Sunday, March 4, 2012

Austin, Texas in the Dead of Winter.....

......is 75 degrees, clear, breezy and beautiful.  Today was the annual Zilker Park Kite Festival, so even if half the town hadn't already been outdoors today, which they were, the festival would have drawn them there. 

South Congress, Lamar and South First were all clogged with pedestrians shopping the outdoor booths, making their way to Zilker, or simply enjoying the weather.  Banks and I chose to go north on South Congress today, avoiding the crowds by taking Eva St. just one block over most of the way.  We crossed over to S. 1st via Barton Springs and enjoyed about a mile of the lake trail.  Unfortunately, my dinner last night (a chicken and wild rice casserole that was pretty heavy with salt), which became my lunch today, left me parched after only about 30 minutes.  Banks was also panting, and I kept reminding him how good the water from the big orange jugs at the lake would taste.

Most of those big orange jugs were empty by 3:45, but the immediate problem was, there were no paper cups left.  (There were tons of people there today).  I grabbed one out of one of the trash bins and gave Banks a good long drink.  Another couple was there and facing the same issue I was.  After experimenting with tipping the jug, or cupping our hands and letting most of the water run right through us, we sheepishly agreed that the mounds of empty cone-shaped cups couldn't be THAT bad, and throwing all caution to the wind, recycled a few out of the bins.  Nothing has ever tasted so good. 

Sufficiently hydrated, we began the long uphill return journey home.  It's pizza night with the boys and Lynn, so I've gotta run out and get a few. 

1 comment:

  1. The plastic bag ban committee could have used you on the panel to share ideas on how to keep and recycle!

    ReplyDelete