Garden gate

Urban chickens

Texas Beer 5k

 

At first, I thought this was some kind of competition, and I thought beer and running seemed like an odd combination. Then I found that it's actually a tour of the city put on by City Running Tours. You go on a 3-mile run with a guide who tells you about Austin bars and restaurants, and at the end, you sample some brewskis.

This still seems like an odd combination to me since I despise running, but I've been told that there are those who don't get painful stitches in their sides and want to throw up when they run - some people even do it for FUN!! And the TripAdvisor reviews are uniformly positive. 

So, if you enjoy running and beer, and you want to learn more about Austin, check out Texas Beer 5k from City Running Tours.

Dali on 30th

Hyde Park Grill Fork

Tree trunks

It's okay. He's tied up.

The story on the rail

This fence rail runs along Cesar Chavez. It separates the street level sidewalk from the Lady Bird Lake Trail below. You can see the river (called Lady Bird Lake, though it's actually the Colorado River) in the background. All along the fence are photos of historic floods that have occurred on the river.

The saddest place

I've walked in Oakwood Cemetery Annex, an historic cemetery just east of I-35 off MLK, many times. But one day a while back, I stopped to look at the headstones along the southern edge of the property. They were small and the grave sites didn't seem to be spaced like those in the rest of the cemetery. I realized why when I looked closely at them. It's a children's section.

What made me particularly sad, apart from empathizing with the agonizing loss that each of these markers represented to a family at some point, was realizing that by being buried in this designated section of the cemetery, each of these children, these babies, were buried apart from any other family member. They weren't laid to rest in a family plot somewhere, given the sense of place within a family that represents.

It's possible these families had no such plot. Maybe it was all they could to pay for a tiny grave in this special section of Oakwood. But it made me sad - like I was in a graveyard orphanage of sorts. Each marker has a story attached to it - a story I'll never know. Some markers don't have full names or dates. Some are clearly hand-carved. I tell myself that the very fact that there is a marker means that even if there was no family resting place for these babies, each one was loved.

Falling fence

Austin Motel

Hyde Park Grocery Store

A man's home is his..

 

On February 7, I told you about the castle of Castle Hill, but there's another castle in this town: Bouldin Castle. Located in the Bouldin Creek area of South Austin, this amazing residence began life in 1925 as a Catholic church. In 2008, a home builder committed to preserving the essence of the property (instead of just knocking it down to build a McMansion), renovated and expanded the original structure.

The Pig Stand

This wavy carport is actually the remnants of the old "Pig Stand" drive-in, just off South Congress and Live Oak. The first Pig Stand opened in Dallas in 1921 and was the country's first drive-in. Often referred to simply as "The Pig," the restaurant started the drive-in/carhop craze and some even credit it with creating Texas toast. During its heyday, the Dallas location spread to more than 120 locations across the nation, including Austin. Drive-ins eventually lost favor, though, and the locations closed, one by one, until the original location in Dallas finally shut its doors in 2006.

Until recently, an Italian restaurant called The Tree House Italian Grill stood on the Austin property. At a visit there once with my parents, they told me that they had eaten at The Pig back in the day. The Tree House Italian Grill is now closed. Here's hoping that whoever takes over the property leaves the carport in place.

Your Essential Magnificence

2011 sculpture by James Talbot, "Your Essential Magnificence." Located on South Congress, north of Oltorf, the description for this sculpture says:

This shrine honors the glory that is you. May it remind you that your inherent goodness, your majesty, your essential magnificence, is never in question.

So...it's not a Hindu spider like I thought.

I hope that door is locked.

The last hold out

This house was the last residential hold-out on Comal St. between 20th St. and Manor Rd. To the south is Red McCombs Field (UT softball), and to the west is Disch-Falk Field (UT baseball). The university has slowly eaten up the surrounding land, but a few homeowners have held out here and there. This was one of them. Just a couple of months ago, people were still living in this house. But no more.

Apparently, the house was used as a sort of hostel, with some full-time residents but guests allowed. Still posted are the rules for guests.

Formosa

Formosa, now known as the Elisabet Ney Museum, is the former home and studio of German-born sculptor Elisabet Ney. The studio was built in 1892. It is located in Hyde Park and was the first art studio built in Texas. It is a local and state historical landmark and houses a permanent collection of Ney's work.

 

 

Ghost bike

Ghost bikes appear all over the city. They are placed anonymously to mark a spot where a bike rider has been struck by a car and killed. They are memorials to the lost riders and reminders to be careful and watch out for one another.

Texas Capitol Artesian Well

This is a reproduction of an drinking fountain that was placed on the Texas Capitol grounds in 1902. The water source for the fountain was an artesian well that was completed in 1889. The well was the Capitol's water source, and a boiler converted the water to steam to power the building's first electric generator.

The original drinking fountain was cast iron and featured a metal drinking cup that dangled down for everyone to use. In 1928, a granite version replaced the cast-iron one, and in 1980, the fountain was closed due to more stringent water-quality standards in the city. When the Capitol underwent extensive renovations in 1996, this reproduction of the original fountain was installed to once again provide drinking water to visitors to the Capitol (minus the communal water cup!).

The fountain is located on the east side of the great walk, leading to the Capitol's main front entrance. On the day I visited, the fountain didn't produce any water when I stepped on the foot lever, but the city has been in a drought for several years, so I assume the fountain has been closed temporarily as a water conservation measure.

Ms. P's Electric Cock

Food trailer deliciousness

Castle Hill Graffiti Park

I missed a day! Ah, well - it probably won't be the last one before this project is over. I'll give you a pic-heavy post today to make up for it.

This is the Castle Hill Graffiti Park (officially "Hope Outdoor Gallery). It's a site in the Castle Hill neighborhood where graffiti artists can paint their designs with the full permission of the authorities, neighbors, etc.

Leaning tree

Thanks, Mack!

Ziosk

Have you seen one of these yet??? It's called a Ziosk, and it's awesome! We went to Chili's the other day, and it was on our table. It's an interactive screen attached to your table that allows you to order drinks or dessert and check yourself out at your table - no more waiting for a waitperson to run your card for you!

It also has games, news and sports that you can play/read while you wait for your food to arrive. Genius! These features would be especially nice for the solo diner. I can't tell you how many times I've stopped to eat somewhere alone and wished I had a book or newspaper or something to occupy myself while I waited.

My fervent hope is to see these screens at many more restaurants in the near future. Being able to add dessert to our order or check ourselves out without having to wait for a server would be SO nice. The one feature I'd suggest they add is a call button so you could call your server if you did need them. That'd be much more convenient than trying to flag them down as they happen to zip by with someone else's food. Yay for technology!

Continental Club sign

High water mark stone

This stone, west of Buford Tower on the banks of Lady Bird Lake, at the street level of Cesar Chavez Blvd., marks the high water levels of the floods that ravaged Austin in 1869 and 1935.