My column!

Here is a sample of the columns that I write for West Austin News -- I have been doing these since December 2001.

Braving the cold to sing

These gents were crooning some country tunes at the Farmers Market on a recent Saturday.

Red Roses for our Living Room

Some good friends sent us these roses the other day after we invited them to dinner. Brightened up the place for Valentine's Day!

Preaching at Church on Monday!

Elias Haslinger and the guys were teaching some jazz parables -- as always.

Fresh fruit

Had brunch at Sala and Betty on a recent Sunday. This nice place is run by two friends of ours -- Teresa and Alma. Love the food!

View from The Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge

Our friend Jackie shot this on the pedestrian bridge recently. It's amazing what a nest of buildings there are around ours these days. Compare to this 2013 post taken from the same bridgehttps://austintexasdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2013/11/our-homeas-postcard.html.

3-D printing and here you see the results

Some results from the 3-D printers at the Central Library. Very nice work, I must say!

Stomp on Garbage

Caught a detail of this mural when the trash was out.

Colors

This house in Hyde Park used purple, yellow, and blue paint, but then the red chair? And the patina of the porch? I just liked the composition.

Exterior, Elisabet Ney Museum

The exterior of the Elisabet Ney Museum. It was the sculptress' studio and home. It is located in an Austin Neighborhood called Hyde Park. I can't explain the modern sculpture on the lawn.

Mad King Ludwig

At the Elisabet Ney Museum in Hyde Park, there is a plaster of a sculpture Ney did of Ludwig of Bavaria (the Mad King famous for the castle on which the Disney castle was modeled). Elisabet Ney came from Germany and made sculptures there before doing Texas heroes for the Capitol in Austin as well as the Goddess of Liberty atop our Capitol Dome.

Print Show

There was a special exhibit of prints by women at the Elisabet Ney Museum last month. My friend Allan and I went on an excursion to see them.

SoCo Rising

Lots of construction going on down on South Congress.

Sculptural Sketches

These plaster casts of body parts are on display at the Elisabet Ney Museum in Hyde Park.

Old and New

The Hoffbrau Steaks on West Sixth is towered over by our building and The Independent (the top of which didn't even make my picture). Other newish buildings are also visible. This restaurant has been around since 1934!

Scooter Litter

I despise these things (Lyme Scooters, well, all  the electric dockless scooters), but please don't put things with batteries in the creek!

Sweep it up!

Saw this fancy sweeper outside the new Independent building the other day. That is one elaborate piece of machinery! It looks like it would be fun to use this thing. 

Let there be light!

This sleek light on a pole is part of the outdoor effects around the new Independent building which will soon open near us.

Oh happy day!

I like this photo I took of a little girl skipping along at the Farmers' Market. I also like how our building is reflected on the Google building's facade. Urban environment meets the farmers.

Reveries

I liked this shot I took at the Farmers' Market the other day. It kind of reminded me of "Nighthawks" by Edward Hopper.

New goodies -- Brazilian cheese bread

Here is a booth that I haven't noticed before at the Saturday Farmers' Market. May have to try this bread out sometime.

Tacodeli delights. And New York lines up for them.

The most popular booth at the Farmers Market is usually Tacodeli. I was glad to see a lady with a New York cap was in line for a taco on a recent Saturday.

Dancing on the roof

A dance troupe was doing its thing on top of the parking garage across from us one night not long ago. They were pretty loud after midnight.

Scooters -- not here? Yeah, right.

Scooters are threatening life and limb all over downtown, but hey, the newspaper can print useless charts. Fun and games.

Never a dull moment

We had a fire in our building, on our floor no less. Our unit was not damaged, but many were. Life goes on, here in the big city.

My life for a week or so

Somehow, I managed to get a slight fracture in my left ankle. Had to use this contraption for a week. It could be much worse.

Parker -- for Shakespeare and Song!

Shakespeare at Parker Jazz Club! Yes indeed, a nice combination -- many songs from "Kiss Me Kate/Taming of the Shew" were crooned. And here you see our friend Robert Faires, declaiming some lines to kick it off.

Theme Day -- White

Linda took this shot at the Elisabet Ney Museum -- an Austin treasure -- the other day. We aren't sure who the sculpture is modeled of, but it is impressive and shows nice gradations of the theme color. To see what our colleagues around the world chose for the theme today, click here.