As 5:30 rolled around tonight I got this text from Monte on my phone: “Blue hair special?” That’s what we call the hurry-up-to-beat-the-happy-hour-rush dinner run to our nearby Chuy’s. If we time it right we can be in and out of there in no time flat.
Yes, sir! I logged off and got semi-presentable in a jif. And we were off. Ah, yes, dinner and a marg, and home by 6:30. Yum!
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!
I know this is supposed to be a photoblog, but I didn’t get a photo tonight (gasp!). Forgive me. 🙂
I met some girlfriends downtown tonight at Malaga, a tapas and wine bar. I have gone several times when they used to be on 4th street. But never in their new location on 2nd street. Ok, maybe it’s not so new, i guess they moved a few years ago…. it’s been a while for me.
The tapas were delightful. The wine was good — a Tempranillo. And the company was great: Ann, Ireni, Laura & Lori. We should do this more often.
Since I didn’t snap a photo tonight, I’ll leave you with an audio tidbit instead. The speech about “sunscreen” came up in our discussion tonight. Variously attributed to Kurt Vonnegut, but really written by Chicago tribune newspaper columnist Mary Schmich. What sticks in my mind is this version set to music that hit the top 40 in 2000 or so, produced by Baz Luhrmann. Lots of wisdom therein – check it out.
As much as we love spending our weekends on the lake, it’s nice to have a change of scenery every once in a while. I mean, we live in an awesome place; we have to get out and about. On the first Sunday of every month, the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum offers free admission to all their exhibits. So, we made plans to go today to see their current special exhibit on Texas Furniture. Here are a few scenes from our day…
The iconic, iron lonestar out in front of the museum…it was a beautiful day…
I snuck a pic from inside… shhh… a tad blurry, but a grand 4 poster bed…
Lunch at Freddie’s…
And, I finally got a picture of the Austin mural on South 1st street… it’s probably about time for some TLC – it’s showing a little wear and tear…
And we wrapped up the day at the Zilker Hillside Theater. Their 55th annual summer musical this year is Little Shop of Horrors. It was a great show…
G’nite all!
I’ve already said how much I’ve enjoyed this reunion trip to Nashville. It’s been a really great visit. Today our flight leaves in the afternoon, so we have several hours to check out more of Nashville and its surrounds.
This morning we got up and checked out of the hotel and drove to Franklin. A lovely small town with Victorian homes, antique malls and really great shops. The backroad to Franklin is lined with amazing homes and homesteads.
This was one shot of a number of churches in the village – the First United Methodist. I liked the doors.
We passed the morning walking through town, shopping in several of the antique stores, and had lunch at a nice Irish pub in town. After that, we dashed over to The Hermitage – home of Andrew Jackson. But didn’t have much time to do more than a quick drive by. Sorry, no pics.
Back at Nashville International Airport, I was glad to find an Admiral’s Club on the same concourse as our Southwest flight.
This is a shot of the UT campus as we were landing, flying south towards the airport. If you can find the Erwin Center in the picture (left side, middle of frame), you’ll get your bearings. I believe the area in the foreground is the grounds of the old Mueller Airport, now a bunch of mixed use housing and retail.
Yay, it’s good to be home! I’m headed to baggage claim carousel #4. I’m so very glad this is a 4 day week!!!
Hola! Happy Cinco de Mayo. Before I forget, I want to post this shot that I took yesterday. I took it with my waterproof camera from the kayak, so I wasn’t able to upload it until today. This is Nirvana and Sapphire at anchor. Pretty boats.
Today I paddled completely around Arky South cove. I enjoy paddling. But I like, even more, cruising along the shore for found objects. Today’s haul: 4 plastic bobbers, 1 popper jig, 1 croppie tube jig, and 2 nice docklines with spliced loops.
Then we pulled up the anchor and sailed for several hours. We sailed along with Kalliopi (with Nick and his kids on-board) for a while. Then we turned around and caught a glimpse of Lori, Joe, Wally and Kelly on Camelot, with her newly raised 150 whomper jib. I think Lori’s getting serious now, ever since Nirvana beat Camelot in a beer can a couple weeks ago. 🙂
On the way home, we saw this guy riding along 620. Amazing. It appears to be direct drive, no evidence of a chain. And, I have no idea how he stops / dismounts this thing – that front tire is about 5′ in diameter.
And, now back home, we are celebrating Cinco de Mayo with Julie. Salud!
We’ve been counting down to tonight, to go to a concert with Marty & Sue at the new Circuit of the America’s racetrack concert venue called the 360 Amphitheater: Jimmy Buffet + Jackson Browne!
The last time Jimmy Buffet played a show Austin was 17 years ago at the (no longer there) Southpark Meadows. I was at that show, and have been looking forward to tonight’s show as well.
So we all headed out together in parrot head garb, and stopped to eat at Chuy’s before the show. It was there that we learned, an hour before the gates opened, that the concert had been postponed on account of high winds, until tomorrow night. A cold front came through early this morning and the winds have been blowing 20-40 miles all day, and will continue through the night.
Ok, I guess we’ll do it all again tomorrow!
We were successful tonight! The comet is definitely not as bright as it must have been just a few days ago. I have seen some really clear pictures of it taken from Austin. But, now that it is a bit higher in the sky, it sets later and so it may be easier to make out after the sun has set. But it is definitely faint. We drove out to Iguana Grill as the sun was setting. I think we spotted it around 8:25pm, or about 50 minutes after sunset. I was not able to see it with my naked eye. We brought binoculars, and I was able to see it pretty clearly through those. I used a 3-5 second exposure on my camera and was able to catch it faintly. Can you see it to the left of the waxing cresent moon?
My first comet shot!
Today is the last day of my vacation. Tomorrow it’s back to work for me.
My day started with a mimosa and ended with a glass of champagne — with this absolutely gorgeous sunset squeezed in between. I snapped this as we headed to BB Rover’s for a quick dinner.
Monte and I have discovered the Showtime series called The Tudors. We don’t have Showtime, but BBC America is broadcasting past seasons’ episodes via cable. Yesterday and today have been a marathon session of season’s 1 and 2. I found seasons 3 & 4 on Amazon Instant Video, so we can stream them for free at our leisure. 🙂 Speaking of leisure… I can’t wait til Friday!
‘Tis the season for the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar!! This is the 37th year of the Bazaar. If you go, you can find local artists showing and selling their wares (over 150 artists this year), live music on a stage in the center of the hall, and food/drinks to fortify you as you make the rounds. If you are anywhere near Austin between now and Christmas Eve, check it out.
While I was there tonight, Marcia Ball and Kimmie Rhodes shared the stage from 8-10pm – great music! Here’s the obligatory shot from the floor…
Julie took her last final of Fall semester today – and is headed home for the holidays tomorrow. Tonight we went to Painting with a Twist to create a work of art. This is my version. Not bad. A little festive. Probably worth hanging on the wall for a week or two (?) 🙂
We made a trip down to southeast Austin to run an errand or two this morning. Since we were heading down there, we planned to play a round of golf at Jimmy Clay Golf Course. So, we loaded our clubs into the car on our way out.
We played 18 holes. Not only has it been a while since we played golf together. It’s been a very long time since we played 18. We usually play a twilight 9 holes after work. But we got there early enough today to hit the range, the chipping and putting greens, and then play a full round. We even got a cart today… a treat… as we usually walk it.
It was a nice day – sunny with highs in the 70’s. I wasn’t quick enough to get a photo, but when we got there, we found a big flock of Monk parakeets (aka Quaker parrots) in residence at the golf course. They were noisily greeting golfers from the oak trees around the clubhouse. When we finished our round, they had gone – they must have returned to their nest for the evening.
A nice day.
Hmmm. What’s wrong with this picture? 🙂
The other day when my sister and I spent an afternoon running around and playing in downtown Austin, I mentioned that we stopped into a bead shop (Bead It on South Lamar). Over the years, I have assembled a nice set of jewelry-making tools that I use to repair miscellaneous of my favorite purchased pieces that have broken. I’ve always wanted to try my hand at making earrings, bracelets, necklaces, etc, but have never taken that step.
So, when I came home last week with several baggies of beads and earring posts & hangers, I was excited to make a few pairs. These are my very first pieces. Not bad, i think. Hmmmm, could there be an etsy storefront in my future? 🙂
P.s. I’m wearing the purple/amethyst ones as I’m posting this…
My sister leaves tomorrow, so I took the afternoon off to play hooky with her. We started off buying beads at a bead shop to get supplies for making jewelry thingies. No pics of that – a project for another day. Then we headed to Zilker Park for a hike on the Barton Creek Greenbelt Trail. It was really lovely out. High 70’s and sunny. Perfect for a hike. The creek is mostly dry. We did see lots of flowers, butterflies and dragonflies.
The orange butterfly in the shot below stopped to let me take several shots.
Later on down the trail this swallowtail stopped to let me do the same thing.
I found a pretty good butterfly guide website to try to identify them. You might want to bookmark for future reference.
After the hike we stopped by Barton Springs Pool. Such a pretty place. The pool was beautifully clear.
Then we ran over to Sno-Beach for a must-have best-snocone-ever experience. You’d better hurry, they close at the end of October for the winter. Go out and get one!
Then. Back to Zilker to rent a kayak and tootle around Town Lake (ok, sorry “Lady Bird Lake.” old habits die hard). We paddled all the way to the South 1st Street bridge. On our paddle back we passed 3 UT Women’s Crew boats training.
The Austin City Limits Music Festival takes place this weekend. It’s a 3 day music extravaganza hosted in Zilker Park. Everything is setup and just about ready for the throngs of festival-goers. I took the opportunity to take a quick shot of the festival entrance, so I wouldn’t have to come down here with 75,000 of my closest friends to get the shot this weekend.
What a great Austin afternoon!
Sheila365 