Good luck charms work again!

I think the Spurs management should really buy us season tickets. Then the team would be the first in history to go 81-0!

We extended our personal winning streak last week, watching our boys beat perennial rivals the Utah Jazz by 20 points. And our vantage point was almost as sweet as this victory margin. Courtesy of business colleagues, we got to watch in complete comfort from one of the arena's fine suites. 

This was an un-zoomed view from the box:

And zooming in really gave us good photographic results (note that most of the photos in this post were taken with Henry's super camera). Here's a great shot I got of Kawhi Leonard, our wunderkind phenom, flying up for a score (he's #2):

And after a few tries, Henry was successful in capturing Danny Green's text-book-perfect shooting form. Note the feet off the floor and the beautiful flexed wrist—it's another Tarheel Triple!

We hung around the suite for a little while after the game, trying not to munch on too many potato chips, letting the traffic to thin out a bit. The wait allowed me to get this shot of the almost empty arena. I was intrigued by the giant ladder over the basket on the right side; I guess the next event the place is hosting is something other than an NBA game?

Although this season has been rather up and down so far, we're still super-proud of our guys in silver and black. Possibly, if not probably, these banners are all we'll be getting. But we know how lucky we are to have lived through this amazing run. 

Pretty impressive, no?

Worth getting up for

I confess to getting up only rarely in time to see sunrises. Much as I consider myself a morning person (and I do get a lot more work done in mornings than afternoons) I also like to sleep in.

However, in the winter it's a little easier to be up before the sun. And last weekend I had to get up early Sunday to drop Henry off at his soccer game on the way home from Canyon Lake.

And it was worth it!

Here's the lake before the sun peeped over the hills...

The air was so still and quiet...you could tell by the glass-like surface of the swimming pool, whereas the lake was slightly disturbed by the wakes from some early fishing boats...

...and the sky just got lighter and lighter and lighter, by degrees...

Almost makes me want to get up early every morning, although at home we don't have views like these.

Wordless Wednesday: some gold sighted through the screen

New venue

Our wonderful symphony (celebrating its 75th anniversary this year) has a new home and it. is. fabulous.

I've been to 3 of the 7 concerts in my symphony package so far this year, and I think I've got enough pictures of the Tobin Center to give you some idea of how gorgeous and interesting a place it is. (As you can tell from the link, it actually offers multiple venues for all kinds of entertainments, but all I've seen is the main concert hall. So far.)

Above is a shot from the end of my first concert, with the soloists, orchestra, and Mastersingers taking a bow after performing Mahler's 2nd Symphony.

Of course, my photos can't capture the sounds of the performances, but take my word for it, the kids sound wonderful. As cool and funky as their previous home base is (the Majestic Theatre, a few blocks away), the acoustics at the Tobin are on a whole different level.

before a performance

It's not just my perception, either. My beautiful and super-talented English horn Principal niece tells me that the musicians also sing the new hall's praises.

The building, the extensively remodeled old Municipal Auditorium (where our kids had their high school graduations!), is very interesting as well as sounding good. (You can see a couple of pictures of it during construction here.)

Here's a look down at the mezzanine snack bar from the stairs to the balcony...

Lots of curves and crannies and odd little touches. Which are interesting, for sure, but which also make finding your way about, especially upstairs where my seat is, a bit challenging. Just allow yourself a little extra time to find your seat, though, and you'll enjoy the journey.

Other amenities are first-rate, too, from the much more comfortable seats, the increased aisle room, and the ladies loo...

...quite lovely and large. Very welcome during busy intermission times. My only complaint is that (like the doors in the convention center facility) it's impossible to tell if a stall is occupied or not! Nice, clean lines and flush fits [so to speak] are visually appealing, but I'd rather have the doors hanging a bit ajar when not in use.

However, this is a miniscule design quibble. I love the place! This shot of the seating area, from my lower balcony level (I opted for a one-level upgrade in my tickets this year and really like my seat) gives some idea of the gorgeousness of the place:

This was taken during an intermission. Here's a detail when the lights are down of the striking banners (is this the right word for this design feature?) demarcating the seating levels...

Unfortunately my camera doesn't do low light very well, so I don't have good shots of the buildings exterior. Perhaps I can get Henry to go to a concert later in the season and if he takes some pictures with his super-camera, I'll be able to show it off better for you.

Unlike the developers of London's new Wembley Stadium, San Antonio retained the Auditorium's "twin towers" and the whole front facade. As you can see in the photos in my earlier post, everything behind that was demolished, but I think the old facade and the 21st-century addition make a nice statement about how our city likes to do historic preservation.

In this shot from further away, at the end of Veterans Memorial Park (that's our Vietnam Veterans Memorial in the foreground; the attractive building on the left is the old SW Bell Building; both it and the Auditorium were built in the 1920's). 

I'm looking forward to many, many more great concert experiences in this beautiful building. As I get more and better photos for you, I'll tell you more about it.

Glass houses

Of course, no one actually lives in these "houses," so they don't have to worry about throwing stones.

While taking a slightly longer walk than I'd planned a week ago, I ended up circling the wonderful San Antonio Botanical Gardens. The fancy "greenhouses" you see here are on their grounds.

Henry was busy doing yardwork at our old house, which is in Mahncke Park, a nice little neighborhood that either includes or is near to not only the Botanical Gardens, but the Witte Museum, Brackenridge Park, and several good restaurants.

It's these amenities, plus lower taxes, that make the idea of moving back to this house at some point in the future an attractive proposition. However, I really like our current place, and neighborhood, and the old homestead will need a lot of work. Which is why we can't quite decide whether to take this downsizing plunge or not.

At any rate, the Gardens are easy to get to anyway, and I will try to work in a visit this spring and show you some more of it, from the inside.

Holding court

I have occasionally mentioned here how much we love Texas courthouses. One of the finest in the state is very close at hand, right in the middle of our downtown.

I was a little surprised to find that I hadn't displayed more pictures of it in the blog, but here's a fairly nice one.

A week or so ago, I found myself down there again, to attend a reception, and had time to snap a few shots of this great building, inside...

lovely light fixtures

...and out:

You can see more pictures, including a couple of really neat ones on old postcards, at this woefully short Wikipedia article.

They are in the midst of an extensive internal restoration project, trying to redress at least some of the modern "improvements" and return some of the spaces to their Gilded Age glory. I hope to be able to show you some of this work in the future.

But for now there are at least some objects in evidence that let you touch the building's past:

now THAT's a mailbox!

Back when it was sunny...

We've had some pretty nasty weather lately. Which made my discovery of a set of photos taken in mid-December when it happened to be super-sunny a very welcome surprise.

I know I'm quite late in telling you about this pleasant walk I took with a friend, but I'm glad I hadn't blogged about it sooner. I rather need these glimpses of blue, blue sky now more than I did then!

It might look like the location for this walk was out in the country somewhere, but it's actually right in the middle of town—sort of.

I have blogged about Woodlawn Lake before, but I never have walked all the way around it. 

It's very easy to do, since there's a nice walking trail (although some of it was undergoing refurbishment work on this particular day). Even marked off to show you how far you've gone...

The bus that I usually ride to work runs right by the lake, and I've kept note of some serious flood control construction that's been going on along its north side. We had to make a detour for several months while the bridge on Woodlawn Avenue was being rebuilt. That's finished now, but the project still has a ways to go.

However, they've also completed some very nice new bridges over the feeder creek that comes into the Lake. And I got closer views of these on my walk...

new pedestrian bridge

new vehicle bridge

They're doing a very nice job with this creek, adding walkways and other amenities that remind me somewhat of what we've seen on the re-done sections of the San Antonio River.

Doing this walk somewhat regularly wouldn't hurt my weight-loss efforts a bit. And it would be nice to be able to keep up with the infrastructure work more closely than I can from the bus windows. I'll try to post some updates when it's finished!