Holiday Photos of the Boys

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The photo above I call "The Agony and the Ecstasy," and I guess it's pretty easy to see why. Roland Thomas and Sentry had gotten radio controlled race cars for Christmas, and were so eager to play with them! They decided that a good thing to do would be to race them off their cousin Jennifer's front porch for about a 4 foot drop to the concrete driveway. They had done this several times, when Sentry's car hit the ground just the right way and one of the headlights broke off. Of course, that was the very time that I decided to take a picture of them.

This photo was taken just recently on our day trip to Laguna Gloria Art Museum. Jan, the boys and I walked around the recently restored 1916 Italianate-style villa that was the home of Texas legend Clara Driscoll. The kids ran all over the lush 12-acre grounds overlooking Lake Austin, and we enjoyed the sculptures and the revitalized historic gardens. The wishing well is located at the rear of the main building, looking out over Lake Austin. Here is a photo of the main building.

We walked out along Lake Austin on a trail heading towards The Gazebo, a favorite spot for quiet meditation, as well as wedding and engagement photos. While we were there there were several photo shoots going on. There was even a photo shoot of a couple's pregnancy! It was a great walk along the well-kept path, and the boys were so impressed with this huge old tree, they begged me to take their photo next to it.

The photo below is of Roland Thomas at the family gathering at the ranch in New Braunfels. He had found a rock in his Aunt Karen's yard, and couldn't wait to show it off. He came running toward me just as I turned on the camera, and I just pointed and shot. Here is the photo.

I asked Sentry to stand by the column and "strike a pose." He did. The results are below.

Well I guess that's it. Since the hours are getting few for the year 2007, I will take this opportunity to wish you and your family the Happiest of New Years. I hope that 2008 is the best year yet for you!

Christmas Tree Ornaments

In the spirit of Christmas, and the childlike wonder of bright shiny things and pretty lights, I took some photos of some handmade ornaments that hang on Jan's family's Christmas tree on the ranch.

These ornaments were handmade, one a year, and were a gift to my father-in-law Roland from a member of his congregation at St Matthew's UCC in New Orleans Louisiana.

Kathryn Schroeder made these ornaments as a gift of love for her beloved pastor. Even after Roland retired, she continued to make them and send them to him in time to place on the tree.

Roland treasured these and never tired of complimenting them, pointing out the "new arrival" every year with pride and wonder that someone would take the time to make a beautiful thing for Julia and himself.

I don't know if these were from a kit that she put together, or if she assembled the pieces and put them together on her own, but it makes no difference either way. The miracle of these ornaments, to my mind, is that by taking satin wrapped styrofoam balls, pearl-tipped stick pins, colored ribbons, and lots of time attention patience and love, Kathryn could make things that became treasures to the ones she gave them to.

My Christmas wish for you is that the gifts you give to the ones you love, and that the gifts you receive, will be as loved and treasured as these were to Roland and Julia.

Merry Christmas!

Sentry and the Red Admiral

Amy, Chad and the grandkids have been here for a couple of days now, and today was the first day that was pretty enough for us to get outside. Earlier in the week I had collected most of the leaves from this year's "crop" and piled it up in the back yard. Sentry and Roland Thomas had the best time running and jumping into the pile, but RT got tired and began another game. I had taken a few shots of the kids in the leaves, but noticed a butterfly resting in the weeds next to the leaf pile. Sentry and I slowly and (somewhat) quietly crept up and I got a fair shot of the insect. Suddenly, it flew up and landed on his shirt! I quickly snapped a picture, and then it was gone. Just that quick. You can see from the photo below that the little fellow's wings have taken quite a beating in his migration. His right lower wing seems to be very tattered and ragged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Red Admiral (Brushfoot)~~~~~~~~~~~~

I looked at the North American Butterfly Assn website, and matched my photo with their photo of a Red Admiral butterfly. Just a short time later, I noticed that two of them were chasing each other around the trees, but they were too high up and never landed. They just chased each other into the neighbor's yard and on about their merry way.

We did see another yellow butterfly, possibly a Cloudless Sulfur as best I could match with NABA. Good to know they're still around this far into winter.

Back to Fall Creek Vineyards

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Well, we went back to Fall Creek Vineyards earlier than we thought we would! The weather was so beautiful, and we were anxious not to get the house ready for all the company coming on Tuesday, so we "played hooky" and took the trip out to Tow, TX again. On the way, we stopped by the Christmas Cafe in Burnet TX (on the square in the middle of town, and VERY popular place to eat and shop for Christmas gifts and ornaments). After lunch we got there about 45 minutes before closing, and the gates were open!

We got there in plenty of time for a tour of the winery operations, and a wine tasting to pick which ones we'd be taking home. There weren't any operations going on, since the grapes are pretty much done production by August, but the machinery was mighty impressive. We learned a couple of things about the winery that I thought were interesting. Fall Creek Vineyards is the third largest in the state of Texas. (St Genevieve is No. 1 and Llano Estacado is No. 2) And, the Falls that the vineyards are named for are only viewable by boat! The Vanishing Texas River Cruise is the most popular way to see the falls, and we decided that would be our next excursion. If we see and get to photograph any of the Bald Eagles that roost and live along the cruise route, that would be a big bonus.

When we visited Fall Creek before, I was only able to get photos from the gate and fence surrounding the vineyards. This time the light was better and we were able to get photos from many different vantage points. But we were lucky, believe it or not, to make that last trip. A couple of days ago, a front came through Central Texas (I mentioned the quick weather change in Poppa's Window entry) and brought very high winds to this area. The high winds blew most of the red leaves right off the trees, leaving very few to capture with the camera. Only the trees on the side away from the wind had many leaves at all.

We tasted several wines at Fall Creek, 3 whites dry to sweet, and 3 reds dry to sweet. Jan is a white wine person and of the whites she liked the desert wine called Muscat Canelli. It is in a beautiful blue bottle that I associate with Reislings, but this isn't a Reisling. My fave was the dry Cabernet Sauvignon, the Granite Reserve. The red sweet wine, named after the owner of the winery, Ed, was WAY too sweet for either Jan or me.

On the way out I spotted a very cold cat sitting on a post in the patio of the wine-tasting room. She looked so miserable trying to keep warm! I snapped a photo, and hoped she'd have sense enough to go out in the sun before it got too low in the sky.

I include a photo that is not strictly from Fall Creek but is from the shore of Lake Buchanan near the winery. I wanted to get the ducks closer to the shore, but by the time I stopped the car and walked the few yards to where they were, they were getting pretty far away. I snapped the photo anyway, just for the water and sky.

Thanks for stopping by!