Tag: photography

Mo’ Willy.

Number 6.

Today we walked 9 holes at Morris-Williams Golf Course.  I’ve been looking forward to golfing with my sweetie since vacation started.  The rain put a damper on that for a bit, but today was beautiful with temps in the 60’s.

This is a shot of the Number 6 hole, taken from the Number 5 green.   The rain we’ve had the last few weeks have greened things up a bit.  You can just barely see the UT Tower – the one building visible on the horizon.

I really enjoy Morris-Williams.  I am still quite the novice golfer, but this is the course that I know best – by far.   The tee-to-green distance of the first 9 holes is about a mile and a half.  So I figure we walked 2 or so miles.  Though the way I hit today, it might have been more like 3-4 miles.   🙂   And, on this course, every hole seems to be uphill.   But no matter, it was really nice to be out there.

I did not lose any balls in the out of bounds or in the water hazards.  I did, however, hit several trees that popped out of nowhere.   Oh well.   Maybe one of my New Year’s resolutions will be to play at least once a quarter in 2012.  We’ll see….

 

It’s going to be a lean winter.

Quercus shumardii (Shumard Red Oak).

One of the things I enjoy about our little homestead are the many large trees that surround it.  It’s a blessing, but also a challenge with the extended droughts we’ve experienced over the last few years.  We just couldn’t seem to put enough water on the trees this summer, given the water restrictions we had, and the fact that our sprinkler system is currently out of service.  Though quite stressed by the drought, most of them weathered through the summer.   We lost a redbud out back (*sniffle*), and I’m not sure about the ornamental pear out front — we’ll just have to see how it looks in the spring.

The Shumard Red Oak that graces the front yard is ginormous, and is a sight to behold when the leaves start to change.   Even though it lost many of its leaves this summer, there are still plently left to fall (and to rake up in about a month).

The strange thing is that i cannot find an acorn on the entire tree this year.   I guess that’s a result of the drought stress as well.   Last year, by comparison, was a bumper crop for acorns, and the squirrels went nuts (pardon the pun).   This year the little critters are going to have a hard time finding food — which means they’ll be trying to eat anything attached to, or around the house, that looks like food.  (So, be warned!)

The golden hour.

Bass #3.

This afternoon, though it was very chilly, we headed to the lake for some fishing.   We picked up Joe, Kurt and Wally and motored over to the docks across the lake.  Wally caught the first bass, and Monte caught 2 more.

We headed back to the marina as the sun was slipping away.   I love the light at this time of day on the lake.  It is the golden hour.    The shot above is of monte’s 2nd fish, lit up by the golden sunset.

The shot below is of the sun as it was setting.

Sunset.

The shot below is from the cockpit of the catboat, after the sun has set.  I love the colors of the sky at dusk.

Dusk.

And this last shot is of the crescent moon, with Venus to its left, as viewed from B-Dock, through the Christmas lights on Allegro’s rigging, as we were heading for home.

Crescent moon & Venus.

A good day, indeed.

Goin’ fishin’.

Hot cocoa.

Today we headed out to the lake to spend the afternoon on the boat.  It’s been a long time since I have been out there.  I’m happy to report that our dock is still attached to land.  It has rained several times since the beginning of November (thankfully), so the lake has risen several inches, and at least has not dropped, so they are holding off on moving us offshore.

I made a steaming hot batch of cocoa for the thermos, so that we could fend off the cold, and packed the peppermint schnapps and mini marshmallows.

We picked up Joe on B-dock and motored out into the cove armed with Joe’s fishfinder and several poles to see what we could catch.   I caught a small catfish.  Monte got a small bass.  Mostly we just listened to Christmas carols on the iPod and watched the blobs go by on the fish finder.

It was a nice way to spend a Sunday.

Down at the Dillo.

Eliza Gilkyson's set.

Earlier today we were baking cookies and grilling wings to bring to a party at Kurt and Barbara’s tonight.  With all those preparations done we headed downtown to the 36th annual Armadillo Christmas Bazaar, which kicked-off on Wednesday and runs through Christmas Eve.  It’s an Austin-style combination of art and music festival, with local artists selling their work to Christmas shoppers, and 3-4 musicians/bands per day scheduled to play sets on the floor among the artists’ booths.  You can gather round the stage and watch, or listen to the live music from anywhere in the event center, as you’re doing your shopping.  It’s an event I look forward to, more for the music than the shopping, and I usually go a couple of times each year.

Today one of my favorites, Eliza Gilkyson, was playing at 3:30.   I enjoyed her set.

We were back home in time to get ready for the party,  which was a great time.  We got a chance to visit with all our B-dock buddies — with the onset of colder weather and the shorter days that Autumn brings, it’s been a while since everyone saw eachother.  Mark your calendars for Wednesday, December 21 at 11:30 PM, which is when the winter solstice occurs in Austin, after which the length of each day beings to increase again (yay!).

Deck the Halls: Check!

2011 tree.

Well, I ended up working all day yesterday, and most of today.   An “emergency” set of meetings came up out of the blue.   At least I didn’t have to travel to New York to attend in person.

One of my goals for this vacation is to get back on a normal sleep schedule.   I would really like it if the sleepy leg syndrome would stay away until at least after 9 or 10pm.   As it is, i’ve been falling asleep on the couch early in the evening and getting up at 1 or 2 to offically turn in.   This morning, I woke up on the couch about 1 AM.  Before I went to bed I checked my email and learned that my uncle in San Antonio, who’s been ill, passed away a few hours earlier.   Makes me very sad.   But I’m very glad that we had a visit with him recently.   On the other end of the happy/sad emotional spectrum, a friend’s first grandchild was born yesterday.   Life.  Happens.  We should enjoy every minute of it while we’re here.  And hug those important to us as often as possible.

I peeled myself off the phone at about 3PM and decided to finish decorating the tree.  This might actually conclude the hall-decking at our house.   If i get the tree decorated, a wreath on the door, a little manger put up, and the stockings hung, I feel like I’ve got most of the bases covered.

Twinkly.


I’m taking my time getting my jolly on.  I baked a bunch of cookies yesterday for a friend’s party.  We picked out a Christmas tree yesterday and put stood it up in the house, but didn’t get the lights on until today.  Maybe tomorrow i’ll dig out all the boxes and finish decking the halls.

Celebrate every day.

Crepes!

Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to leave nearly 5 weeks of vacation for the end of the year, but that’s the way it turned out.   So, after a long-ish Thanksgiving vacation just a couple weeks ago, we are now both officially on vacation for the rest of the year!

To ring in the vacation season, I made crepes this morning.   They’re SO YUMMY!   If you now have a craving, you can find the recipe in this previous blog post.

I hope I can decompress a bit in the coming week or so.  But as much as work can seem to mess with my life and mindset, I really have nothing to complain about.

My mind this week is especially on family members that are experiencing real challenges.  My sister-in-law is in the hospital recovering from surgery to treat recently diagnosed breast cancer.  She is a strong woman, though, beating her first bout with cancer several years ago.   One of my uncles recently was diagnosed with cancer as well a few weeks ago, and is preparing for surgery.    Another uncle is dealing with long-term health issues as well.

So, today I’m sending thoughts and prayers their way, and starting this vacation acknowledging how very blessed I am — and celebrating with crepes.

The Eyes of Texas.

Congratulations class of 2011.

Today was another welcome, wonderfully drizzly day.   We just need another 100 or so days like it.

My cousin graduated from the University of Texas yesterday with his bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering.  Today we drove to his parents’ house in San Antonio to celebrate with him, his family and friends.

On the way home we could see the UT Tower lit up in burnt orange from I-35.  But today, instead of the #1 on the tower, reserved for times when the Longhorns win a national championship, there was a #11, to honor the class of 2011.   Monte drove me around to at least 3 different vantage points on campus to try to get a decent shot.  This was the best one I captured.

Congratulations to all the new Texas-Ex’s!

Leaning into it.

Help like this, I don't need.

It is not my intent to post lots of pictures of our bird, but I couldn’t help this one.  Keeto likes to walk around my desk, investigating everything.  He makes frequent trips to the keyboard to get his head scratched.  What a sweet bird 🙂

His cere is still a bit ambiguous – not quite all blue yet.  But he’s started vocalizing and mimicking, so my money is on male.

Watching paint dry.

Time to paint.

Before you can stand around watching paint dry, you have to apply the paint.  I took this shot as monte was painting the dining-room-extension-table.  One of the things we got around to on this chilly day today.

Ok, *now* bring on the Christmas Spirit!

Red & green.

With Thanksgiving safely in the record books, now I’m ready to look ahead to Christmas.  But it’s stunning how early all the retailers and television channels start to decorate for Christmas.  I saw Santa decorations out before Halloween this year.

As I was walking through the back the red berries and green leaves caught my eye.   I think this is a yaupon holly.  Very festive!

Purified (or at least a bit renewed).

White hydrangea.

Today is Spa Day!!!  I spent the day with some friends at Milk & Honey Spa getting rubbed, polished and pampered.  Wow.  I really needed that.

Afterwards, a friend invited all the spa-warriors over for a late lunch.   She had a big vase of these white hydrangeas.   So pretty.   I feel as white and dainty as these look.   We’ll see how long that lasts 🙂

A day well spent.

It’s been a little while since I’ve posted something.  Things have been very busy lately.  So, i’ll take the liberty of a longer post today.

From the base of the Summit Trail.

We took today off, starting a much awaited and long overdue week or so of vacation.  The day was overcast and a tad chilly.  We set out into the Hill Country – destination Enchanted Rock.  This gigantic outcropping of granite rock was formed about a billion years ago.   It’s a stark contrast to the tree-covered, rough limestone hills that surround it.  The summit trail leads up the 425′ vertical climb to the top, which is 1825′ above sea level.  If you look at the picture above you can see a person approaching the top, and a few people along the way – which give a sense of the scale of the Rock.

Autumn in the Hill Country.

It was quite windy at the top.  But what great views!  We don’t get a lot of autumn color, so I really enjoyed seeing this patchwork of rust, gold and green from above.

The close up views were worth seeing as well.  The shot above is of the rust colored lichens that can be found covering the pink granite rocks.

Craggy.

On the way down I couldn’t resist taking this shot of a wind-beaten, twisted, dead oak tree against the sky.

Oh, deer.

After we made it back down we came across several deer, right on the edge of the parking lot.  This guy turned to say bye.

Barrel o fun!

On the way to the park we drove through Fredericksburg and stopped to walk through some of the shops.  We ate lunch at Der LindenBaum – home of awesome traditional German cooking.  On the way home, we couldn’t drive by Becker Vineyards without stopping in for a flight of wine tasting.

What a great day!