Season's greetings to all!

Hoping for peace and justice (both of which might be hard to come by) for all in 2017. 

We love the way our super-cool county courthouse decorates for the holidays. 

And we also appreciate these near neighbors, who really went nuts this year with lights on their trees. The yard is like a wonderland!

Holiday greetings to all!

Before the freeze

It's turned really cold here, and really quickly!

Saturday we had a pleasant upper-60's-lower-70's paddle on the San Marcos River. (And Joline came with us! That's her in the front of Henry's canoe amid lovely autumn leaves in the photo above.)

Then Sunday morning it plunged to freezing and didn't get much warmer all day. [Note to northern readers: this is cold for us.]

So we were doubly glad that we were able to enjoy the warmth on Saturday. And we weren't the only ones taking advantage: there were lots of turtles trying to catch a little passive solar...

this is just one of the turtle "families" we saw

...even though with the cloudy skies, there wasn't a whole lot of solar on offer.

The flow of the river was quite brisk and so we didn't have a lot of work to do until we got to the slow water behind Staples Dam, which is where the photo at the top of the post was taken, as well as this one:

The leaves and the reflections on the still water were so pretty I couldn't resist taking several photos, and didn't even mind the extra paddling required...at least not too much.

Of course the San Marcos has seen [what seems like] more than its share of big floods in the last couple of years (the link is to a story about their latest). And all that high water can't help but carve out changes in the riverbed; several of my paddling companions have better river memories than I do and could point to where such changes are most noticeable.

But it's clear even to someone like myself, who can never remember which stretch of which river has which rapids, that some recent changes in topography have occurred. Like these new cliff-faces:

pretty high!

exposed roots and a tree that was too close to the edge

Our trip was nice and calm, though, with only these (among other) pieces of visual evidence hinting at past violence.

We even got a little sunshine just before taking out! Nothing like diamonds on the river!

Wordless Wednesday: appropriately ornate storage

River excursions

I've been down to the [San Antonio] River a couple of times lately, and hope to make it a regular occurrence. A bus ride to downtown and back costs only $.32 with my senior pass, and from there I can take my daily walk in really great surroundings! 

That's what I did a few weeks ago, and while there I snapped these shots of the lovely tiles that adorn the Riverwalk walls as the traditional Walk merges into the Museum Reach.

I thought this was a clever use of art to somewhat disguise a functional hatch
(although it would have been nice if they could have
included the drain at lower right!)

I liked this one because it shows "You are here"...
...see the red dot?

A couple of weeks before this trip, I rode a river taxi downstream from the Pearl with my adorable Exceptional Grandchild and her equally exceptional mom.

in case you're wondering, that's a Uganda national soccer team jersey she's wearing...
...souvenir from well-traveled Auntie B!

We saw all kinds of neat river views from the boat...cool bridge decorations...

umbrellas (?) at Brooklyn Ave.

interesting ribbon-like trim at Newell St.

...lots of new construction...

...and lovely older structures

...and of course we sailed under the fish.

We ended up walking back upstream instead of riding. Which did allow us to see some more Riverwalk art up close, like these attractive panels:

Nix thought they were pretty nice, too...

Why walk instead of ride? Well, for some reason, our young passenger was a little freaked out by the locks (that Gramma thinks are so cool)...

I don't think she's claustrophobic, since she loves playing under the sheets on the bed. But perhaps the somewhat dank smell of the lock was disturbing. Or maybe it was just that it was hot and she was tired.

However, the walk back was fun anyway. And Gramma still likes the locks, especially this time of the year, when they help make the Riverwalk that much more festive. This "tree" is up at street level at the side of the lock and dam. 

Merry Christmas!

Wordless Wednesday: only in Austin, I guess

As Its Whimsey Takes It*

Where do you suppose this lovely view of downtown Austin (complete with nearly full moon rising) was taken?

You couldn't be blamed for guessing perhaps Mt. Bonnell, or some other pristine, unspoiled hillside. But you'd be wrong! It's from the top of this quirky, quintessentially Austin-ite block, just off Lamar:

Known locally as "Graffiti Wall," it's actually a whole series of walls that look like part of a half-destroyed, or half-never-built industrial complex.

And every—I do mean every—square centimeter of surface is covered with whimsical, colorful expressions of Austin's vaunted weirdness.

Even the leaves on many of the bushes show evidence of artistic impulses (or perhaps just a cleaning out of the sprayers)...

...as well as do the trees at the edges of the lot (note tree trunk on the far left here):

We spent some time wondering just what the place was before it became a free-for-all gallery, but couldn't come up with anything rational...

It's a very steep lot (as I can testify, having climbed up it more than once, requiring a couple of rest stops each time!)...

...so whatever it was going to be, or whatever it was, must have been a pretty spectacular piece of construction. (And considering that this is pretty prime real estate to be vacant and non-revenue-producing, it's not surprising there are rumblings that it will soon have to close up shop.)

Although nothing could be quite as spectacular as what it's become...

Although I suspect the delightful neighborhood that surrounds the space would have been a little quirky on its own. I loved the blue building that you can see in this shot, just across the street. Aren't those adorable little windows?!

I was too overwhelmed by my macro impressions of the place to focus on taking too many pictures of individual masterpieces (you can see a bunch more pictures from it, at least as it looked earlier this year, in this newspaper article). But here's one we all liked quite a bit, with the artist in frame, looking like he's contemplating his next brushstroke—or, more accurately, I suppose, his next squirt.

The next generation found the colors and activity pretty cool, too...

...especially when she was asked to join a young woman dancing, apparently taking a video of herself on a particularly colorful stage...

Note the ever-present "yeyyo" boots: perfect disco accessories!

---

*Just having finished a Dorothy Sayers re-read, I couldn't resist this reference to the Wimsey coat of arms.

Wordless Wednesday: a series of tubes

Austin art

In and around the joyous wedding festivities in Austin (congratulations, Trally!) I got to experience some great public art. This lovely jack-o-lantern, carved by the mother of the groom (who did a bang-up job on all the decorations, much better than the mother of the bride would have been able to come up with, should it have been left to me!) wasn't exactly public, but it's so cute I had to lead off with it.

Here's some of the other cool stuff we saw around A-town and the UT campus. First up, I know I've shown you this amazing "too many boats" sculpture that's near Sally's office before, but I don't think my previous shots have included the iconic Texas tower as well:

Also not far from her building (which is a work of art in itself) is a breathtaking new installation, on top of an also new student center. This link gives more information about it, and some pictures that show the whole thing, but I also want to share my more impressionistic glimpses:

the cylinder from outside

a welcome oval of blue after many days of rainy weather; this was taken inside

More campus art, that I have also noted before, is this handsome bronze outside of the Texas Memorial Museum...

...of course made even more beautiful with the addition of these lovely ladies, busy admiring it:

We also had fun sampling some local art not yet on normal public display, at the East Austin Studio Tour. Here are some samples:

this metal sculpture was one of my favorite items

that's hundreds, if not thousands, of rolls of newspaper!

this whimsical offering is titled "Deep Eddy Pool Centennial"

And finally, after a yummy dinner downtown, we took in a series of installations along Waller Creek. We particularly liked the "Creek Zipper," and took several photos of the lights and their reflections in the water:

More reflections cast by this bright arch near our restaurant:

And this was one of the most popular spots along the creek, not surprisingly, eh?

As impressive as all this art is, there's even more, and with an even more Austin-like twist, coming up next time.

I'll close today with another shoutout to the bride and groom; thanks for throwing such a fun party in such an interesting city!