Austin in June

I was in hot Austin last week and I returned sick: I don't recommend Austin in the summer unless you have a car. I thought we could bike around town. What was I thinking?! It's no wonder it was so easy to find bikes to borrow. Everyone was in a car or in a house, AC turned up full blast, which is okay when you're dry, but after a short or even longer jaunt, the wet clothes and freezing cold indoor temperatures are bad for one's health. I was already batting over excursion, and wet clothes to the mix and you're looking at pneumonia.

An extended stay on the airplane was too much for my system to handle.... A bird got stuck in the engine which delayed the plane connecting with mine in Denver. We sat in the hanger an extra half and hour, waiting for the technicians to get the other plane in the air. It was enough time for my sitting plane to get colder while we waited and waited (I found out about the dead bird when I was joined by the late birds from Memphis.

Since the swine flu, airlines have stopped supplying pillows and blankets. Next time I'll carry a blanket with me.

I arrived in Oakland with a nasty cough which has gotten worse and worse since Sunday. I didn't slow my roll, but I couldn't see myself going to the club tonight, after not sleeping at all yesterday.

I was stuck in the house today, sleepless in Oakland, and speechless--froggy voice during the day. I have drugs now, the 1000s mgs. of vitamin C hasn't worked. I made chicken soup and have been drinking lots of tea and hopefully I will sound human this Friday when I am back on the air.

I'd like get out and cut my grass before it's too scary to go out there. I'd also like to get to Delores Park this weekend and maybe to one of the many fairs. I want to ride my bike to Richmond this weekend or put it on the back of my car drive up to the new extension to the Bay Trail. There is a new restaurant there as well, and they will be serving breakfast at 8 a.m. Sunday.

I did post my Picks for July. Already I see events I missed. I'll have to add a few more to the list.

The photos are of me and Robert King biking, descendants of the Hemings (as in Sally Hemings) at the Carver Museum at a reception for Annette Gorden-Reed, author of The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family. She was one of four women authors featured at the annual African American Book Festival: Dreams in Me--Narratives of Black Women Writers, the following day. I have a photo with her also. In the photo is Stuart Hines King, a descent, his friend, Annette's cousin and one of the book festival organizers, Mrs. Evelyn Martin Anderson. I saw Brother Eddie Abrams and his lovely wife, Rose, the next day at the Book Festival. East Austin a historic black site, so when I saw the former boyhood home of James Farmer, founder of the Congress of Racial Equality, of course I wanted a photo. Oh and the green lighted installation is from the Austin Museum of Art. The exhibit is on Memory.