LAYWELL Front Page

2012-02-11T16:49:00.001-06:00

Thought this was a very unusual house

2012-02-10T16:49:00.000-06:00

Attended a writers conference in Burnet County. The speaker at the conference was a well known western writer. He has won Western Writers of America award for best Western Novel. He has written a book with Willie Nelson and is currently writing a book with Kenny Rogers

2012-02-09T09:55:00.000-06:00

Wednesday was diverse to say the least. Watercolors, Rattlesnakes and National Security were on my schedule Wednesday. The collection of watercolors at one of the downtown Austin Banks was not very good. The best thing about the collection was getting to it. A walk down Congress Ave on an early weekday morning is always full of activity and the city of live music was as usual humming right along. I knew there were to be rattlesnakes in the Capital's outdoor rotunda but because of the cold temperature I thought the event might be canceled. I was wrong, the snakes were right where they were suppose to be and I was able to get as close as I wanted to the slithering creatures. The lunch hour found me at the Strauss Center for International Security and Law where I joined about seventy other people for a luncheon. The guest speaker at the luncheon was the Professor of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University. He holds B.A, M.A, and Ph.D degrees from Harvard University. The title of his talk was Dangers, Dilemmas, Delusions in National Security.

2012-02-08T17:21:00.001-06:00

I did not want to get too close to these critters.

2012-02-07T09:50:00.000-06:00

Sunday was all about anniversaries, three to be exact. It was the 100 anniversary of the Austin Symphony. The Symphony's Brass Ensemble gave a concert for the public in UT Gregory Gym. The musical program consisted entirely of the music of John Philip Sousa. Sousa played in Austin eight times between 1902-1920 and two of those performances were at the University of Texas Men's Gym on the UT campus. The old gym burned down long ago but it's location was very near Gregory Gym. Sunday's second anniversary observance took place at the Bullock Museum. 150 year anniversary of the Civil War. At the museum I attended a lecture about Texas Indians during the Civil war and what happened to the them and the battles they fought during that time period. Sunday's third anniversary was of course the Super Bowl which marked 46 years that the game has been played. With all the activity on Sunday I thought I would be late getting home and miss the Super Bowl game kick off but I made it home with twenty minutes to spare. I even had time to stop on the way home and pick up a pizza for the big game. Monday I drove to Cameron where City leaders presented my father several awards. Myself along with other Laywell family members accepted the awards on the behalf of my father.

2012-02-06T07:58:00.002-06:00

I heard marching tune after marching tune on Super Bowl Sunday.

2012-02-05T10:42:00.000-06:00

The Berlin Wall started coming down in late 1989 and was completely gone bu the end of 1990. I found a piece of the wall in Austin TX

2012-02-04T13:20:00.000-06:00

There were more people shopping for trees than there was at the tree lecture. At the Lady Bird Wildflower Center I learned about caring for trees.

2012-02-03T19:48:00.000-06:00

This year I was a lot later getting to the University of Texas Alumni baseball game and had to park near the teams mascot transport vehicle in the very rear of the stadium's parking lot. Entering the stadium I was too late for the free hot dogs so I walked over to the team's mascot and had my photo taken before setting down to watch the MLB stars take batting practice. The Texas Longhorn television network was conducting interviews through the day and I got a chance to watch the interviews of Roger Clements and Houston Street. The Alumni team defeated the current Longhorns 2-0.

2012-02-02T21:37:00.000-06:00

Stopped at Lakeway's historical cabin site today to check on the renovation progress. I found workers working on the structure's roof. I have not been able to find out the date of dedication. With the Lakeway City Hall only a few yards away I visited one of the Art in Public Places exhibits inside the City Hall and enjoyed coffee and pastries during my visit to the City Hall's art exhibit. There was a concert at noon. The concert's entertainment bill said Classy Sassy Singers. Not my cup of tea by a long shot, I did not stay long and left the concert to continue my afternoon activities.

2012-02-02T10:12:00.000-06:00

Blog stats for January
Laywell's Lamp 605 page views
Laywell Front Page 894 page views
Laywell TV 4726 video views
Top 10 videos viewed in the month of January

Top 10 videos Browse all videos

	Video	Views	Likes	Comments
1.	Square Dance	1,163	1	0
2.	University of Texas Rowing	844	0	0
3.	The Classic American Hot Dog	197	0	1
4.	Accordion Contest	178	0	0
5.	Burnet County Livestock Show	128	0	0
6.	Austin Polar Bear Club Jan 1 2008 Splash	113	1	0
7.	University of Texas mascot Bevo	108	0	0
8.	Lake Travis Cavalette Dance Team	92	0	0
9.	Reebok Comfort DMX MAX Walking Shoes	82	1	0
10.	University of Texas Swimming	65	0	0

2012-02-01T19:47:00.001-06:00

The day started with something that affects a small percentage of humans, that being alcoholism. Met a friend at the AA club to discuss his life issues and got in a little of the AA meeting for myself. The rest of the day was spent with two things that affect every human, that being Love and Weather. The love came at the poetry reading I attended during the lunch hour. In honor of the fourth coming Valentine's Day all of today's poems were about love. Poems were read by UT's Professor of History, Director of Liberal Arts Honor Program and a young lady who is a third year fellow at the Michener Center for Writing. Weather was up next with a lecture from the world's number one climate scientist The head of the United Kingdom weather bureau holds three Doctorates making her lecture all that more educational. I learned a lot about the differences between weather vs climate. While at the lecture hall I saw someone I know and was invited to a security lecture next week at the Strauss Center for International Security and Law.

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.