Eiffel A La Carte!

We saw this portable Eiffel Tower on a walk around downtown the other day.

A dog's life.

These dogs were having a good time taking a dip in Lady Bird Lake on a recent sunny afternoon.

View of the bridge

I liked the way the light was playing on these runners on the Pfluger Bridge the other day.

The Shadow knows.

Sometimes I get a kick out of my own shadow combined with other objects. OK, I'm easily amused.

Looking good, Stevie!

This guy was shooting a photo of the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue the other day. He's getting a good angle.

Child with One Shoe on the Loose

Our friend Jackie saw this shoe on a wall near a sidewalk on W. Sixth. I guess I understand a child losing a shoe but it is surprising how often shoes are abandoned.

Memories of a nice guy

We saw this memorial bike the other day on the Congress Avenue bridge.

He's stating his case!

I don't think he's for Hillary, either.

Can't argue with it.

Let's roll! Love this van.

The hood is looking good!

A quick shot with my iPhone gave me this sweet photo of our home. It's the white building in the center.

Come on in, but leave your guns outside, boys.

This sign graces a meat market in south Austin.

We want to PUMP you up!

Lots of good energy in this place -- but NO cell phones.

Mural for Mayor

Our friend Steve Adler ran for Mayor and won in December. This mural for him was painted on the side of a defunct Mexican cafe.

Caught in the rye.

Here is Linda's custom Manhattan at Fixe, a new restaurant in our neighborhood. They made it with her favorite High West rye and put it in a small barrel for aging. And yes, that is a chunk of bacon on the toothpick next to the cherry. The empty rye bottle that you see here is being used for water service.

That takes guts.

I got this shot of the window cleaners for our condo tower on a recent afternoon while I was working out in the gym. The iPhone is a great invention.

After brunch...buy a steak

We had brunch at Dai Due last Sunday and on our way out stopped by the butcher shop. No, we didn't buy this lovely steak but some stuffed quail.

Deconstructing sax

I loved this beautiful artwork at Wally Workman Gallery showing an "exploded" saxophone.

The great outdoors

We attended a show of paintings by our friend Gordon Fowler the other night. Here is one of his works. He has quite a reputation.

Good Morning

The morning of Jaunary 8, this was what I saw when I got out of bed.

Dutch boys

The way the light was falling on these boys at the McNay Museum, they looked like a painting by a Dutch master.

The Judd

OK, so we're going to give you a few shots that we took in San Antonio on a recent jaunt. Here is Linda looking at a Donald Judd piece in the McNay Museum which has a magnificent collection.

Hidden gems

We were walking around West Austin the other day and I saw this collection of shiny objects secreted inside some rocks outside a house.

Hidden gardens

I love how our town has so many little tucked-away places with plant life growing. Here you see a garden of cactus plants in an alley.

Historically good food

Lambert's Restaurant is in a building near us. Its owners have withstood the pressures to tear it down and replace it with a more modern structure. It is kind of nice to have a few buildings from a bygone era in our downtown neighborhood.

Pretty setting

We attended a party at a friend's penthouse condominium on a recent night. This beautiful table setting with candles was part of the decor.

Going up!

Here is the latest view from our building of the construction to the south of us. Three major projects are in the works, including the new central library to the right of center and a bridge extending Second Street west across Shoal Creek.

Sunset Over Lady Bird Lake

Our friend Jackie captured this sunset on December 23. That's Lady Bird Lake, the Lamar Bridge and Cesar Chavez Street. Beautiful.

The whirling cosmos

Sometimes sidewalk art does look nice, though it's a pain to clean it up.

Old China, New Eatery

These decorative plates are on the wall of a new restaurant in our neighborhood called Fixe. We like this place and will be coming back for more good food with an Old South flair.

A high ceiling of fun!

We ate dinner with some friends at our favorite downtown restaurant on NY Eve. They had the place full of festive balloons for the occasion. Happy New Year to all!

A Year in Progress

It's January 1 and the tradition for City Daily Photo is to present your picture of the year. There were a few candidates from this year's collection but we wanted to show this one because it shows the logo in progress on the new J W Marriott Hotel. So much of our year in Austin was about construction and this shows the altered view we now have from our place as it was happening. We are the ultimate 'sidewalk superintendents' in downtown Austin. Click here to see other City Daily Photos pictures of the year.