Fun – Page 46 – Sheila365

Multi-tasking.

My Sunday wannado list was longer than the day would allow. I made it to the gym early, then caught up on laundry and paperwork. Then the dilemma: park in front of the tv for 4 hours to watch my Seahawks in action? Or go to the Pecan Street Festival and run a few other errands?

So, I decided, BOTH!

I streamed the game on my iPhone via the NFL mobile app as I walked around the festival with an earbud in my ear. The rain held up and it was a nice afternoon. And, oh my, what a game! The Hawks came back from being down 20-3 to Houston at halftime, winning in overtime. I was the most animated festival attendee on the scene. I got a few dark looks from folks wearing Texans jerseys, as I walked around in my Seahawks shirt. 🙂

The festival was lively, as usual. Music, food and a couple hundred vendors selling art, jewelry, candles, tye-dye, and such. It’s held twice a year — once in the spring and once in the fall. If you missed it this time around, mark your calendar for May 4 & 5 next year.

This is a shot of one of the 3 music stages. Son de Rey was playing.

In the midst of the mist.

We went to the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival today. And we had a really fantastic day. I took a ton of photos but am wiped out so I will only quickly post one before I succumb to sleep. I’ll post more tomorrow.

This was from this morning before the fog lifted. Soon after this we were treated to a beautiful day. Sunny, clear and light breezes. This was the rowing regatta, with a ghostly schooner looking on from the fog.

Blue-hair special.

As 5:30 rolled around tonight I got this text from Monte on my phone: “Blue hair special?” That’s what we call the hurry-up-to-beat-the-happy-hour-rush dinner run to our nearby Chuy’s. If we time it right we can be in and out of there in no time flat.

Yes, sir! I logged off and got semi-presentable in a jif. And we were off. Ah, yes, dinner and a marg, and home by 6:30. Yum!
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Sunday sunrise.

Hello September, and… good morning! One of the nice things about anchoring in Arky cove is that you are treated to beautiful sunset and sunrise views – this was the view off the port-side of Nirvana, as I was drinking my morning coffee.
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Back at the marina, we popped into Shades for lunch for the last time this season, after this weekend they close up shop until next spring. This is the sobering view of the marina from the restaurant. The lake is at 620′ and some change. Just 6 feet from the all-time low for Lake Travis of 614.18′ in August of 1951. Less than 3 years ago, the lake was brimming at 680+ with the lakewater lapping the parking lot. With the LCRA’s mismanagement of this incredible natural resource, and with no rain in the future, we’re sure to go much lower than that this year. All docks are now moved out, off-shore, accessible via shuttles that leave from the courtesy dock. No electricity or water on the docks for the forseeable future. This is sad, not only because we love playing on the lake, but scary because this is Austin’s drinking water supply, quickly disappearing downstream.

Pray for rain.

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Saturday sunset.

A three day weekend! Yep, you guessed it, we headed to the lake. Lori and Dave anchored out with us. Here’s our favorite spot at sunset, the view off the starboard side of Nirvana.
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We layed on the deck and played ipod wars ’til we couldn’t keep our eyes open. The breezes were light all night, so we rigged the windscoop for the first time, and it worked great. We were very comfortable in the v-berth up front.
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Goodbye, August!

Tapas, wine and catching up.

I know this is supposed to be a photoblog, but I didn’t get a photo tonight (gasp!). Forgive me. 🙂

I met some girlfriends downtown tonight at Malaga, a tapas and wine bar. I have gone several times when they used to be on 4th street. But never in their new location on 2nd street. Ok, maybe it’s not so new, i guess they moved a few years ago…. it’s been a while for me.

The tapas were delightful. The wine was good — a Tempranillo. And the company was great: Ann, Ireni, Laura & Lori. We should do this more often.

Since I didn’t snap a photo tonight, I’ll leave you with an audio tidbit instead. The speech about “sunscreen” came up in our discussion tonight. Variously attributed to Kurt Vonnegut, but really written by Chicago tribune newspaper columnist Mary Schmich. What sticks in my mind is this version set to music that hit the top 40 in 2000 or so, produced by Baz Luhrmann. Lots of wisdom therein – check it out.

Celebrating a milestone.

This evening the UT Nursing School held the official pinning ceremony for the students that have passed the RN exam and are now nurses. We were honored to be Julie’s guests, to celebrate with her.

Afterwards, we grabbed dinner downtown at Easy Tiger. They serve bratwurst and other sausages made in-house, and breads, pretzels, sauerkraut and cheeses that they also make themselves. It was our first time, and we really enjoyed it. I don’t remember seeing Waller Creek in this good condition. A nice place. You should check it out next time you’re near 6th Street.

Fair breezes.

We enjoyed a fun raft-up last night. It’s been a long time since we’ve had 5 boats rafted up overnight. Last night it was Monte and I on Nirvana. Nick, Isabel, Lorene and Dimitri on Kalliopi. Wally, Kurt and Kevin on Zen. Kirk and Lilly on La Cima del Cielo. And Brent and Lawrence on a Catalina 27 that came in under the veil of darkness before the near-full moon rose, so I didn’t catch their boat’s name. We played ipod wars into the wee hours. This morning we lounged around on deck and floated behind the boats till after noon. Then Nirvana and Kalliopi sailed down to Carlos & Charlie’s, and then turned around to make way back up to our slips. Isabel sent us this shot that they took on our way back to the marina.

Back at the marina we checked out the boat to make sure everything was ship-shape, since our docks are now offshore by nearly a mile. We will allegedly have power hooked up in a few weeks. We shall see. The lake is at about 621′. Terribly low. It’s no longer a lake. It’s just a windy river with lots of new hazards around every corner. I’m starting to think it will never rise again.

Joe came out visit with us on Nirvana for the afternoon. It was really nice to get a visit in with him.

My team.

Tonight is game 3 of preseason football, and the Seahawks have a rare nationally televised game. So I get a chance to watch them! We’re rooting them on from Austin.

A boatload of kids. Seriously.

Julie joined us on Nirvana for a raftup last night in Arky South with Rory & Greg on Sapphire. Kurt, Barbara and some of their friends came out on Dancer and tied up to us until after sunset. Nick & Isabel came motoring into the cove on Kalliopi right before sunset to join us. Even from a distance, we could see many people on the deck of their boat. As they came closer, we counted 14 teenagers + Isabel, Nick and Dmitri. Whoooa nelly, that’s a lot of people. And they were staying the night! It was a going away party for Morgan who is heading to college next week. Everyone had lots of fun. And we didn’t lose anyone! Never a dull moment. 🙂
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A fun but not-on-the-lake Sunday.

As much as we love spending our weekends on the lake, it’s nice to have a change of scenery every once in a while. I mean, we live in an awesome place; we have to get out and about. On the first Sunday of every month, the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum offers free admission to all their exhibits. So, we made plans to go today to see their current special exhibit on Texas Furniture. Here are a few scenes from our day…

The iconic, iron lonestar out in front of the museum…it was a beautiful day…

I snuck a pic from inside… shhh… a tad blurry, but a grand 4 poster bed…

Lunch at Freddie’s…

And, I finally got a picture of the Austin mural on South 1st street… it’s probably about time for some TLC – it’s showing a little wear and tear…

And we wrapped up the day at the Zilker Hillside Theater. Their 55th annual summer musical this year is Little Shop of Horrors. It was a great show…

G’nite all!

Do you know what day it is?

Happy Champagne Day!!!!! Cheers! Well, National champagne day, that is. If you happen to miss this one you can catch international champagne day or global champagne day later this year. Heck, any day will do! Get out there and celebrate!

Lovely day.

We headed to the lake today. Julie joined us. We saw Joe on the docks. And we floated with Rory and Greg for a bit in arky south. Tonight is a Texas Sailing raftup but have plans for tomorrow, so headed home tonight. I wish every day was a weekend. Cheers to my peeps. To those if you I haven’t seen in a while – I miss ya’ll !

We made it home in time to grill up some yummy grub,too.

Wheee!

We went toobing today on the San Marcos. It’s always a great time – we try to make it out there at least once every summer. It’s funny, all the toobing photos from every year look like exactly the same trip. 🙂

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