, in search of worms to eat and cars to stand on. The number of these birds throughout the city is positively Hitchcockian. If i had children, i would fear for them to be eaten.

My turn, I guess.

Jumping right in...
Austin:
+ I haven't been cold ONCE since I got here.
+ Sunrises and sunsets (not that they don't have them in other places, it's just that I've never lived somewhere where I've seen them like this).
+ In LA and NY, everyone is an actor. Here? Everyone is a musician.
+ The most courteous drivers EVER.
+ If you're bored in Austin, it's your own fault.
+ More Asheville than Asheville.
+ Grackles (the Common Grackle, you can google it, for some reason is one of the most fascinating things to me about Austin. James, whom I dragged out of bed one morning at 6:45 to come watch them with me, is slightly less impressed, and apparently, they are considered pests, but I LOVE them).
+ Produce is cheap.
+ There are things in the supermarket that I didn't know existed.
+ My school is, well, a story for another day. I put it in the plus category, just because it's interesting. Not because it's not creepy. And by "it", I mean the compound, the buildings, the view of the prison, the cemeteries. I'll post pictures of it at some point.
+ Topo Chico. You think you've had seltzer? Not even close. It's like happiness elixir, in a bottle.

- I haven't found a veggie burger I like. Not that I haven't found them, and not that they aren't good, it's just that they aren't GREAT.
- Lack of changing fall colors.
- No favorite witch doctors yet. I found one woman who does accupuncture, massage, and chiropractics, and I've been to her twice, but I don't know. I miss the Asheville doctor who cured me of so many ailments using such questionable and unlikely methods. Yeah, I'm talking to you, Dr. Brian.
- We miss people. You all, specifically.

(It's raining here at the moment. It's only rained two other times since I got here. And it's raining HARD. When it started raining today, my class erupted into applause).

I was going to add a brief photo essay, but I can't figure out how to do it. James?

So here we are. Two natives of the southeast, Georgia and Carolina (the good Carolina, the one on top), transplanted across the Mississippi River and a lot of flat ground to the beginning of the Texas Hill Country, to the fun and exciting city of Austin. Having settled in, found jobs and (mostly) unpacked, we thought we would put together this little blog to document our lives in our new home. We miss all of our friends and family, and with these Dispatches we intend to make the distance separating us from all of you feel a little smaller. The best way to make the distance seem smaller is to come visit us, though! We love you all.