Sixth Street on a Saturday Morning

Barton Springs Road Bridge

It’s high time for the bottom of another bridge. This time the small bridge across Barton Springs Road.

I’ve been keeping this one and I find it hard to give it up. I don’t know when I’ll come across anything I like as much. Because it’s short and low above the water, and even lower above the path, it’s almost cozy, intimate even,  in a concrete bridge-bottom kind of way.

Founders Day Festival at Night

T, R and I spent some time at the Dripping Springs Founders Day Festival last night. I enjoyed the light versus darkness.

One of the first photos I took was of the sign below, at the Knights of Columbus stand, where they sold raffles. The sign shows what you could win. Needless to say, I didn’t buy a raffle ticket. Other than that it was a wonderful time.

Photo Challenge: Up

This is not the sharpest of photos, because I took it with my cell phone at a traffic light here in downtown Austin. At dusk, the grackles congregate on the power lines, preferably along the roads and above parking lots. The sound is indescribable–loud but pleasant, like the sound of the shower in the morning. On hot days it almost makes it feel cooler.

To Kill a Mountain Lion . . . With a Spatula

(image from realaspen.com)

We moved from the Rio Grande Valley to Austin almost seven years ago. From the beginning, I was afraid of encountering a mountain lion. T always laughed, but I insisted it wasn’t unthinkable.

When Doris Lets Me Down

(Image from mappery.com)

The Evolution of X recently wrote a post about maps versus smartphones. Unlike E of X, I do like using the narration on my smartphone. It saves time, money and gas.

When I look at a map to get somewhere in a city, I have to look several times because I have a memory like a sieve. Now, looking at a map while driving is never a good idea, not to mention

Beyond the Mopac Bridge

(Image from forum.dallasmetropolis.com)

Time for another bridge post. And no, this one isn’t about the Mopac bridge. For the first time ever, I present to you the bottom of a different bridge. The Lamar Boulevard Bridge, the one east of the Mopac Bridge across Town Lake in Austin, Texas, the United States of America.

My Favorite American Store

A week or so ago, one of my favorite bloggers posted about the clothes in her wardrobe. She has since taken the post down, so I can’t link to it. But it reminded me of one of my favorite things here in America.

About once year I need some serious clothes shopping. Usually because I have gotten even fatter have given myself a size promotion.

Happy Holidays!

Okay, so yesterday I was a bit of a Debbie Downer, it being Christmas Eve, but both our kids have the flu. They were upstairs in their rooms, feeling miserable, and we decided to pretend that today is Christmas Eve and we’ll have presents under the tree tomorrow. So that’s my excuse.

Anything Helps 4: Mustache Man

(Image from:
members.virtualtourist.com

Sometimes a homeless man with a huge horseshoe mustache panhandles at one of the intersections in southwest Austin. I don’t talk with him much, because the timing is rarely right. He’s accompanied by a black Labrador, who usually sits under an umbrella stuck in the ground, a water bowl within reach.

Thanksgiving 2: Living in Austin

I really, really, really appreciate living in Austin. Even though we live on the edge of the Hill Country, we have an Austin address. We literally have the best of both worlds. I drive all the way into town every day, so I go from seeing deer graze behind our house

Thanksgiving 1: Green

I think I’ll do a few posts abut what I’m thankful for, on our way to Thanksgiving. I’m thankful for all the green around me, here in the Texas Hill Country.

It’s the Invasion of the Invisible Spiders

Those of you who’ve been following my blog for a while know by now of my weird fascination with the underbelly of Austin’s Mopac Bridge. Every now and then I just have to spend an entire post on this butt-ugly structure that I somehow cannot get enough of.

Anything Helps 3: There but for Luck Goes Your Child

(Image from tonic.com)

Disclaimer: I know most of my readers are compassionate people. So this is directed toward–well, you’ll know who you are.

From the first time I came to America with T, then my boyfriend, I have been shocked at the number of homeless here.

Anything Helps 2: A Woman With a Dog

(Image from andilit.com)
I know this is a man, but it’s a good picture, isn’t it?

In an earlier post I wrote about Steve, a homeless guy I see almost every day after dropping off the kids at school.

Another homeless person I’ve met, but only once, was a woman in her late thirties or early forties. It was a cold and rainy day, and I stopped at the traffic light she was at, beside an overpass, in between showers. When I gave her some money she thanked me and told me to stay dry.

Hamilton Pool: An Autumn Walk

Another beautiful spot only 30 minutes from our house is Hamilton Pool. It’s a small park, with a path going along a small stream to the Pedernales River in one direction, and in the other direction it goes to the actual pool.

Anything Helps 1: Hillbilly Steve

Right now lots of extra people are homeless due to Hurricane Sandy. But I’m going to write about some of the long-term homeless in Austin who I meet while waiting for a green light on my many drives around town. If for no other reason than that I already had most of this post ready before Sandy hit.

Top Ten Musical Memories

When I hear a song I haven’t heard for a while, I immediately remember where I first heard it, or where I bought it, or which hangout played it a lot. . .

I thought I’d share some of them.

1. Morning Town Ride by The Seekers

Early Morning Walk

I thought you might like something nice, after the last post. This morning, after dropping the kids off at school early (their math teacher has office hours at 7:30 am), I went on a brief walk around Town Lake here in Austin. The sun was only just up when I started, and it was slightly misty. I only had my phone with me, but I’m always amazed that the pictures aren’t half bad.

Pedernales Falls Milked for All They’re Worth 5

It doesn’t look like the water is very forceful, but people kept drowning around here. The water has formed big holes in the rock under water, and there are treacherous currents. So since the end of the seventies, swimming is no longer allowed.

Pedernales Falls Milked for All They’re Worth 3

The Pedernales River winds across the Texas Hill Country, and at Pedernales Falls State Park it has a wide stretch of rock falls. The word “falls” suggests water falling from a height, but it’s actually a gradual sloping stretch of rock about a mile long, that the water runs over, or slips over. So it’s not as vertically spectacular as, say, Niagara Falls, but it’s still pretty grand, in that low-key Texas Hill Country way. In short, I’m building it up, but I don’t want to set you up for disappointment, either. Because then you might voice that disappointment, and I don’t know if I could handle that, since I’m really rather fond of Pedernales Falls.

Pedernales Falls Milked for All They’re Worth 1

I’m going to be very busy with translations this coming week, and I took about 100 photos yesterday when B and I went to Pedernales Falls, so I’m going to spread them out.

My American Dream

This is what I dreamed last night.

I was in a school gym, remembering how we would be made to run laps around a gym just like that in high school in the Netherlands. And I remembered that I could. I’d be tired, and I’d be protesting loudly like any self-respecting un-sporty teenage girl should, but that’s all. And I resented–in this dream–that I can’t run for two minutes now without having a gimpy knee for the next two weeks (this is real; I ran for two minutes last weekend, and now it hurts when I walk down steps).

A Dream Come True: The Tea Embassy in Austin

During and after library school, in the Netherlands, I had several dreams. Like working as a jillaroo on an Australian sheep station (which I dropped when I realized how much I’d be sweating).  And the one I had with my room mate, where we would move to London after graduation and share an apartment,  living off the money we would make being maids in hotels and such (so glad my parents talked me out of that one). Or the last one, when I had already been working as a librarian for several years, which was taking a group of Aussie and Kiwi guys up on their invitation to join them driving a jeep across Africa for a year (which I wouldn’t have dared by then, in fear of never getting a library job again if I was out of the market for that long).

Living in a Hospital: The Building

You probably have the same image popping into your mind as I do at the word “hospital”. Big, drab building with endless, oppressive hallways that all look the same, right? Well, it seems that the architects of Dell Children’s Hospital have been primarily intent on challenging that stereotype.

Living in a Hospital: The Food

The hospital in Cody, Wyoming had what you expect to get as hospital food: completely cooked-to-death veggies, blah mashed potatoes and bland, greasy meat. Pretty close to the high fat, zero fiber diet in hospitals in south Texas when we had the pleasure. They had a cafeteria in Cody, but it seemed to be closed most of the time. However, they did give any of us with B at mealtime a hospital meal as well, free of charge, which was really nice, because they didn’t have to do that.

Living in the Hospital: The Staff

A commenter on a previous post wanted to remind me that it’s never fun to have to be in the hospital, however nice it is. Of course not. So don’t get me wrong, I’d much rather B be better and at home, but that doesn’t stop me from being impressed with the hospital, and everything they have and do to make the stay as comfortable as possible under the circumstances.

Armadillos and Music

Two of the great things about living in Austin are the wildlife and the music. One of my favorite Austin bands is The Austin Lounge Lizards, and one of my favorite Austin Lounge Lizard songs is “Arnold”.  I feel like I’ve posted this before, but I can’t find it. And if you’ve listened to it before, I know you will love to listen to it again.

Translation Procrastination

I’m in a coffeeshop here in Austin, not feeling like translating, because my kids have their final exams today and then they’re off, so I can’t concentrate. What better time to download Instagram and start experimenting with all the graffiti on a wall right across the street?

Leslie

One of the many things I like about Austin is its quirkiness.

Austin is a small, liberal and pretty open-minded island in the rest of a very conservative state. And Austinites are proud of that. We drive around in cars with bumper stickers that say “Keep Austin Weird” and we wear tie-dye T-shirts with the same slogan.

One of Austin’s icons, pushing the weirdness envelope hard, was Leslie. The very first night my husband and I went out after we moved here, we were walking around 6th street.