We’re in the midst of another blast of cold weather, sleet and ice. You can listen to weather report to get the latest. Or, you can look at googlemap’s traffic view. Yuk!
Tag: Austin
Snow day.
This is how much snow and ice it takes to shut down Austin. No snow day for me, sadly. I can make it down the hall to my office just fine.
A most excellent Christmas Eve Eve.
Yesterday was the first day since my vacation started that I didn’t have anything already on the todo list. It was all my day. So I lounged around in the AM, hit the gym, did a little bead shopping, made some shepherd’s pie (yum)…. Just relaaaaaxed.
An extra treat was to see a couple of friends that stopped by the house: first Rob, and then Marty.
THEN in the evening we headed downtown to Donn’s Depot to listen to the amazingly talented Chris Gage during his weekly gracing of the stage there. WHAT a great show. Chris was joined onstage, as usual, by a host of other musicians in the house singing rockin’ Christmas songs til the wee hours – his wife and music partner Christine Albert, the King of Hillbilly R&R Jon Emery, newly Grammy nominated Kym Warner of The Greencards, David Carroll on upright bass, Jeff Tveraas, and the incredible Marcia Ball… It just can’t get better than that.
I saw my friend Winker, and I ran into my friend Kathy who I haven’t seen in at least a couple years. It was fun to catch up with her.
A simply perfect night.
Albert and Gage are one of my all time favorite musicians. Chris has a brand new instrumental christmas album out, Ornaments, which I’ve played a few hundred times already this year 🙂 And A&G have a Christmas album called One More Christmas that I bought last night which is fantastic as well. Check out all their stuff whether solo or together, you’ll enjoy them. By the way, A&G are playing the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar at noon today…go see ’em!
Here are a few pics from the night…not great, since I didn’t want to use the flash, but you can see the awesomeness of the night…
Trail of Lights.
We made it to the Trail of Lights tonight in Austin’s jewel, Zilker Park, for the first time in probably 5 years or more. We used to go more frequently, but it has either not been easy to get down there in recent times, or it has been postponed for financial reasons. I remember, in the good old days, being able to decide at the last minute to go, and just zip down to the park and park for free on the grassy field and walk over. No more. We had to plan ahead. I got a parking pass online which made it a little easier, but the traffic was really crazy, and the crowds were enormous.
In any event, the lights were simply lovely.
This is the tunnel at the entrance…
This is a view of a bunch of different lights, with the Zilker tree in the background.
I love the tree lights.
So pretty…
And one last look back towards downtown. It’s a little blurry, but you can see some of the Trail lights, some of the city lights, and the waning Cold Moon.
Upriver.
It was another beautiful day. Clear blue sky, temps in the 60s. We went back out to the lake for a sail with Teri and Jim. The lake is at 628.23′. Up about 10 feet from our low this year. Not nearly enough, but I can tell the difference.
Keep it coming!
This is a shot of the breakwater in front of Lakeway Marina as we sailed past.
Christmas at Zilker.
I was in south Austin today, and just had to drive through zilker park on the way home. They lit the Christmas tree on Sunday and this weekend the trail of lights opens, after which it will be nearly impossible to make it through the park.
I got a shot from underneath and another from about 100 yards away. Christmas is in the air….
Bowl me over.
Today Laura and I went to the Austin Empty Bowl Project event. It is a fundraiser for organizations that feed hungry children in the area. Potters donate bowls, food vendors donate soup, musicians take turns entertaining the crowd, and tons of Austinites show up to make it all work. $20 gets you a bowl of your choice and a delicious hot bowl of soup. It was great! This is the one I brought home.
Checking out the creek.
What a difference a week makes. Last Saturday we spent the night on the boat and enjoyed a sunny weekend with temps in the 80s. This week the temps are in the 30s with lots of wind and rain. This morning I took a walk in the rain through the greenbelt at the end of our street. A creek cuts through the woods there. But it is dry most of the time, due to the endless drought. Today there is a creek where one should be.
Viva amigas!
I went out to dinner tonight with a bunch of my girls. We went to one of a kind Rainey Street in Austin – my first time there. I had a wonderful time. We ate at NO VA Kitchen & Bar. The food was delicious. Their white sangria is amazing. The service was great. I highly recommend it. Afterwards we hopped around to a few other places and enjoyed sitting outside on the patio, with the sky flashing with the lightning of the cold front approaching from the northwest.
A cool light fixture above our table at NO VA:
And a shot of part of their menu. The ingredients listed for their white sangria include: armagnac / aged rum / spiced pear / sage / vino blanco
delish!
Greetings.
I took the day off, and Monte and I made a trip to South Austin. You may be familiar with the “Greetings from Austin” mural. It was first painted in 1998. It only took me 15 years, but I finally got down there in August to see it myself. When I did, i saw how deteriorated the mural had become. Here is a link to the photo I took back in August. Since then the building owners raised money to restore the wall behind the mural and repaint it. They started the renovation about a month ago and just finished it. Below is a photo of the brand-spanking-new version that I took today.
A few dozen.
We went to the Austin Oyster Festival this afternoon. Lots of oysters, shrimp and bloody mary’s to go round. And tequila.
Vroom vroom.
This weekend Lori & Dave are out of town, and Jake is staying with us. He’s a great kid. I don’t know who is keeping an eye on who. 🙂 We had a fun pizza / game night last night with Doray, Tom, Sue & Marty. It is so nice to spend time with friends.
Jake and I have been racing Mario Karts on the wii quite a bit this weekend, but today we headed to K1 Speed for the real thing. It’s a pretty awesome indoor venue for kart racing. This is not bumper cars, folks, these karts can go over 40 mph. It was pretty fun! That’s Jake in #25 in the shot above. And I couldn’t resist taking a selfie in my cool racing hat…
Yumm. Brrrr.
We treated ourselves to Amy’s ice cream for dessert tonight. As we strolled through the arboretum, we could feel the chilly wind from today’s cold front.
And just like that, summer is gone.
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.
Sheila365 
