Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Miscellaneous stuff...

I was looking through some of my older blog posts last night which made me realize that I haven't been posting nearly as often lately. I used to take my camera with me all the time and would take pictures wherever I went. I just don't do that anymore...maybe because I've become somewhat bored with the area where I am and don't think there's anything to take pictures of that I haven't already taken. A few weeks ago, I DID take my camera along when I went down to New Braunfels to have lunch with my son. When I got back home, I looked at the photos I took while I was there and thought, "boring," so I never posted them. I looked at them again last night, and decided to post them anyway, so here they are.

A couple pictures of the Guadalupe River...one of the prettier areas of Texas Hill Country...

I was experimenting with different settings on the camera on this one trying to get a softer effect on the waterfall, but couldn't figure it out. I'll have to work on that one...

I had to stop and wait for a train and took this one across the street. For being so scraggly looking, these cacti sure have beautiful flowers. This one is going to be incredible when all those buds open up. I'll have to swing by there when they start to bloom.

Unless I'm in a hurry, I never mind watching trains go by. I think there is a real art to graffiti, although some of it is hard to read. I wonder if there is a graffiti school somewhere...I would like to take a class.



So, Jonathan and I had lunch at Schobels...a German restaurant in New Braunfels that opened about a year or so ago. Really nice building...

Nice bar area...

Great fireplace, but it would look nicer if they had a fire going. When the outside temp is over 100 degrees, though, I guess I can understand why they don't.

Here's the main dining room. Uh-oh...I see lots of old people. Even though I'm an "old person" myself, I always worry a little when I see that the majority of a restaurant's customers are of the elderly persuasion.

Buffet...

Liver and onions (that is definitely an old people thing...yuck)...

Here's the menu. Kind of on the pricey side if you ask me. While I was doing this post, I checked online for reviews and a LOT of them were not good. Bad service and bland food.

Here's what I had...a chicken salad sandwich. I love chicken salad sandwiches...but not this one. Look closely...what do you see?

That's right...MUSTARD!! WTF is up with that?? Who on God's green earth puts mustard in chicken salad?? I ate half of it, but I'd certainly never order it again. The fries were pretty good, though. Jonathan had a caesar salad which was average. Would I go back? Only if someone else was paying for it. Haha!

So, while I was in New Braunfels, I decided to run by the old homestead and see what they had done to my "yard from hell." Remember how it looked when I moved in six years ago?

And what it looked like when I sold it a year ago?

Here's what it looks like today. Kind of boring if you ask me...

And remember when I did the post on Bad Times in Texas? This is a picture I took in February of 2009 of a nearby shopping center they had built I think sometime around the Summer of 2008 that was still vacant.

This is it a few weeks ago. Only one business has moved in. I guess times are still not so good in Texas.

And kids are still using the sign for target practice.

So there you go. Another fascinating post from South Texas. I need to go somewhere exciting.

5 comments:

Linda said...

I love the waterfall photo and the cactus too! Please make sure to post a photo of it blooming!

We have a strip mall here that opened a year ago and still has only 2 occupants. At a Chamber of Commerce event 6 months or more ago, a fellow said he was going to open a convenience shoppe with wine, etc, there but not even a sign of it going in anytime soon.

Linda
Isla Chica

Isla Deb said...

Thanks, Linda. There are actually quite a few other strips malls around here that are vacant. What a shame...I would rather see an empty field than an empty strip mall.

Ann said...

Same in this part of the country--for every store that opens at least one is closing! The restaurant doesn't sound very good....

barry said...

They are still Nice Photos Deb,, I love that mini falls,, perfect to slow the shutter speed to 60th/sec and capture the sense of motion and reflections,, and Mustard in a German Restaurant..?.. Say it isn't so....'Gerta, Howzs Kommen miene "Cherrios" haben Mustard nicht?....... .. maybe if the Hill Country is getting Thin,, a trip to the beach is in order,, Change of Latitude,Change of Attitude ,,, Have a great weekend.amiga

Pablo said...

...um.....er....(sheepishly) I like mustard (senf)on my chicken salad sandwich. Maybe it's a northern/mountain thing. HOWEVER,just yellow mustard is boring. There's other 'mustard' choices.