There's a market for everything

Well, I thought I had seen it all. Now you can use an app and pay $2.00 for a Diet Coke, pulled from the back of a bike.

Table topper

TacoDeli has some fancy patterns on their table tops. I like this one especially.

Hot air, indeed! Lots of it!

 We were walking to dinner and got a photo of this hot air balloon inflated and showing its pretty colors. Spectacular.

We're getting into the act

These actors posed with us the other day in the park. Snazzy duds!

Costumes from Aeronauts

Here are some of the outfits actors in the film wore.

Movie time in our park!

A film about hot air balloons and the people who made them is in the theaters and by now, probably on Amazon Prime. They had a spectacular party in our nearby park the other day.

And a merry Christmas to all!

Our spectacular tree -- from our house to yours! Have a great Christmas.

Ain't that sweet!

I received these from a column subject of mine. She must have liked what I wrote about her!

A Gift for a Special Someone

The shop window at Mercury Design on West Second. Surely you can find the perfect gift here!

Checking His Messages

We were going around to look at the hotel decorations for the season when FFP took a break in the Four Seasons lobby to check his phone. Beautifully decorated tree!

All Balls Christmas

The ornaments are the balls are the ornaments at the Fairmont. Massive tree shapes from Christmas balls.

Japanese gingerbread

I love the international flavor of the gingerbread pieces at the Four Seasons this year.

More of our town

Here is a closeup of the gingerbread Austin at The Four Seasons. Even the graffiti on the bridge is correct

French Christmas

Yet another gingerbread town at The Four Seasons. Tres bien!

Gingerbread Austin!

Here you see our hometown all gingerbreaded up! How cool! The Four Seasons does it up right!

Four Seasons Christmas

The Four Seasons always goes all out for Christmas decor. Here you see a gingerbread town with a Mexican theme. 

Aren't we cute?

A young friend said that these two reminded her of us and she bought them for our home. Cute!

Sashimi on an antique plate

I love the way Lenoir plates its dishes. Sometimes they use period piece dishes like this one.

Not a good place to pitch a tent

Spotted this encampment beneath a bridge by our place. Since Shoal Creek can rise to a torrent in minutes, not such a good idea, in my opinion.

Book talk

Our friend Stephen Harrigan has written what may be the best ever history of our state. On a recent night, we went to the Central Library to hear him discuss his work. He is on the left.

Elias is blowing some hot licks.

Shot this one at Church on Monday on a recent night. Red Young was sitting in or B-3 organ.

Catching some winks between inks

We were waiting to go into a club the other night and saw this tattoo artist taking a snooze between customers in his shop.

Grouper on leeks

I had this delicious fish dish at June's All Day the other night. It was just perfect.

Good advice

Saw this on the ped bridge the other day. Yes, that is true.

Row, row, row.

In spite of the massive growth, we still have beautiful scenes like this to see each day.

Jazzing it up

Here you see our friend Kris Kimura on bass flute at Parker Jazz Club. He also owns the place. We love supporting this effort and the music is always good.

A quiet walk

We were on one of our usual treks through the dog park off West 9th and I caught this shot of Linda walking in front of me. We love our walks.

A to Z

Lots of good words here, in perfect order. Lots of good lessons here, too.

Caution!

This large reproduction from a Medieval Manuscript invites visitors into the Medieval Monsters show at the Blanton Museum. It's pretty amazing the depictions of monsters as cautionary tales or critters to be slain.

Rainbow

This gentleman was admiring the artwork at the Blanton Museum of Art recently. His hoodie is a reference, I'm guessing, to the rainbow flag. Indigo and Violet seem to have been subsumed by black? And the final square is the logo of the Human Rights Campaign. (A yellow equal sign on a blue background.) I almost used this for theme day yesterday, but decided on the other picture.

Over the Rainbow

This little girl used some of the flags being distributed at the Veterans Day Parade to enhance her fashionable outfit and her rainbow backpack. It's theme day at City Daily Photo. The theme is rainbow. Click here to see how other members responded to the theme.

Little Super Patriot

This child rode in the fire engine in the Veterans Day Parade. She appears to have a "Super" log on her shirt and was very seriously waving her flag.

A Work of Art

Here is FFP posing in this stunning work by artist Josef Kristofoletti. According the Austin's Art in Public Places: "Topping ten stories tall, Tau Ceti creates a stunning optic experience as sunlight from surrounding buildings refract and correspond with the painted gradient color spectrum throughout the day. Tau Ceti references a single star in the constellation Cetus (pronounced: see tus) that is spectrally similar to our own sun." This is at the corner of Brazos and East Second.

Gingerbread House?

This bar on Rainey Street appears ready for the Holiday Season.

Just Breathe!

That's good advice for the holidays! Just breathe. The RIP next to it is part of another piece of graffiti on the railroad bridge over Lady Bird Lake.

From my window

Looking out of my old window. I worked out of an office building we owned for many years with this view. We sold it to a young doctor over a decade ago. I went in for my physical and saw this old sign was still there across the street. Kind of worse for the wear!

Matt's Big Night

Our friend Matt Maldonado presented his final recital for his PhD program the other night. He played mostly Kenny Garrett tunes.

A colorful present

I bought this box of pocket squares for a friend the other day -- quite a bargain, I thought -- and all packed in a gift box, too.

Pork shoulder sandwich

That is one tall order! Linda had this delicious pork sandwich at Fixe the other night. She mashed it down and then used a knife and fork on it.

Toys wanting a kid!

All kinds of cute toys wanting to have a home. This is another photo from the Settlement Home Garage Sale.

Silvery prizes

More items for sale at the Settlement Home Garage Sale. All for a great cause.

Flowers, flowers and more flowers

Lots of decorative stuff at the Settlement Home Garage Sale. This event happens every year.

Yet another gala

This time it's the Texas Book Festival shindig. We always have terrific table companions.

Live tall and Proper

The Proper is the name of a new hotel/condo building a block south of us, more or less. The windows on this tower are pretty cool.

Our table at the Swan Songs gala

We had a terrific time at Swan Songs gala the other night. This group provides all types of music for people in the final stages of their lives.

Stick a fork in pork!

We went to party at friend's house out in the country the other night. She cooked a whole pig and then it was ready for consumption.

It's that time of year

We love The Nutcracker -- and it's back again this year. Ballet Austin always puts on a great production with lots of happy kids making their debuts as mice and angels. The professional dancers have a good time as well.

That's some serious neon!

We went to vote at City Hal the other day and saw this tall animal made out of neon in the lobby.

Art at City Hall

Our city likes to hang the work of local artists in the lobby. We saw this piece when we went to vote on a recent afternoon.

Wavy windows

This new tower just south of us has interesting windows that are set at angles to each other.