Four goose morning

These quackers were strutting around the shore of Lady Bird Lake a few days ago. I guess they thought I had some food for them. I like the guy who his poking his head over the embankment.

Our little town

If I was still running my ad agency and we were trying to create this shot, we couldn't have done better than this. I snapped this one by sheer luck when I saw the composition forming the other day. Kind of cool that Forbes says we are the number one "Next Big Boom Town" in the country.

Urban Gardener

When we moved from a house with a large yard, people said we'd miss the outdoors. We still have Lady Bird Lake as our backyard. But, truthfully, planting, weeding, watering and such had long since lost its appeal. Some people really do miss getting their hands in the dirt, though. Our friend Greg who lives in a condo across the river from ours has adopted some plantings on the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge. Here he waters with a lake water connection provided. He warned the ladies they might get sprayed but they were so hot that they wanted a little cool mist.

One More Tennis Picture

USA hopes were dashed in a four setter match between Mardy Fish and David Ferrer yesterday that took over four hours. The final (dead) match didn't take place. I'm going to leave you with a picture from Saturday of Bob Bryan striking a volley while Mike positions himself. Or is it the other way around? Nope...that's Bob hitting. He's the left-handed one!

I think it's safe to say that our team was disappointed and a packed Erwin Center crowd, too. But I don't think I was the only one who fell even harder for this Nadal-less Spanish team. I'd enjoyed Ferrer and Verdasco before and Lopez' great recent Wimby performance. But the hours I spent this weekend watching how much heart they had made me a bigger fan. Ditto Mardy Fish. Makes me want to see even more live tennis at this level. Maybe I'll have to visit New York or London or Paris or Melbourne. (I've linked to some of the City Daily Photo blogs for cities hosting Grand Slams!)

Bryan Brothers Give U.S.A. Hope

After dropping two singles matches, the U.S. was given a slim hope in the Davis Cup Quarterfinals going into Sunday by a four set victory by Bob and Mike Bryan. Nice match. In this photo the overhead video shows them thanking the crowd for supporting them and pumping them up. I have loved seeing professional tennis live again. It has been a long time.

International Tennis

The Davis Cup Quarterfinal Round between the U.S. and Spain is happening this weekend in Austin. Yesterday was the opening ceremony and two singles matches. We were at Erwin Center for eight hours because the match between Mardy Fish and José Lopez went to five sets. One of the best tennis matches I've ever seen. Unfortunately, Mardy fell 6-8 in the third. David Ferrer rose to the occasion, too, defeating powerful server Andy Roddick in straight sets on the fast indoor surface. Now the Brian brothers must win a doubles match today to send Spain to Sunday looking for the third victory needed. I really enjoyed the tennis although our seats were on the top row of the mezzanine of Erwin center. Took this with my little camera on maximum zoom!

Nice views

Both the people in the luxury homes above Lady Bird Lake and these people on the water are able to take a breathtaking view of Austin. We are fortunate enough to know some people who have homes with these vantage points and we are always stunned by the panoramic views that they have when we visit their homes.