Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to Everyone!

So many stockings!

(Two more than last year; Gramma has been busy)

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!

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!

Greetings [of your choice]

However and wherever you choose to celebrate the solstice, I hope you are having a wonderful day and season!

Christmas in A-town

On a visit up I-35 last week we braved the crowds to see Austin's famous Christmas tree in Zilker Park (there's even a song about it! but then everything in Austin is of course super-cool).

After a yummy dinner at a nearby food-truck lot (it was our granddaughter's first food-truck experience, but she slept through it), we walked over to the tree. It's next to the Trail of Lights, which looked pretty impressive, 

But we weren't up to that long a stroll, and experienced plenty of Christmas awe just standing under the tree. The way the lights are strung to create the tree is quite clever, making a spiral effect when you stand directly under the center...

There are smaller-scale, and quite lovely, Christmas cheer elsewhere in town, too. Like on Sally's front door...

But of course, the main Austin attraction these days isn't directly related to Christmas, although her appearance in the world is the best present we could ever have...

little Nix and her two happy grandmothers..she's #1 for both of us!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Our street has really gone Snoopy this year! No, we're not nearly energetic enough to put up decorations this elaborate in our yard, but we do enjoy the fruits of others' labor.

We hope you and yours are enjoying a fun holiday!

Wordless Wednesday: everyone's cold here

Wordless Wednesday: not already!!?!!

Playing favorites

Nothing says Christmas to me more than tree ornaments.

And, although I'm quite fond of the plain, colored glass balls, I find each year that the ornaments I most enjoy placing on the tree are the ones with special stories or that are unique in some way.

I thought it might be fun to see if I could take decent pictures of some of these treasures. In some cases I was better at this than in others, but I hope you forgive some of the blurriness and enjoy seeing them. And I hope they might make you remember some favorites of your own.

---

Ornaments made at school are the most precious:

Sally in pre-school, 1987-8

Hal at Mother's Day Out 1983

And then, of course, the hand-made treasures from school days are priceless:

Some other of the hand-made ornaments we have aren't as obviously handmade...

one of my great-aunts was very into ceramics and made this for us

stitchery was very popular  in my family for several years...

personalized, dated, handiwork is especially treasured

My mother made us a series of little gingerbread men like the one you see above here. Also featured in this photo is another good category: ornaments from favorite places. The blue-white ball is from Glacier National Park. And the ball on the lower right is a favorite old ornament that I "inherited" from Mom's collection. Here's another one:

In general, I'm a fan of simple elegance in ornaments...

but as much as I like the clear ball above, I'm also fond of a set of ornate hand-mades that, unlike most of my Christmas crafts, actually turned out okay:

Another favorite series are some "crystal" plastic plaque-like ornaments that Mom gave us. Dated! Which automatically brings back memories of Christmases past...

beside the 1981 plaque is another favorite "inherited" ball—looks very '60's, doesn't it?

the 1982 plaque is near another one of those gingerbread men

1980 was a very special Christmas...the first one that we were really a family instead of just a couple

I'll finish up with one of our favorite whimsical decorations...and we're hoping he—and we— have some snow to ski on soon!

I hope you are all enjoying your trees and other decorations and are having a wonderful holiday season!

Wordless Wednesday: an early seasonal tree

Getting ready for Christmas

In my last regular post I promised to explain how we got so cold in Salida that we just had to have some Cambodian Pho. You'll see we had a very good reason!

It was our first time ever to be there in November, and just by accident found out about a local tradition that, as prospective future residents, we felt obliged to attend.

The Friday after Thanksgiving, they light up the hill at the foot of F Street (which is the old town's "main street") for Christmas. And they do it in style. With a real, old-fashioned, small-town parade. As you can see in this photo, taken before the parade started, it's quite a well-attended occasion. So we were glad we got there early:

But it was a bit chilly. So walking around downtown, then standing to save our spot for the parade for a while, then watching it, made us more than ready for the hot soup.

But the whole affair was great fun. There were impressive parade participants on stilts (above)...

...and of course, in decorated cars. As well as musical entertainment while we waited...

Then, for the finale, the Christmas lights on the hill (unfortunately not showing up too clearly at the bottom of  this photo) were turned on, with an accompaniment of fireworks!

All in all, a very satisfying experience for a couple of visitors with an eye towards someday becoming locals. Maybe we'll even end up in the parade a few years from now.

Wordless Wednesday: PLEASE don't tell me it's Christmas already

Christmas Eve-Eve-Eve on the river

Wednesday night we went down to the Museum Reach section of the Riverwalk with some out-of-town visitors to admire the new lights on display.

very festive, no?

We just walked around a little bit, from the Pearl Brewery (see across the river above) downstream to the "grotto." (The link takes you to previous posts where you can see what this ambitious development looks like in daylight.)

The weather was great—cool but not cold—and it was a perfect way to walk off a big dinner. And to get into the holiday spirit for good.

We thought the garlands of lights on the poles (see at the right) were a very nice touch, as was the underwater illumination (which you can see in the photo at the top of the post) and the lighted fish under the freeway bridge by the Museum. We even saw a river barge go by filled with holiday tourists, complete with Santa hats (unfortunately not visible in the motion shot).




The old brewery has become a real showpiece for our town...especially lit up in its holiday finery. Merry Christmas, everyone!