I love weekends. This was the sunrise outside my front door this Saturday morning.
Category: Nature
New dawn.
I woke up this morning extra early – given the time change yesterday. This was the glorious sunrise sky that lay right out side the front door. I was prompted to go out and take a look when i noticed that the light coming in through the windows was making the entire inside of the house glow pink.
And, what is that sparkle on the horizon? Could it be something new coming my way….?
Workday – part II.
On the road ahead of sunset. A long evening work session awaits. Ni ni.
Lake bound.
Hit the lake after work with Colleen and Julie. We’re anchoring out tonight.
Saw two of these flying contraptions. One of them flew right by us as we were sailing and circled the mast.
Later, yet another stunning Lake Travis sunset.
Late bloomers.
These 2 guys showed up as part of a late set in the zinnie patch. They missed the memo about summer being over.
Red foliage.
Westchester county in the fall is pretty. This tree is in the courtyard outside my room. Gorgeous.
A (more specific) prayer for rain.
I’m very happy to see all the rain that has been sent our way. It’s an answer to countless prayers over the last few years of severe drought in Central Texas. I’m sure the Austin City Limits music festival-goers are bummed about yesterday’s cancellation, but they did have an extra weekend of music to enjoy this year.
My trees and lawn are drinking in this much needed water. It’s truly a gift.
However, the rain this week and in the year past seems to fall where it flows into the creeks and river below the lakes. Onion Creek is raging right now, having received 6-10 inches in the last few days. Barton Creek and Williamson Creek were flooding for the same reason, but all of them dump into the Lower Colorado river below the Highland Lakes. E.g,:
I see that there is more rain in the forecast for this week. So, more thanks in advance for that. But I’m sending a humble prayer for that rain to drop in the Lake Travis watershed. Right over Marble Falls and Burnet would be simply awesome. Or even a bit southwest of that, in Fredericksburg, Johnson City or thereabouts would be fantastic, as all that rain would end up in the Pedernales River, which feeds into Lake Travis.
After all the rain in the past week, Lake Travis is up only 2′. And I do sincerely appreciate every drop that ends up in the lake. But we need to come up more like 50-60′. So, I’m praying for it to dump buckets of rain in the shaded are below. That would be divine. Seriously divine.
I have another prayer for better management of our lakes and water reserves than what the LCRA has provided over the last decade or so, but I’ll leave that for another day. Just please keep the rain coming.
Amen,
Sheila
Red sky at night.
We tried a new restaurant tonight. After arriving back at the house, the sky was lovely and pink. Good omen?
A little later the crescent moon popped into view. 
And my fortune tonight:
We shall see…
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.
Olympic sunset.
So pretty. The sun setting behind the Olympic mountains.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Goodbye, August!
Going batty.
Wow, this week has been crazy. Today I’ve been on back to back calls since 6AM without a break until 2:30 PM. And I have a couple more hours of meetings to go before the day is over — certainly lots more work to do after the calls. But after my call ended at 2:30 I just had to get up and walk around.
I started to walk down the hall to the kitchen when a blob on the window by the front door caught my eye. What the heck is that?
I better take a closer look…
OMG that is a bat! In case you were not aware, Austin is home to the largest urban bat colony in the US… about 1.5 million mexican free-tailed bats make the underside of the Congress Bridge downtown their home from about March to October. Being nocturnal, they come out from under the bridge in droves after sunset everynight to forage for insects. I’ve seen the exodus many times and consider them friend not foe. This little guy didn’t make it back to the bridge, apparently. I was perfectly fine to let him hang out on the window until nightfall, but I couldn’t resist the urge to go outside and get a better picture. For you guys, of course.
So, i went outside and approached slowly…
Then I had to lean in a little closer to get a better shot… this one is kind of blurry…his head is pointing down, and he’s hanging on to the leaded window piece with his little feet…
and just then, he woke up and flew right past me. He scared the begeesus out of me and I was as startled as he was. I wish I had been able to get a shot of him in flight. Oh well. I hope he makes it back to the bridge tonight. Sorry I woke him up, but I didn’t get a good night’s sleep either.
I think that, eventually, my heart rate will return to normal. 🙂 For now, it’s back to work for me!
Fence me in.
Monte started a new project last week – replacing the fence on one side of our property. The original was probably 20+ years old and falling down in spots. Temps have been in the 100s so it’s not a task for the faint of heart. I’ve gone out after work to help a few days this week, and it’s almost done. A huge improvement. Lets hear it for cheap (but very high quality) retired craftsman labor!
After packing up the tools, and getting all cleaned up, I whipped up some roasted red peppers to eat while watching the Louis Vuitton cup. The winner challenges the USA in this year’s Americas Cup. Oh and they were DELICIOUS.
Sheila365 