Rolling, Rolling, Rolling, Roll On

Saw this as the rain was rolling into downtown SA. I don't think I'd ever seen a cloud like this. Later on on the news, the weather caster (sounds like some kind of witch, huh?) said it was a roll cloud. I just like the way it looked, especially with the red library backdrop.

Fiesta Flambeau Parade '07

Went to our first Flambeau Parade this year and had a great time. We were fortunate enough to have seats, I can't imagine standing for hours during the parade but there were lots of people doing that. You can buy seat tickets from a variety of businesses along the parade route. Our seats were on Alamo St., close to the Alamo, and it was a very nice location and a perfect evening for a night parade. This is one of the biggest night parades in the country apparently.

The first photo is of a group from Houston. Many people joined the parade -- including groups from across Texas but also from Mississippi, Florida, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Oregon, Maryland, New Jersey and Mexico! The music was wonderful and it was just neat to see how happy people are during the parade.

The second photo below was just neat b/c it reminded me of my niece who loves dragons so I snapped this one for her. Plus, I love the title this woman has, President of the Order of the Cascaron (those confetti eggs you crack on people's heads!). I don't know what her role is but that's a cool title to have.

For more information about Flambeau, visit their site.

Bike Rack at Central Library

Finally, I see someone is using the bike rack! I go to the Flambeau Parade on Saturday evening (our first time). I believe this is the last parade of Fiesta so I'll try and get a good capture for a post on Monday. Have a good weekend everyone!

Storm Damage

As we were driving into work today we saw some broken trees from the storm yesterday. We had a lot of lightening for the most part, and for a while there, we thought there might be a tornado, but we were luckier than the people of Eagle Pass.

What do you think this is?

This was just installed at the Central Library last week. Do you know what it is? I will post an explanation this week.

And Edwin S. of Kuala Lumpur DP asked about our blog description. We are indeed now "two gals and a guy" b/c Sarah has moved on and is no longer posting. However, as she created the blog, we haven't figured out how to remove her from the permission list.

Riverwalk at the Hilton Palacio

This is where I like to go if I plan to take a river barge tour with visitors from out of town. It's a little less crowded in terms of restaurants and people so to me it's very peaceful. Plus I love the green trees. That's the Hilton on the left. It was library conferencing time last week so we went to meet some friends for a drink there. We sat inside, one floor above the riverwalk and it was really a nice spot to watch activities down on the river.

Clock tower

This is the clock tower at the Southwest Craft Center, formerly Ursuline Academy. There is a clock on each side of the tower except for this, the north side.
Why?
Supposedly, when the tower was built in the late 1850's, no one lived north of the academy!

Fiesta 2007

Fiesta is already practically here and there are commerative pins you can find all around town. These are the Flambeau pins, I like the one on the left most. That's the Tower of America popping like a firecracker!

Fiesta is a 10-day (officially) + maybe a few days (unofficially) of partying throughout the entire city. Even city employees get a day off due to all the parades and festivals and parties and all other kinds of celebratory activities. As we move through Fiesta, I'm sure you'll see photos here. And if you are ever coming to SA, you should definitely think about coming during Fiesta! For more info, you can visit the official website.

Another library photo?

OK, I promise that I will take pictures of other sights here in SA. Our library is just so unique!

San Fernando

This is San Fernando Church (now a cathedral) as it looked sometime before 1872. It is the geographical center of San Antonio. Until 1811, San Antonio was known as Villa San Fernando. The original city limits were a square, six miles to a side, with San Fernando in the middle. The cornerstone was laid in 1738 and the church probably looked much like this at the time of the Alamo battle in 1836.

Another butterfly

Spring is back, after last weekend's near-freezing temperatures - a rarity for this time of year in San Antonio. So, here's a Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) feeding on some Texas Lantana (Lantana horrida).

City Hall

This is an old picture of San Antonio's City Hall. It doesn't look nearly this good anymore. A 1927 renovation added a fourth floor, requiring the removal of the porticos, turrets and cupola. It's a shame they couldn't put them back. They talked about it in 1992, but nothing was done. Evidently, the original plans and drawings have been lost.

Another library photo

Believe it or not, I took this picture the same day as the photo posted on April 1. The colors look much more subdued out of the sunlight.

Gulf Fritillary

This is one of my favorite butterflies, a Gulf Fritillary, also known as Agraulis vanillae. Unfortunately, I don't know the name of the flower it is perched on. I'm also not sure how to pronounce the name. Is it like the word artillery?

Anyway, I find it amazing that a living thing can look so metallic - with silver and copper patches on its wings.

Remember....the Alamo?

Hey, look! It's the Alamo! Wait...something doesn't look right. Where's the Long Barracks? And the DRT library? What happened to the sidewalk in front? And it looks so...new. Hmmm...

It's not really the Alamo. It's a credit union off Loop 410 built to look like the Alamo. Sometime when I have out of town guests, I'm going to bring them here.
"Here we are! The DRT needed more revenue, so they turned it into a credit union."

Candlelight Coffeehouse

Went to Candlelight last Thursday with some friends from work. Though it was "Knit Nite" there was not a lot of knitting going on, as usual of late. We had a great time however. I had not been back to Candlelight in years and was so happy to hear that they went smoke-free. I loved it before but the cigarette smoke was so heavy that I had a hard time enjoying myself. And sitting outside is great but there are the mosquitos to contend with (they provide Off spray but on me, that doesn't always work).

This use to be a gas station. When we go back, I'll snap a shot of the inside, which is a big open seating area with a bar. A beverage bar but also a dessert bar -- yum! There's the main building but also a big courtyard in the back, which is where we sat plus also a little cottage I think they now use for storage.

Anyway, we went back, had a great time, had some yummy food, had a super pot of tea and just chilled with friends. It was wonderful. This is the fish pond right behind our table. And you see a couple on the other side, enjoying dinner. It was super. Highly recommend a visit to anyone passing through this way. It on N. St. Mary's near the Highway 281 overpass.

Library near sunset

Here's a photo I shot last fall, near sunset, just after I bought my (first) digital camera. It's hard to believe our library is nearly 12 years old now. I remember all the fanfare when it opened. (I was working elsewhere then.)