Visiting the Wildflower Center

Sunday, I drove out to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center for the afternoon. Bobbie's away in PA and this was a good outing to keep me busy and away from my laptop.This wasn't the time of year for wildflower carpets, but I thought it was stunning in that way when you see tones and texture. The buildings are based on a kind of "Hill Country"architecture that I loved and found fitting. There's a gallery, auditorium, library, learning center and, for kids, the "little house." It was a lovely visit.


Entrance

Observation Tower


Now in bloom


Current exhibit


The natural garden





Have a seat

Past Travels

I thought I'd put up some photos of places we've been, good times we've had since -- oh, last spring.


Appalachian Trail, MD


Harper's Ferry


Mount Vernon


Wolf Trap


lc's almost Alma Mater -- Trinity College/Washington DC


A new breed


Spring lilacs


Better than cow-patterned clothes


Northshire Bookshop/ Manchester VT


Garden center near Burlington VT



Chautauqua NY


house detail, Chautauqua NY

more to come ...

Austin on a Saturday

Today we took some time to take Molly to an off-leash park on the river and of course, she had a great time.She still seems a bit bewildered by it all but she played and ran with some other dogs -- it was crowded -- and met many fans. Bobbie commented on how many other "relatives" of Molly were at the park -- border collies, australian shepherds and the like. We even saw 2 Irish Wolfhounds -- huge! No camera though, we left it at the RV.

Next we went on to the Farmer's Market -- how neat that's it's year-round here. Many locovores and supporters of sustainable agriculture. Such a bounty and samples galore! We loaded up on vegetables for soup, a yummy goat cheese,wheat bread, and ate the best scones ever. I sampled a divine chocolate -- a roasted cococa bean which was dipped in white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate and then dusted with cocoa. Can you imagine? You must try them -- go straight to the website now. It was a great morning.

Texas Book Festival

We spent some time wandering the Capital grounds during the festival and even managed to see some publisher friends of ours who were exhibiting.

Inside Austin City Limits

We're having a great time in Austin. Our friend Sally is here and we're celebrating her 6oth birthday. We've been all around the city -- Congress Ave., 6th Street, Hyde Park, the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center, and Barton Springs. We stopped at a vintage neon place Sally knew of and had a chat with the neon artist Todd Sanders, one of the nicest people I've ever met. We've eaten Barbeque at Stubbs, tacos at Guerro's, Amy's ice cream and had more than one stop at Hey Cupcake! Yesterday we spent some time at the Texas Book Festival and visited a Day of the Dead exhibit.

Today we'll drive around some of the Hill Country. And of course we hope to hear some music.

I'll add more photos later.
photo by Sally Lindsay

Where have we been?

Here's a recap of where we've been so far in 2009:

January
Del Ray Beach FL – Educational Paperback Association annual meeting
Denver CO – ALA annual

February
Christmas RV Park, Christmas FL
Merritt Island FL

March
Tampa/St Petersburg FL
Key West
Anastasia State Park, St. Augustine
Travel to Maryland

April
Knoxville MD
Annapolis MD
Newfoundland PA -- Pocono Weekend
Travel to New Hampshire
The Boston Marathon

May
Upper Hudson River Valley NY
Vermont
New York – BEA

June
the Cape
Travel to Michigan – Niagara Falls, Chautauqua Institution
Brighton MI

July
Chicago – ALA
Northern Michigan – camping on Lake Huron
Brighton MI
Ohio – camping with Bobbie’s family

August
Sterling State Park (MI) on Lake Erie
visits to Brighton and Ann Arbor

September
still in Michigan
travel to PA/ MD

October
Knoxville MD
10.23.09 travel to Texas


Anastasia State Park in St. Augustine FL

Chautauqua house

B & L at BNP

Molly at Mackinac Mill Creek Campground in Michigan

at Sally's farm

Fort DeSoto Beaches (FL)

Back again . . .

Well, it's about time to get this blog up and going again, don't you think? I know many of you would agree. We're not promising every day posts, and maybe not even every week. But we'll check in when we can and share a few notes and photos.

We arrived in Austin Texas after a 3-day drive west, leaving from Knoxville Maryland. It felt SO GOOD to be on the road again, seeing new terrain even from a highway. We had a lovely stop in Hot Springs Arkansas -- wasn't on my destination list but was a delightful surprise. We stayed at the National Park campground, small and one of the older ones, and we were fortunate to gain a spot on the river. The next morning we toured Hot Springs downtown, visiting the old bathhouses and getting a sense of what it was like during the Golden Age of Bathing. The architecture was stunning -- each building was different, two are still waiting to be restored. There are several open springs throughout town and the water is very hot. It's weird because the town lies within the National Park boundaries but is separate.

This was a great break before we began our 9 hour drive to Austin. We arrived after dark but managed to get set up before the rain began. Today it's still raining and we've stayed inside catching up on email and work. I'm thrilled to be in Austin and look forward to exploring this cool city -- music, barbeque,and a different Texan sensibility.