Found today on a walk through the woods.
“May you always have walls for the winds, a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, laughter to cheer you, those you love near you, and all your heart might desire.” — Irish blessing
Category: Funky
Land lubbin’.
This weekend has been a glorious January one for the books. Yesterday we kind of got rat-holed by what should have been a 30 minute project at the house, but it ended up consuming the day.
Today, however, i was determined to get outside. The level of Lake Travis continues to remain woefully low at 624′ above mean sea level. Happily, though, the rain from last week raised the level about 9 inches. We just have another 684 inches to go before the lake is full!
One of the features of the land that surrounded the original river that the drought has uncovered is the piece of land referred to by locals as “Sometimes Islands.” When the lake basin is flooded, the peaks of this piece of land sometimes stick up; sometimes they are covered by water. Well, for the last 3 or 4 years, Sometimes Islands has become For-the-Foreseeable-Future Peninsula.
We set out today to walk the length of the peninsula. So we packed a few snacks for lunch, brought our GPSes, and tossed my Christmas present from Monte – a metal detector – in the trunk for its maiden voyage.
We stopped briefly at the historic site for the original Anderson Mill – the mill that operated near Cypress Creek in the 1800s – a NW Austin neighborhood and road still bear its name. They have a museum here as well, but it is only open for a few hours on the 4th Sunday of every month between March and October. We’ll have to come back for the tour.
Then we headed for Mansfield Dam Park and started our trek.
This is the old highway that used to cross over the top of the dam. It is closed to ordinary folks these days, and Highway 620 is the throroughfare now. I’d love to get a chance to stroll across the old road now, though.
I walked the length of the peninsula – about 2.5 miles out from the park – and found all the geocaches that didn’t require scuba gear. Monte marked a couple of points on his GPS that will hopefully be boating hazards and/or navigable cuts once again at some time in the future. This was the view from the park looking out over Sometimes Islands…the structure on the top of the hill in the center of the picture is the Oasis.
We also tried out the metal detector for the first time. And I have to say: “Pretty nice!” We were able to detect and reliably find nearly every piece of metal (aluminum, lead, iron, steel, …) that it sounded on, even if we had to dig 6″ or more to get to it. I’m looking forward to bringing it along on some of our cove-explorations when the weather gets warmer. No treasure this time. But it was fun.
I go back to work a week from tomorrow. This weekend was a nice adventure. I’m hoping to squeeze in few more next week.
Simply. Amazing. (you’re welcome)
Football fans are superstitious. Especially this Seahawks fan, who has experienced heartwrenching, emotional ups and downs over a lifetime of football seasons: the emptiness of too many vacuous losing seasons, then the joy of making and winning playoff games, then the devastation of playoff games lost in the final seconds, then a Superbowl disappointment that strikes at the very heart, then FINALLY an intoxicating Superbowl victory.
So it is that over all these years, I have come to believe that something as simple as my decision to either watch or not watch a game can, and has, affected the outcome. It’s just a superstition that I must live with. It’s a burden.
I have a friend who sits in the same blue recliner to watch every game, and if he’s not able to do that, he carries a picture of the blue recliner with him… all because once when he didn’t the Seahawks lost.
So, this morning when I found that my mylar Seahawks balloon, which I bought for Superbowl XL and have reinflated since then, had lost its helium and was dragging on the ground, I felt the first twinge of superstition: if i don’t refill it and we lose, it could be my fault. Sooo, we refilled it before the game.
Then, after experiencing those 55 tortuous minutes of highs and lows during the NFC championship game and the Hawks down 19-7, my emotions took me back to that helpless, superstitious place…. I couldn’t take it anymore. They could lose, and it would be my fault!
So with a little over 3 minutes left in the game, I left. I went for a walk. I took my iphone/earbuds and listened to the NFL.com audiocast of the game instead. And then magic happened. I was less than a football field’s length away from the house when we scored. And i kept walking. Then the beautiful onside kick happened. And i kept walking. Then we scored again to take the lead! ohmigod. I started running. Then we made the 2 point conversion to force a tie if we could hold Greenbay to only a fieldgoal – and we did. I kept running. Then we won the coin toss in overtime. Then the TOUCHDOWN for the win! OHMIGOD! I ran all the way back to the house and celebrated with Monte.
I’m so happy for my team. And I can’t help thinking, just a little, that this 12th man in Austin made it all happen 🙂
GO HAWKS!
Ohmigosh, 2015 already!?!
I want to wish you a most happy New Year and all the best to you and yours in 2015! I have been away a while. Partly due to distractions. But also partly due to the fact that I had run out of online storage space for my blog @ wordpress, and I wanted time to think about how and or whether to upgrade the options for my blog.
In the end I decided to simply buy a storage upgrade (to add an additional 10G to the default 3G limit). When my domain options are up for renewal next year, I might consider upgrading to Premium on wordpress, which includes the increased storage, but I bought myself some time.
I think last we crossed paths out here in the blogosphere I was headed home from a long visit in Seattle, back to Austin. Suffice to say I have not been idle.
The day after coming home, we left for a fantastic week in Paris – a trip we took with little pre-planning; celebrating a birthday in a place we both love. And since then: Thanksgiving, family visiting, Julie graduated and left Austin to take the next step in her life’s path (sniffle), Christmas & New Year’s, and we have spent some fun times with friends.
Somewhere in there 2014 slipped away. Today I find myself on the second day of a new year — a few weeks delinquent in blog posts but looking forward instead of behind.
Here are just a few picks to fill in since last I posted:
Bon Anniversaire!
Post-Thanksgiving Day sail:
A day trip through the Hill Country and a hike to the top of Enchanted Rock on a clear December day with my sister & brother-in-law:
Christmas Eve:
And New Year’s Eve:
I can’t wait to see how 2015 unfolds….
Factoid of the day.
Because I’m wont to do such things when bored, I googled some mushroom terminology on the web. You know…inquiring minds, and all….
And so now I know that this is a troop of mushroom clusters. 🙂
Bonus factoid: After writing the text above, I wondered if the correct term was “inquiring minds” or “enquiring minds.” So, I googled that too. Apparently, there may be a difference in some British texts; but I think I’m ok. You get the idea. 🙂 🙂
A fungus among us.
Wow, they grow them big up here in the Northwest! These toadstools are 6-8″ across. Google sez they are amanita muscaria and the not-for-eating-variety. Very colorful, though.
Rebirth.
On a walk through the woods I saw this new tree growing from the stump remains of a long ago fallen tall tree.
Almost.
I met Fran and Art and kids this morning at a boat ramp to do some crabbing in the Sound. We meant to beat the low tide.
But. Didn’t. Quite. Make it.
🙂
Sometimes you get the crab. Sometimes the crab gets you.
Simply the best.
Monte and I have just returned from Panama City Beach – a week-long celebration of Gene & Jo’s 50th wedding anniversary with their entire family. I am grateful to have been included in the celebration. It was simply awesome. The location. The beach. The silliness. The catching up. The family. The celebrating. Thank you Gene & Jo!
I’ll share just a few pictures of the beautiful setting:
We arrived in Panama City Beach at sunset last Saturday, after an extra long drive, due to I-10 shutdowns.
One morning we were treated to a view from our back deck of an amazing double rainbow.
The sea was different every day. This was from one morning after overnight rainshowers.
A week of amazing sunsets.
Surf-side fireworks one night.
One of the few pelican shots I captured.
Now, that’s weird.
A week or so ago I was driving through a parking lot at a nearby store and saw this:
I couldn’t help but wonder where the person that needed the walker went … without the walker. Ok, so i just chalked that up to a chance encounter with an abandoned walking aid. But then about a week later, I was in a different parking lot, and saw this:
Now I think someone is trying to tell me something. I just don’t know what it is.
🙂
What is it?
The ladies will know what these are.
(Hint: this morning I made my annual visit to mammogramland)
A pair of old boys.
Drove by a house today that has a pair of majestic century plants going into bloom, one on either side of their driveway.
They say these agaves bloom, and then die, after 100 years. Google sez it takes more like 20-40 years. Either way, it’s a sight to see.
Both of these must have been planted when the home was first built about 35 years ago.
Nice windmill, but……
I wasn’t born in Texas, but I’ve lived here a while. Long enough, apparently, to notice when the state flag is not quite right….
Should I leave a note ? 🙂
Tacoma.
On the way back from taking Monte to the airport today, i stopped in Tacoma to go to the Museum of Glass.
I enjoyed this interactive exhibit with dozens of lighted letters, just waiting to spell something.
On the way home I checked out a few different vantage points. This is a shot of the old (left) and new (right) Tacoma Narrows bridges. Mt Rainier is lurking behind the old bridge.
Sheila365 