On Saturday we flew in at 3. When we left the house early in the morning, the first frost was still on the ground. We picked the last of the tomato crop and brought them inside, hoping that the greener ones will be ripe when we get back.
While Colin was working on his presentations, Ashley and Philip took me to the Light the Night event along with a couple of their Austin friends. The walk (more like a shuffle it was so slow) around the small lake with everyone holding blinking lights was pretty neat. There were tons of dogs there. Then we went to eat at a Tex-Mex place where we had margaritas and then good if slightly pricey food. It was very dark and loud.
Sunday morning I scoped out the book festival. I had plotted out an itinerary based on Saturday's events by mistake; I got there and realized that there was no presentations going on yet since the day started later on Sunday. I also found out that the author I'd hoped to see wasn't able to make it. Despite it all, I had a good time.
I first went to “The Kitchen Counter Cooking School: How a Few Simple Lessons Transformed Nine Culinary Novices into Fearless Home Cooks” about a book with the same title by Kathleen Flinn. Not surprisingly, 95% of those in attendance were women. Flinn is humorous and made me think about a new angle on the concept of food that I hadn't noticed much before.
On the way back to the hotel for (free) lunch with Colin, I noticed some people milling around outside a theatre. It looked like there might be someone famous out front, with the mobs of cameras and the blocked-off area. Well, what do you know – I turned out to be 20 feet from James Franco. So of course I tried taking a few pictures myself, a couple which actually have his whole face in them instead of just an ear or forehead. I didn't push my way in or anything but I wanted to get proof of my first random celebrity spotting.
After lunch I went back for a few more events, two focusing on history. It was very hot out so I took the opportunity to step into a cafe and get an Italian soda to sip while I ran through the list of authors whose books were on sale at the festival. I also tried to listen to the author of “Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain” but it was in the House Chamber where it was very echo-ey. I could tell he (David Eagleman) was very entertaining but had no clue what he was talking about, so I left early on.
I didn't end up getting any books by any of the speakers I heard, but I did get a 2009 Festival shirt (it's prettier and only $10 instead of $25) and a couple other books - “Cleopatra” by Stacy Schiff and a signed copy of “How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe” by Charles Wu. It's been quite some time since I've bought books full price (okay, so they're paperback, but I'm traveling) but an undisclosed percentage of the sales is going toward the Festival which is free and open to the public. And I really needed a book to replace the one, “Liar's Club,” I started on the flights that I don't want to finish. It's supposed to be funny but it's downright depressing and a weird memoir based on events in which the writer relies on other people's memories and her own vague ones of her childhood. Yeah, I'm gonna go read “Cleopatra” instead.
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