Dancin' for Dance

Last night was Ballet Austin's annual fund-raising Fête. The theme was White Nights (Russia) for the birthplace of ballet. The party was the first event of several to celebrate the grand opening of the building to house the company, the Ballet Austin Academy and the administration. The party flowed from the Armstrong-Connelly Studio (cocktails, hors d'oeuvre, purchase of eggs that started as part of the decor and had slips of paper inside announcing prizes) to the AustinVentures StudioTheater (dinner and announcements and live auction) and back to Armstrong-Connelly for coffee and dessert and on to the Joe T. and Teresa Lozano Long Grand Foyer for more dessert and dancing to a DJ. You could climb the stairs and sit in the (Your Name Here, Naming Opportunities still remain) Board Room and watch the dancing through the glass wall while enjoying coffee or a nightcap. You could have your fortune read there.

Forrest stood on the stairs and took this picture of the dancing. Dancing at a Ballet Austin event is a trip as many of the professional company members will take the floor! The swirls in the floor announce donors but they also make a nice sweep in this picture of dancers. And, yes, we danced. I hope there are no pictures!

The Grand Opening continues Sunday and you can be a part of that one without a tuxedo or an expensive ticket. See here for the festivities.

Actually the Weather is Pleasant (Well, Somewhat)

The shop Blackmail on South Congress had this window dressing on Monday. Usually around the first of September the weather remains unremittingly hot and sunny here. Not so much this year, though. It's all the rain I guess. Sure it's humid but as I type this it is almost eight o'clock and not 80 degrees (Fahrenheit) yet. OK, it's 79. We have a black tie event tonight, though. Makes me almost start sweating even before I go out to play tennis even though I'm sitting in my cool office.

Another SoCo Guitar

It's been a few days since I showed you one of these guitars. This is one of the ones on South Congress, near the Austin Motel and El Sol y La Luna.

Local Coffee at Jo's

Yesterday a friend and I arranged to meet at a place on South Congress (Botticelli's) so she could buy me a (belated) birthday lunch. I thought the place might be closed on Mondays or holidays or both. But we figured we'd find a place after we met up in any case. I got there early. Some triathlon that involved Town (Lady Bird) Lake was finishing up. The street was awash in people (some with bikes, backpacks and numbers written on their arms with Sharpies). The selected spot was closed so I made a survey of places that were open, snapping pictures. Jo's was open along with Enoteca, South Congress Cafe, El Sol y La Luna, Doc's, Zen, Amy's (eat ice cream only). Lastly Texas French Bread, a bakery and coffee shop was open. Jo's offers limited lunch choices and some of the other places (Enoteca, SoCo Cafe) had long waits. We are savvy though and popped into Texas French Bread where excellent soup and fresh sandwiches on bakery bread was on offer and there was no line and empty tables.

Cool thing is that I think that Zen is a chain, but these other places are local. There are four more restaurants that weren't open at the moment (evening only or Mondays or whatever). All local. Texas French Bread and Jo's are only chains in the sense that their local owners have more than one location. I love supporting local eateries. And my half pimento cheese sandwich (which was gigantic) and chicken tortilla soup was great.

House in the Neighborhood

Real estate prices have gone up in Austin and especially our neighborhood in the three decades I've been here. Although nothing like the spike on the coasts and other places. The median price in our metropolitan area is about a fourth of that of, say, San Jose. The median price in the neighborhood may be closer to half of San Jose. Still, someone has taken the time for a traditional old-fashioned addition. Probably didn't even get a permit. Nice to see. FFP peeked toward the backyard of another house in the neighborhood where he used to play in a tree house. Even the tree is gone, he thinks. Must be strange to be walking where you grew up. We were wandering the neighborhood on foot yesterday morning before the rain going for a coffee and looking at what was going on.

A Great Week For Ballet Austin

Here you see Ballet Austin's Butler Dance Education Center with the new banners and the condos where LB and FFP will live one day rising behind it. It is a great week for Ballet Austin. Today the local daily ran an article about our new downtown home. Next Sunday the community is invited for the grand opening. And Thursday night the new building will actually be the site of the annual black-tie fund-raising fête.

Pay Attention to Instructions

I made a little collage for you today. Some of the signs I see on my daily rounds. I think FFP snapped the irrigation warning. (I've yet to understand what I should do about this. It is on the grass at the water treatment plant near our club.) I've never quite understood why you have to tell left turners to yield, but you see that sign at traffic lights where there is both an arrow (for protected turns) and a green light where you can proceed with caution. Our stop lights are hung in the middle of the intersection most of the time. I get confused in countries where the light is on the corner and you can go too far and not see it. The plethora of signs at the bottom are on our street, trying to deter you from running over a median, warn trucks off the smaller road to the right and watch for water over the nearby bridge. (I have never seen water on the bridge by the way but the city recently put these up wherever they didn't have a water level warning system on the waterway.) Finally, we have an unusual sign that identifies one lane of our street as for bikes and parked cars, but no driving.

Check out other sites participating in the 'street lights and signs' theme day:

Seattle (WA), USA - Ocean Township (NJ), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Singapore, Singapore - Boston (MA), USA - Mexico (DF), Mexico - Kajang (Selangor), Malaysia - Mainz, Germany - Evry, France - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Sequim (WA), USA - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Nottingham, UK - Toulouse, France - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Manila, Philippines - Mumbai, India - Montpellier, France - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Stayton (OR), USA - Moscow, Russia - Paris, France - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Austin (TX), USA - Lyon, France - Stockholm, Sweden - Hyde, UK - Hong Kong, China - Joplin (MO), USA - Seoul, South Korea - Chandler (AZ), USA - St. Louis (MO), USA - Arlington (VA), USA - Anderson (SC), USA - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Villigen, Switzerland - Sydney, Australia - Ampang (Selangor), Malaysia - Montego Bay, Jamaica - Norwich (Norfolk), UK - San Diego (CA), USA - Bandung (West Java), Indonesia - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Melbourne, Australia - Nelson, New Zealand - Quincy (MA), USA - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Bend (OR), USA - Wellington, New Zealand - New Orleans (LA), USA - Cypress (TX), USA - Nashville (TN), USA - Bucaramanga (Santander), Colombia - Detroit (MI), USA - Saigon, Vietnam - Selma (AL), USA - Phoenix (AZ), USA - Miami (FL), USA - Arradon, France - Sheki, Azerbaijan - New York City (NY), USA - Inverness (IL), usa - North Bay (ON), Canada - Melbourne, Australia - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Tenerife, Spain - Auckland, New Zealand - Forks (WA), USA - Rotterdam, Netherlands - Chateaubriant, France - Madison (WI), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Orlando (FL), USA - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Ajaccio, France - Baltimore (MD), USA - Crepy-en-Valois, France - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Budapest, Hungary - Lyon, France - Saarbrücken, Germany - Adelaide (SA), Australia - Le Guilvinec, France - River Falls (WI), USA - Stavanger, Norway - Naples (FL), USA - London, UK - La Antigua, Guatemala - Philadelphia (PA), USA - Montréal (QC), Canada - Paris, France - San Diego (CA), USA - Trujillo, Peru - Haninge, Sweden - Prague, Czech Republic - Oslo, Norway - Grenoble, France - Shanghai, China - Toronto (ON), Canada - Durban, South Africa - Zurich, Switzerland - Cape Town, South Africa - Singapore, Singapore - Torino, Italy - Flagstaff (AZ), USA