2010 - Fini: A December Potpourri

Well, 2010 is coming to a close and I thought I'd get one more post out lest people think I'm dogging it at the end of the year. I'll try to keep it brief since I'm planning to leave in a couple hours and try my hand at shooting the fireworks at Auditorium Shores. Gillian and her friend James have driven down to San Antonio to check out the Alamo and the River Walk.

A few weeks before Gillian flew in from Atlanta I set out scouting the Hill Country for places to take her that she'd never been before. This first picture is a view from the Sunset Deck in the Balcones Canyonlands NWR, Northwest of Austin. The river is the Lake Travis portion of the Colorado River, above Mansfield Dam.

Above is a detail from Karen's dinner table Christmas evening, and below is a Christmas portrait of Mother in Karen's living room.

Gillian flew in on the 27th and a couple of days later while we were driving around, we encountered these peacocks at Mayfield Park, next door to the Austin Museum of Art at Laguna Gloria.

Both Stephen and Karen take art classes there, but it's not a bad place to take pictures either.

This is a view of Westlake Hills across Lake Austin above Tom Miller Dam. I'd never seen it from this viewpoint before, only from atop Mount Bonnell.

This picture of the Austin skyline was taken as we approached Zilker Park from Stratford Dr. I expect to take the photographs of the fireworks tonight from somewhere around here.

This is a view looking north from the pedestrian bridge over Barton Creek, downstream to where it joins Lady Bird Lake.

Since I have no way of knowing whether or not this is a "family" of turtles, I titled this shot "A Turtle Hierarchy". I probably should call it "Gillian's Turtle Hierarchy" since she found the critters on our walk the other day.

Yesterday we went back out to the Balcones Canyonlands to explore a little and we came across these Longhorns just the other side of Cow Creek. Now that's a fine set of horns. It makes me anxious to know how Mack Brown's hunt for coaches is going. . .

One last Christmas message for 2010. This is so Texas! The only thing more Texas would be a muddy F-350 busting out of the brush with a Christmas wreath wired to the grill.

Merry Christmas, Y'all

Merry Christmas, y'all. I enjoyed visiting with many of you during the year and hope I'll have the opportunity to visit more of you in 2011.

For those of you wondering, I haven't given up on this photo blog; I just haven't been very productive lately. Check back occasionally to see if I've gotten off my butt. There'll be a lunar eclipse tonight that I hope to photograph if the thin clouds currently overhead don't interfere. And I've been scouting out scenic locations that Gillian and I will try to visit during her visit the week after Christmas. Beyond that, we'll just have to wait and see.

Have a Wonderful Holiday Season and I hope all of us manage to have a More Prosperous Year in 2011.

Bill Parker
Austin, Texas