The Heart of Austin

We Need a Little Christmas Right This Very Minute

Are those the Rockettes??  You really have to love Austin!  You never know what kind of people your going to run into in and around this place. Brad and I went for a walk yesterday morning on the Hike and Bike Trail along Lady Bird Lake. This is really one of our favorite things to do to relax and unwind or solve a pressing problem. We were talking about the horrific financial mess that the country is in and batting around both the causes and solutions. I told Brad half way around the lake that what the country really needed was a little bit of Christmas, not just a Santa, but the compassion and love of the season without the greed and meanness that seems to permeate this debacle. (Thank goodness we were able to keep the bankers out of the real estate business when they wanted it all---lending, insurance and real estate under one umbrella. Yes, Virginia, this mess could be worse!) 

We were looking at the beauty that the city has to offer in the early morning hour---a rare crane, two turtles sitting on a log, a breathtaking rainbow in the fountain--and we were wondering what it was like to live any place else but this paradise we call Austin. As soon as we passed the statue of Jimmie Ray Vaughn, I looked up and saw these four beauties prancing our way!  Was it the power of attraction? Or just a sign that hope is around the corner? I guess all of us could use a little bit of Christmas right this very minute! Do you think my legs could look like that if I dutifully did the circuit every morning???

It seems that the Radio City Rockettes were in town yesterday to promote their December performance at the Erwin Center. If you have not seen this magical extravaganza, grab the nearest kid or kid at heart and reserve your tickets now! Show times in Austin are available on December 30 and 31st.  This show is one of our family's favorite Christmas memories.

The Last Day of Summer

 

Summer of 2008 meant travel to Ephesus in Turkey and a visit to the Turkish bath in Istanbul to celebrate my sister, Ellen's, 50th birthday.  Our journey began in Athens with a stay at the Grande Bretagne on  Constitution Square where we dined on the terrace overlooking the Acropolis and drank Lemon Drop Martinis on the patio. We shopped in the Plaka, took a private tour through the Acropolis and finished the day with dinner on a hillside in the Plaka. We couldn't decide on a dish, so we ordered samples of fish that we handpicked from the kitchen (no joke!), some traditional Greek appetizers of hummus and stuffed grape leaves and a tasty lamb dish baked in pottery. The next day, we boarded a small cruise ship, the Silver Sea Silver Whisper, where we checked into our suites. Brad and I have enjoyed a number of memorable cruises with this popular Italian Line, but this was Ellen's first adventure. She was the life of the party for the entire cruise, quickly popular with passengers from all over the world whose names she learned quickly and whose attention they would seek at practically every cruise function. We had a spectacular time!

We arrived first in Istanbul where we took in a tour of all of the highlights of this fabulous old city that  uniquely joins two continents, Europe and Asia and is divided by the Bosphorous River. We toured the Blue Mosque, St. Sophia, the Grand Bazaar and finished our day at the Turkish Bath immortalized in the book 1000 Places to See Before You Die.  If you've never been to a Turkish Bath, it is a true adventure! Ellen and I were sure when we left that we were the cleanest that we had ever been! For over an hour two large Turkish women scrubbed the skin off of us as we laid on a steamy marble wheel with nothing on but a dish cloth.  Neither of them spoke English, but both were determined to scrub us clean. We laughed uncontrollably when we left. What were we thinking??? And, can you spell "staph infection"? Anyway, we checked it off of our list. Over lemon drops that evening, we exchanged stories with our husbands who were in another section of the bath house about their experience. It was just as funny, only they took a photo to share their experience. Brad said that he and Byron had a terrible time walking in their soapy wooden sandals. We all agreed that we would never do it again, but Ellen wanted to try it, and afterall it was HER birthday!  The next day, we were off on a half day cruise of the Bosphorous River, a fascinating river because it divides the two continents and the homes that line it are really magnificent to view from the water. There is also a lot of boat traffic as the Turks use the waterway as a means of travel because the traffic is so bad in the city. 

We also visited Patmos, the Greek island where St. John was exiled and wrote the Apocalypse.  Then we sailed to Mykonos, famous for its straw topped wind mills standing like sentinels on the hillside, a bit touristy with all of the cruise traffic, but a fun place to eat and shop for gold jewelry. Then, on to gorgeous Santorini, the presumed lost city of Atlantis and one of my favorite places on the earth with its white washed buildings lining the caldera. Sailing in, these buildings looked like icing being drizzled down the sides of a cake. The sunsets were spectacular!  On each island, we did some exploring, shopping and lots of eating.  Each place held its own special place in our hearts when we said goodbye and came back to "the real world".

All of us agreed, this trip together made for a memorable birthday and a memorable summer!

   

Waiting for Hurricane Ike and Remembering Dean

All of my family lives on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Most of the time going to the beach meant relaxation and joy. We've spent many happy times there with our families. But now, my sister, Ellen, and her family have boarded up their house in Jamaica Beach, loaded all of their important "stuff" in the car along with their dogs, Kwila and Bosco, and made the seemingly endless trek up Hwy. 45 off of Galveston Island hoping for the best. Ellen's daughter and our precious niece, April, told her mom that what they were leaving behind was really not important. It was only "stuff" and only life really matters. Bless her and bless them. I can't imagine leaving everything behind knowing that there is a good chance that they will sustain heavy damage and potentially lose everything that they have worked their entire lives to provide for their family.

Only a year ago, we feared the approach of Hurricane Dean in mid-August. Mother lived with our beloved step dad, Svad, in the farming community of Portland, Texas just north of Corpus Christi. Svad had spent the previous couple of years nursing my increasingly ill mother through emphysema even though she continued to swear that it was only asthma. She had been been referred to hospice a few weeks before and was gasping for air and really miserable. Her doctor mandated oxygen, but it dried her throat and she resisted it. Mother was confined to a hospital bed in their Portland home and had 24 hour nursing care and the love and devotion of the hospice nurses there as she weakened. News of Hurricane Dean coming into the Gulf sent us scurrying for transportation arrangements to Austin. Brad found an ambulance service in Georgetown that arranged to travel to Portland, pick her up and deliver her to her home in Austin. Knowing that she might want to return here someday, we had left it as she left it, fully furnished and ready for visits.

Two days before Hurricane Dean hit the coastline, the ambulance backed into the driveway at her Austin address. Her sweet smiling face and a happy, childlike wave greeted us through the back window. What a blessing to see her back here at her home.  They wheeled her in and delivered her to the hospital bed we had waiting thanks to Vista Hospice who had arranged everything with a day's notice. The first day, Ellen and I sat on the end of her bed talking to her, sorting through old pictures and her college scrapbook and laughing with her as we remembered special times together. She was able to talk and share our love and laughter. The next day, a few friends arrived to see their dear friend, talk and reminisce. Mother was a good bit weaker, but her eyes were bright and her smile indicated the joy she felt in seeing these precious chums. That day, the hurricane came and went and mom's energy waned. It was time to say good bye. Our family encircled her, reassured her of our love and the love that she was about to experience, and we prayed for her peace. She closed her eyes, drew her last breath, and then she was gone. As much as we had feared Hurricane Dean and dreaded the destruction he would cause, we will always be grateful for the blessing that had brought our mother home.

God Bless all of our friends and family that are facing the perils of Hurricane Ike. Their will no doubt be great loss, but let there also be peace, hope and love in these challenges.

An Austin Obsession with Hatch Green Chiles!

The smell of hatch green chiles roasting in a huge crank basket in the parking lot permeates the air in late August and draws people into Central Market by the droves to buy everything Hatch! Once a year at the end of the summer, these tasty green chiles make their way in burlap bags and boxes by the truck load from Hatch, New Mexico where they are harvested and celebrated this time of year. At Central Market, you can find hatch chile sausage, ground beef patties, meatloaf, dips, breads and even a recipe book devoted to this addicting fruit.  Roasted chiles are sold in bags inside the store. Bins of uncooked chiles stand ready for stuffing or adding to practically any dish from scrambled eggs to chicken enchiladas.It is a glorious time of the year and a sentinel for cooler weather to come. 

This morning, Brad and I made our way around Lady Bird Lake down the hike and bike trail and across the Lamar Bridge to Barton Springs Road where we typically stop for brunch on the weekends. The sign in front of Chuy's said "Green Chile Party '08", August 25-September 14th. Come inside and support the campaign. What a hoot! Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, you have to support the "Green" party in Austin, and this time it is the Hatch Green Chile so we made our way inside. Decorated with red, blue and GREEN streamers and other election memorabilia, the waitress offered us the festival menu and brought us big glasses of water. We feasted on some fabulous green chile dip then stuffed ourselves with the green chile shrimp tacquitos that our server said were so popluar that they sold out of them last night. She said that they are in such demand that they won't even let the employees order them. They were pretty fantastic and probably blew any benefit from the walk we took to get there.  She also told us that their chile con queso, an Austin staple, is made with these tasty green chiles year round, a note I made to myself for the next time the craving appears.

Chuy's has always been an Austin favorite and a frequent stop when I have clients relocating to the Austin area from other cities. The one on Barton Springs Road is reminiscent of an old diner, but with an Austin funk style. Colorful wooden fish hang from the ceiling along with vinyl records, an Elvis memorial anchors the bar, a juke box plays loud music and there is a picture booth for two with a cloth curtain so you can memorialize your visit. Sterile eating utensils are delivered to the table in a paper sealed wrapper with three prayers printed on the back--Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish and an assurance on the front that the "silverware has been sanitized for your protection". Today, the place was packed with folks eating everything hatch, and in typical Austin festival style, they were drinking "New Mexican" margaritas and casting their votes for the "Green" party.  You may remember when Chuy's made the national media several years ago when Jenna Bush tried to "vote" here with a "fake voter's registration card" before her 21st birthday.   

Green Chile Seed packets that proclaimed "Spread Global Warming" on the front were in a basket by the door for diners to take with them as "campaign favors". The Green Party platform was printed on the back:

• We Support the use of Green Chiles for medicinal purposes.
• We Believe in the annual invasion and occupation of New Mexico
• We Believe in the right to bear tears.
• We Support Green Chiles without borders.
• We Support protection for fried, battered Green Chiles.
• We Believe in Green Chile stem research.
• We Support alternative Bio-Green Chile fuel research

It was quite a brunch and an unexpected delight typical of an Austin experience to Keep Austin Weird, the city slogo. As we wound our way back down the trail along the Lake to the car, we could hear squeals of delight coming from the Zilker Botanical Gardens adjacent to Zilker Park. It seems that there was a festival for kids there called DinoLand, a dinosaur extravaganza. You gotta love Austin! Young or "mature", there is always something fun going on here!

Moving to Austin or within Austin, call on us to enhance your moving experience!  Get to know Austin from a native's perspective. Visit www.WestAustin.com or email me at Laura@WestAustin.com

Heaven with an Elevator! A New Lake Austin View Listing

 Austin has some amazing views from homes perched on the tops of limestone hills that hug the shoreline of the Colorado River as it winds its way through the hill country. Once in a blue moon, I find a home that has just such a view, in fact, it has the best view of Lake Austin I've ever seen. Located off of City Park Road in quiet Glenlake, this home was built by renowned Austin architect and University of Texas professor emeritus, James Coote, on one of Travis County's highest hilltops. 

The thing that makes this view so spectacular is that it is located at the oxbow bend of the river so you can see for miles and miles up the river in one direction and equally as far down the river in the other direction. And this home is not your typical "Tuscan" million dollar home although the views are priceless; it has worlds and worlds of true Austin character. The house has been featured in many architectural publications that celebrate its vertical design, passive solar elements and features that capture this commanding view from just about every room.  A very open floor plan and walls of windows invite the view inside; sandstone porches surrounding the living area extend the living and entertaining space and make the transition seamless from interior to exterior. An elevator takes residents floor to floor from guest bedrooms and an art studio or gameroom downstairs, to the living areas and kitchen, then to a magnificent master level that features his and hers bathrooms and closets and a bookshelf-lined study for the serious author---the views are remarkable!

 The seller, who lovingly calls this home Cielo (heaven), recalls slipping upstairs from the master bedroom with her husband to a grand belvedere above the home where the two would take in the sunset, sip a glass of wine and watch the stars appear in the Texas night sky. They also loved to hang out by the pool and watch the big, puffy white clouds drift by. Surrounded by native Texas landscaping and wildflowers peaking out between the limestone walkways, the pool, she said, is the perfect place to enjoy the views.

To see this unique Austin home and its amazing views visit my new listing at www.3502FarView.com