Dancing the Day Away

I had to run an errand to the Butler Dance Education Center this week and while I was there I snapped a few shots. Here you see summer trainees in the new building. Note that this rehearsal studio is open to the street so passers-by can see what's happening. It's all a part of emphasizing that Ballet Austin is indeed accessible to everyone.

Full Throttle

Old gauges still inside the Seaholm Power Plant. Downtown seems to be going "full throttle" on its "first stage."

A Powerful Sight

Here's another good shot that Linda took at the abandoned Seaholm power plant near the shores of Town Lake in the heart of downtown Austin. These old smokestacks now stand as silent testimony to all the years they served our city.

In the next few years, construction crews will be transforming this area into a complex of retail shops and other businesses, a luxury hotel, and condos. A train stop for the rail system that will connect San Antonio and Austin is also planned for the west side of the old power plant. Just to the east, the new City Library is envisioned. (And Linda and I will be living about four blocks away, connected to this complex by footpaths. Am I excited? You bet!)

I love what's happening to our city.

Preserving a Power Plant

What was once an important power plant for a growing Austin has been sitting idle for some time. The iconic art deco decoration, the shape of the building and some (out of commission but visually interesting) stacks and boilers will remain but the building will become a multi-use retail and events center and have a hotel, condos, parking and green space around it. The Lance Armstrong bike way and the commuter rail will be nearby. That's the goal anyway. FFP and I went to a Heritage Society event where the future of the property was discussed. Thus I got close enough for some interesting pictures. Our new home will be mere steps aways from this property.

Local Coffee Shop

I will go to a Starbucks. But not willingly. I am a coffee addict and sometimes that's the only place you can find. I like one-off shops, though. In Austin, there is almost never an excuse to go to a chain. This is the sign for a shop with great coffee and tasty fresh food (including tacos, empanadas, omelets and some vegetarian treats). You can walk there from our house. Sunday we drove over before taking a trip to San Antonio to see a musical with friends. Pacha has a South American flavor and the coffee is very good. Sometimes we sit outside on one of the porches with our dog and our friend's standard poodle.

Even at the Austin airport, you won't find a Starbucks. I think the Schlotzsky's might serve their coffee. But if you are outside security you will find Fara Cafe which serves coffee grown in Nicaragua by some friends of mine. Our airport, you see, gives concessions to local purveyors almost exclusively.

Crape Myrtles

The Crape Myrtles (also called Crepe Myrtles, which looks most correct to me, or Lagerstroemia) are blooming around town just now. There are several types and species and they seem to bloom multiple times and different ones at different times. Some are as big as trees like this one with many trunks. Some are varieties that stay smaller. The blossoms are white or shades of light red or pink. I'm no plant expert. I am, in fact, the opposite of a plant expert. I'm plant stupid. This tall, pink-blossomed example is blooming near this stone structure at the cemetery entrance near our house. We have an example at our house which always seems to bloom out of sync with all the others, but it does have some blossoms now. We have had an exceptionally wet June, I think.

Elisabet Ney Museum

Linda snapped this photo the other day when we were taking a walking tour of Hyde Park with some friends. It shows a jaunty banner flying on top of the Elisabet Ney Museum. Elisabet Ney was a seminal figure in the Texas arts scene. Talk about a liberated woman! She built her studio called "Formosa" (which is now the museum) in Austin in 1892 and until her death in 1907, it was a central point for high level cultural discourse in Austin and all of Texas. (She kept her last name after she married, too.)

It was in this studio that she sculpted figures of the leading figures of Texas history, along with likenesses of many of the greats of Europe.

She and her husband Dr. Edmund Montgomery were key figures in establishing Texas universities and they had a lot to do with putting together the Texas Fine Arts Association.

If you're ever in Austin, the museum is open for tours and sculpting classes are held on the grounds.