Happy 4th, y'all.

Beginnings of Summer

The Texas spring was full of beautiful weather and bountiful bluebonnets. Now, the heat has settled in. Many of the wildflowers are gone, the days stretch on past 9pm, and thunderstorms rumble across the sky and douse the state with warm rain.


I'm living it up like all Texans do, despite the 90% humidity. I spend my weekends riding my bike through the hill country, lounging at Barton Springs Pool, running in local 5ks, eating BBQ, boating on Lake Austin, and kayaking through downtown on Lady Bird Lake. Seems like most things here involve exercise, water, and good eats.

You can take your pick of events every night of the week, but there's something wonderfully charming about those classic Austin sights, like the Congress Avenue bridge, where people gather each evening (on the bridge on or on boats below) to watch 1.5 million bats take flight. I picked a bad evening; apparently it's birthing season for the mama bats. On top of that, when it's very hot the bats won't fly until much later, once it's cooled down... between those two things, the bats barely trickled out. Next time.


The annual Keep Austin Weird 5k attracts some hard core runners (it was over 100 degrees, after all), and some of the best of Austin's weirdos. They closed down the S. 1st street bridge and filled it with local vendors (including one of my favorites: Gardener's Feast tamales), and then set up a rather atypical run course along Cesar Chavez. Mile one featured a "popsicle tree" with otter pops and a limbo game, mile two had a demonstration from Austin Parks Foundation, mile 2.25 had a Deep Eddy vodka & sweet tea station, mile 2.5 had free spoonfuls of Amy's Ice Cream, and mile 2.75 had water balloons and super soakers. Probably the slowest 5k that I've done, but I had a blast.


I miss my Bay Area summer fog, but life's good.

Website of the Week

Operation Beautiful: transforming the way you see yourself one post-it at a time.


"The mission of Operation Beautiful is to post anonymous notes in public places for other women to find. The point is that WE ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL. You are enough... just the way you are!"



Rock on.

Links from Operation Beautiful:
Thursday Notes – June 24, 2010
How to be a Critical Viewer of the Media (© of NEDA)
Magazines vs. Reality (© of Oh She Glows)

Spotted at Barton Springs Pool

A yellow-crowned night heron. A beautiful, bold bird that quietly wanders around the hill on the west side of the pool every evening.






Pretty magical.

Pictures by ret0dd on Flickr.

To Market, To Market

Where: Austin Farmer's Market (Austin)
When: Saturday, 11am

Purchased:

Piping hot pork & tomatillo tamale from the Gardener's Feast

Basil, lime, and pellegrino agua fresca

Zucchini, heirloom & grape tomatoes, a giant bunch of basil, & a mini watermelon from Johnson's Backyard Garden (Austin, TX).

Wish list (next week, maybe?):

A pretty little fig tree from Specialized Plant Sales (La Grange, TX)

Herb pots from the Herb Shack (Wimberely, TX)

Goat cheese from Maid in the Shade (Rosanky, TX)

Coffee cups from Austin Clay

CSA box from Johnson's Backyard Garden?

Midnight rider

Friday night.

I found myself standing beneath a moonlight tower.

165 feet tall.
Over a hundred years old.
Manufactured by Fort Wayne Electric Company.

Six bright lamps shining down on Zilker Park and 100 cyclists.

AWESOME.

Welcome to the 2nd Juan Pelota Moonlight Tower Constellation Tour. The goal? Ride all around Austin to view the 15 remaining moonlight towers, a citywide lighting system from back in the day (think 1890s).

I love this idea. Both that Austin is the only city left in the world to operate such a lighting system, but also that I could play follow-the-leader on my bike to see them all.

The ride was a perfection cross-section of the cycling community. I will admit I was expecting the group to be dominated by hipsters on fixies, but it was far more diverse: triathletes in sleeveless jerseys, roadies in full spandex, one parent-child pair, cruisers, BMXers, a recumber rider, single-speeders, commuters, MTBers, and more.

We rolled out at 8:15pm, and by the time we'd crossed Lamar Blvd, through Bouldin Creek, and into Travis Heights to the second moonlight tower, I think we'd lost a quarter of the group. Still, we pressed on, across the Congress Avenue bridge (over Town Lake and past some amused folks waiting for the bats to fly), through downtown, and into East Austin.


Contrary to popular belief, the east side of town isn't that sketchy. But just as I'd be wary to be caught in certain areas of Oakland, CA alone at night, there were moments when I was glad to be pedaling alongside 50 other cyclists, rather than by myself.

We stopped to regroup several times; each time the pack got smaller and smaller. I think the lack of maps and the steep little hills that pepper the Austin landscape took a toll on the weaker riders. We hammered up Chicon to MLK, over Manor, through UT, and up to 42nd. That's the northernmost tower.

After that the group blew apart. I counted 12 towers (there are 15) and decided I didn't mind heading back to Mellow Johnny's Juan Pelota cafe for some (free) beer.

We sat, drank, reveled, and mused that this was probably the best way to spend a Friday night. The end.

Words to remember.