Wordless Wednesday: Baby paleontologist!

Home on the Range

Isn't this a fabulous piece of sculpture?! I recently visited the building that it graces, one of our city's newest and most interesting museums. 

The Briscoe Western Art Museum is downtown and I'd been wanting to visit ever since it opened and just hadn't found the time. Then, a Texas Public Radio volunteer opportunity there came up on the the calendar and I jumped at this excuse to finally see the place.

We didn't have the time to look at all the exhibits with as much care as I would have liked, so a follow-up visit is definitely in the cards. But we saw plenty of neat stuff, starting with this impressive and thoughtful piece in the museum's lobby:

This is just one side of the monumental bronze. It's called Visions of Change, and it summarizes a sizeable chunk of Texas history eloquently. The other side contrasts the cowboy and longhorns with a Native American and buffalo, as you can sort of see on the left here. The piece is so big it was hard to get a good shot that conveys its entire message. You should go see it in person!

I realized when going through my photos, I must have been much more taken with the sculptures and artifacts than the paintings, since I don't have any shots of the latter! But the sculptures were all pretty cool. Here's another one I really liked:

I don't remember the exact title, and it's not featured on the museum's website, but it was something about being "upstream." An artistic expression of an event that we've had to deal with in reality occasionally: keeping a hold on your boat in a strong current.

The artifacts were also impressive, from ceremonial swords, to an amazing collection of spurs that looked really painful! to some really gorgeous saddles, like this one:

One of the major pieces is this beautiful stagecoach:

But I like the little gems just as well, like this charming pipe:

The building is an appropriately fine setting for these wonderful pieces. It used to be the Public Library, built in 1930 on the site of the original Carnegie Library that was severely damaged in the great flood of 1921. In 1968, the Library relocated to a larger building a few blocks away, and I think of that as the "old" Library. (It moved to its current location in the 1990's.) But Henry still thinks of the building housing the Briscoe as the old library. But I have to call it the old-old one.

After the Library moved out, the building became  the Hertzberg Circus Museum, and housed this extensive collection of circus memorabilia and circus-related art for many years. The city relinquished control of the collection in 2001 and the materials were passed along to the Witte, our fine natural history museum. The building was vacant for several years, and who knows what establishment might have ended up in that prime real estate (it's right on the River, for gosh sakes!).

Fortunately, it has a tenant worthy of its interesting history and its architectural dignity. I spent most of my volunteer time in the lobby and was intrigued by its gorgeous ceiling. The museum staff told us that it was the original ceiling from the 1930 structure. Later I was able to get a closer view from the mezzanine:

You might notice in this photo a row of circular medallions just below the ceiling, all around the walls. Here's what they look like:

Aren't they neat? We asked the staff if they were added when the building was remodeled to make it the Briscoe, since they have that western art vibe. But, no, they are orginal, just like the ceiling. So back when this space was where people brought their library books to check out, and now where people come to see western art, the old buffalo nickels are still keeping watch.

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.