Bird Lady

Ann seems to be enjoying her new 60X spotting scope.  From the back deck table top you can rotate it to see three of our bird feeders with ease.  With this thing you can not only see that a bird has a seed in it's mouth- you can see little bits of each seed breaking up as the bird munches on it. So far it has mostly been just the usual birds like the Tufted Titmouse and Cardinal.  I'm already looking forward to next June/July when my favorite, the Painted Bunting returns...

Founders Oak

We went to nearby New Braunfels recently to check out Founders Oak, their new addition to the "Famous Trees of Texas" program. Truth be told, this program was not so famous to us since we had never heard of it before.   The Texas Forest Service and Texas A&M  University sponsor the program, which appears to have about a hundred trees on the list.  Ann and I have now seen four of them, and have concluded that the program name is appropriate; trees get on the program for being FAMOUS for something other than just being big or old.  My favorite tree is the one behind Ann, but my favorite tree name is the Kissing Tree in San Marcos since I got to give Ann a big smooch under it.

Counter Curves

The upstairs bath is one of the last rooms to receive the stained oak trim I've been putting everywhere.  Partly because the bath is not used too often... but mainly because of the curves.  The curved recycled glass counter top means that I need to provide a curved wood cabinet base, and here you can see the first section done (far left).   I also completed the whole toe kick you can see at the bottom.  Slow work because in order to make the wood bend enough, I have to cut deep slits about 1/2 inch apart along the entire board's back side.  Then after it is in place, I fill the slits with an expanding urethane glue to give it strength.  And somehow I still have to figure out how to detail a nice panel in all those wood curves to access the sink plumbing.  So for all of you who have previously built one just like it, come on out and give me a hand.

Gypsy Rags

What do India, San Francisco, and Wimberley have in common?  They've all been home to this tapestry made by Indian gypsies out of discarded bits of colorful clothing.  We were in San Francisco recently, which seemed to have more art per block than any place in the world.  Touring a building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright which just happened to be operating as, you guessed it, an art gallery.  So while it's connection to the brilliant and arrogant architect may be more than a little distant, I love the connection to unknown nomadic people supporting themselves by re-purposing something destined for the trash dump.

Friendly Monster

We went to San Francisco last week and saw tons of art.  One of my favorites was a set of three different monster-looking things, this one being my VERY favorite.  I love the idea of having this monster hanging around the backyard, but I imagine the thing would cost as much as our house.  So maybe one of my semi-retirement hobbies will be to create my own versions of some friendly Wimberley monsters like this.  I'd love to see what the deer would do when they stroll through the backyard and see such a thing; would they think it was friendly at all?