Skip to main content

Austin part 2

Well, I wrote about Bats, Bluebonnets and Breakfast Tacos in a previous post, but that only seemed to cover about half of what we actually did in Austin (were we really there only for a weekend?). And we had several more great photos that Graham has been bugging me to post on my blog, so prepare yourselves for an extravaganza of colour, light and image!

Austin is known as a great place for live music, which presumably explains the psychadelic guitars left lying around the streets. Here's Graham with a couple of his dream instruments.






















We visited the Texas State Capitol, built on a grand scale from tons of pink granite and limestone. The state capitol, you understand, is located in the state capital. Don't get confused.
Americans definitely tend towards the domes-and-pillars school of architecture for their governmental buildings. I had a feeling this was true, so did a quick search for corroborating evidence and discovered this great site by a photographer who's travelled around to take photos of all the state capitol buildings in America. I rest my case.
Inside, this is the dome looking up:


and this is the dome looking down:

The terrazzo flooring represents the seals of the six nations that Texas has been governed by. From bottom and anticlockwise, The Kingdom of Spain, The Kingdom of France, The Republic of Mexico, The Confederate States of America, The United States of America, and in the centre, the short-lived but very proud Republic of Texas.

Even the door hinges are ornamental.

Sixth Street is the bar strip for the young, trendy and beautiful of Austin. I'm not sure how many counts Graham and I qualify on, but we ventured out for a few drinks and a sampling of the atmosphere. We listened to a couple of guys playing great guitar in a place called the Blind Pig, and watched the streams of beautiful people passing by.

Wandering back about midnight, we passed a still-open coffee shop and impulsively decided to turn in for a coffee and a bite to eat. It was quite an atmospheric contrast to the packed and noisy bars around the corner, containing a scattering of somewhat less beautiful people reading books and quietly chatting, and a number of quirky works of art. Graham added to these with the above photo, which we thought was just awesome. It's a pistachio muffin, which wasn't quite that green in real life, but close; and the colour swap option on the camera highlighted it perfectly.
Next day, before going to the wildflower centre, we spent a short while at a nature reserve and park where many peacocks lived. It looks most uncomfortable to have that much tail dragging behind you all the time, but it has to be said they are highly photogenic birds. This is a small selection from the 50 or more peacock photos we ended up with.

In full glory.
With triplet of grudgingly admiring females.
Sun on tail feathers.
And finally, I never really thought how cacti grow, but I didn't think it would be like this. Those miniature cactus-lets are so cute!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Enthusiasm and cynicism

Some while ago I heard a sermon on the story of Zacchaeus. I forget what the point of the sermon was - usually for this Bible passage it's something about Jesus saving everyone, even the unlikely people. But I remember wondering, did Zacchaeus really give all that money away? Image by Alexa from Pixabay You may remember the tale: Zacchaeus is a corrupt government official who is rather short. When Jesus arrives in town, Zacchaeus wants to get a look at him. So he climbs a tree to see over other people's heads. However, Jesus spots him and tells him to get out of the tree and go cook Jesus some dinner. I assume Jesus phrased it a little more nicely than that, because Zacchaeus is delighted, and moreover, promises to change his entire lifestyle. "Half of my possessions I give to the poor," he declares with the enthusiasm of the instant convert, "and anyone I've defrauded, I'll pay back four times over." The surrounding crowd are the cynics: Jesus, th...

Limestone Way: The Three B's

This walk on the Limestone Way takes me to three villages starting with B: Ballidon, Brassington, and Bradbourne.   Parwich to Brassington The weather forecast says it's fine, but as I walk out of Parwich some light rain starts, which persists for most of the walk. It's not enough to make me properly wet. Parwich sits in a large bowl; the kind of landscape where you can see where you're heading, where you came from, and the next hill you are going to have to climb. The area has been inhabited by humans for thousands of years .  A short climb up a field takes me to Highway Lane, which I follow down again, and then bear left across the fields to Ballidon. I can see the chimney of Ballidon Quarry, and a building which looks like an old chapel. I assume it must now be a private house, but when I get there, I discover that this is All Saints church, now in the care of the Friends of Friendless Churches. What a nice surprise! I'm intrigued by the Creed and Ten Com...

Working on sunshine

Freeeee electricity!  No, seriously.  This guy came and knocked on the door one day, and I don't usually pay any more attention to random strangers trying to sell me something at the door than you probably do, but I guess he must have said "free" enough times to penetrate my consciousness, so I found myself agreeing to have someone check our house's suitability for solar panels.  And another guy turned up, and measured; and another one, and we signed; and a few more, and put up scaffolding and panels and meter boxes and cable; and suddenly, if we're careful, we can avoid paying for any electricity during daylight hours, because it's all generated right up there above our heads. Of course, we have the British government to thank for this, which probably means we're paying for it somewhere along the line.  The Department for Energy and Climate Change (presumably it's actually against climate change rather than for it, although you never know) has...