LAYWELL Front Page

2012-01-31T13:40:00.000-06:00

February is Black History Month. Today is the last day to view the exhibit of famous Austin African Americans musicians. I viewed the exhibit at the Carver Museum a few weeks ago.

2012-01-30T18:21:00.000-06:00

During last weeks art class at UT we studied western art. Here are a few of the paintings the museum's curator discussed.

2012-01-29T16:59:00.000-06:00

The member of this band were very young but they really rocked out.

2012-01-28T17:16:00.001-06:00

I started off the cold morning with a walk but I did not get very far when I found the trail covered by water. The flooding from the recent rains caused me to cut the walk short. Arriving at the Lady Bird Wildflower Center just in time for the mornings first lecture, the auditorium was almost empty. I had expected a lot more people for the tree lecture. I spent the remainder of Saturday afternoon with Texas Longhorn fans at the University's baseball stadium.

2012-01-28T09:30:00.003-06:00

Today I will attend an early morning lecture on trees. Before attending the lecture I visited one of Austin's famous trees. The tree is called the learning tree because it is behind a library. Because of the heavy rains in the area only days ago I found the area had been flooded

2012-01-27T11:24:00.002-06:00

Indian Marker tree looks pretty weird but the tree's folklore is well documented in Texas history. On Saturday I will be back to studying trees at the Lady bird Wildflower center with a lecture by the Texas Forest Service.

2012-01-26T19:39:00.000-06:00

Coffee at Starbucks and a stop at the Lakeway Library yesterday, coffee at UT Alumni Center and a stop at the Bee Caves Library today. I was at the University of Texas today for an Art lecture at the Blanton Museum of Art. A large group assembled for the walking lecture on western art. I liked the Go West exhibit and will return to view it again next month. As I was leaving the Blanton Museum I heard a loud crash. When I looked up I saw one automobile had rear ended another automobile directly in front of the museum. One of the drivers was shaken up and had to be laid on the sidewalk until the ambulance arrived . Only a few blocks from the Texas Capital, the site is always heavily patrolled by security personal so there was not shortage of security and emergency personal on the scene almost imminently. When I got home I went over to visit neighbors Jim and Ed. Ed said the Totem Pole construction project has been put on hold to sometime this summer so he will be returning the Totem Pole books I got for him. I will drop the books at the Hampton Library on my way to the tree lecture early Saturday morning.

2012-01-25T19:10:00.000-06:00

Wildflower Center 2012

2012-01-25T07:30:00.000-06:00

The story trailer was on display at the Bob Bullock Museum. Employees were on hand to let people tell and record their stories.

2012-01-24T12:33:00.000-06:00

Work continues on the 1869 cabin in Lakeway. The cabin was recently moved from land that is to be developed in Lakeway.

Historic log cabin on the move: kxan.com

2012-01-23T19:23:00.002-06:00

Made a very early drive to Cameron Texas this morning. Visited with sisters and brother and conducted family business. Enjoyed a nice lunch with family and was home in Spicewood by 5 PM

2012-01-22T13:30:00.000-06:00

I have never heard of many of the musicians in the Austin Music Memorial exhibit. The exhibit honored Austin African Americans Musicians who were inducted into the Memorial. There were back to back basketball games at St Edwards University on Saturday. I set through both with the St Edwards men and women losing to Newman University. While I was at the game I received a call from my sister who was at the Austin Boat Show. Her family had a booth at the show so she met me at the loading dock and she got me into the show for free. The Hike and Bike Trail is only a few blocks from the Austin Convention Center where the boat show was held so I got in a walk along Lady Bird Lake.

2012-01-21T19:46:00.000-06:00

Saturday evening ended with a walk along Lady Bird Lake at sunset.

2012-01-20T21:48:00.000-06:00

I did not do much to celebrate Martian Luther King Day so this morning I drove to east Austin to visit the George Washington Carver Museum. The museum was showing four movies about the life and movement of MLK and I watched two of the movies. Driving a little farther into east Austin I had trouble finding the concert I thought was to be in the park. The concert of Mexican Ranch music turned out to be inside the building next to the park and it was standing room only so I did not even stay for one song. Before leaving east Austin I stopped at one of the Austin Public Library branches which gave me a chance to read the city newspaper and write a post for Laywell's Lamp. Later I attended a concert in the Rotunda of the Texas State Capital. The Marshall Academy of Fine Arts gave a ho hum musical performance. Their choir was somewhat better than their orchestra but over all the whole concert was a dud. The day was wearing on and I needed a pick me up so I stopped at Book People for coffee. My next event just so happened to be across the street from Book People which made the coffee stop that much better. Arriving at Waterloo Records thirty minutes before the Folk Rock performer was to take the stage I did not see the normal large group of people waiting for the album release party to start. I thought something was wrong and I was right. Fifteen minutes after I had arrived at Waterloo Record they announced the concert had been canceled. It was 5 PM and the talk by the University of Texas Professor of Gender I had planned to attend was two and a half hours away. I was looking forward to her talk but decided to skip the talk and get in line with all the other drivers heading home in Friday 5 PM traffic.

2012-01-20T16:39:00.000-06:00

Election season is in full swing. I spotted the C-Span television station bus in downtown Austin today and was able to go inside for a tour.

2012-01-19T20:05:00.001-06:00

Today's noon concert in Lakeway was suppose to be Rock and Roll but it was sure a poor excuse for that. This was the worst band I've heard in the Brown Bag concert series.

2012-01-19T16:09:00.000-06:00

Austin Homeless Memorial. Every year between 300 and 400 homeless people die in Austin. A memorial service is held each year on the banks of Lady Bird Lake to honor those who died

2012-01-18T18:43:00.000-06:00

I could not believe my eyes this afternoon. Monday someone gave me a cantaloupe then later contacted me saying the fruit was no good and to throw it away. Today I was walking to the neighborhood dumpster with cantaloupe in hand when I looked up and saw a man ridding a white donkey and pulling another white donkey behind him. I struck up a conversation with the rider and buster up the cantaloupe for the donkeys to eat. The animals made a fast meal of the fruit and then the man climbed on the back of one of the donkeys and rode away.

2012-01-17T17:50:00.000-06:00

This as about as close as I'll ever get to becoming a Texas State Trooper

2012-01-17T10:09:00.000-06:00

I've been zapped! On Sunday the Internet company Zappos was hacked. I was one of the 24 million of the company's costumers who's accounts were compromised. Luckily the hacked did not get credit card numbers, only email addresses, phone numbers and pass words. I've spent most of the morning changing pass word on all my other online accounts that I do and do not do commerce with. What a hassle but I guess it's the price we pay for the wide open hwy of the internet.

2012-01-16T15:06:00.002-06:00

2012-01-15T16:40:00.000-06:00

Walking to Austin's Long Center for the Preforming Arts I spotted an Am Track train heading into the Austin Station. At the Long Center there was a exhibit of very large inflatable art on the center's lawn. The best swimmers in America were at Jamail Swim Center and I was able to catch several of the early morning races. Many members of America's Olympic swimming team were present at the swim meet. I joined my sister for lunch in south Austin then attended the last of an AA meeting. A pizza restaurant was having a grand opening not too far from the AA club so I stopped at the pizza shop and grabbed two of their grand opening special take home and bake $5 pizzas. The last stop of the day was at the Bee Caves Library.

2012-01-14T19:40:00.000-06:00

Inflatable Art

2012-01-14T08:07:00.000-06:00

I am not sure what this was but I think it had something to due with New Years. I came across what ever this was on a walk across Auditorium Shores in Austin a week after New Years. Maybe it was just one of those Keep Austin Weird things. This morning I'll be back in the same area looking at some giant inflated sculpture.

2012-01-13T11:31:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I dropped off the totem pole material to neighbor Ed and was surprised with a plate of homemade cookies that Sandra had just taken out of the oven. Spent the rest of the early part of the afternoon on the town square in Burnet Texas. Having three reasons for being in Burnet on Thursday, I was able to accomplish two of them. The first was the hardest. Trying to find one of Texas's famous trees was not easy but after driving around in a circle for ten minutes I finnaly parked and walked until I found the tree. A panel discussion in one of the buildings on the Burnet Town Square was up next. A group of reporters who were working at the Dallas radio station KRLD on the day JFK was assassinated talked about their experiences that dreadful day. The panel discussion was standing room only. Getting to the event frothy minutes early I got the last seat on the very back row. The talk about JFK lasted much longer than I had anticipated so I canceled the last event of the day which was a visit to the County Livestock Show.