Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Paint and Flower Match

Recent rains revived some blooming things. This house on the east side has a nice match between blooms and trim.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Vintage Christmas

Want some Christmas decor that looks vintage, like you inherited it from your grandparents? Shop Uncommon Objects on SoCo. Just about anything else sufficiently old and odd can be yours this great institution as well. Happy Christmas shopping and keep it weird.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Sweet Graffiti

Graffiti never lasts long on the Lamar railroad overpass but maybe the sentiments here won't be so quickly painted over. Robot love? But the arms look so much like tentacles.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Curb Appeal---How About These Colors?

I probably wouldn't have chosen these colors but they don't look too bad, do they? Shot on the east side when we rambled over there last Sunday.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Fall Roses

Little garden plots on the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge are tended by civic-minded companies or people. These roses were opening up on a beautiful Thanksgiving day. Today it is raining and we are very thankful for that.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Turkey Hot Dog

At first I didn't get it but then I realized it was a turkey hot dog costume. Dog was patient with his owners and the costume but barked convincingly at us.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Ready to Trot

One of the biggest 'fun runs' (and walks and kid's K) of the year is the Thundercloud Subs Turkey Trot. Thanksgiving icons ready to trot this morning.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

It Actually Rained

Overnight we had some rain as the wet pavement on the parking garage attests. FFP took this picture while there were still some clouds at dawn.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Curb Appeal Series

I love when people select interesting colors and paint their exteriors. If one had a home and wanted to see how certain combos would look if you painted the house and trim that way they could just scout around and check it out. This one is in Clarksville. I'm a big fan of yellow. The peach-colored door, though, is an interesting choice but seems to work.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Lone Star

The Lone Star flies over the Texas State Cemetery on a cloudy day. This is an interesting place to walk on the east side.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

An Honest Profession

I took this picture of a mural on the east side the other day. I find it intriguing.

Friday, November 18, 2011

End of an era

My 91-year-old mother died in front of my eyes Wednesday. She had been fussing to us about “feeling rough” and she decided that the problem was the street construction in front of her house exciting her allergies.

Her remedy for that was to ask me to come get her and take her for a drive so she wouldn’t have to listen to the thumping and grinding of the machinery for a while. When I arrived at her home, she said that LifeLine had called and said that their unit wasn’t getting any power. So I got on the phone with them, with my back turned to my mother, who was sitting on the side of her bed.

When I hung up from that conversation, I turned around and in that instant, she went unconscious and fell off the bed and onto the floor. No response. I called EMS and they had a truck there in about three or four minutes. Amazing. They managed to get her heart restarted, but when we got her to the hospital, it was obvious it was hopeless and she expired after about an hour. Honestly, I think that she had subconsciously willed herself to last until I arrived to have the attack. (If that is possible, believe me, she would have done it.)

She lived a long life, the way she wanted it. This photo is of my parents either on a date or shortly after they got married—I always marveled at how well turned out they both were in shots like this one—dad in a tie and hat and mother all spiffy. She and my dad were unusual in this world of constant change: married for 72 years and in the same house for 70 years. My dad died this January.

Rest in peace.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

High Rise Living

I was visiting a friend in the Milago Condos on Rainey Street the other day and whipped out my camera to get a picture of the view from there but Dixie and Frieda caught my eye, relaxing, their work put aside for the moment.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

E.A.S.T. with one of our Favorites: Jennifer Balkan

Last weekend (and next, too) there is a massive art tour of studios called East Austin Studio Tour (E.A.S.T.). Sunday we went to a few spots in an area of east Austin called French Place. Jennifer Balkan poses here with one of her paintings. She's one of our favorites and has appeared in these pages and couple of other times: here and here. She had a show in a gallery in our neighborhood, too, in 2008.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Jazz Al Fresco

We attended a fundraiser for the Pease Park Conservancy a couple of weeks ago and heard music from the Ephraim Owens Quartet, which provided a sweet background for the festivities. The guys were playing outdoors on the grounds of the hosts' house, which overlooks the park. The night was chilly, so they had to bundle up.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

East Side Model Home

Spotted this in a yard on Rosewood on the east side. What at first looks like a derelict old home is actually a scale model, sitting outside on a table outside heaped with twigs. This weekend (and next) the entire east side is filled with open art galleries exhibiting their wares in the E.A.S.T (East Austin Studio Tour) but I snapped this on an ordinary day, one of those when life itself seems to be art.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Fireman's Color Guard

We watched the entire Austin Veteran's Day parade yesterday. Lots of vehicles and people but I offer this picture of a color guard of firemen because I love that they carry ceremonial axes.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Whimsical Decoration

The decoration on this house on Palma in Clarksville is full of color and whimsy.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Vintage Car

Walking on Palma over in Clarksville we encountered this beauty. A lemon in its time but coolness now.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Lion's Labor

This mural is on the side of a bar on the east side. I don't really have an explanation.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Some Tree Support

Over in Old West Austin there is a tree that is had to get a little support for one of its branches. It is usually live oaks that get these rangy branches they can't support that require props. This one, however, appeared to be some other sort of oak.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Transportation to Fun Fun Fun Fest

We didn't go to Fun Fun Fun Fest but we did walk by. So many people arrived by bike that the racks provided were exhausted and bikes were also chained all along the Drake Ped bridge. This is a view of the sea of bikes attached to racks near Auditorium Shores.

Friday, November 4, 2011

The 99%

The owner might be a part of Occupy Austin. (Our home is near the encampment and there is that 99% sticker.) But old Beetles like this are sort of rare these days. Confession: I had several decades ago that were even older!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

A Puzzle on the East Side

We were walking on the east side the other day enjoying beautiful weather and some Day of the Dead shrines in people's yards when I noticed this car port. There were neckties tied to bars on both sides of it. I wonder why? It wasn't a yard sale but more of a permanent installation.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

And Yesterday was Day of the Dead

Sure we celebrate Halloween on October 31. (Or when it's on a Monday like it was this year we celebrate it on Saturday, Sunday AND Monday.) But November 1 is All Saint's Day and November 2 is All Soul's Day and for some folks and for our Mexican neighbors the Day of the Dead is celebrated. Shrines are erected to relatives and friends who are gone. This simple outdoor one was at the Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center when we walked on the eastern part of the hike and bike trail yesterday. Here is a picture from four years ago at Fonda San Miguel of their shrine.