Cheesy, cheesy, cheesy!

 We love buying fine cheeses from Antonelli's Cheese Shop here in town. These four reserves a nice spectrum of flavors. Buy local!

Buying local

Here's a shot of the Ave B Grocery, which has been in business since 1906, so I understand. We haven't been by there lately, since it's in Hyde Park, close to our old neighborhood. I assume it's still operating. Anyway, if it is, they have great sandwiches and lots of varieties of root beer.

Iconic Hero

We call them subs or submarine sandwiches around here, usually. This local chain of shops, Thundercloud Subs, has been around for over three decades. While they have branched out "all the way to San Antone" they are still considered a local business in our hearts. This shot was taken on 12th near Lamar at the shop closest to our current home. This is one of several businesses that we like to joke has an employment requirement of tattoos, piercings and/or hair colors not found in nature. (The others include Whole Foods, Wheatsville Coop, the Alamo Theaters and some I've forgotten but will remember when I go there and marvel at the body decoration.) The sandwiches are really good here, by the way.

Austin Java City Hall

The reason I'm posting later than usual is that we got up later than usual and we went out to breakfast and a walk around downtown before I posted. The good news is that I have new pictures. We had breakfast at Austin Java City Hall Cafe. It shares the building with City Hall and we had some tasty Sumatra Coffee and a spinach omelet (FFP) and Tomatillo Eggs Benedict (me). Then we walked around downtown and shot some other pictures so we'll probably be seeing downtown in this space for a while.

Austin Java is a local business with another location around 12th and Lamar. Good coffee but great food, too. This spot will be one of several easy walking choices for a Sunday breakfast or brunch when we live downtown.

Monkey See

Not talking about FFP. Monkey See Monkey Do is the name of the shop on South Congress shown here with its Monkey Sign and FFP looking in. It is right next door to the barber shop (see the pole?) and it is the 'go to' place for gag gifts like refrigerator magnets and little goofy action figures. It is also near an art gallery, a restaurant that we haven't been to in its current incarnation and a tiny grocery (Farm to Market) with an emphasis on local products. We are on South Congress with our ADP picture because I didn't get out of the house at all yesterday trying to avoid cedar pollen counts that are setting off alarms in my head. Seems once you start reacting it is hard for your body to stop. I will get out soon. Promise.

The Tropics on Sixth

Ask and ye shall receive readers. Annie mentioned that she would see these trees instead of what was framed in yesterday's picture. Well, last Sunday, when I took yesterday's picture the red light FFP the driver was waiting on gave us enough time to also snap this picture of the palm trees. Austin isn't exactly the tropics and sometimes palms come to grief. These are protected somewhat by the building to the north. These beauties have survived many seasons and inspire tropical-themed decorations from the GSDM people. Maybe next year I'll get a picture of those!

Idea City

This is the West Sixth Street home of the big ad agency GSD&M. They call their home office "idea city." Indeed, marketing is one clever idea after another connected by lots of mundane details. FFP ran a tiny agency before he retired. So he had to have all the ideas and deal with all the details. He is famous among our friends for always checking things over and over. Comes from the ad business. GSD&M has seen it's fortunes soar and also go a bit the other way and I think they sold to an international conglomerate at some point. But they did build a cool building in what is now a vibrant part of the extended downtown Austin. We see one of the initials (Roy Spence) in the paper now and then. We bumped into the 'M' (Tim McClure) the other day. But I don't remember where. I think FFP went to college with them. I like the rubric 'idea city.' Once there was a billboard outside of Austin (unrelated to GSD&M I think) that said 'Austin, Texas...City of Ideas.' Well, I wish it were true. And it does seem to be our biggest natural resource, the thing that's allowed companies like Whole Foods and Dell and National Instruments to take root. I hope we are still fertile ground for imagination but I'm not so sure.