Apple Jacks

This was my breakfast this morning. Sometimes I feel like a hot meal, sometimes a quick stop at a fast food joint to get a breakfast sandwich or a restaurant stop for a taco, but today I felt like cereal. I've always liked the taste of Apple Jacks and they remind me of my mom because it was her favorite cereal. We always had a few boxes of different cereal in the house when we were growing up and we still keep that up--sometimes we have up to 6 boxes of cereal sitting in the pantry.

Send Books

This is one of the posters from the Winds and Words of War exhibit at the Central Library Gallery. The exhibit consists of prints and posters from World War I. There are quite a few iconic images and words in the exhibit. I liked this poster because it reminded me of the Books for Soldiers endeavor. My older brother served in the first Gulf War and my little brother has done two tours in Iraq with one coming up in Afghanistan and they both are avid readers. One of the things my older brother regrets is that his big box of books that he collected while over there never made it home with him.

Let There Be Light

This light fixture is located in the Municipal Auditorium. It's in the West wing room I think. There are so many cool little details in this place. I usually don't get to take as much pics of the things that catch my eye when I'm in there, I'm too busy going from place to place. I sat in this room this day listening to Docia Williams regaling us with tales of her experiences with hauntings. If you ever get a chance to listen to this lady do it. You won't regret it.

Say Hello to My Little Friend

Here's a last photo of he Botero horse located in the lobby of the Central Library in downtown San Antonio.

A sculpture by Colombian artist Fernando Botero. Titled “Caballo tamaño grande,” the bronze displayed on the first floor of the Central Library is a gift of the foundation. - mySA.com

Someone told me that this is the sinister side of the horse. It actually appears to be smiling but you can't really tell from this side. He's got a plump little tail and I see people touch it as they pass by. Maybe in a few years it will have a little patina from the touch of so many hands.

I'd like to see the horse decorated for occasions, seasons and holidays. For the Kentucky Derby it could be draped with a flower wreathe. :D

Horse on Top

This was my first glimpse of the horse on his final resting place. The column that it rests on is some kind of marble I think. I thought at first it was some kind of plywood but when I got closer I did see that it was indeed marble--which I was glad for because that horse must weigh many stone and I thought plywood would collapse under it. :D

Ring Around the Not there Pony

Back in February we were granted a sneak peak at the Botero horse. I told a few people that I would keep them up to date on the pony's progress. This stand is where the horse will stand on. I think they are hoping to get it ready for some celebration or other.

Chicken Soup for the Empty Tummy

Comfort foods abound and they are different for everyone. I really love chicken soup. I remember my grandmother's best of all. She used to put in some thick noodles and it was eggscellent. I don't remember if my Mom used to make some, but if she did I'm sure it was great since she was a great cook and surpassed her own mother in many a dish. This is my sisters home-cooked version, well after I got to it. My sister likes all that extra stuff like celery and carrots and cabbage and all that cooked veggie stuff that I don't like. I just grab what I like...what you see here is chicken, potatoes and corn, and of course the chicken stock. I love the chicken stock.

Hoolio's

I read about this store in the hard copy version of the Current. The article was about dorm decor. I really liked one of the pieces they showcased in the story and since we are still looking for items for our house I convinced my sister to go here. It was smaller than I expected and had a small selection but it was very eclectic. They had some cute stuff and we did walk out of there with two candle holders to go next to a mirror that we have. They also showcased some art by a local artist that I had seen in the Central Library Gallery. If I'm not mistaken the artist is an employee of the library or at least used to be. I look forward to going back and seeing what else they get into stock.

Hangin' on for Dear Life

What is it with carousels? When I was younger that is the only ride I would get on...to this day I've only ever ridden two others:

• One of those teacup rides, after which I felt so sick that I thought I was gonna throw up and wished I could die a quick death so that the pain would go away.
• The Superman at Fiesta Texas, which I rode soaking wet after one of those water rides. I don't know how people enjoy those since I was freaked the whole time.

This carousel is located at Peter Piper's, one of those places that are popular with kids because you can eat pizza and play games. My niece wanted to ride on it, but once I put the money in she was afraid so I tried to get her older brother to ride it to show that it wasn't scary, but I had to practically force him onto the ride and once he was on he was holding on for dear life for the whole ride. When I tried to get him to tell his sister that it wasn't bad the best he could do was nod woodenly. Suffice it to say that she didn't get on.

I Heart Pirates

What does this have to do with San Antonio? Well nothing much beyond it being taken in San Antonio, worn in San Antonio and bought in San Antonio. Today was International Talk Like a Pirate Day. What was done in your neck of the woods to celebrate this day?

Bienvenidos

I like to go on walkabout and see how people decorate their houses. You see some people do landscaping either with plants or stonework. Some people decorate their lawns and doors with a variety of things--wreaths abound, changing with the seasons. How about your area...how do people personalize their homes?

Construction Sky

There's a bit of construction going on right off of 151 and Military. Not sure what it is. We had heard it was going to be some kind of medical complex but now we are hearing that it might be apartments. It's still to early to tell, but either way, we can probably anticipate an increase in traffic. *sigh*

Rock Fall

Not sure what's going on here. It could be that someone just missed the entrance to the Southwest Craft and Art Center or it could just be natural causes that has made this wall start to fall apart. Further back closer to the RiverWalk they have been replacing the old wall. It could be that they are going to replace all the wall.

Happy Diez y Seis de Septiembre!

Migas Plate from Pete's Tako House

Pete's Tako House has been blogged on this site before, but this is a shot of one of their menu selections. I like Migas. The best I've ever had have been at Pete's, right after homemade ones of course. Today we stopped on the way after dropping the kids off at school. I have all my favorite eating places programmed into my phone so we called ahead and ordered it to go. When my sister was waiting for the food inside I waited outside in the car. I saw some lady having an altercation with the phone. Apparently she was not happy that the phone had eaten or money or something to that effect. She was beating up on it. When my sister got back with the food she said she also had a story to tell. She said some guy and girl were arguing back and forth about whether or not one of them would get in the car. Apparently the male did not and the girl peeled out in the car with a baby in it. I realized that I had seen this boy too as he walked down the middle of a very busy street. That was some start to the day I tell you. :D

Ross Dress for Less

Ah Ross, where you can Dress for Less. I must admit we shop here fairly regularly, although I haven't really haven't walked out with too much stuff for myself lately. I do like to get holiday stuff here. They've had their Halloween and even Christmas stuff out. I'm still looking for the perfect Christmas stocking. I currently use a black corduroy one, because I haven't found one that I really liked. I like the color of the neon and the brooding clouds in this shot.

Pastely Clouds

When I see skies like this I wish I could paint. I always think of that curly haired man that came out on KLRN Channel 9 on those Saturday morning when I was growing up (Bob Ross I think). That man was always drawing happy little trees and just pouncing around on his canvas with a little bit of paint and a brush and by the time the 1/2 hour was up you had a painting. The closest I got to ever being a painter was doing some watercolors when I was way younger. I remember the last thing I painted being a sailboat on water at sunset, but now I can't even draw a straight stick figure...I reckon I'll stick to pictures.

The Walker

As I wait for my ride almost daily I see interesting things and people. I see young people waiting to be picked up...either waiting with friends or doing their skate tricks. Lately I've been seeing people biking by, walking their dogs or just plain walking from one place to another. Today I saw this man walking. This was the third of the shots I took of him.

As I sat remembering what happened on this day...this drew my eye; mainly the lens of my camera and my eye were drawn to his hat and his stride.

Happy Birthday to Everyone

Today we were celebrating all the August and September birthdays. This served as the birthday cake. We had coffee and homemade fudge. Fun was had by all. The cinnamon roll was from Lulu's Cafe. We used to eat these where I used to work. We had very short lunches, so we would gather our dimes and send the fastest runner to go grab one from Jailhouse at it's old location under the bridge and share this amongst the office.

Happy birthday to Mom and first-born nephew. :D

Come On In

As we head home almost daily we see a view like this. The kids are pretty much used to it now so they don't call out look at the plane anymore unless it's super big. This one is not the biggest we've seen, that makes me almost flinch from the windshield, but I usually can't get my camera up and shooting before those are gone.

Old Abandoned Building

We pass this building every once in a while, especially as we are visiting the goodwill stores in the same general area. I like the look of it. I was asking my sister about it and she seems to think it used to be a childrens home. It's abandoned now, but I think I remember when it was still operable.

I Heart Chick-fil-A

Looks like the Chick-fil-A at Brooks City Base has been providing these sandwiches to Baptist at least the last couple of Fridays. I was pleasantly surprised at how moist the patties were, cause usually they are all dry. This one out of bag was funny cause the patty was shaped like a heart.

Wedding Portrait

This painting is from an exhibit at the Central Library celebrating Hispanic Heritage. It really caught my eye because it's very colorful and it really catches that moment in a wedding where the whole party poses for those photos. If you get a chance come check out this Chicano Renaissance exhibit, its got many a good piece.

Look Both Ways Before You Cross

Every time we cross any railroad crossing, but this one in particular I always look down both ways on the track. I think of how horrible it would be to be crossing and get side swiped by an onrushing train. Only one time have I actually looked down and seen a headlight coming but it was a few stops away, but still that give me quite a start.

Meat Market

We stopped by this meat market on the way home today. I hadn't been in one in quite a while. My sister waited in line at the meat counter while my niece and I wandered about seeing what we could find. I promised her some candy, but she settled for some strawberry wafers. I got myself some olives which I love and some bacon cheddar fries which a coworker had bought one time and I liked.

This store had a good bit of business going on, I reckon people were shopping for dinner like us. I remember when we were kids we would go to Ben's with my grandfather where he would order his cuts of meat and they would wrap them in the butcher paper and mark them with the grease pencils.

Good times, good times.

Theme: Sister Cities

September's Theme is sister cities. San Antonio has eight sister cities:

• Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico (Established 1953, first Mexican city to have a US Sister City)
• Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico (Established 1974)
• Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain (Established 1975)
• Gwangju, South Korea (Established 1981)
• Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC (Established 1981)
• Kumamoto, Japan (Established 1987)
• Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain (Established 1983)
• Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India (Established 2008)

Taken from www.sanantonio.gov

While I don't have pictures from any of these fabulous cities I do have a picture of our the San Antonio International Center.



I'm sure in this building you can find something about these cities. This building used to be the old Main Library which is now the Central Library. In it's basement the river barges used to park.