Happy New Year! Yesterday was a good day to be a Lake Travis sailor and a Seahawks fan. Not so great a day if you suffer from cedar fever. But I can take the bad with the good.
We had a really nice sail on Nirvana with Kevin & Edie. Nice winds. A gorgeous sunny January day. Then we made it home in time to watch the late game. My team won and is the number 1 seed in the NFC! 💙💚
I worked two shows of the Beauty and the Beast Broadway in Austin show from the Bass Concert Hall over the weekend. The show was great. My favorite number was “Be Our Guest”; great music and great choreography, including tap.
Between shows, I went up to the balcony on the 6th floor to see the post-sunset sky over the 40 Acres.
I joined my dear girlfriends today for a delicious birthday lunch. And then spent an afternoon at Pease Park.
We headed to campus tonight to catch Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. And a few sights along the way.
The tower was nicely lit. It couldn’t have been for the game tonight.
The venue was Hogg Auditorium, which recently finished a renovation. Very nice.
Paul Simon was in attendance and got a shout out from Wynton during the show.
I just finished a cover for a smoker/grill for someone who lives out near Marble Falls. It was quite the puzzle requiring some mental gymnastics to get from taking measurements, to making a pattern, to assembly. It turned out great, I think.
I had to visit the grill several times. It’s a 45-minute drive from my house, which takes me right past Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge. So I popped in a couple of times to take in the view.
✅ That item is crossed off the list. Now, on to mending our jib (again).
It’s Fall. Austin is a still hotter than crazy. But I can feel a change in the air.
Noreen and David made a quick trip to Austin in January and stayed with us. They’ve been to Austin many times, and it’s getting harder to find new things to show them. This time we all took a day trip to Gruene. Gotta love the Hill Country’s little towns.
I enjoy visiting the Blanton Museum once or twice a year to take in their new and traveling exhibits. A new exhibit just arrived that includes some of the works of Velázquez and El Greco, and similar artists from Spain and South America who were court painters in the 1500s and 1600s. I remember learning of them and seeing some of their paintings for the first time at the Prado Museum when I was in high school. So this was an exhibit I wanted to see. The exhibit is called “Spirit and Splendor: El Greco, Velázquez, and the Hispanic Baroque” and will be at the Blanton through February 1, 2026.
Keep in mind that every Tuesday is Free Tuesday at the Blanton. But go any day that works! UT is back in session, so parking was a bit of a zoo. The Brazos Garage was full. Try the Trinity Garage; they were allowing public parking last week.
We had a houseful in the middle of December. Susanne, Laura, PJ, and Frankie found themselves in Austin for a swim meet at the University of Texas that PJ competed in. We had fun going to the meet, cooking up meals, going to the lake, and just enjoying eachother’s company. Susanne and Laura stayed through Christmas to help us ring in the season.
I had a big birthday last year, and my sweet sister Fran came down to help me celebrate. <3.
She gave me a book to plan and log travel. I’m working on it! Thanks Fran!
The flooding that hit the Hill Country this month brought terrible destruction and loss of life, especially along the Guadalupe River.
The highland lakes’ series of dams were built to contain floodwaters for the lower Colorado River. They’ve been doing exactly that and now Lake Buchanan is 100% full. Lake Travis has risen to 90% full, up 38 feet in the last two weeks, only 6 feet short of full.
As someone who has spent a good part of the last 20 years on the lake that has experienced too many droughts, this brings me joy in the midst of the sadness from all the loss.
Today we went out to the lake to take it in. And it’s a beautiful thing. The docks are close to parking lot level now, which is certainly a treat. Next week the marina will move all the individual docks back to their respective locations.
We went for a long sail on Nirvana with Kurt, Kevin, Gordon, and Scott. The wind was up and we had a really great day.
It’s nice to have our lake back, for however long it lasts.
Over the last year or so, I’ve had big gaps between posts. I’m not sure why. Maybe things have slowed down. Maybe I’ve gotten busier. Maybe I’m more introspective. Whatever the reason, I have wanted to get back into the habit of posting more frequently.
I hope my recent post about our Portugal trip broke the logjam.
While I’ve been going through photos, I’ve found a few that I’d like to share. Just for grins, I may mix in a few among future posts, even though they may be a few months old. Bear with me 🙂
Like this one that I took back in November! 🙂 Some friends of mine live in a beautiful part of Austin along the south side of the Colorado River. Sometimes we get together at their community’s park along the river for game day. This is a mosaic that adorns their community center. Isn’t it great?!
This week we were treated to some interesting happenings in the sky. There was extremely high solar activity due to some large flares and sun-things happening. We anchored out on a lovely, clear Thursday night and I captured some of the far away glow from the Northern Lights with my iPhone. The only thing I could see with my naked eye was a faint rosy glow to the north.
I was pleased that I could get some shots, even though we were way down in Texas.
This week, a comet is gracing us with its faint presence. It is low on the horizon after sunset. I was finally able to spot it through binoculars and grabbed a less-than-stellar shot of it from my Olympus camera with a long exposure on a tripod.
Hopefully, I’ll get another shot at it before it completely disappears.
While not NatGeo-worthy, I do enjoy the challenge of trying to capture a glimpse of these heavenly sights on camera.
Monte and I finally made it to Parker Jazz Club this week. It was a fantastic show. We’ll definitely be back. Laura advises and works closely with the club and completely surprised us with a bottle of bubbles and a shout out from the stage. 💙
You should all go whenever you are in Austin!! Link with info about the club and their calendar here.
Sheila365 