have synchronized walks with other 43thingers and post pictures here

This is a bit of a composite, but represents the very frequent walks I took in Hyde Park, both in the morning and in the evening on the way to the coffeeshop (Quacks).

I fell in love with Austin immediately, for a lot of reasons. But one of the biggest was how lush and green it was this past June, and how many large, old trees were in my graceful old neighborhood.

Yesterday I took my car to get the interior detailed. I dropped it off at a place at S. Lamar and Barton Springs and they told me that it would take about two hours. I had every intention of taking the bus to the Ransom Center and doing some kind of work, but I started walking north on Lamar considering which bus to take and whether or not I needed to go home first.

Then I got to the river.

Oh, I’ll just take a look and see what is going on. I figured out, though there was no sign, that I was entering Zilker Park and was curious to see it. It was on my list of places and I thought that it was probably worth a little look-see. I went a little ways down a broad path and saw a smaller path down to the river. The river, by the way, is inordinately high due to massive amounts of rain. I saw a couple of folks down there, standing still, looking at the river, so I went down to see what had their attention.

The water is so high that what normally is well on the bank is now standing in the river. There was a tree growing at a very sharp angle whose trunk was submerged quite a few feet. On said tree was a very large turtle, facing up towards the top of the tree, basking. Above the turtle on the tree was a squirrel, in a confrontational attitude. Neither would budge. The turtle didn’t seem to care very much, but was large enough that there was no getting around him. The squirrel was beside him/herself and darted around to one side and another, either trying to get around the turtle or trying to get the turtle to go away. I decided on this last: it made no sense for the squirrel to go around the turtle since the trunk was submerged. I guessed that somewhere amongst the upper branches there was something, like a nest, that the squirrel wanted to protect. That was also the more obvious form of egress for the squirrel in any case.

I watched this for quite some time, but the whole drama remained in limbo for so long that I finally had to move one. Man, I wished I had taken my camera!

I continued west along the south bank of the river and finally crossed a foot bridge and continued west on the north bank. I saw that the turtle was hardly an unusual sight on the river, for the place really was lousy with them. Plus the riverbank was so effectively close to the footpath that they seemed close enough to touch and probably actually were.

I passed the canoe livery, the place where the ducks are nesting, the place where spiders are breeding, and onto Barton Springs, which was closed because of runoff due to flooding. That didn’t stop people from getting into the river outside of the pool proper, however. I saw the little kiddie train go past and waved to all of them, stopped to swing and saw the sad little children looking longingly at the pool, making do instead with the concession stand. I continued west and started hiking the Barton Creek Greenbelt, which is truly an amazing bit of parkland. I walked and walked, following the creek until I heard a loud rushing and realized I had reached a rapids, above which there were several convenient rock shelf formations. Not too many people about, but certainly it was hard to resist getting in the water and I saw some there. Up at the rapids I also saw a yellow bike!! It was the first one that I had seen “in the wild.”

On the way back I was able to admire the rock formations at the side of the path in the woods, and how they were sweating with all the excess water they were holding. I had to be careful because of all of the poison ivy in evidence, some of it huge. There were also mass quantities of sassafras, and something in sunny spots that looked quite familiar. It took me a minute to realize that it was wild monarda! I had never seen a non-cultivated form before. In addition to everything else, I also saw some salamanders on the path. At first I thought they might be lizards, but on closer examination they were clearly salamanders (and would be more at home there anyway). So many times I wished I had brought my camera, but the whole day was based on a spontaneous decision.

As I walked back east I ended up overshooting Lamar and walking back all the way to the Mo-Pac bridge. Much evidence of flooding, including over the path and up to park benches in places. The rowing center on Cesar Chavez was also flooded out.

About the time I reached the Mo-Pac bridge the detailing place called to tell me my vehicle was ready. When I finally got back to my car I figured I must have walked at least seven miles. That, plus the bike ride earlier that morning kind of tired me out. I still felt it this morning on the way to the co-op.

I know that this site has been done before, but it is a beautiful locale and worth revisiting.

I was in Dallas last Sunday and Monday. Sunday was Cedar Ridge Nature Preserve, a concert at the Nasher Gallery and another concert at Bend Studio. Monday my friend W. and I did a brief errand and then went to the Arboretum where I took many pictures. So many are so nice that it is hard to select them for here, but I will do my best.

First stop: koi pond

Last weekend I had the privilege of sharing one of WyvernDust’s walks. I have admired her postings under this goal for quite some time and was excited about her showing me one of her haunts, particularly the one where she saw the tarantula! It is a lovely preserve, with very well maintained trails. Some of them were very muddy that day, though, which made it difficult to go all the way down to the pond. To compensate, there is a lovely view of the lake that is visible from a lookout site built by an enterprising eagle scout. I took a couple of photos of that as well as some pictures of paths, inspired by Moose.

but I wanted to post about my walk(s) today. On the way home from the coffee shop I saw ahead on the sidewalk two little girls with a table out selling lemonade. “Lemonade!” they shouted in unison. “I see you,” I called as I walked towards them.

When I walked up I noticed that the lemonade looked remarkably good. Clear evidence of pulp, and many fresh lemon slices floating in the jug. I was planning on buying some anyway just to support them, but looking at it I found that the prospect was actually enticing on its own merits. I asked them how much it was. “Fifty cents,” they duly informed me. I remarked on what a good deal it was and how good their lemonade looked. I didn’t remark on their being heavily subsidized and how they had essentially no overhead. They proudly informed me that their lemonade was “powder-free.” Then they proffered a “two for one” coupon to be used at a later date (hand-written)! They informed me that they would be back next Monday so I said I would look for them again. I walked home enjoying my fresh lemonade.

This evening I walked around a part of my neighborhood I haven’t explored as much: 29th the other side of Guadalupe towards Lamar. I have been asking people for several days where I might be able to find a hardware store and everyone has said “Home Depot” :(. So I looked up hardware stores in the yellow pages and found one, “Breed & Co.” on 29th. When was the last time you were in a hardware store that would also sell you truffles? It is a magnificent store; kind of a combination of full-service hardware, garden and gift/housewares store. I found exactly what I was looking for and had two very helpful people help me find them.

I also discovered a couple of new video stores, two pizza places, a toy store, a new coffee shop open until 11:00 (where I bought some more lemonade for considerably more), a used record store, etc. etc. I picked up two Eric Rohmer movies at Vulcan Video.

from Memorial Day. First, Lars’ house.