Three important foods

Milk, bread and tacos. Well, those are all important! Love this little south Austin store. 

Garage apartment?

Given the rental rates in Austin these days, this thing might go for $300 a month plus electricity.

Round 'em up, Big Red!

Some more great yard art from south Austin. Hard to argue with a big bird like this.

There are places I remember . . .

We saw this sign outside the Carpenters Union Hall today. My dad spent a lot of time there. Wow.

Don't step on Texas!

I love yard art. Here is the state made out of shiny rocks.

Pop-up barber

The latest idea -- a mobile barber shop catching people in our neighborhood on the way home.

Habitat

Among the intense construction that is going on around our building there still stands an abandoned railroad bridge. As we walked by on the pedestrian bridge next to it a couple of weeks ago we observed a couple of squirrels who seemed to be making the bridge a home and an outpost for being construction observers.

Eye in the Sky

I missed this blimp flying around the downtown sky in early May but our alert friend Jackie caught it. It is a passenger blimp from Hendrick's Gin (obviously). Good catch, friend!

Craning our necks.

I shot this panoramic photo of our under-construction skyline on a cloudy afternoon a few days ago.

This sign shows it all

For once, we were across the street from this store so I thought that I would

shoot a photo of their sign. They are the best costume shop in town.

Sweet idea!

This iconic food truck has a new home on S. Congress.  

That says it all.

This South Congress Barber Shop has three rules.

New bar concept

Yet another bar in the hood! This one has an unusual theme. It will be interesting to see what it offers.

I spoon my soup away from me . . .

This pea soup I had at Congress Restaurant last month had such a pretty presentation that I couldn't resist posting it on our blog. 

Foam sticks to the fore

These groups of UT students were getting ready to attack each other with foam sticks the other day. I think this is some type of graduation ritual.

Sitting pretty!

Here is a shot of my partner in life taking a photo of a man taking a photo of his dog.

Our little town

Here's a recent panoramic shot from our balcony.The set of cranes at the right center are over the new central library.

Cat under attack

As we walked through West Austin the other day, we saw this orange cat being attacked by both blue jays and mockingbirds.We don't know what transgressions he had done, but he was hiding in this hedge while the birds squawked around him.

The Great Lawn, the big skyline

We love walking across the Great Lawn at Zilker Park. It provides a pretty contrast to the skyline in the distance.

What's going on?

This squirrel was on a precarious perch over the construction on the Shoal Creek Trail the other day. He didn't know quite what to make of it all.

Trader Joe's -- now open

This nice young lady was only too glad to welcome us to the new Trader Joe's in our neighborhood.

Lost Shoe

Jackie captured this abandoned shoe at Fifth and Guadalupe one night. She says it appeared perfectly servicable.

Power Plant Reimagined

Our historic, decommissioned power plant, The Seaholm, has been reimagined as a mixed use development. Here you see the street, Walter Seaholm Dr., open to traffic. In the old plant there are now office workers and soon there will be a restaurant. In the low building on the far left, a new Trader Joe's store recently opened and some offices are on the second floor. The unfinished taller building is the Seaholm condominiums which appeared in a picture a few days ago from the east side on the pedestrian bridge. We are delighted with the new sidewalk which gives us access to the trail.

Under Mopac

Our walks often take us on loops on the Butler Trail around Lady Bird Lake. At the Mopac highway bridge there is a pedestrian bridge underneath called the Crenshaw Bridge.  (Mopac is our nickname for Loop 1 which is in true Austin fashion not a loop but is partially built on Missouri Pacific Railroad right-of-way). Here you see FFP navigating across to the south shore. Although we have lots of places to walk we only have six places to cross the lake: Pleasant Valley Road (which is really far away, maybe three miles); IH35 (which is now pretty convenient with the addition of the boardwalk on the south shore with access to its pedestrian walkway but is still a couple of miles away); Congress Avenue (pretty convenient but the pedestrian walkway has no barrier to cars); the Drake (South First) Bridge (which is our go-to crossing, less than a half mile from the house with a separate pedestrian area); the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge which is near Lamar and avoids Lamar's very dangerous narrow sidewalk which you are now not supposed to use; and this bridge which we don't usually use to get somewhere since it's almost two miles away but use in making a loop for exercise.

Austin's Finest

Forrest crosses the pedestrian bridge over Shoal Creek next to our building. These two mounted policemen were coming from the other direction. The guy in back tipped his hat to Forrest and to me as he passed. The mounted police are great for patrolling our trails. The construction you see is the Seaholm Condominiums and just beyond the new Trader Joe's in our neighborhood.

Chic Shoes

We walked to a party the other day. It was about a mile over there I guess. Unfortunately, we tried to go down the trail at one point and it was closed so we ended up just going out of our way. We had on dressy but comfortable shoes. The people at the party which was a mostly stand-up affair outdoors were dressed in very chic outfits. But I'm guessing the gal in these shoes (and maybe even the guy in the great spectators) drove to the party.

Ferryboat Propeller

In downtown Austin near state buildings you never know what you will find memorialized. We happened to notice this at a tiny pocket park near a building on 11th Street. A plaque nearby identifies it as the "Thornton Ferry Boat Propeller." This came from a propeller-driver ferry boat that ran between Galveston and Port Bolivar between 1959 and 2000. The propeller weighs 3000 pounds! The ferry boat was named for a state official (Eli Thornton) so this is, I guess, a memorial to him. Today the ferry boats use some other sort of propulsion system.called Voith Schneider which has a much less nostalgic propeller system.

What is That? Donut!

There is a new resident on Fifth Street. Originally only available from a trailer Gourdough's Donuts is now has a brick and mortar location downtown (although I notice there is a trailer inside the courtyard). I've yet to try one of their big, fat donut (sweet or savory) concoctions. Soon!

Evacuation drill

We were at a concert on the U of Texas campus the other night when they made us get up and evacuate the hall. We finally got frustrated and got a car home.

Through this arch passes . . .

We like to walk in Old West Austin. Someone has thoughtfully created this archway along a sidewalk on our route.

Dancing Round and Round

I took a walk to the Capitol Grounds the other day. An insistent drum beat was ringing out in the annex area in back (which is underground to preserve the area). I peeked over the edge of the round atrium to see native Americans dancing round and round and back and forth using the Lone Star in the middle as a kind of focus. It made me see this area in a whole new light. Tourists were drawn to the ground level and workers and lawmakers (our bienniel legislature is in session) were drawn out of offices on several levels below.

It is the first of the month and, as always at City Daily Photo, it is theme day. The theme is revolution. Participants were invited to display anything which evoked that word. I was tempted by statues of our Texas Revolutionists who brought about the Republic of Texas in 1836 or even a statue to the soldiers of our failed revolution called the Civil War (Texas became a state in 1845 and then seceded in 1861 with the Confederacy). But these colorfully attired citizens dancing in the round won the day with actual the wheel-like spokes and the idea of this Indian Nation performing just there. There was no sign to indicate which American Indian tribe was performing but their dress and dancing were wonderful. My Google searches also failed to identify.

Click here to see other sites interpretation of theme day.