Austin Daily Photo

hiatus

2006-11-27T23:33:00.000-06:00

Well as you can tell, we haven't been posting lately... life chez ADP just got a lot more busy than before, and there hasn't been any time for photography. We are sorry about this, and we miss posting here, but unfortunately work and family are taking precedence right now. Here is our plan: we're going to post as and when possible over the next month, then see how things stand in the New Year.

Meanwhile, any readers from Austin not familiar with the Daily Photo blog ring community might like to know that joining up is open to anyone who wants to post a daily photo from where they live- even if someone else is already doing so. Or if anyone would like to become a team member, we'd be glad to hear from them. Maybe we should invite photos for submission? Not sure if other DPs have considered anything like that.

Anyway, bye for now, and see you all soon hopefully.

Downtown from the Interstate

2006-11-20T23:03:00.000-06:00

This is a nice shot driving north into downtown on Interstate 35 going over Town Lake. You can just see the tip of the Frost Bank Tower sticking up on the left.

happy holidays already

2006-11-19T20:01:00.000-06:00

There is no point complaining about it, the shops are full of baubles and sweaters with jingle bells on, and this is not going to change for at least another month. In the meantime we found this outdoor decoration stuck up a lamp post outside a strip mall (an ourdoor row of shops) and rather liked the way it sparkled in the Texas sun.

Bouldin Creek coffee house

2006-11-18T19:48:00.000-06:00

Cool and groovy independent cafe Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse is your average South Austin caffeine dealer, open till midnight every day for drinks, foods and the usual cool and groovy stuff. There was some pretty interesting art there too, when we went the other day. If you're sick of Starbucks, or just too darn freaky to feel comfortable in there, this is the place to go instead. Which is good.

a house

2006-11-17T01:07:00.000-06:00

Well, it's going to be a house. I still can't believe (having lived in England most of my life) that you really can build houses out of wood and not spend the next six months watching them fall down again. But the climate is entirely wood friendly in Texas (hurricanes notwithstanding). They even make great big posh homes out of wood, and then stick pretend stone cladding on the outside to make them look... actually, I don't know why they do that. It seems daft to me.

England

2006-11-15T19:38:00.000-06:00

You're right- this isn't Austin. The truth is, we're temporarily out of Austin pictures, having used them all up while posting from the UK back then for a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, I thought you might like to see this- it was taken in the south coast seaside town of Lyme Regis (which I don't think has a Daily Photo blog yet...), on a day with some really amazing light shifts and effects and is definitely one of my favourites from our trip. The light in the UK is so different from in Texas, creating all kinds of shades and variations, not just "very bright sun" and "dazzling sunset".

Microsoft Technology Center

2006-11-13T09:03:00.000-06:00

This is a great shot of the Microsoft Technology Center in North Austin. I love the Mopac/183 flyover in the foreground and the cute little trees dwarfed by all the concrete. As well, the native grass all turned green while we were in England. The grass loves the autumn and spring rains but falls dormant and brown the rest of the year.

airport #2

2006-11-12T20:28:00.000-06:00

Here's another one I took in the airport, using the marvellous "angle your camera" technique! The real reason for the angle was to cut out the barriers which blocked bits of view from the upper level where the picture was taken. But the result was also more interesting angles. Plus a scary vertiginous "Help! I'm falling from the upper level onto the luggage conveyor system beneath!" effect... Aghhhhhhh!!

Industrial lines from the side of the road

2006-11-11T17:51:00.000-06:00

Regular readers may recall our obsession with power lines in the sky- this is some kind of power station transformer thingy place with lots of lovely lines all over the place. Sorry I don't know what, but it was the geometry that inspired, rather than the factual information. Maybe we should offer a free mango margarita to anyone who can identify its name accurately? (Apologies for the missing day yesterday- see sidebar for our customary ~~excuse~~ explanation...)

AUS

2006-11-09T22:45:00.000-06:00

This is a great shot Alice took while we waited on our sixth suitcase to come on the next plane. The Austin airport is very nice and clean and such a huge contrast to London Gatwick!

River City Donut South

2006-11-08T07:29:00.000-06:00

Here is the South Austin version of our favorite donut shop. The van was previously a Dunkin' Donut van and there seems to only be one Dunkin' Donut left in Austin. I also love the birds in this photo :)

Sorry for the lack of posts. Alice, Si, and I are finally back from 15 days in England and 2 days of jet lag.

Birds in Flight

2006-11-02T17:31:00.000-06:00

Here's another addition to our "migrated bird" series. This time they are caught in flight between landing or taking off from another power line. No collisions here.

Terra Cat VW

2006-11-01T17:34:00.000-06:00

Look at this beautiful VW engine powerering the Terra Cat hunting vehicles displayed last month at the TPWD Expo. Chrome plating may cause them to run a bit hot, but they sure do look good and photograph well.

Halloween Bats

2006-10-31T14:40:00.000-06:00

Here's another shot of the bat bridge in Austin to celebrate Halloween. Enjoy!

Texas Jellyfish

2006-10-30T17:16:00.000-06:00

Here is a picture of the jellyfish tank at the TPWD Wildlife Expo. The Texas seaside is covered with these lovely creatures so you always have to be very careful when beach-combing or you will get quite a sting.

Hayward Neon

2006-10-28T16:57:00.000-05:00

We missed a few days while on holiday in England. We visited Brighton, Bogner Regis, and London. Meanwhile, back in Austin, TX...Here is an interesting shot of Hayward Neon at night which can be seen driving along South Lamar Blvd.

View from Bat Bridge

2006-10-24T17:25:00.000-05:00

We have a world famous (in Austin at least) bridge that houses 1.5 million bats. This picture was taken looking towards downtown from the bat migration viewing area on the shore of Town Lake.

Beer Birds

2006-10-23T17:19:00.000-05:00

Here's another shot of our friendly neighbors to the north. The Birds...I had various shots to choose from: Lined up on the beer ad, flying away from the beer ad, flying towards the beer ad, flying around the beer ad. I chose flying around the beer ad, and beginning to land and line up.

The beer that's light as a feather.

Pioneers at the TPWD Wildlife Expo

2006-10-22T17:15:00.000-05:00

Here's another picture from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Expo. This time, of a couple showing how pioneers lived in the olden days (I know...Old for America). It can be quite interesting to see how early settlers got by basically camping. There was also a living history exhibit of Buffalo Soliders from the late 19th century.

Will Dunlap

2006-10-21T17:04:00.000-05:00

We caught Will Dunlap playing live at a craft fair on South Lamar while visiting the Horseshoe Lounge last week. It's always great to be driving around Austin and hear bands playing outside. When I grew up in Austin this was everywhere. Joe King Carrasco would be out playing guitar in the middle of traffic in front of Jalepeno Charlie's on Barton Springs...You could listen to whoever was at The Split Rail or the Armadillo while walking down the street...6th street hadn't really been invented yet. Austin was all about beer gardens and good friends. Either it never left or it's coming back and I like it.

The Birds...

2006-10-20T09:46:00.000-05:00

When Alfred Hitchcock made his famous film, he could have come to Austin in the autumn for the sound effects. The noise these migrating black things make is incredible. There are quite a lot here but last year we saw carpet layers of them in one of the mall parking lots one evening, coating cars and trucks as well as the ground. It was amazing and rather scary, maybe because of their obvious powers of psychic communication...

cloudy sunset drama

2006-10-19T14:10:00.000-05:00

More stormy weather- not long after I took this, it started raining, and as (nearly) always when it rains here, that means the full Texan lightning, thunder etc, for a good long while. This picture has a bit of sunset in it too as you can see, and also if you are near the shoe store there (in the Hancock shopping center) has a really good sale on all their shoes right now.

Cannon

2006-10-18T15:12:00.000-05:00

In the December of 1842, Sam Houston ordered the archives moved from Austin. Angelina Eberly discovered this, and shot a cannon into the General Land Office Building, alerting the town. The people of Austin fought with the officials, and because of this woman firing the cannon, Austin is still the capital today. And this statue has been placed in Angelina Eberly's honor, which we managed to get a picture of as we wandered around the downtown area.

Sunshine After the Rain

2006-10-17T17:10:00.000-05:00

After a heavy autumn shower we got this great photo of raindrops on a windscreen. As well, the dark clouds quickly left exposing yet another view of our beautiful big blue sky. The rainbow color glitter was much more vibrant in real life but the photo gives you a glimpse of its dazzling effect.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Expo 2006

2006-10-16T14:58:00.000-05:00

This year's Texas Parks and Wildlife Expo was a fantastic success. Over 35,000 people spent the day in in the blazing Texas sun in order to try their hand at various outdoor activities like fishing, shooting, and biking. This is a shot of the four rock climbing walls provided by Austin Rock Gym.

sky over the school buses

2006-10-15T16:36:00.000-05:00

Here is another in what is turning out to be a series of sky pictures the last few days, due to the rainy weather- a stormy sky over the yard where they park the school buses. It did rain a few minutes after I took this one, for about fifteen minutes, and afterwards the air was very warm and very humid.

big sky, big weather

2006-10-14T19:09:00.000-05:00

Being a complete amateur, I love accidental photographic effects, like when something gets in the picture you weren't expecting and so on. Here, the top of the car windscreen the picture was taken through is a yellow shade for sun protection, which adds to the already impressive cloud colours. As for the dramatic skyscape, it's the sort of scene where you expect a big face with a long white beard to appear any moment and start talking to you in a booming voice, don't you think?

rainbow

2006-10-12T20:45:00.000-05:00

I do love a good rainbow... this was in the sky over a road. We've had a couple of rainstorms the last few days, which is always a fairly unusual event, and a rainbow in the Texas sky is especially beautiful because we have such a huge, empty, often bright-blue sky. Here we got fluffy white clouds as the rain was going and the bright blue was on its way back. To remember the colours of the rainbow in order at school, I was told to remember the name of "the famous pop singer, Roy G. Biv" (which stands for red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet). As you can see, it worked in my case. Wikipedia suggests the alternative "Ring Out Your Granny's Boots In Vinegar"- but apparently a lot of people don't bother with indigo at all any more! Amazing.

very Texan impressive doorway

2006-10-11T22:56:00.000-05:00

Here we have a very fancy chrome and glass doorway to the Guaranty bank on Congress. Impressive, yes? You can see how big it is from the size of the little tiny people reflected at the bottom. These big impressive bank buildings make Lilliputians of us all. There is probably a moral in that, so please feel free to make it up if you are so inclined.

a downtown scene

2006-10-10T10:35:00.000-05:00

Arrgghh... this is what happens when you have three people who are all supposed to be running a blog and obviously need better communication skills... no photo yesterday. Happily, the other Daily Photo blogs manage to get it together better than we do.

This is a city scene and and it shows you what it is like to walk or drive around in downtown Austin. It is nice to post fascinating scenes but the reality is usually more mundane, which I think is lovely too :)

And now I am going on a trip round some other Daily Photo blogs. As a global citizen (trendy new phrase, but nice anyway) I really love roaming around the world via pictures, and getting to chat to people on the way as well, and only wish I had more time to do this every day. Later on I'll come back and link you to some of my favourite pictures in an update.

And here is the update!

Beijing Daily Photo has some lovely shots, I don't seem to have been there fore a while as my favourites are scrolling down a little way. Interesting brief summary of what wushu is (we saw Jet Li's Fearless recently, and I hadn't heard that term before).

Another Alice, this one in Brittany, France, has a lovely fishing boats and houses scene today.

Shanghai Daily Photo has a completely gorgeous sunset photo, I think it is absolutely beautiful (and Jing's comments are always so lovely too).

I'm interested in Jewish history, so enjoyed seeing this sobering but beautiful picture from Kris in Hungary.

Coca-cola truck

2006-10-08T16:40:00.000-05:00

There's a lot of glass in this photo... I will explain. Last week, Si and I went on a big downtown Daily Photo collecing mission, and we paused for victuals at Schlotzky's cafe. While Si enjoyed a pizza I snapped away through the window onto the street. So (taken through the window, which is why the street looks watery) you can see our cafe-building reflected in the windows of the building opposite. You can also see some of Si and my belongings at the bottom there, for luck. But the star of the picture is of course the Coca-cola truck. It's so... red!

downtown tacos

2006-10-07T12:34:00.000-05:00

One of the things I love about the downtown area of Austin is that half of it seems to look like a bomb site. I do not know the explanation for this, but it almost certainly is not bombs. The other half (to be fair more like 85%) of the downtown area of Austin looks like a cross between London, Dallas and Geneva (in my humble opinion): buildings from the last century mixed up with modern shiny extravaganzas. Behind this taco van you can see one of the latter. As with all great cities, the main thing is the contrasts.

Starbucks window

2006-10-06T14:30:00.000-05:00

I doubt this is unique to Starbucks (didn't check). Outside the windows of their downtown store these door-knob type things decorate the marble window ledge that might otherwise have provided a sitting place. Whether they were trying to deter any particular kind of person or wildlife I do not know, but having people leaning against big sheets of glass is perhaps not the best idea, so I can see the point. Sort of.

Sunset over Central Market car park

2006-10-05T22:34:00.000-05:00

Central Market is our favourite grocery store and it is truly fabulous. We wandered over there the other night for gelatos and there was a lovely sunset when we came out. Apparently Italian ice-cream is less fat-orific than the American kind, although we were more there for the flavours than the health implications: strawberry, creme caramel and chocolate chocolate chip for me, and Shadrach had tiramisu, Irish coffee and "something else coffee-ish".

Tents in the fog

2006-10-04T08:11:00.000-05:00

The fog had rolled in thick and heavy when I came to work yesterday. These are the tents going up for the 15th annual Texas Parks and Wildlife Expo happening this weekend. It is a huge event drawing around 30,000 people who come to experience and experiment with "the great outdoors". There are lots of activities for kids and adults including fishing, boating, archery and rifle shooting. This year will also include olympic gold medalist in shooting, Kim Rhode and bass fishing champion, Terry Scroggins.

Marching band in the sun

2006-10-02T19:50:00.000-05:00

This is the marching band of James Bowie High School, which was rehearsing one weekend near our local farmers' market. I hope they don't mind that I snapped them, but we had to stop and listen and watch for a bit, and they were fantastic.

It is difficult to explain to foreigners (like myself) what the whole American high school marching band phenomenon is all about, but basically there are at least a hundred people here (maybe two hundred?)learning their notes and their steps through endless repetitions. While we were there they were performing the same eight-seconds of their routine over and over until every single person was in just the right place at the right time playing the right note (or in the case of the dancers, carrying the right flag). When a band like this comes onto the field before a football game the effect is very powerful and inspiring for their team and the supporters. And they are all volunteer teenagers. Awesome.

The birds are back

2006-10-01T21:04:00.000-05:00

Every fall it seems that the large and loud black birds from all the colder states in America come to stay with us in Austin. Parking lots at dusk become a sea of eyes and beaks. Each tree is home to many more birds than nature intended. This photo is just the beginning... I expect we'll have lots more as the weather cools.

police cars

2006-09-30T21:59:00.000-05:00

We never found out why there were three police cars parked outside the local HEB grocery store, not to mention all the other police cars that gathered there for a while that evening; there were no machine-gun wielding maniacs to be seen. Perhaps the police folk were meeting up to sign a shared birthday card for a colleague, we concluded.

Read all about it!

2006-09-29T20:50:00.000-05:00

This statue of an enthusiastic newsboy of ye oldeyn tymes stands outside the Texas Press Association on Fifth Street. Perhaps he comes from the 1880s, as 1880 was the year the association was founded. I wonder what he is thinking. Maybe, "I wish it was time for my lunch now..." ?

a block of flats

2006-09-27T11:52:00.000-05:00

This overlooks the downtown bit of Shoal Creek that Shadrach posted yesterday. What we should have photographed instead was the zombie rights march (protested by pirates) last week, but unfortunately we missed that event. So instead you get this block of flats. We promise to try harder to picture all future events of the undead and fantastical, but in the meantime you can see these other pictures taken by shannou here on flickr. I still like the apartment block though, especially as it was grey and rainy that day, which is a major novelty here in Texas!

Austin's famous slogan is Keep Austin Weird, but personally I don't think there's any danger of Austin becoming normal anytime ever.

Shoal Creek #2

2006-09-27T09:20:00.000-05:00

Here's another shot of Shoal Creek. This picture is taken much closer to where it joins up with Town Lake. It is about four blocks away from the lake and two blocks away from Hut's Hamburgers where this shot was taken after the Memorial Day Flood in 1981.

Wireless communication tower

2006-09-25T15:05:00.000-05:00

The triangles and vertical lines on these new wireless communication towers are very elegant and symetric. They are radically different from their ancient cousin pictured to the left. The flock of birds flying by and our signature "big Texas sky" give it a nice touch too.

Maria's Taco Xpress

2006-09-24T18:58:00.000-05:00

And here, following up Thursday's picture of the gorgeous effigy of Maria, owner of Maria's Taco Xpress, we give you... Maria's Taco Xpress! This is the new, fancier, artier, paid-for-by-Walgreens-because-they-made-her-move-ier (sorry), Tex-Mex heaven of South Lamar (not that there aren't plenty of others). Isn't it pretty? Shadrach and Si can fight it out over whether super-chain Taco Bell counts as food or not, I am foreign and have only just discovered queso. Nice stuff!

back of a sign

2006-09-23T10:35:00.000-05:00

These great big metal signs interest me, so I took a picture of the back here. I guess it's not a view anyone worries about while putting up on of these things. If they are by the side of the road nobody has to see it anyway (except maybe the people who actually live there...) but this was in the middle of the downtown area. Fairly unavoidable. To me, it's more fascinating than ugly, but most would probably not agree.

Taco Bell

2006-09-21T15:59:00.000-05:00

Ahh, Taco Bell, my favorite fast food place, although what seem to only be blood relatives share my love of this place. Now all you people in Mexico can look at it and go, 'So that's what they did to our food'. Taco Bell's mascot used to be a talking chihuahua, until he mysteriously vanished from commercials... how I miss him, they had such fun commercials.

Viva Maria

2006-09-21T08:19:00.000-05:00

Chris at AusLunch commented on Walgreens building on legenday institutions so I couldn't resist posting a follow up to Wednesday's picture...
Here is the half statue of Maria as she looks over her beloved South Austin as a tribute to all things Tex-Mex.
From her humble beginnings in a small trailer on South Lamar, to her new restaurant tucked behind (and paid for by) the Walgreens, the queen of funk, Maria Corbalan, will be with us for many years to come.

it rained!

2006-09-20T18:32:00.000-05:00

It has rained quite a few times lately, actually. But this downtown picture could almost be London... apart from the empty road (it was Sunday early evening) and the fact that those buildings are modern reproductions not genuine Georgian mansion flats. (Maybe that could be a Daily Photo blog theme day idea- shots of your city that make it look like some other city?)

OK, now it is Shadrach and/or Si's turn to post something...

building works

2006-09-19T17:08:00.000-05:00

OK: the bad news is, they are building a new Walgreen's on South Lamar. We do not need a new Walgreen's. Actually, we do not need any Walgreen's. They are an ugly overblown pharmacy chain which also sells many random things like frozen pizzas and three-for-two t-shirts for no apparent reason. (Sorry if you like Walgreen's, please ignore my remarks and let us know what we are missing...)

However, the good news is I love this photo! It has everything- building vehicles, a taco sign, telegraph poles and wires, and most of all a grey cloudy sky! It is so nice to have gentler daytime light conditions for a change, and to me, these blues, creams, yellows and reds on this contrasted with the black lines look really beautiful.

Other Daily Photos I especially like today are: an everyday scene with some intrigue from Jing, a beautiful picture of a doorway called "uncertainties" from Kris, and there is more building work from Sean over in Kyle, Texas too.

Mexican restaurant

2006-09-18T14:52:00.000-05:00

This restaurant is on the bottom of South Lamar and I think it's Mexican from the "ria" there, but I took the picture for the unusual-for-Austin palm tree look. For some reason, Texans don't seem to like palm trees very much... we went to Florida once, where they are everywhere, but Texas, no. And as you can see from the blue sky, the weather is getting cooler and more autumny now... not either.

yellow crane

2006-09-17T11:46:00.000-05:00

Despite cranes being one of our obsessions, there haven't been any cranes on the ADP for a while, so here is a nice big yellow one. It's on the bottom of South Lamar, and over the invisible Town Lake there, you can see three of the towers of the brilliant old 30s power station. There is much history buried in this town, which is one of the reasons why I love it.

bunch of signs

2006-09-16T18:52:00.000-05:00

America is a car culture because is it so big. The buildings fit the size of the place, the roads between the buildings are wide and long, and because of this (relative to much of the rest of the world) Brobdignagian effect, there is some amount of distance between the passer-by in their car, and the store or restaurant set back from the road behind a parking lot. Hence the enormous important of roadside signs. Without them we would not know what we were missing, and probably keep driving till we ended up in Dallas or Mexico. These signs on South Lamar seem to be competing. They are a bit like pre-internet pop-up ads, in a real-life way.

Texas Department of Public Safety Drivers' License Office

2006-09-15T19:35:00.000-05:00

More architecture today, this time of the "tin shed" variety. Corrugated metal is a very cheap, functional and because of the weather completely feasible building material here in Austin. Coming from England, the home of Damp, I still find it amazing that you can live, work and shop in buildings which European public health rules outlaw for all except cows; but you can, and it can even look quite smart and modern. If plain. Unfortunately, when we went to get new licenses yesterday, their computer system was down for the day. (That's what people always used to say about computers, when they were still new- "What if they break down?" The answer, mundanely, is that you go back and try again another time.)

modern condos

2006-09-14T21:53:00.000-05:00

There are a lot of new buildings springing up in Austin generally, and definitely a lot in still-urban-but-relatively-cheap South Austin, where we live. These condos impressed me with their clean shiny and utilitarian modern style. No overblown American fake columns and beams round here! I especially liked the colours, which unfortunately came out a bit muddy in my photo, because of being in the shade. This new modern style has really taken off for residential buildings lately, but not everyone here likes the look. So, what do you think? As you can see, the next set are about to go up very soon...

mural with overhanging tree

2006-09-13T23:05:00.000-05:00

This is off Guadalupe-the-drag, a place populated by squillions of students daily. The lady is manning (ladying?) a craft stall, while doing her craft (or while "crafting" as Martha Stewart would call it, somewhat suspiciously in my opinion), but often the whole square is full of craft stalls selling nice and pretty things. I guess most of them had packed up by the time we took this. And the mural shows the University of Texas tower on the right of the blue guy and the Capitol government building to the left. Somewhat confusingly, he seems to be having a psychedelic vision of standing in the middle of Austin (perhaps at the bottom of a giant telescope?)- well, you don't need drugs for that. Just come here!

Blue skies, Green grass... Geese?!

2006-09-12T16:45:00.000-05:00

Taken at a Campfire meeting at 'Deep Eddy pool'. As soon as the geese calmed down from being chased by the nearby boyscouts, I whipped out the camera and took a picture. Why there are geese at a swimming pool is beyond me, of course.

Construction at sunset

2006-09-11T14:06:00.000-05:00

Today's Daily Photo is from our new correspondent, Si, daughter of Shadrach, fifth or sixth (we don't know for sure) generation native Texan, previous and current homeschooler, teenager, and generally lovely person- Alice

I really don't know where this is, but I thought that the sunlight effect was lovely. I don't know what it's going to be, either, but i'm guessing from the reddish stuff, it's either a Target or Walmart. What I really like about this picture is the pretty sunset clouds and slowly darkening sky, I think it's a nice effect. Taken one-handed on the way to drop off a friend at her house.

Artz Rib House

2006-09-08T18:54:00.000-05:00

This would be our most favourite barbecue place in the whole of Austin... it's near where we live, they have fabulous jumbo beef ribs, and there is live music all the time. When we popped in last week it was the Texas Old Time Fiddlers, and I must say, few entertainments could ever be so cool.

(Austin Daily Photo is taking the weekend off to prepare for the arrival of an important new blogging member on Monday. Please come back next week!)

Exit

2006-09-07T14:36:00.000-05:00

I love how road signs sometimes take on a kind of profound meaning or poignance intended by no-one except the Very Universe. I'm not sure how or why this picture got taken or who by (anyone in the family reading this?!) but I am sure it's not supposed to be morbid- I personally find it quite peaceful and lovely. You are free to choose your own response...

Full Moon

2006-09-06T14:25:00.000-05:00

Although the full moon can be seen from anywhere in the world, I thought the clouds were lovely. After two days of rain, these were the last of the clouds and today is absolutely fantastic. Cool and clear after the hottest August in recorded history.

Divine Pints

2006-09-05T09:34:00.000-05:00

Here's a nice shot of Opal Divine's Freehouse while driving up South Congress. We enjoyed a fantastic pint of Fireman's #4 on their lovely outside deck last night. In addition to a great beer selection, they have good food and free live music!

Whole Foods with big sky

2006-09-04T20:06:00.000-05:00

I've posted about Whole Foods before- they are a very successful Austin based company in the process of taking over the world, and their food is brilliant. And this is what their flagship store looks like in its natural urban setting. Lovely.

street, sky, wires, vehicles

2006-09-03T20:56:00.000-05:00

Let me explain to y'all how we do this: the camera gets taken out and about, whoever feels inspired takes pictures whenever they feel inspired, and depending on the day of the week/ month/ year the photographer could be either of us or one of our four children that come and go. Everything gets loaded onto Flickr. Then someone (usually me) goes through the Flickr pages looking for something Austinish for this blog. And this is what I found today. I'm not sure who took it but I think it's great: lots of our favourite sky wires, a big blue sky, and some shiny buildings, not to mention the blue Ben and Jerry's van and the nice green car. The star of the shot is the big telegraph pole in the middle, perhaps. And maybe Shad, who grew up here unlike me, will pop in later and tell y'all where it actually is.

a road

2006-09-02T11:31:00.000-05:00

This is from on the way to or from nowhere in particular, but it looks so characteristically Texan. The sky so big and so blue, the grass so yellow and the road so long and empty... and as for the big pole with a circle on top, I don't know but it looks nice.

my beautiful laundrette

2006-09-01T08:54:00.000-05:00

We are having a Theme Day on the Daily Photo network today, so if you click on some of the links on the sidebar you will find lots and lots of doorways from around the world! And our Austin doorway is from Spin Cycle on South Congress. Not just because we were there (although we were) but because it is beautiful in that old-fashioned chrome industrial glorious American way.

mural

2006-08-31T15:58:00.000-05:00

We are known to be a bunch of hippies here in Austin, so the regular occurance of murals is not surprising... this one is somewhere on the drag (Guadalupe). I think the pieces of wood and the fellow walking past complement it perfectly. Living art! Surely it means something too, but what I have no idea.

Slices & Ices

2006-08-30T09:26:00.000-05:00

This is the back of my favourite pizzeria, Slices and Ices on Guadalupe. We usually see it from this angle, coming in from the little parking lot. Having your own parking lot in town is a big advantage for a business as it gets very overcrowded down there. I think Cream vintage clothing must have the other side of this one. Guadalupe is the main "drag" heavily laden with students, 7,500 of whom are freshpeople starting at the University of Texas today as I type. Good luck to them, and may they enjoy a slice or an ice between classes sometimes.

Polvo's

2006-08-29T08:14:00.000-05:00

Driving down South First street is like a quick visit to Mexico. From its curioso shops to its restaurantes to its Mexican grocery stores, you really get the feel that you are in another world. Polvo's is a great please to sit on the patio and enjoy a wide range of food from the interior of Mexico or, of course, a great plate of Tex-Mex.
For more real pictures of Mexico, check out http://guadalajaradailyphoto.blogspot.com/.

the spiky building

2006-08-28T09:29:00.000-05:00

I won't try to explain about the recent erratic posting here as it would be boring, but hopefully, normal service will proceed from now on... anyway, we are still showing the great pictures of my ten year old daughter M, and this is one of one of Austin's most distinctive buildings and highlights of our downtown skyline: the spiky building! Its real name is actually Frost Bank Tower. But there is some nice dramatic Texas sky in this picture too.

A Spacesuit

2006-08-25T20:50:00.000-05:00

We got behind with our photographing Austin scedule, partly due to a trip to Houston and Glaveston (down on the bottom of Texas by the ocean ) so for one day only, today we give you a picture from a recent visit we made to Houston, Texas, home of the famous NASA, home of only such scientific trifles as, ooh, the Moon landing rocket, the space shuttles, you know. Little things like those.

This spacesuit is a nice old-fashioned style of the kind you can see in films like 2001 A Space Odyssey. Modern ones are so high tech they cost twelve million dollars each. Gulp. But the earliest one they had on show looked like a boiler suit you would wear to clean the attic. Those early spacemen must have been really tough.

Lovely Lines!

2006-08-24T14:18:00.000-05:00

As I'm sure you are all aware by now, we adore cranes and powerlines. This is a great shot of a construction site near downtown Austin with our beautiful blue sky as the background!

Electric Ladyland

2006-08-23T09:56:00.000-05:00

Here is one of the highly decorated attention-attracting roadside stores of South Congress, Electric Ladyland/ Lucy in Disguise with Diamonds, the vintage clothing store recommended by Frommer's. I love the tradition of the outrageously fancy store front. A lot of their clothes can be hired as well as bought, but some have surprisingly high prices for purchase, which I imagine reflects their popularity as hire costumes. Better make a Princess Fiona dress yourself than pay two years' worth of hiring fees. (Just call me a business analyst).

Driving Down South Congress

2006-08-22T09:57:00.000-05:00

Those of us who live in South Austin probably think of this as the city's most characteristic view- it starts on the long South Congress road, which leads right across the bridge over Town Lake and all the way up to the capitol (the small building in the middle with the pointy hat). Not a spectacularly arty or fancy scene, maybe, but definitely part of our lives here and something to show y'all how Austin really looks. (Apologies for the non-posting yesterday- Flickr's fault this time.)

Photo credit: My Daughter, 10.

shopping at dusk

2006-08-20T23:07:00.000-05:00

Here are some old-fashioned shops at dusk, hence the blurriness and the pretty light effects. I am not quite sure where it was, perhaps Shadrach (who is not a recent ignorant immigrant like me) or a reader can identify the road? South First? They are interesting to me for the architecture- there aren't too many buildings of that classical style in Austin, and they remind me of where I used to live in London, (Camberwell) which was full of them. (Picture by daughter again, as will the next few be, due to the fact that she seems to have hijacked the camera...)

mail vans at night

2006-08-19T10:00:00.000-05:00

The title is self-explanatory... but don't you just love mail vans? Old-fashioned dead-tree mail is so exciting and romantic compared to email, all love letters and birthday gifts and fascinating postcards from friends around the world, yes? OK, not really. Really it is 99% bills and advertisements. But if you do get anything special, it might have handwriting and you could save it as a treasure, and those things are easy to underestimate in the modern cyber world.
picture credit: daughter (10)

lights at night # 2

2006-08-18T10:01:00.000-05:00

Here are some more special effects done with road lights and digital camera by my daughter. I think I like this one even more than the last one, from an artsy perspective. Thinking of making it into a rather elegant (and irrelevant) card to send people for Christmas or The Holidays as we call the contentious religious festival here in the United States.

in the swim

2006-08-17T10:03:00.000-05:00

Schools have started again, but it's never the wrong time of year for an outdoor swim... I've never heard of an indoor pool here, although there must be some. In the winter, they just heat some of the outdoor pools. This is Northwest pool, which on Tuesday was the location for Austin area homeschoolers celebration of "not back to school" day; an honourable cause which our homeschooling oldest daughter was very glad to support!

(Apologies for the lack of picture yesterday- we both thought the other was doing it... does this happen on all husband-and-wife run blogs? Maybe there is a Dr Phil show about it...)

lights at night

2006-08-15T10:06:00.000-05:00

Quite a lot of our photos recently have been taken by my daughter, who is ten and just getting seriously into photography this summer, and this is another one. Isn't it cool? She did it by deliberately moving the camera as she was taking the picture. As usual, I have no idea how she came up with that idea. This new generation of kids is completely beyond me. Although I still expect them to tidy their bedrooms and so on.

Darkened Skyline of UT

2006-08-14T16:04:00.000-05:00

As dusk approaches, the buildings grow dark and the sky becomes an illuminated backdrop highlighting the angles of Memorial Stadium and the intricate decorations on the University of Texas tower.

An Ex-House

2006-08-13T15:05:00.000-05:00

This was probably someone's home once, but now it is a pile of driftwood. We found it in a beautiful road of old wooden houses, tucked away off a main road. These places are very characteristic of the American South, but not designed to last for a million years like your average northern European brock or stone place. Easy come, easy go...

Movies at Central Market

2006-08-12T15:09:00.000-05:00

Here is the giant (actually about ten times bigger than it looks here) inflatable movie screen of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Rolling Roadshow before they showed Monty Python and the Holy Grail on Wednesday evening. The Rolling Roadshow is a very cool thing, and this year it has been out and about outside Austin as well as in. There is still time to see The Shining in the hotel where it was filmed in California next Friday, Raising Arizona in Arizona on Monday, and after that The Poseiden Adventure on a ship (hopefully not inverted) and (my favourite, I am jealous) Escape From Alcatraz, on August 26th, on Alcatraz itself. How cool is that? But we also enjoyed the knights who say "ni" and the other knights who have no horses only coconut shells and the French knights who pronounce the k and so on, on Wednesday.

The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema also have a campaign to save their downtown location, which is a very worthy cause you can support here.

Chrome Cream (was Almost Drive-In)

2006-08-11T22:23:00.000-05:00

I had to change my picture of the inflatable screen due to a double post. This is what happens when the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. So for your viewing pleasure, Ice Cream Shop and some kind of GTO with a huge chrome blower sticking out of the hood.

bad weather!!

2006-08-10T22:46:00.000-05:00

This is what America would look like if it had British weather... actually, this picture isn't necessarily from Austin- we went to the Texas coast this weekend, and took this on the journey home. It could be almost anywhere, I have no idea. But look- rain! Everything is grey and dingy and miserable! Isn't it great? Also, I love those American railroad crossing signs, with the actual cross to reinforce the point. "DO NOT STOP ON TRACKS". Exactly.

Room Service

2006-08-09T18:33:00.000-05:00

It's a hot hot Texan day today, as the bright blue sky here tells you. There was a towel hanging on the heavy metal door handle to Room Service because touching it directly would probably boil your hand right off. This shop is one of my favourites in Austin, full of the grooviest vintage things you ever did see, along with its Northern sister, and right now they have a 20% off clothes and accessories sale.

Did I mention how hot it is? It's hot.

A view from the camper van

2006-08-08T09:19:00.000-05:00

Other photos only show you what the place looks like, this photo actually captures the experience of living here, as you turn the corner in your VW bus on the way to Whole Foods! An experimental photo this, of the type that is so easy to take from the inside of real life, thanks to the new digicamera era.

Austin Aircoolers

2006-08-07T13:32:00.000-05:00

Here in Austin, everyone knows we love our music, our Lone Star Beer, and our Texas Rollergirls (you did know about the Texas Rollergirls didn't you? Oh good.) but we also LOVE our old VWs. Here are a couple shots from last week's monthly Volkswagen meet. Due to the intense heat, August may not be the best month to drive your 50 year old air-cooled car van or semi-military-looking offroad "thing", but the waves from the crowd during the after-meet parade always puts a smile on our face.

First Thursday (part two)

2006-08-06T08:58:00.000-05:00

There are quite a few of these old-fashioned outdoor style eating places in Austin. You can sit there under the ceiling fans enjoying your Tex-Mex food and margaritas, watching the world go by and keeping an eye on your amazingly shiny fancy car parked right in front of you outside! Whoever owns this vehicle- wow.(Picture copyright My Daughter again.)

First Thursday (part one)

2006-08-05T09:33:00.000-05:00

On the first Thursday of every month, the shops and restaurants along the main street in South Austin, South Congress, stay open late, and lots of people go out and mill around and have a celebratory time. Here is a crowd outside a restaurant and a tree with lights on it, taken from inside our VW going up the street: reflected at the top in the window you can see the red sign from Home Slice Pizza, which we featured in another post. My photographically talented daughter took this one.

sunsets on the road

2006-08-04T10:30:00.000-05:00

Two for the price of one today, as yesterday our wires got crossed and nothing made it to the blog. Summer is the season of blazing orange sunsets but these were rather pink for a change. I like how the other lights show up in these too.

Caution Moving Doughnuts

2006-08-02T09:26:00.000-05:00

Here are recently fried rings of dough moving under the glaze waterfall much like Mr Wonka's one of chocolate. The waterfall itself appears to be a solid white sheet until the doughnuts pass through it. Taking the kids to Krispy Kreme is quite fun and you sometimes get a free sample at the end of the line.

Man up a ladder

2006-08-01T14:27:00.000-05:00

In our imaginations, we are all remotely connected via the web, like the crew of the Starship Enterprise with their communicators (although they all had to share the same computer). But in reality, we are connected by the cables in the sky, maintained by men up ladders with power-tool belts. I think it is all very cute.

train's a coming...

2006-07-31T09:19:00.000-05:00

We were driving past the wonderful 30's power station I've been meaning to photograph for a while, but then this train turned up. You can't tell quite how weird and spooky the atmosphere was, standing there right by the edge of the track in the semi-dark with these vast huge containers coming by. So, more power station pictures another day, maybe when it is light enough to see clearly.

Shiny Happy Buildings

2006-07-30T10:46:00.000-05:00

Downtown as the sun goes down on the other side. Note the little cute old place on the front left. And the blazing building in the middle is pretty. And there are skylines even in this one, just on the right of the picture there. I love this place.

Whole Foods

2006-07-29T16:11:00.000-05:00

Entrance area to the downtown flagship store of Austin's most world-famous natural and organic foods supermarket (supermarket! not grocery store! I do like it when European words turn up over here), Whole Foods. It is easy to make fun of Whole Foods. They are so unashamedly unapologetically ginormously extravagantly Texas, and yet they have the same name as a hundred (OK, maybe there were only actually twenty) health food shops of the 1970's. I am not what you would call an environmental activist, but I cannot help wondering what original flower children would have thought of this place. They have lovely food though. Really very good indeed. As you can see, they are also selling bags of compost outside, and they have covered their security entrance doors with twigs for some reason. Twigs. Isn't that great?!

PS Also, notice all those wind chimes just inside! I could make more fun of those too. But I won't. Not only do we have some ourselves, all the grocery stores do wind chimes here, including the humble HEBs.

view from the camper van

2006-07-28T09:49:00.000-05:00

A red Dodge truck catches the sunset. We've been seeing a lot of good sunsets lately and one of my favourite things about sunsets is the way the light reflects back on shiny buildings, cars etc. I once took some beautiful panoramic pictures of the buildings along the Danube in Pest from Buda bathed in orange sunsetlight. That was in the olden days when digital cameras were unusual, expensive and not very good; clothes were more boring; nobody had internets; and apart from that everything else was basically the same as it is now. Hmm.

More Free Music

2006-07-27T09:25:00.000-05:00

It's great to cool off to some great music and BBQ at Hill's Cafe. Every Wednesday they have free country music concerts in an outdoor, kid-friendly environment. Since 1947 Hill's Cafe has been entertaining and feeding Austin...south of the river.

Giant billboard triangle and little stores

2006-07-26T21:41:00.000-05:00

Not quite sure whom these billboards are aiming at (small light aircraft?) but the contrast struck me as quaint and interesting. Also, they have margaritas on...

Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits (in the sunset)

2006-07-25T09:47:00.000-05:00

Fried chicken is of course one the Southern soul food greats. Popeye's originated in New Orleans and it is a long way from the cardboard burger of international "fast food" renown. Side dishes include Cajun rice, red beans and rice, corn on the cob and coleslaw as well as battered seasoned fries (yummy) and mashed potatoes and gravy (very popular Southern dish, not my thing at all). But we usually just get a box of chicken and eat it with some salad from home.

artwork

2006-07-24T14:16:00.000-05:00

People who live near or walk by or know the creator of this outdoor art work will no doubt know all about it. Unfortunately I don't and life was too busy yesterday to stop and ask questions. So it's a mystery.

blazing sunset

2006-07-23T23:26:00.000-05:00

We apologise for the late posting of today's Daily Photo, with only 38 minutes or so left of today... but isn't this a great sunset? If you look closely, you can still see the cars in the foreground. There are many ways of photographing cars, and being in America teaches you them all! Although this particular picture was actually taken by my ten year old daughter, who was in the front seat of the camper van at the time and therefore able to catch the sun better than me. Of course.

wooden railway bridge

2006-07-22T16:33:00.000-05:00

I don't know how old this is or whether they used wood for cheapness or because metal was too expensive/ hard to get in whichever days those were, but it is very pretty and appeals to me very much. Another example of the countryishness that permeates this city.