Fine Food with an Attitude

We took a break from the endless moving to have a bite to eat and a glass of wine and we tried to branch out but ended up at Taste Select Wines. We raved about our ostrich and marlin dishes and Chef Bill McGrory came out to say 'hello' with his new mohawk. Austin is loaded with talented chefs with experience in venues in other you'd recognize doing great food in places where you can often walk in and cadge a seat and get lots of friendly greetings. Not that it wouldn't do us good to plan ahead and make a reservation: we had to choose between an out-of-the-way two top or a seat at the bar. The latter garnered us lots of attention including the chef's visit, though.

Shopping for the Garden

I took this picture a year ago, but I imagine the little shop, Pitchforks and Tablespoons, beside Eastside Cafe looks pretty much the same today. Great place to grab a gift or something you've been needing for kitchen or garden while waiting for a scrumptious meal. I've shown you Eastside's garden, too.

Blast from the Past

I've been a little lazy taking pictures so I'm taking you back to March 2005 for a photo from Auditorium Shores. There was an art exhibit of giant, billboard-sized works about the theme of Coexistence. I think SXSW was going on, too, so there was a fence to control access to the concert area.

The Capital from On High

As friends move into higher and higher units you can see the Capitol from different angles. From our tenth floor perspective you can just see the dome. But from the 22nd floor you can see the entrance and a little of the lawn. Our building tapers at the 17th floor to accommodate view corridors that are maintained to the preserve views from here and there.

Named at Last

If you live in Austin, you might notice a story about Claire Wilson James on the front page of the Austin-American Statesman. (I would link you to it but they will annoy you with log-ins and such.) Here she is at The University of Texas standing near a temporary wreath with a framed list of the victims of the August 1, 1966 Tower shootings that we showed you yesterday. Claire's survival is an amazing story. It's also amazing that so little about it was really publicized about victim's stories in the climate of 1966. Those stories would create a feeding frenzy today.

Forty Two Years After A Tragedy

Well-reported in the news media here, yesterday marked the naming of a Travis County Precinct Three Building the 'Tower Heroes Building' to honor the peace officers and civilians who acted heroically to cut short the spree of a sniper from the UT Tower on August 1, 1966. A wreath was placed along the dais and it honored the victims of the shooting whose names appear in no permanent place at this time. This wreath was placed later at the Memorial Turtle Pond. Claire Wilson James was here yesterday to honor her friend Tom Eckman and her unborn child who died and to honor the people who braved the sniper fire to save her after scores of minutes bleeding on the concrete, shot in the first volley from the tower.

Theme Day: Metal

We are soon leaving our big yard and its junk metal musicians behind. This is a detail of the innards of the sousaphone player. I've shown you some of this sculpture before. The French horn player here and the trumpet player here. Since I soon won't own that backyard I thought it most appropriate for theme day to show it. We are probably leaving most of the band behind for the new owners but we are probably selling the trumpet player since we found a willing buyer.

The City Daily Photo group always has a theme day on the first of the month. This month's theme is metal
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