Watery Drive

This house on Lake Austin has a garage...and a boat garage.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

Christmas. But I hope you don't have to spend too much time celebrating around this tree. The Seton Northwest Hospital volunteers decorated the tree in the hospital lobby on Monday.

Neighborhood Fauna

Near where my dad lived a buck grazes on the native grasses of a neighbor.

Outdoors on the Fourth of July

This was the scene just outside my friend Allan's condo window on the Fourth of July. He lives near this hill.

Home with a View, the Home

Yesterday's sunset was shot from this lovely home.

Crepe Myrtles on the Bloom

For weeks now the crepe myrtles around town have taken turns blooming profusely (which they do a few times a year it seems, responding to weather they like). These are in a neighborhood in northwest Austin where we have a house my dad lives in.

Pennybacker Bridge

We were at an event at Austin Country Club. I was standing in a place I'd never stood before over there (we don't belong and I've just played tennis as a guest a few times) and realized that the view of the Pennybacker Bridge spanning Lake Austin on Loop 360 (Capital of Texas Highway) looked great from there. This graceful bridge has become a secondary logo of the Capital City...after the Capitol and the Texas Tower. I'd shown you this bridge from Mt. Bonnell before but this is a better look at just the bridge.

Religion

As Austin has grown the variety of religious expression has exploded. Still the giant gold Buddha one caught a glimpse of while driving along Cap. of Texas Hwy. North (360) always surprised and delighted. It is the International Buddhist Progress Society of Austin with its Fo Guang Shan Hsiang Yun Temple. The flags have intrigued me, too, and they are apparently Buddhist flags. I'll give you a better look at some of the flags tomorrow.

Satellite Dishes

These satellite dishes download signals for the local Time Warner Cable. I was returning a box to them the other day and thought the dishes and parked cars (in black and white) looked interesting. The office is at Duval Road and Mopac.

Papered Tree

A prank you see here is taking toilet paper and tossing it in and around trees in someone's yard. Yeah, stupid. I understand the kids of the house think it is good rather than bad attention sometimes. It would make me mad cleaning it up but it isn't the worst vandalism I don't suppose. I took this on Balcones drive and I was too lazy to really stop to take the photo so I shot it out the window at a stop sign. In another part of this sprawling front yard that seems to be all the yard this house has, there is an elaborate playhouse. In another part is a trampoline and, when I snapped the picture, two little kids on the trampoline stopped their play to stare. Either they'd been told to be wary of strangers taking pictures or they thought that they were famous. Either way, they weren't even in the uncropped version of the picture. Of course, maybe they thought I was crazy or that I was recording the 'papering' for someone!

Stealth Decoration

There are evergreens growing along Capitial of Texas Highway (aka 360) and every holiday season 'vandals' go on public property and put garlands and ornaments on a tree. Public officials were initially all puffy about this and probably still are. The decorations could blow off and be dangerous, you are trespassing on public right of way, etc. Naturally every year a few more are decorated. [Ed. Note: This is not something you would do given that (1) You refused to stop on the shoulder and get a picture of the ones that look attractive and took a picture of this vague attempt at the corner of 2222; and (2) You can't bring yourself to decorate on your own property.]

Well, yes, they look a lot nicer in a group along the way south of Spicewood Springs, but someone apparently jumped out while the light was red and flash-decorated this one! And, yes, I didn't want to risk stopping on the shoulder...this is a high speed road! This corner is also one for the books with a beggar on the west side asking traffic going east (these guys seemed to have assigned corners) for money. This beggar is different because his sign doesn't say he is a Viet Nam Vet or just in need (the usual) but declares that he is an '85-year-old WW II vet.' Whoa.

So, not much of a picture, but here at Austin Daily Photo, we like a few words, too.

The Hill

In the early nineties I bought a new Civic. My old Subaru had a habit of spitting and coughing when it was cold and not going when I said 'go' with the accelerator. While this saved me from colliding with a red-light running vehicle going about sixty miles per hour one time and a deer, a big buck with lots of points, another, I got tired of it and bought a new Honda. At the time I worked on 360 (aka Capital of Texas Highway) and the hill in this picture was part of what could be one avenue of commute. If only your car could go up with the proper energy. So when I test-drove that Civic I took it up that hill. Its satisfactory performance made me buy it and I'd probably still have it if people had managed to quit running into me in it. This hill is the end of Spicewood Springs Road on the east side of 360. If you plan on continuing on the old scenic Spicewood Springs Road after careering down to the stoplight at the bottom of the hill, you have to take a left turn and dog leg to the western part. Years after 360 intersected Spicewood Springs at this curve, they blasted up the hill on the other side to make a different street, Bluffstone.

Photo was taken hastily out the car window. Still you get the idea of how steep it can be to come straight down one of our little hill country hills. It's much flatter, by the way, a few miles away in our neighborhood. Because the coastal plain begins in Austin with the hills on the west.

Barbecue Time

Whether you say barbeque, barbecue or BBQ, you have choices for slow-cooked meat in Austin. Our version means beef brisket, sausage, ribs, maybe chicken with sides of cole slaw, beans, potato salad and white bread. (Although the County Line offers wheat and their white is not some commercial product.) Onions, pickles, jalapeños are worthy condiments. Tangy sauces may be served. This is the sign for 'County Line on the Lake' near 360 (Cap. of Texas) and RM2222. There is another (original) County Line off Bee Cave road (called 'County Line on the Hill' by those in the know I believe). This is a great stop for sampling some barbecue in when in our area.

Black and White

It's no surprise that the fashion is black and white. That just keeps coming back, doesn't it? But the mannequins look like the Blue Man Group! This is a shop window at The Domain, shot Saturday on our way to the free feed.

Lucky Strikes

Last night we were invited to the opening of a new location of a chain restaurant in Austin. (As far as we could tell most everyone else in Austin was invited who was involved in any high-profile charity.) McCormick & Schmick's Seafood only had one Austin location before (downtown) but will soon open this store in the ultra uber shopping center (for Austin anyway!) The Domain. Actually the Domain has places to live, too. It wouldn't be my choice but for people who work nearby (out Mopac way) it might be nice. (I've chosen to call this area Northwest Austin. Some neighborhoods are easier to pin down than others.)

The Lucky Strikes entertained. I don't think too many people were paying attention to them, but FFP did and took this picture. They play swing style jazz and have been around Austin for years and years.