Scoot

Now that the heart of winter has settled upon us here in Austin, I have found it is the perfect time to dodge about town on my scooter. The weather has been shorts and tee-shirt perfect, so I’ve grabbed the camera, filled my backpack with a pad and pens, a bottle of water, hopped on my scooter and have started making my way to parks in Austin I never would have explored had I been driving my truck. In fact, I have driven by many of them and never noticed them as I passed.

So many (semi)quiet retreats are just around the corner. Just today I discovered a side trail to the Lady Bird (Town) Lake running trail with benches and tables and what appears to be ample shade when the trees are fully leaved in the summer. The little park offers view of Longhorn Dam and the decommissioned power plant that I never imagined. With the benches and tables I have room to work, write, and just sit as others pass by.

These are the first pictures I have kept of the old power plant that will soon be demolished.

Longhorn Dam at the end of Lady Bird Lake. This is the first time I have ever seen it from the lake side. For three years, I drove across it almost daily on my way to work.

As we move into spring and Austin comes alive, I am looking forward to enjoying this new passion as I explore more parts of a city I have loved for ten years.

Winter Water in the Greenbelt

At most points of the year, the bulk of the Barton Creek Greenbelt it dry with only patches of water. In my hike this past Sunday, I reached a point where I could hear water running, but I could not find it anywhere. Finally, I wandered over to the side of the Greenbelt and found where water was streaming down from a path  between two cliffs. Possibly the water was coming out of someone's ancient septic system or drainage from somewhere. I was glad not to be playing in it.

I absolutely loved the water flowing over the leaves. As I have posted numerous pictures of water flowing before, there is a life to the water that contrasts with the dead leaves in the bed of the otherwise dry creek bed.


Shortly after the water pooled past the area where it appeared and ran, it disappeared into the ground as a demonstration of the Edwards Aquifer Recharge zone.

Greenbelt in Winter

Sunday afternoon was such a beautiful time in Austin, that I could not stay at home no matter how much work I had to do. At one of my stops I discovered a friend had just taken a shortcut down to the Barton Creek Greenbelt, so I grabbed my camera and went down there to catch him. While the entire area contains some stunning sights, the one area with the cliffs - which can be accessed at several different levels is particularly stunning without the water flowing in the stream bed.

When the water is flowing, people jump from the cliffs into the water. At times when no water is flowing, the landscape transforms into a much more harsh and stark landscape.

Despite the differences in the landscape in winter, there are some areas of simple beauty with the contrasts in light and shadow.

I absolutely love the way the large stones in the center of the stream bed are surrounded by the more regular "river rock"

After each rain, different debris gets hung up at different points along the stream bed. My fascination with stumps is matched by such random droppings of sticks and other material along the path of the water.

Austin Scenes

Yesterday was such an amazingly beautiful day in Austin, I couldn't stay inside, so after making a quick dash home to change clothes, I hopped on my scooter and started driving around Austin. I went down to Lady Bird Lake and took some shots of the updated Austin skyline. Currently there is only one crane visible at the site of the new Federal courthouse (where the Intel building was imploded) when only a year ago the skyline was dominated by construction cranes.

I'm very excited about all the work being done around the old Seaholm Power Plant (above). It is being used for parties and events at this time, but is becoming a social hub for downtown Austin.

After scootering around S. Austin and meeting a couple friends down in the Barton Creek Greenbelt for a hike, I was riding home when I came over a hill and saw this view of downtown Austin. No, this is not Photoshop - it is one shot as the sun is setting to the west. I need to find out how to use this shot in my header.

First Thursday

One of my very favorite things about living in Austin is First Thursdays on South Congress. Though I do not go every month, when I go with friends, I always have a wonderful time meandering through the businesses that stay open late and the various vendors who set up in tents and booths in every open lot along the street. The laid-back Austin culture pervades the nature of the event as people wander along the sidewalks and cross busy Congress Avenue whenever the whim strikes - further slowing the already parade-like pace of vehicles on that one night a month.

It is one night a month when people from all parts of Austin gather without the crowed nature often found in the contained festivals that occur throughout the year around town. The number of vendors and spectators varies from month to month based on the weather. It is rarely too cold, but there have been occasions when it rained and in the summer it truly can be too hot in the evening for pleasurable walking along the sidewalks and streets.

Skyline

In the ten years since I moved to Austin, the skyline of the city has changed drastically - seemingly with a new tallest building dominating the view every few months. Despite all the change, I still prefer the first of the new tall buildings to rise along Congress Avenue and dramatically change the view of the city.

The Frost Bank building with its abstract geometrical design stands out among the attractive, but otherwise smooth buildings in landscape.


As special feature, with the Frost Bank symbol (the circular design) and the pointed peaks gives the building an owl-like appearance when viewed from certain directions.  Although many locals have derided the distinctness of the building because of the way it stands out against the Austin skyline, it is just that distinct nature that makes it so attractive to me.

Mr. Popular

My schedule worked out to my advantage today as I was in my office for an extended time when the ACL tickets went on sale and I was able to get in the “virtual line” in plenty of time to actually purchase tickets for the 2011 festival, some eleven months away. While waiting in the virtual line (because it was still a line) I had a 1-on-1 conference with one of the teachers in the program I direct, composed an email for everyone in a different program I also direct, and contacted two outside agencies regarding data another district program needed for part of its annual report.

Yet in the middle of all that, I managed to notice when the screen changed and I pounced on my opportunity for “discounted” tickets.

I had no idea how popular that would make me.

Within the hour of tweeting (aka sideways Facebook posting) my purchase, I had received a call with an offer to buy some of my tickets and other Facebook notifications with offers.

If I had known purchasing tickets would make me Mr. Popular, I would buy tickets much more often!

For the time being, I’m hanging on to the tickets. Heck, they are just electronic imaginings with dollar signs attached to my American Express card until I claim them next September.

That’s when the competition really begins to see who is(are) my best friend(s)!

More Greenbelt Spring

The Barton Creek Greenbelt in Austin does provide one of the greatest sanctuaries of any inner city hiking trail I know. The lush vegetation and depth of the valley quickly blot out any sounds of the surrounding metropolitan area and criss-crossing highways. Within minutes you can be lost from the hustle of the busy world and immersed in the outdoors.

Look closely and you can see the bird in the photo above. It took five minutes of listening closely and watching through the camera lens to finally catch the bird on a hop, but sure enough, there was the tiny wren, searching for bugs on the ground.


The well-worn trails make the hike easy, but the overhanging trees and bushes keep the intense sun from being too unbearable on hot and humid days. In a sort of labyrinthian way, the bends in the trail and the thick foliage create an adventure as one never knows what is around that turn or behind those bushes until one is upon them.


This shot down a smoothed granite gully to the creek has an almost rain forest or swampy feel to it - without the stifling humidity of either of those locations.

Flip-Flop Burn

OUCH!

Yes, I really have been doing yard work - in flip-flops.

I wore flip-flops to church today.

I'm attending a fashion event tonight.

At a shoe store.

Yes, I'm wearing flip-flops again.

I'm giving myself a pedicure first.

Thank goodness this is Austin and I can get away with it.

Fallelujah - briefly.

The weathermen got it completely wrong today. In fact, this may even be a record for the annals of meteorology, but I’m really not complaining.

The forecast for today was partly cloudy in the morning with sunshine and a high of eighty-eight in the afternoon. We stayed cloudy with a misty haze and a high of seventy-three degrees.

It’s FALL!

Well, for a day. The forecast is for temperatures back into the nineties in the coming days.

Fall around here is that brief period in which the leaves and grass are still green but the afternoon high temperature stays below the mid-eighties. It is perfect for being outside so you can breathe in all the allergen laden air.

Yes. Good times indeed. And I’m going to enjoy the few hours of it I have left.

Streets and the People who Live on Them

This week we have been puttting together a bulk mailing and I have been watching the information as it came through me. The number one observation I've had is that we have some creative street namers around here.

We have our fair share of numbers, plants, and people names, but even some of those are pushing the limits for names. I wonder what kind of person would swallow their pride and take up residence on a street with a really odd name.

One of the streets that stood out for me was Curved Wood Place. I guess that because it was a "Place" Crooked Stick didn't work. For "street," "lane," or "road" Crooked Stick would have been the only way to go, but for a "place" curved wood almost has to be the option.

All the streets in my neighborhood are named for spices which is good for Anise, Cayene, Coriander, and Poppy Seed.

It does not work so well for Dill Weed.

Fortunately Dill Weed does not have any homes facing onto it; it is just a cross street. Still, I can think of a few people I would nominate to live there.

It is incredibly juvenile, but I want to be able to point at them and with a Nelson-like "Ha Ha!" go "Dill Weed!" as I ride my bike past them.

And don't judge me too fast. I know you have nominated some people to live on Dill Weed, too!

Chip Boy

As I have mentioned before, La Feria is a favorite Friday night destination for some friends and me. The food is certainly not the best, but it has just the right mix of convenience, price, atmosphere, and quality to make it the right place to choose on a Friday night after a full work week.

Another thing it has is cute waiters.

Unlike many places where the service staff all has nametags, the staff at La Feria is adorned only in black pants and white shirts.

Because of this relative anonymity of the staff, we have come up with names for them. Our regular waitress is slowpoke – a name she has not overcome since her first days at the restaurant. She’s our regular waitress because she regularly forgets to charge us for chips and salsa and to upgrade my queso order. There is also leather-daddy because we all know what he has on underneath and what we would be in for if we ever were invited to his apartment (he’s not really attractive, but deep down we all want to be invited to his place).

My favorite, though, is Chip Boy.

Chip Boy knows the flirtatious glance and smile, but he has mastered the perfect swish with his hips to verify his sexuality, to invite the extra glance, and to dismiss himself as unattainable in that one perfected move.

I’ve seen him at the bars: I know his sexuality.

I don’t hide my flirtatious stare.

I’m vain enough to fantasize beyond the attainable.

I would certainly go to La Feria on Friday nights if he was no longer working there, but the flirtatious dance adds to the cheap pleasures that a Friday night happy hour affords. Fantasy adds to the joys in life that we may never achieve and keeps us striving for more.

I like my fantasy life.

Guitar Town #2

This guitar is one of my favorites so far. It is posted outside the Austin's Children's Museum (one of the best features in all of Austin and something that greatly contributes to the quality of life in the city).


The blue skies on this guitar were almost as bright at the blue skies outside the day I walked around taking the pictures. Musician and mother, Kelly Willis and her husband, musician, Bruce Robison, autographed this one.

Guitar Town #1

Recently the city of Austin began a street art festival honoring the live music for which the city is so well known. The Guitar Town project produced 33 guitars which have been mounted around town. All are outdoors and accessible to the public at large.

Many of the guitars have sponsors but all were created by local artists. All the guitars are to be auctioned for charity at the end of their public display.

When the weather is cooperative on the weekends and other occasions, I plan to go around town to photograph each of the 33 exhibits and will post them from time to time - well 33 times if I post each one.

























Today's guitar is the one posted in front of the Austin City Hall building. I don't know if the artist knew where the guitar would be placed, but the colors and incorporation of Texas symbols (the Capitol and the longhorn) make it a perfect match for the native stone and copperwork around much of the building.

The "new" Austin City Hall is in itself a building worthy of it's own post.

For more information about the Austin Guitartown project check out the website.

Bird Brain?

Photo credit: Brian K. Diggs
American-Statesman

Someone else hates the grackles as much as I do!

For over half the day today, much of downtown Austin was closed due to some five dozen dead birds which appeared overnight. No reason for the mass die-off has yet been given but the dead birds included pigeons, sparrows, but mostly grackles.

There was not anything in the air by the time the tests were run and it will take a few days before the medical tests from A&M come back, but I'd be willing to wager that someone got tired of the grackles keeping him awake at night.

Or maybe they just pooped on God's car!

Reason # 2 W hy I Love Austin...

God loves live music!

He really must. Tonight on day three of the Austin City Limits Music Festival, thunderstorms were building to the west as a hurricane which hit the west coast of Mexcio and a cold front were merging and stirring up all kinds of fun.

As we watched the clouds approach it started to lightning to the east of us. Then it started to lightning to the west of us. But it never started to lightning over us and with only one pause for a downpour, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers showed why they were the headliners and closing act for ACL Fest. #5.

Why I Love Austin - #1

The weather!

Today, the temperature once again surged beyond that impressive one hundred degree mark.

Today, there was a summer musical perfomed in the park as schedule.

Today there was an outdoor wedding at 7:00 p.m.

I love the weather in Austin. Even when the temperatures soar, we have outdoor events. The same holds true when the temperatures plunge into the frigid forties at the height of winter. We like to be outside and are willing to bear what many consider uncomfortable conditions.

"It's a dry heat."
Despite the complaints of some Austinites, the humidity is not bad in Austin. We sometimes reach 50% humidity. After growing up near the coast where we lived with 70+% humidity, I still have to use skin moisturizer at 50% humidity. The low relative humidity, coupled with a fairly steady breeze, makes for a comfortable evening when the sun is no longer beating down directly on you.

AC is optional much of the year.
It all depends on how much sweat you can stand or how many layers you are comfortable wearing, but one can get by with minimal air conditioning for probably six months out of the typical year. I enjoy having my home open with air flowing through. Because the temperature is so moderate and there is so often a nice breeze, one can really function without the AC cranked to any high or low. My goal annually is to make it from March to at least mid-May without turning the air conditioning on. It does not always happen, but for the majority of the time, the air conditioning can be turned on just long enough to cool down the house in the late afternoon.

Ice Stops the World.
On the rare occasion that winter actually comes to central Texas, we don't get snow or anything fun, we get ice. Fortunately, the city essentially stops when the lightest coating of ice falls. Certainly, it does not stop the adventurous (read foolish) people from getting out and attempting to navigate the hills. Ice comes about every three years, so we don't have it too often. It makes for a nice, unexpected day off.

The nice weather, makes possible several of my other favorite things to do in Austin.