Tennis, Anyone?

I play tennis a few times a week. You really don't want to see pictures of that, however! But Sunday, FFP and I caught the finals of the Big 12 Tennis Championships. The UT men won although the team in action here did not. I used the sports capture button on the Nikon P90 to get a selection of shots to choose from. I like this one because the low volley has just come off the racket of the player and the ball and its shadow are still visible. One of my 'ladies of a certain age' who plays tennis with me says that she learns a lot by watching pros on TV. Indeed she came back from illness and injury this week and did play some great shots.

Walking on Water

This is a Great Egret, I believe, on Lady Bird Lake. What's amazing is that he is in the middle of the lake. He's not really walking on water but seemed to be balancing on a branch or piece of wood, adjusting his stance like a log roller as it drifted in the current while he scanned the water for brunch. I took this with my Nikon P90 from the Drake Bridge (S. First) and zoomed in to get some detail but you still can't see his improvised raft although it was apparent to us from his movement.

Long Center Buckled Up

This picture was taken out of the triangular window at the end of our hallway in the 360 condos so excuse the reflection. I wanted to show you that the Long Center was buckled up Saturday to promote the 'Click It Or Ticket' safety program. There was also an inflatable Big Tex to the left. Since I usually shoot the Long Center from our balcony it surprised me to see the how clear the main building at St. Ed's was from this angle when I zoomed in on the Long Center. You see why their sports moniker is 'Hilltoppers.'

FFP's Moment in Time

Yesterday, Linda outlined the "rules of the game" that we were playing on Sunday morning for the New York Times' Lens Blog project. At 10:03 our time (they gave you leeway for a few minutes either side of 10:00), I was standing to the west of Linda and snapped this shot of a pet dog emerging from Lady Bird Lake after retrieving a tennis ball his master had thrown into the water. Unfortunately, he dropped the ball just before I could get my lens to open--it is hidden behind him. But the shot does show a nice contrast of our natural and man-made environments in the center of our city. They had a "play" category, so that is where I submitted this one. From what I read, they received over 10,000 shots in short order and who knows when they'll be able to get all of them posted.

A Moment in Time

Yesterday we attempted to participate in a New York Times Lens Blog project where people were asked to take a picture at 15:00 UTC (10AM Central Time in U.S.) and submit them for processing to the blog as a 'Moment in Time.' We chose to position ourselves at Auditorium Shores where the off leash park and the temperate Sunday combined for lots of 'play' which was one of the themes. This isn't the picture I used because it was taken over ten minutes before the appointed hour and I chose one taken closer to the appointed hour. (The rules seem to admit a few minutes before or after 10AM and we chose to say that meant two or three minutes, not over ten minutes.) The shot I used looked toward our building but had dogs in the water and boats. I may show it tomorrow or show you the happy dog that FFP used for his contribution to the project. Unless, of course, when the project gets up (they had 10K plus pictures submitted) I can figure out a way to point you to our pictures there. I have a feeling it's going to be hard to find an individual picture but it should be fun browsing.

Space Age Flower

We were walking along S. First yesterday when we noticed the unusual space age blossoms on this vine. I'm not much of a botanist, but the bees seemed to recognize it.

Statues

Today is theme day on City Daily Photo. I missed last month. Just slept through a chance to riff on a theme with the other daily picture bloggers. This month, though, we're back to participating. The theme is 'statues.' Every city and town and village has some and ours is no exception. Since it's the state capital we have the Capitol Building and grounds. Lots of statues. There two, though, are my favorites. The one atop the Capitol dome is Lady Liberty with the Lone Star (great story about her removal and replacement with a copy during renovation for another day); and the one in the foreground which is an old monument to volunteer fireman who died in the line of duty. The oldest one I saw was for a man who died in 1877 during a fire at the 'Blind Institute.' There are many names on the side you can see of volunteers who died at Texas City in 1947 explosions and fires at the port. This was one of the worst industrial accidents in the history of the U.S.

See other city statues: Click here to view thumbnails for all participants