Colima Food Mart

This is a little food mart on the west side of San Antonio. We used to call the neighborhood store the Tiendita (the little store). This one is off of S Gen. McMullen and Castroville. My sister wanted to stop and get a Big Red. As I waited for her locked in the car I saw a young guy painting over graffiti. When my sister got back in the car I asked her how often she thought they had to do that and she said, probably pretty often. Of course now businesses have to clean up their own graffiti or get fined. I was going to ask the man, but some people get a little freaked when approached. :D

Chinese Neon

This is the food court in South Park Mall, a mall on the south side of San Antonio...in fact the only mall on the south side. I had never noticed before how much neon there was here. I guess because it never really gets dark in the mall. I've eaten before at the Side Wok cafe. I tend to order their rice bowls, which I never finish because rice is just filling. In the past year or so, or at least that I've noticed they introduced chicken teriyaki, so I usually order that as a topping to the rice bowl.

Texas A&M vs. Penn State

Today was the Houston Street Fair and Market. It usually happens on the last Saturday of the month, but because of the Alamo Bowl that was happening on that same day it was moved to Friday. I got a chance to walk further into downtown and check out the action. There was still quite a bit of people down there. I had always wanted to go to one, because they do Adopt a Pets right on the spot, but we gots a dog now, so no need for that anymore. Saw these big megaphones and figured they were put there as a photo op, and I guess they were because I saw some people posing in between them. I tried to get my coworker to pose but he wouldn't.

Riverwalk Mosaics

Back to work after having Christmas Day off. I needed a break so I took a walk with a coworker on the RiverWalk. It was a great day for it, a bit bracing, but I loved it-windy and and the sky scintillating blue.

This is the very beginning of the section of the RiverWalk on accessible off of Augusta. This little area is a bit of an alcove, with what looks like a small place to sit. It also looks like it might be lit at night, but I must admit I've never been down there at night to tell for sure.

All along this stretch of the River Walk you can find many a mosaic piece. Some of them appear to be you are here maps, while others show scenes of San Antonio. You can find more pics from my walk here.

Press Button to Walk

Saw this sticker as I was walking back from a jaunt to RiverCenter. I thought it was a funny play on words, "If you can't run with the big dogs, keep your ass on the porch." posted on a cross walk. I thought back to a few months ago when I saw some travelers with dogs walking in this same area-a blind man was asking for directions to Baptist, and they tried to help, but they weren't from San Antonio, so I pointed the way.

Burger King

Did a late night burger one. One of the nephews had been wanting a robot dog that came with the kids meals. They still had the robots, but what we got were turtles. This was one of those times, when we got through the drive thru pretty quick, but then we had to park and wait for our food to come out to us. I was remembering the new commercial that Burger King has where they tell people they are no longer making the whopper. I wonder if the reactions are true, or if it's all for show. I really wouldn't care if they got rid of the whopper, but damn-nit I sure would notice if they got rid of the double cheeseburger from the big kids meals since that's what I tend to order. :D

Cable Car o'Candy

Saw this little cable car while doing some Christmas shopping at the South Park Mall. I must have seen this before, but I must not have been paying attention. I was going to stop and plunk in a quarter or two, but we didn't stop this time. I hit the bookstore as usual on this trip, but I didn't find anything for myself. I think I'm going to have to resort to ordering online. I did score a Christmas gift though, so it wasn't a total waste.

Nana's Fruit Cups and Floral?

Saw this little shop as we were driving down near Kennedy High School. I had not noticed it before, but I hadn't been down there in a while. There's a bunch of these fruit cup places all over, but I noticed after I uploaded the photo that it also says floral on the right hand side. I wonder if they do fruit and florals or if it's just a left over. Maybe if we ever drop in I can find out.

As an aside, we used to live by there years ago and I was always a bit freaked because we lived right by a cemetery and I was as always trying to keep abreast of a zombie uprising, but that was before Kelly Air force Base became KellyUSA so I figured I could always just run to the base and have the soldiers and their guns take them out.

Lobby Christmas Tree

Saw this tree in the lobby of the City of San Antonio's tech support. I had never seen two ornaments wired together, but I reckon there's a first for everything. I was trying to figure out if there was a specific color scheme to the balls that were tied together but I couldn't see one. I like the snowflake on it. We are so obsessed with snow in SA, since we are lucky if we see any at all every 10 years or so. :D

Buildings in the Mist

It's been really foggy/misty in San Antonio and as we were going home from something or other I caught this capture. I like the look of the lit building in the middle. I've been trying to get a good shot of it, but I always miss it.

7-Up Christmas Cheer

We were out shopping looking for some gifts and I saw this green Christmas tree. I've seen Christmas trees made up of lots of stuff, but this is a first. Recently I also saw a pile of green books made into a Christmas tree shape, and of course there's the old standby garland wrapped around a shaped wire hanger (NO WIRE HANGERS!)

Hanging Window Mobile

I've always liked the look of this art piece in the window. You can find it at the downtown campus of the University of Texas at San Antonio. I've never been to this campus, only the one at 1604, but I do like what they've done with it. This was the campus that a while ago, some of the building material was falling off of. Not this building, but one to the right and front of where this one was at. It was bounded by fencing while they were fixing it, and they must have, because I haven't heard anything else about it.

Bulbs on a Wire

We whiled away a couple of minutes at On Main Off Main, before heading back to Justin's Ice Creams for knit group. I love this store. You can find so much things here. I always want to buy at least half the store. The proprietors are nice, the music is usually good and the decor is to die for. The man behind the counter even knows how to translate my pig-latin speak. :D

Central at Night

This is the first shot I've taken at night that I've been halfway satisfied with. Taking a bad photo of Central is kind of hard to do anyway, so it's nothing much to do with me. I really liked the softness of the photo and the colors.

A Carpet of Leaves

I just love how in the fall the ground is carpeted in leaves. I like the way they look and the way they sound. A couple of years ago, we moved into a house and the first night we were there I was rudely awoken from sleep as I heard footsteps coming up our drive. I jumped out of bed with my heart racing, when I realized it was dogs walking up and down our leave strown driveway. That house was really drafty I woke up a number of times thinking someone was trying to open a door when it was just the wind pushing at it.

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful

Today was one of those days that was all misty and humid and such. I was either going or coming from breakfast and saw this building entombed in mist.

80 Degrees in December

We were out and about this day and I just had to get a picture of the external temperature. I can't believe it was 80 degrees in December. Now granted I remember at least once delivering Christmas gifts in shorts and tank top, but still this is ridiculous.

Poking It With a Stick

Saw this on the way to work one day. I have no idea what this guy is doing. All I know is that he was poking that stick into that hole.

Olmos Tower

I've always liked the look of this building. It's got a sweet location, overlooking Incarnate Word and Trinity if I'm not mistaken. I like it's color. I looked it up one time and the rents are a bit steep for me. I think they are condos or some such.

Shadowed Places

I saw this image one day out of the corner of my eye and just reached for my camera and took the pic. I never know if shadows will come out or not...this one did. Extra points for anyone who can guess the location of this shot.

Now That's What I Call Service

Saw this sight on McCullough street one morning. I almost missed it too, but my sister pointed it out. This is the sister who's always on my case about taking photos and such, but still every once in a while she assists in my endeavor to take a pic of all the San Antonio minutia. I'm not sure if this was a garage worker or just someone working on their own car, but it gave me a welcome laugh so early in the morning.

Not a lowrider

I saw this car on San Pedro Avenue. It's a Buick named Donkey Kong (painted on the door). Not sure where one gets tires for wheels like that.

Antennae Toppers

Don't know how far Jack in the Box extends, but we have a few here in San Antonio. I don't stop there too often, because they take for-ever. I've tried their ultimate cheeseburger, something or other on sourdough and also some kind of breakfast sandwich. A couple of the boyos I work with speak highly of their steak burgers. One of those boyos went there for lunch today and brought me back one of these Jack heads. What I liked about this one is that it had a little suction cup attached to it, so I didn't necessarily need to spear it onto my antennae. A couple of years ago, my nephew was obsessed with getting these balls when they were reindeer and such and another boyo of mine say this and said that his mother always has to get them too. I wonder how many people out there are as acquisitionally challenged as those two. :D

Sandwich Day

I love me the Thursdays. On Thursdays it's sandwich day at Baptist Hospital. I usually get the 6 inch on wheat with turkey and ham, mustard and mayo, lettuce, pickles and tomato. The only thing that could make it better would be some bacon. On Thursdays I'm usually torn because they also usually serve Chicken Pot Pie, which I'm partial too.

Two Hotels Side by Side

This is a view I see almost every day going home. The hotel under construction on the left is going up pretty quick. At first it was just a hole in the ground, but now it almost reminds me of a Christmas decoration, because at night it's all lit up.

SAFD @ SAPL

Today the fine members of the San Antonio Fire Department made a stop at the Central Library. I was on the move in this shot, so it came out kind of blurry, but still. I love the red suspenders and how shiny the material is on the cuffs of his pant.

Alamo Plaza Christmas Tree

For the past couple of years me and the girls have made a trek to downtown to snap some pics of the Christmas tree in downtown. This year it was a solo trip, with the girls being in Seguin and Indiana. It was a nice cool day, with clear blue skies. There was a few people around taking pictures around the tree and the Alamo. I took a couple of shots that can be found on my Flickr account, but I chose this one because of the contrail in the sky and how the angle makes this look like a huger tree than it is. I also noticed that there were a number of cameras at the top of the tree along with the star. Not sure if it's a tree cam, an Alamo cam or what.

Angel Tree

This was the Sunday after Thanksgiving. The family was finally home and my sister needed to go pay some bills. She asked if I wanted to come and I was like yeah if they have a bookstore. So off we took and of course I got three books I think. They also had this Angel Tree. I think the way this works is you grab one of those angels on the tree and buy whatever is on there. Those items are then given out to those in need. In this season there are many such programs. In San Antonio, we have Adopt a Family (celebrating at least 25 years), Toys for Tots (celebrating 60 years), Angel Tree and Elf Louise to name a few.

Not So Chocolate Kiss

This is the gate that fences in the Southwest Art and Craft Center. I was across the street trying to get different vantage shots, of what else, the Central Library. I was looking for interesting little things to take a pic of and I saw these little things. They remind me of little caps, but I reckon they are the tops of those nuts that I see all over the ground. Someone told me they were acorns, and what the frak I'll take their word for it. :D

Feather in the Sky

I have this fascination with the sky and clouds and apparently the Central Library, these things you can tell by browsing through the pics I've posted on this blog and the pics that I post on flickr. :D. This day I just had to take a few snaps of the feathery white clouds on the blue sky. I ended up added a splash of red courtesy of the Central Library to spice up the image a bit.

Hardware Signs

These old signs are on a stretch of McCullough that runs through Olmos Park. This is one place that you don't want to be caught speeding or breaking any other kind of law. If you continue along this street you'll run into the traffic round or whatever they call it. It seems a bit confusing to me, but I guess it works for some people, since they are putting another one on Blanco close to Hildebrand I think.

RE YY?

On the way to drop off the kids today we passed by this usual air walk I'll call it. It's in between the Incarnate Word High School and College campuses. I had never noticed letters on it before. I have no idea what the RE and YY stand for. We usually see students going one way or the other on it, usually its some joggers, sometimes its a gaggle of girls in their catholic school skirts.

Silos on the Sky

This isn't quite in San Antonio, but it's close enough that I'm counting it. It's on Highway 181 and I've always wanted to get a pic of it, but this is the best I've ever taken, so I figured I'd take what I could get. I'm calling them silos, but I'm not quite sure that's what they are. I just like the look of them and as I pass them by, I wonder at the number of things they could be used to store.

Convenient Advertising

We stop by this convenience store every once in a while when we've run out of snacks or drinks for the kiddos at home and need something quick for school. Today I noticed all the neon signs. I don't know why I didn't notice it before, except for maybe we park in different areas where they aren't visible. Of course of the five visible neon signs, four of them are for beer. :D

Getting Ready for the Vote

This was the scene at the Central Library today as the voters got ready to cast their ballots. I'm not quite sure what they were voting on this time, but there was Vote Here, Vote Aqui signs all over the place. There's also a bunch of signage letting people know how close they can stand to a polling place and also what to do if you think you are being messed with when it comes to your voting rights.

San Pedro Playhouse Sign

I've been passing this sign for a few months now. It really caught my eye when they started advertising the Zombie Prom. Before this I think they advertised some Pillow Man play or something like that. That also caught my eye because I read a book that had that exact title. I've never been in the playhouse but I think down this street is located Big Kahuna's, a great Vietnamese restaurant. Try it out if you get a chance. Oh this is also across the street from SAC (San Antonio College), and in the same tract of land as San Pedro Library.

Princesa Pinata Party

A backyard party on the southside, complete with pinata. I thought everyone knew what pinata's were, but apparently some people don't know about them. This one was shock full of candy I'm sure. You got to be careful around pinata's because usually the hitters are blindfolded and swing crazy. When I was a wee bit young one I saw a kid get whacked in the head.

El Tropicano

This hotel is right off the RiverWalk and pretty much across the street from the Municipal Auditorium. I love the design of the backdrop. It's so retro, one of these days I need to find time to head inside. The trolley line I take passes by this hotel and many a tourist come and go on it.

Blue

Here's one for theme day. This was way too early in the morning and I'm not sure what it's picking up. I'm assuming trash, but I could be wrong, as I've never seen this color truck picking up trash before. It was cutting through one of those per pay parking lots, this one is not as expensive as some of those closer in to downtown. It's across the street for the Southwest Art and Craft Center and the Central Library Garage.

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.