Emma performs her composition (April 26, 2019)

This is Emma's composition recital.  She wrote both the lyrics and the music.  The composition is called "Knock, Knock, God." Beautiful work, Emma.

Lady Hawk and Sir Hawk

We see the hawks almost daily now.  Will the eyas join their parents soon, creating a cast of hawks? 

The Milonga Room (April 25, 2019)

What is this place in East Austin?  The Milonga Room, a throwback to the speakeasies of the 1920s.  First, you text Milo to make a reservation, good for only an hour and given up if you're 15 minutes late.  Second, Milo sends you a password.  Third, when you arrive, you ring the doorbell and a person slides open the little portal behind Papa Tom's shoulder and asks for the password.  Ours was "granuja," Spanish for "rogue."  Inside, you follow a guy dressed in black down concrete stairs, through thick curtains, into a room lighted with candles and dim globes and furnished with pink or red crushed velvet divans and chairs.

The Milonga Room is hidden beneath the Buenos Aires Cafe. Lucky us!  Empanadas are on the menu. 

Sierra Club (April 25, 2019)

Three of us Sierra Club members spent a couple of hours at the Domain, an upscale residential/office/retail development in north Austin, to give passers-by an opportunity to sign letters to their representatives in Congress, asking for legislation to fight climate change.  Most people walking past were on their phones and didn't stop. Several let us know they were tourists from other countries. We didn't get many signatures but did get to talk to a woman who calls herself a "denier." She's the person who kindly took our photo. :-) 

Austin Public, our local public access television station (April 23, 2019)

In 1979, I was 12 credit hours into an M.A. in Radio-TV-Film at the University of Texas. I took newborn Ryder to classes with me and would cover him with a blanket to nurse him in the back of the room.  He was a very quiet baby who seemed to listen intently to lectures.  At the end of the Spring semester, I took a break from school to be a full-time Mom and never went back. The director Edward Dmytryk taught my screenwriting class. You may have seen his films "The Caine Mutiny," "Raintree County," or "The Carpetbaggers," among others?  At any rate, he told me I have "a distinct touch of talent." Was he right?  I'd like to find out these 40 years later.

If I step through this door, where will I go? I took Media Policy, the second mandatory class to be eligible to become an Austin Public producer, on April 25, 2019.   At the end of May, I'll be taking the PXW-Z280 camcorder class.  According to the Station Manager, the camcorder is good for event coverage and "run and gun" type shoots. (No idea what "run and gun" means.)  Maybe I could eventually cover some Sierra Club events?

Naptime on a rainy day

Even in her sleep, Zephyr has excellent balance

Spring cleaning (April 23, 2019)

Nothing like the leaf blower and a stick to clean out the gutters.

We love living under the giant elms and our neighbor's pecans and sycamores, but water won't run through gutters clogged with leaves and sticks.

Just some of the debris blown out of the gutters

Lunch routine

The cats have us well trained. Zephyr only likes the gravy in the wet food, so she eats first.  Fluffy aka Marilyn and Einar wait patiently at the door for their turn.

After the gravy is gone, Fluffy aka Marilyn and Einar are thrilled to split the leftovers.

Happy Easter from the House of Light and Joy! (April 21, 2019)

We were going to go to Cornerstone for our egg hunt, but we didn't finish "lun-din," as Fox calls the lunch-dinner combination, until about 5 p.m.  So Amon hid eggs inside while Fox and I waited in the bedroom.  Fox found more eggs than I did, but I found the Golden Egg with the $5 bill inside.  I tried to sneak it into Fox's bunny backpack but Amon saw me and called me on it.  Regardless, Fox went home with the Golden Egg. 

Almost birthday girl, Piper

Kindergartener Piper will be 6 on April 29. She made the butterfly magnets on the fridge behind her.  Happy birthday, Piper!

Lone Star flag, bluebonnets, blue sky (April 19, 2019)

On his way home from Uncle Gene Cloninger's funeral in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Papa Tom spotted a field of bluebonnets just east of Corsicana, Texas.

Easter Saturday in Shreveport (April 20, 2019)

Papa Tom and I didn't get to spend Easter Saturday in Shreveport, but Donna did.  She shared photos with me for the blog.  Here, Dad wrote his name and Mom's on the driveway using the water hose. So sweet!

Donna and Daddy

Destry and Daddy

Our hawk family (April 2019)

We've thought of this hawk as Lady Hawk, but it's the smaller of the pair, so is likely the male (?).  For now, we're calling it Lady Hawk. She likes to perch on the elm branch outside our kitchen window.  Papa Tom heard an almost cooing sound and discovered Sir Hawk delivering lunch to her. Sir Hawk only stayed a few seconds, bolting when Papa Tom stepped onto the deck for a photo. I didn't get to see him, but Papa Tom says Sir Hawk is huge and might well carry away an unsuspecting kitty cat!   Or is the hawk we're calling Sir Hawk actually the female?  

The hawk nest is at the very top of an elm in our neighbor's back yard.  This hawk glides between the nest, our elm tree, and the neighbor's sycamore tree.  Hawks are known for their sharp eyesight and hunting skills.

Since the hawks' arrival, the squirrels have vanished from our back yard--voluntarily, we hope.  An adult female hawk is called a "formel," an adult male is called "tercel" (from the German word "terzel," meaning "one-third," because male hawks are about 25 percent smaller than female hawks) and a baby hawk too young to leave the nest is called an eya.  We've not seen the babies fly yet.

Easter Saturday with Roy and family (April 20, 2019)

Roy, Zephyr, and Roy's 5-year-old grandson Jackson, who was visiting from Plano, Texas.

Roy, Jackson, Kendra (Luke's girlfriend), Roy's son Luke, and Tom.  Kendra tore her Achilles tendon on a Ninja playscape. Her scooter will be a close friend for the next four months while the tendon heals.

Starring Einar and Zephyr (April 17-19, 2019)

Einar never comes inside.  But thunderstorms and the threat of hail and tornadoes plus a bowl of his favorite food convinced him to spend the night in the sunroom on Wednesday.  He would have run away had I gotten any closer to him than the kitchen doorway.

Dreaming on the deck on sunny Thursday.

Hanging out. Zephyr meows at the kitchen window when she wants inside.

Luring Einar inside on a sunny day.  Zephyr is more interested in the great outdoors.

Otis's Trail Blazers have started out well.

Our stylin' Otis is a staunch Portland Trail Blazers fan.  So far, so good.  The Blazers won their first two play-off games.  Go Blazers!

St. Matthew Passion in Shreveport (April 14, 2019)

Letting the good times roll at La Madeline.  Shared my mimosa with Martha.  Her first!

Met Joyce, Al, and Emma at La Madeline for lunch before the Centenary College Choir's presentation of St. Matthew Passion by Bach with the Shreveport Symphony.

Between lunch and the concert, I met Dad at the hospital to visit with Charles.

Intermission. The performance was held at First Baptist Church.  Excellent experience!

Meeting my House representative and reconnecting with an old friend (April 11, 2019)

Another blurry photo.  Sigh.  Here I am with my state representative Gina Hinojosa.  Fellow Sierra Club member Eileen McGinnis is reviewing the bills we support with her.

Heard a familiar voice in the ladies room.  It was Lynda, mother of Ryder's best friend Seth Nesenholtz.  She moved to Fort Worth years ago.  She was at the Capitol lobbying for Planned Parenthood.  She's a retired attorney who was one of my job references when I graduated from law school in 1994. She's still as compassionate and kind as ever.

Lobbying for the Sierra Club at the State Capitol (April 11, 2019)

April 11 was Conservation Day at the State Capitol.  I joined about 20 other Sierra Club members to speak urge elected representatives to vote for bills to keep/make Texas more green. Only got to speak with two representatives,as the House was in session, but with office staff of eight other representatives.  I parked the Zoomer at the HEB grocery store and caught a Capital Metro bus downtown, only having to walk two blocks from the bus stop.  Parking wouldn't have been any closer.  

Motorized scooters are very popular in Austin.  Thank goodness they're prohibited on Capitol Grounds.  I've almost been run over on downtown sidewalks.

Looking up, up, up into the interior dome.  At 302 feet, the Texas State Capitol is about 15 feet taller than the U.S. Capitol building, but is not the tallest state capitol building.  I'm proud to say the honor falls to Louisiana, with a 450-foot tall state capitol building (not as aesthetically pleasing though).  Sorry, Texas!

Had to take a sip from the fanciest water fountain I've ever seen. A little research shows there's a more fancy one outside.  Check out https://memorialdrinkingfountains.wordpress.com/tag/austin/. Will make a point to drink from it next time I'm on the Capitol grounds.

Love the doors and doorknobs!

Even the door hinges are gorgeous.

Hawk (April 10, 2019)

We heard this hawk calling from its perch in one of our elm trees.  The squirrel in the next tree froze in place for the longest time.  We brought Zephyr indoors.  The hawk probably wasn't large enough to be a danger to her, but just in case . . . .

Flight of beer, flight of bacon (April 4-7, 2019)

Birthday girl Cheryl chose Denver as her 60th birthday destination. We had flights of award-winning beer at Tommyknockers in Idaho Springs, just west of Denver, on April 5, her big day.

Yes, it's possible to order flights of bacon at the Bacon Social House in Denver. Cheryl tried all the flavors (applewood, BBQ, candied, habanero, paleo, and a featured flavor).  I tried none.  Instead, you can see arugula on my plate, which also contains an egg white/veggie omelet.  I did splurge and have a cheddar bacon biscuit.  We weren't sure about the shears, but guessed they were for cutting the bacon. 

South Broadway, Denver (April 4-7)

Cheryl and I stayed in a HomeAway in the Pearl/South Broadway area of Denver, much like Austin's SoCo neighborhood.  I couldn't help but think of you, Anjanette, when I saw this octopus/sea diver candelabra in one of the antique stores along South Broadway.  Shouldn't the octopus hold eight candles?

Patio on a gorgeous Spring day on South Broadway

You know you're in snow country when . . .

You keep a snow shovel on the back porch next to your covered patio furniture.

A snowmobile is parked next to the recycling bin in the driveway.  Flatlander here at first thought the snowmobile was a jet ski.

There's a boot scraper at the building entrance.

Mt. Evans Scenic Byway (April 5, 2019)

Waterfall in the snow at Idaho Springs, a former mining town.  Many of the miners were from the tin mines in Cornwall, England.  They brought with them their elves, called Tommyknockers, who lived in the mines and either created mischief or good luck if left food or gifts.

The Mt. Evans Scenic Byway runs from Idaho Springs, just west of Denver, to Evergreen, just south of Denver.  We weren't able to take the spur to Mt. Evans itself, where we could have driven on the highest paved road in North America (14,000 plus feet). Due to snow, the road is typically open only from Memorial Day through Labor Day. 

View from the Mt. Evans Scenic Byway.

I promise you, we were in the middle of nowhere, several miles outside Evergreen.  I'm guessing maybe hikers and cyclists were parking their cars along the road for extended periods?  Probably wouldn't get too far in 30 minutes.  But maybe a friend could drop you off and pick you up.