Getting out of town...

The Lone Star Pen Club (of which I am the officer in charge of social media) meets six times a year, on the second Wednesday of odd-numbered months. Aside from affording an opportunity to eat out and swap tall stories about pens, the meetings typically involve someone giving a talk on some fountain-pen related subject.

How are all these presentations coordinated? The officers get together and brainstorm. And last night was The Night.

Based on past such meetings, they take place during the week at a restaurant somewhere north of I-10. I happened to note that I'd prefer something a little more "southerly" (as I would be traveling from halfway between Houston and Galveston, which has kept me from attending previous such meetints) and on a weekend.

Lo! The meeting was scheduled for Saturday, at Rice Village, in effect granting my two wishes, and thus, I would have been an ungrateful sod, indeed, if I were not to attend.

I planned to get there a little early, to give me an opportunity to walk around a bit, but TPTB had blanketed the area with credit-card operated parking meters that gave no hint as to what the rules of the game were. So, I parked on the street (2-hour limit) and walked around, intending to move to another 2-hour spot just as the meeting was to get under way.

I ended up walking past a Thai restaurant, and the menu in the window was so tempting, I stepped inside and had a bowl of tom yum goong (sweet and sour soup), which I rationalized as a snack designed to kill my ravenous appetite.



The soup was quite good.

The meeting took place at a joint called the Black Walnut (which sounds to me suspiciously like the name of a rock band). I had the Chicken Parmesan, and it was quite good. The brainstorming went well.

A good time was had by all.

Cheers...