First bluebonnet of the season

The first sighting is always so exciting. It was such a fine spring evening in Texas. We were walking out by the old airport.

I heard someone say it would be a good year for the wildflowers this year since the drought last year killed all the grass. There certainly did seem to be a lot of plants out there, gearing up.

Kitchen Art - East Austin Studio Tour

I've just finished a series of mini-prints of vegetables from the Farmer's Market at Triangle Park. Just in time for the East Austin Studio Tour! It ran last weekend, and will be on again this weekend, Nov 21-22, 10-5pm. The scene at Linda Lane Studios, in our neighborhood on the Upper East Side, is quite a fun event, with 16 artists, 10 live bands, barbeque, and fine weather. My husband, Michael, and I also have also collaborated on some new prints. Do come by if you get a chance!

Potato Harvest

Volunteers brought in a fine crop today at Johnson's Backyard Garden, an organic farm just five miles east of downtown Austin. The Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program serves 450 families year-round with fresh, organic vegetables, herbs and flowers. Starting 3 years ago with just 10 families, it has quickly grown to become the largest CSA in Texas. (more potato harvest photos)

First Tomato

Here's the first tomato from my Texas garden. Amazing. In Wisconsin I wouldn't dare set out a tomato plant before May 10th, the average last date for frost. But this cutie is ready to eat already!

My Cat

We adopted this sweet little stray. It was raining hard and she was outside our door, meowing desperately. She taught us to play "Fetch" with her, just like a dog, so we named her Rover. She has very few possessions, but she does like that ball. Mama lent me a 50mm fixed lens, which I just love.

Lafayette

Mama and I took an Elderhostel trip for a week in Lafayette, Louisiana. Eerie swamps with real alligators. Lots of good Cajun food. And some downright stomping accordion, especially Lee Benoit and the Bayou Stompers. Got back into taking photos.

Ben's seed starting workshop

Our garden guru teaches us skills for resilience in the times ahead. We make seed balls to start our spring gardens. (more photos)

New Mexico: A Visual and Spiritual Journey

Fabulous photo workshop with Todd Williams. Mountains, deserts, horseraces, old towns. Todd brought along 3 of his photographer friends to assist, so we were drenched with learning every minute. Exhausting and exhilarating. Our group did a 1-nite show downtown; I've never been more pleased with a photo exhibit. Tony Johnson's pieces and mine are now on display at my office, so just let me know if you'd like to see them.

Keep Austin Weird

The unofficial motto of this town, is "Keep Austin Weird". A local librarian, Red Wassenich, first uttered the phrase back in 2000, when phoning his pledge to a local radio station. I've heard it quite a bit along with sighs about the seemingly inevitable condo high-rise development downtown and incursions of big-box retail.

I took this photo at a weird RV park in South Austin. It's in a Texas Documentary Photographers' exhibit at BookPeople, the best independent bookstore ever. The griffin is from BookPeople's Harry Potter opening release party a while back, and the woman, Flip, is BookPeople's cafe manager. The show runs thru Feb 14.

Saber Cat

This cat's in front of the Texas Memorial Museum. We went to the opening of an excellent exhibit on evolution. Over wine and cheese, a vertebrate paleontologist was telling a climatologist that they'd been finding cold-weather species and warm-weather species right in the same layer in a recent dig. Climatologist replied that one species in retreat and one in advance could happen, did happen in the past, in periods of rapid climate change. I've lived with a climatologist for some 18 years now. Recent news on melting in the Arctic is freaking me out. See also this strange image of ice boulders in Greenland.

Canadian Takes on Green Chili Cook-Off

Canadian-born newcomer to Texas, Michael Tobis, was one of five finalists in Central Market's Hatch Green Chili Cooking Contest.

Although he never knew a green chili as a child, and he only tasted his first taco in his late 20s, he was inspired to create his "Free Totta" (or "Texas Frittata") within a couple of months of moving to Texas earlier this year. Competing with professional chefs and caterers, he did did not actually win the contest, but he held his own and was afterwards complimented by several of the celebrity judges.

The tasty recipe will be included in a new cookbook to be published later this month.

Latte Art

At Jo's on South Congress it's not just another pretty flower.

Bagging the iPhone

I figured this would be a documentary photo opportunity.

iPhone release date in Austin, Texas - 6/29/07 - see the slideshow.

Words and Pictures

I've been reading Scott McCloud's book, Understanding Comics. I've also been at my local coffee shop, practicing for my documentary photography class. When I was processing the photos a little story appeared. Take a look at this documentary fumetti (comics with photos instead of drawings). I'm really quite pleased with it.

Coffee Shop

I'm taking a documentary photography class. It's just great hearing Todd Williams talk photography. I wasn't finding time to got out & shoot, so I finally just set my alarm for 6:30a, an hour earlier than usual, and headed out to Quack's, the coffee shop close to my house. "Weet for the Laaht", Todd said a dozen times, so I did. The light really was wonderful. I saw colors I never had seen there before. I had never even noticed that the chairs were green. It's a different crowd, that time of day, not the same characters I usually see there. I also got a few shots at Jo's one afternoon a few weeks ago.

A Paper Moon (not even on paper yet actually)

I've been checking out a photo club, the Austin Shutterbugs. This month "moonrise or moonset" was the special assignment up for critique. Others in the club had had a year to get this together, but I just got here so I didn't have time to go out and shoot the moon. I had just been out shooting some Texas wildflowers, tho, so I whipped up this "night and day" composite.

The Prairie – Chicago to Austin

1100+ miles. Lots of prairie.

En route from Chicago to Joplin, as Michael was driving, I just had my little old point-and-shoot camera. It's a sport, trying to frame a shot at that speed, but I did get a few nice shots right through the window as the beautiful prairie whizzed by. (The next day, Joplin to Austin, I got my better camera, the one that Mama just gave me for Christmas, out of the suitcase. The focus was much better, but the day was cloudless and the prairie was just plain flat.)

The camera remembers better than I do how vast it is out there. It's all agriculture. That's what's so astounding. How did we ever manage that? It should be grassland, with buffalo. But it's all cropland now, and miles and miles of road and telephone poles.