Category: Nature

Gulf or bust.

I’m taking a vacation day today so that we can make a long weekend of it and take a road trip.   We headed south to the coast.

We stopped in Lockhart for lunch, skipping the amazing barbeque on this trip and ate at a lovely cafe on the town square called T&C Cafe – delicious sandwiches – right across the street from the Caldwell County courthouse:

IMG_9268Down past Refugio we spied miles and miles of windmills.IMG_9275

We took the ferry from Aransas Pass to Port A and have been enjoying the waterfront ever since.IMG_9283

It’s kind of rare to find a place to watch the sun set over the water … in Texas.  But our vantage spot from Port A looking west over the ship canal towards Corpus Christi afforded that kind of view.

IMG_4935

The zinnies just keep on coming.

This is one of the latest zinnias from the garden.  A vibrant, pink-salmon-fuschia color – this shot has not been retouched aside from cropping it.    The color is just amazing.IMG_9244

A new week dawns.  

Bring it on.    

A fun, full, first weekend of Fall!

We’ve been busy!  This past weekend, we made a roadtrip out to west, stopping first at William Chris Winery, where we caught up with a friend of ours that we ran into, by chance;  then we hopped over to Wildseed Farms to pickup a bunch of seed; then made it over to one of our faves, Becker Vineyards, where we had a tasting, a picnic, and checked out their new field of zinnias.  Just beautiful.

IMG_9140 IMG_9142

On the way home we headed over to the Real Ale Brewery in Blanco.  We took the river road south/southeast from Hwy 290 to Blanco, and stopped along the way several times to check out the now lazy river that was uncontrollably raging just 4 months ago, tragically sweeping away homes and families over Memorial Day weekend.IMG_9158

At Real Ale, Monte sampled a flight, and I sipped my favorite – Hans Pils.

IMG_9170 IMG_9179

Then Sunday rolled around, and we headed out to see the Anderson Mill historical site, near its original location at Cypress Creek on Lake Travis.   The Anderson Mill Gardeners do a wonderful job of preserving the site and its history.IMG_9183We made it to the boat in time to cheer the Seahawks on to their first win of the season, enjoying the recently repaired air conditioning on Nirvana (yay!).

About an hour before sunset, Kurt, Barbara, Dakota and little Leila joined us on the boat, and we motored out to the body of the lake to drift and watch the supermoon lunar eclipse.

Have I mentioned taking photos of the moon and stars on a moving boat is hard?  I didn’t get any good shots.  But I thought this one was kinda cool… you get the idea.

IMG_4856

It was a great weekend, indeed.

Red glads.

I picked up a bunch of gladiolas this weekend.  They are blooming and look stunning – vibrant red.

IMG_9019

iPod wars. 

When rafting up with friends on Lake Travis, we invented this game to amuse ourselves – everyone takes turns playing a song from their iPod that they think is awesome.  We pass the plug from one person to the next.  You strive for a song that others will agree is awesome.  Some songs take people down their own memory lane, some are just funny, some songs everyone sings along to, some are songs other people never heard before.  It’s a great way to pass the time, under the stars, on a boat, with friends, slightly impaired, at anchor, off the grid, into the wee hours of the morning.   Here’s the typical scene.  

 

Awesome!  🙂

A busy two weeks and a new find.

I have been challenged in posting the last two weeks.  We are in the middle of a 3 week set of back to back visits from family.  Which we absolutely love, but it means a little less time to tend to my photoblog.   The real challenge though is that the WordPress for iOS app that I use primarily for quick posts is broken and completely useless since the last 2 updates (both updates ver 5.4 and 5.4.1) of the app.  So I’m using the browser version of the app for this post.   I hope they get it together and fix the problem in the next update.

One set of guests were unaccompanied minors, so I had to get a pass to go through security and accompany them to their gate to pick them up and drop them off at the airport.   As I was strolling along the concourse on the west end of the ABIA terminal, I spotted some lovely, colorful prints on display from a Texas artist that I hadn’t seen before.  The artist is Margie Crisp, and her prints are simply beautiful.   I took a picture of one – couldn’t avoid the reflections from the lights in the airport.  This one is called In the shadow of Buchanan Dam.   Inks Lake is in the foreground, with images of all the things I love about the Central Texas Hill Country.

IMG_8986

I googled her to learn more about her and found that she has produced a book called  River of Contrasts: The Texas Colorado, which features many of her river prints.  As I’ve come to love the Colorado myself, I’m going to order one.

You might want to check her out, too.

As for me, i need to get moving… we are headed to the lake to raft-up overnight.

Perseids show. 

Pre-dawn today was to be the peak of the annual Perseids meteor shower.  So last night after work, and after the rush hour traffic had subsided, we headed to the marina.  We anchored in the cove after sunset and made comfy spots on deck to lay down and watch the stars.    

   
The best time is typically between 1AM and 4AM.  There was no moon to interfere.  We just had to wish away the partly-cloudiness that arrived with sunset.   And the clouds did clear up and we saw the first burner by about 10:30.  More clouds came.  And then the sky became crystal clear around 12:30.   We were treated to a nice show – dozens this year.   Star gazing on a boat does not lend itself to photographing meteors, so I have no awesome pics to share.  

Even if we hadn’t seen any meteors, sleeping under the stars and this morning’s sunrise would have made it all worth the trip out. 

  
Now…off to work!

Peaceful, easy feeling. 

We enjoyed a slow day at the lake.  Anchored in our spot and had the cove to ourselves by nightfall.  

  

Goodnight. 

Goodnight mountains.  

  

Goodnight moon. 

 
Goodnight Mom. 

I’m going back home in the morning.  

Nite, nite. 

Monday Monday. 

Worked from mom’s house again, and then headed out to meet Colleen and Jake for dinner.  Our table had a beautiful view overlooking Elliott Bay.  Simply gorgeous. 

 The Great Wheel after sunset:  

 And….. The golden hour:

  

Love me.  Love me not. 

We are spending the weekend at Lake Cushman, playing on the lake and tent camping. Fran and Art’s property is fringed with daisies – Mom’s favorite.  Nice.    

 

It’s Friday!

We tried a nice Indian place for dinner.    I loved it.  We took the long way home and waited a half hour watching the sun set behind the Olympics.  Simply gorgeous.  If we waited another 20 minutes it would have been even more amazing.   Stay tuned.  🙂

  

Seaside. 

We explored a bit after work.  This is a shot of the surf, at sunset, on the banks of Sinclair Inlet.