Ready for the Ball

A zombie stands ready to escort a fairy princess to the ball. I loved the carriage when I saw it, but it tended to scare the fairy princess everytime it the horse snorted. We had quite a few kids come by for candy, young and old, some polite some not so, but that's the holiday for you. So Happy Halloween, or as I saw on a church sign, Happy Hallelujah Night.

Spurs Jack-o-Lantern

For the past couple of years Baptist Medical Center in downtown San Antonio has been having a pumpkin carving competition. You pay 25 cents to vote for your favorite and the money goes to their employee fund. I stop by so often that some of the employees actually think I work there because I'm so familiar to them. I of course had to vote for the Spurs pumpkin, because I always have to support my boys, I also voted for a pumpkin that had a huge hypodermic through it.

Well Waldo's Wheels

Saw this little transport vehicle parked at the back of the library. It's run by the Methodist Children's hospital. It was empty so maybe the driver needed to drop or pick something up, or who knows what, but I liked how colorful it was.

Famous Cajun Grill

This grill is at the SouthPark mall food court. I have never eaten there, but I liked the sign. I had never realized how much neon signs were at the food court. It's to the left of the Pretzel Place that my sister always has to stop by before we leave. She gets a cinnamon pretzel with vanilla sauce. This day I got some books at the bookstore and I picked up strawberry banana something or other that was really good and that almost gave me brain freeze.

The Gunter Hotel

On this day my sister was at some workshop at the Gunter. We hardly ever get to do lunch since she works on the other side of the city, but we met up and ate at the Blanco Cafe. I had asked her if she wanted to take the camera in the morning so she could get some pics of the hotel for me, but she didn't want to, so after lunch she asked me if I wanted to come back with her to grab some, so of course I said yes. I love their lights, and they had a bench on one of their staircases that I fell in love with.

The Scouts at the Library.

I saw this group at the library and just had to get a pic. This was the best one I could get. I don't know if they were there as a group or whether it was a family outing, as I saw a man and woman with them, but I just thought the photo op was too great to pass up.

Highway Mosaic Art

This project was done a while ago, and I had been wanting to get some pics but this was the first time I got a chance to take some. A number of the freeway posts were done up with these mosaics. It's the highway in between Fox Tech High School and the Fine Art Silver building (the purple one), if you get a chance, drop by and check it out. I love how they are doing stuff with the freeways/highways, it's nice to see something getting done with them.

Super 8

I have no idea why this motel chain is called that, nor how far it stretches. This one is right off the highway on our way home. I know in the past we have stayed in another in El Paso, TX and maybe one in New Mexico somewhere coming and going from a visit to my little brother in Cali. I liked the way the colors came out in this photo, so even though I missed getting the whole shot, I figured what the hell. :D

When There's No More Room in Hell, The Dead Shall Walk the Earth

On this day I escorted my nieces and nephews to the first annual San Antonio Zombie Walk (at least I think it was the first one, and I think I've heard that they want to do it again.) We spent a few hours working on the make-up and the costumes then headed to the meeting point which was HemisFair Park at the base of the Tower of Americas. We were worried that no one was going to be there but we started seeing zombies walking to the meeting point almost as soon as we got into downtown. I was also afraid that the kids couldn't get in, but my niece said she had okayed it and there was kids there from infants through high school.

The zombies and their victims shambled their way from the Tower of Americas to the Alamo and back. The victims were great, allowing themselves to be pulled down to the ground. The zombies would all converge on them and have a feeding frenzy. There seemed to be at least a hundred people if not more there. My nieces loved the zombie cop, I like the zombie bride and groom.

I took this pic as I was standing on the steps of the Convention Center. This particular guy was climbing the wall to get to me. I could have reached out and touched someone.

You can find some information on their MySpace page.

Decorated Remembrances

I was walking across the street from San Fernando Cemetery #3 on Castroville. I like how people decorate the graves and such at the cemeteries. I noticed this one because of the orange colors of the flowers. I thought it was a lovely shot of color against the gray of the whatever those are called...I want to say mausoleum but I don't think that's the right word. Some of my family is buried here and I would love to get there to take some pics but I've yet been able to get there unless I was there for a burial. I think this is the cemetery that also has some kind of story about the Lady in White.

Protesters in Red

On the way to lunch I saw these guys being herded down the street. I had no idea what was going on, but right outside Bill Millers I had a chance to stop and heard that they were saying some kind of protest chant. A coworker asked them what was going on and apparently they were from AT&T protesting unequal health benefits.

WOAI News Radio 1200

Saw this at the back of the library today. This is the radio side of the TV station channel 4. Much like the chicken and the egg I don't really know which came first. You see more and more of these kind of vehicles, acting as a rolling billboard for whatever, even our buses have wrap around advertising now.

Mohawk at the Library

Was at the library today and saw this shelver. These guys are the ones that make sure you can find books by putting all the returned books back on the shelf where they belong. I did this one time and it took me at least half the day maybe longer. I loved the mohawk so I asked permission to take the photo.

Halloweening

We were at Target this day for who knows what, but of course we had to stop by the Halloween section. I tell you every year these holiday things go up earlier and earlier. I had already seen Christmas stuff way before this photo was taken. I always find much I want to buy, but try to hold off until after the season, so I can get the discounts. :D

Pink Party

I tell you, what I thought when I saw this layed out was, hmmm, there's a lot of pink there. The spokeswoman had some funny stories to tell and there was a lot of laughter and jokes all around. All sorts of aids were available, from books and creams to powders and a lot of gleaming things. :D

USPS at SAPL

A few years ago a mailbox was added at the front of the Central Library in downtown. I was glad when they did this because I had a secure place to send my mail from. I never really thought about how unsafe it might be to send mail from an unsecured home mailbox. I mean think about it, you flag any never-do-wells that there's something going out by putting up your little red flag. In this day and age of identity theft and such I guess it's a good thing that you can send mail from more secure places, now I only wish they would add an ATM.

Painted Pony

Now that my nephew has gone back to his original school we pass this shop everyday. I'm not quite sure what they sell, but I like the stony look and the name. This kind of stone work always reminds me of fairytale cottages. This one happens to be in Olmos Park, so we always make sure we abide by all traffic laws, although of course we always do. *wink* *wink* One of these I will stop and go inside and see what's up, maybe get a picture or too, if I'm allowed. Have you all noticed how more and more places are banning camera's and such. A year or two ago a subset of the Knit Nite gang went to Austin and one of the cute little stores that sells Anime/Manga stuff had a sign posted that no photographs were allowed, of course by the time the sign was pointed out to me by one of the other people I was with, I had already taken a picture. In closing I'd like to give a shout out to the birthday boy, 3rd nephew of mine. :D

Water Fountain

Today I wasn't in the mood for anything too heavy, or involved so I walked over to the Southwest School of Art and Craft's Cooper Kitchen Cafe. I like their chicken salad sandwiches and their chef salads. I also go over and look at whatever they have on exhibit, pick up some cool postcards they always have advertising stuff and I also tend to stop and look at their gift shop. This time I noticed this new water feature. For a while there had been some construction going on, and I guess maybe this was one of the things they added. I can't be too sure about that though because I will tell you before anyone does that I am notorious for not paying attention to details. The Southwest School of Art and Craft and is always a good photo op so I never mind going over there.

Vietnam War Memorial

Today was Columbus day and unlike most people that didn't go to work I did. We were at the Municipal Auditorium pretty much all day. We had a break for lunch and then one in between sessions. We were glad to go on the break because it was frakkin cold inside and it allowed us to warm up a little. While we were out there we crossed the street to the Southwestern Bell/AT&T building. In front of that is a plaza with a Korean War Memorial and a Vietnam War Memorial. I had been in the general area a number of times before, but I had not noticed the memorials. This time I wanted to make sure to get some pics. I took a couple of pics of both the memorials. I liked how much this inanimate figure emotes.

If you're wondering why I chose this memorial over the other for this post, there was only one reason...my tio (although my sister says he's really a cousin, but whatever) served and came back from Vietnam, so this is for him and all those others that serve...then and now and for those that will serve in the future.

Blessed Mother

I'm not religious but I like the iconography. I like the statues and the crosses especially. We were at a church/school festival on this day. It was hot as Hades and I was looking for a break from the heat and sun. This spot was removed from all the noise and at least some of the heat. I walked over and took a few shots, color and black and white. I chose this shot because I liked how she looked against the sky.

I'm afraid I might have scared away a young couple who were sitting on a bench by this statue, getting a little friendly shall we say. :D

Burrows-Gustafson Stadium

This stadium is on the southside of San Antonio. This day we were heading to Lucy's on Military Drive to pick up my nieces Princess birthday cake. We paused while a little horde of longhorns (I think) crossed the street. These longhorns were the football playing types not the cattle. They made a cute picture, but I couldn't quite get the capture I wanted, so instead I took this one. I liked all the lines and shadows.

Scary Stories @ the Library

This is a display at the Central Library. I love how creative they get with their displays, some of their signs I consider art in and of themselves. A couple of years ago in the Spanish section to the right of the Catalog Assistance desk on the first floor, the signs for displays were painted on canvas with oils I think. I took pics of a couple of them. I actually spoke to the staff person who was the artist and I asked him what he did with them hoping he was saving them for later use. He said that some of them he just painted over when it came time to make a new sign.

As for this display I always stop and look over the titles because I love me a good scary read. I haven't really read anything scary since The Amityville Horror and the Shining when I was in elementary. If you've got any suggestions, drop me a line. Of these books I've read Tami and Dean Koontz, I do think they should stick some vampires, werewolves, witches and or zombies in there to complete the set. :D

Home's at the End of this Rainbow

I haven't seen as many rainbows in my whole life as I've seen recently...or at least I don't think so. This one we spotted on 181 on the way home. This was one of those days where it rained or threatened to rain all day. I liked how the rainbow seemed to be pointing the way home.