Okay, so this is the second half of my day trip to Fredericksburg. I stopped at the Blanco River to take a picture of the wildflowers which are in bloom here in Texas...
A close-up...
So, here's Fredericksburg. It's not a real impressive town and looks a lot like just about every other town in Texas. But their shops are much better. There is definitely an artistic community in Fredericksburg, which is evident in the many shops that line the downtown main street. This town is packed during the summer with tourists.
She looks like she's posing for my photo, doesn't she?
They have several home decorating shops which have a real variety of items. I love this little sitting area...especially the little bench in front of the couch. Wouldn't this look great in a bright little sun room?
Some interesting door stops...
And they had some chandeliers that were absolutely gorgeous (with a gorgeous price, as well)...
A lot of the shops used these realistic looking fake desserts to enhance their dishware...
I thought these fish pictures were pretty cool...
Nice bedroom. You would definitely need a little stool to tastefully get up on this bed. Otherwise, you'd be hiking your knee over the side or hopping up backwards on your butt.
I saw some fire opals in one of the jewelry shops. I personally prefer silver to gold...especially with fire opals...but it's a pretty little pendant.
Unusual wine bottle cork...
Hand-painted shoes. You would definitely need a specific wardrobe to wear these with. Fun, though!
Where you go to get your baby hunting clothes. That would be babies who go hunting...not clothes to hunt babies in...just to get that straight.
I'd rather have money.
"Home is where your Mom is"...haha!
A fake spilled coffee cup. I don't know when you'd ever have a need for this kind of thing, but if you ever do, now you know where to get it...
Huh?? I don't get it.
They had a shop with dozens of free samples of sauces, dips and marinades. You could definitely have lunch here without spending a dime.
Here are some real estate samplings I saw in a couple windows. The pictures didn't turn out real well because of the reflection, but if you click on them to enlarge, they'll be more clear. This $749,000 deal is a bit beyond my budget, but I do like log homes.
I thought this place was kind of cute, but I mainly posted it because of the ingenious way they've spelled "idyllic". Really??? You're a professional real estate person and you can't check the spelling of "idyllic" before posting this for thousands of people to see? So, when you're typing out "ideallyc" on this advertisement, it wouldn't even occur to you that maybe that's not the right spelling and to perhaps check it before you publish it??? I know, I know...I'm anal about spelling and grammar, but that just seems like a no-brainer to me....not to mention unprofessional. Just saying.
Okay, I'm over it.
This is the place I want...perfect size and really cute. And a good price. I would paint it turquoise. You think they can move it to Mexico?
Okay, so next on the tour is this wannabe cowboy place. You all know how I feel about the whole cowboy deal in Texas, so I had to go in. Yep...it started out great with the classy wine bottle holder. A must in every cowboy household.
John Wayne toilet paper. "It's ROUGH and TOUGH. And it won't take the crap off anyone!" Does that mean it doesn't work since it won't take the crap off? Unpleasant thought no matter how you look at it. I think I'll pass.
They did have a sign for my favorite philosophy, though...
Is this inferring that it's okay to mess with New Hampshire or Illinois or Maine women?? Just asking.
So, I was taking a picture of this elegant piece of furniture when a woman came bustling over and tried to move it out of my line of sight, saying, "We DON'T allow photographs in here...there's a sign in the front window!!" (Keep in mind that NONE of the many other higher end stores had signs forbidding photographs.) She was obviously VERY distraught and I gave her my "you've got to be shitting me" look and said, "I didn't see it." She said, "It's there!! You're not allowed to take pictures!!" Holy crap. I was THIS close to telling her, "That's okay...I'm just taking photographs of this ridiculous stuff in order to make fun of it on my blog." But I held my tongue...and walked right out of the store. Yep...I was going to buy that wine bottle holder but she blew that sale. (Or not.)
This was my favorite store...love the colors. And no one said anything about me taking pictures.
It's hard to see in the photograph but I liked how the zebra head is 3-dimensional and comes off the side of the bowl. Cute.
I absolutely loved this set of plates and bowls. They were hand made and very pricey. A very small bowl (like a cereal bowl) was $35.00. If (when) I win the lottery, I will be buying the whole set.
They had some Frida stuff, too.
And here's a place that had a sign for absolutely everything.
This was my favorite. As a single mom who raised three boys, I thought this many times. Haha!
Oil cloth tablecloths! Yea!! I love these because they remind me of Mexico. There were pretty pricey, though...between $50 and $70. They were double-sided, though, so it was like getting two tablecloths in one. Although that still seems pricey to me. I'm thinking the ladies in the Isla Mujeres loncherias didn't pay that for theirs.
Unusual little fellow...
So, on my way home, I had to take a picture of this sign. Okay, everyone raise their hand who is glad they don't have to spell this out all the time when asked for their address! Me! Me! "Schmidtzinsky"...who comes up with a name like that? It has to be the name of the guy who owns property there. If I had to guess, the only person who lives on the road is Mr. Schmidtzinsky. (Sidebar: I normally type about 100 words per minute, but when I type out "Schmidtzinsky" it seriously slows down to about 20.)
One last item on this lengthy post. A friend sent me an e-mail about lavender fields in Texas which had absolutely beautiful photos of purple lavender fields. When I was driving back from Fredericksburg, I passed by a winery (there are a LOT in this area) which had a sign out stating that their lavender fields were in bloom. Whoa...photo op!! (Sound of Deb's tires squealing as she pulls a hard right into the Becker Winery.) I was expecting to see this:
So, here's the winery tucked back in a beautiful huge farm...
I go around back to see the lavender fields "in bloom." What the French toast??
So, I'm thinking maybe the fields that are "in bloom" are somewhere else, so I go inside to ask someone where the lavender fields are. She says, "Oh, they're just out back behind the house! There are five acres...you can't miss them!" So I take a walk out back again...through the wine bar complete with Texas wine snobs...
And outside with more wine snobs. Give me a box any day. Haha...I kid! They all looked like they were having a great time. And I'm sure they were! Haha!
I was right. Here was one of the "colorful" lavender bushes. Definitely not worth the detour.
So now I'm on my way back home. Did I tell you about my new place??
Welcome to "Deb's Castle." Haha! I have no idea what this place was...could have been another winery, I suppose. Or maybe a home or B&B. I'd want the room at the top.
The Lumix is slimmer and much lighter. One of the features I don't like about it is the lens cover. My old Lumix used to have a string attached to the lens so I never had to worry about losing it. This one doesn't and I know a student is going to use it to take pictures of concrete experiments and that lens is going to disappear.
So I took both cameras to Zilker Botanical Gardens in Austin and just started shooting. I took pictures in the auto mode, shutter priority and aperture priority. All the auto pics turned out mediocre at best, so I haven't posted any of those. All the photos are take in either shutter speed or aperture priority and none have been edited in Photoshop...other than resizing them because I always take very large pictures. In each of the sets of photos, the Canon shot is always first.
I was able to get closer long-distance shot with the Canon, but I actually like the Lumix shot better.
Same thing with this one.
These are pretty much the same, but I like the background better on the Lumix shot.
The Lumix photo definitely looks greener...I think the Canon pic looks more realistic. But that could have been because of the setting I had it on.
Pretty much the same, but I like the Lumix one better because of the vivid green lily pads.
I think the Canon did a better job on this one...
Almost identical...
I like the darker Lumix shot better, but again...that's just because of the setting I had it on.
I think I like the Lumix better on this one...
I think I like the Canon better here...
The Lumix shot is a little darker, but they're similar...
The Canon is a little sharper on this one...
The Canon wins on this one...
And again on this one...
These almost look like the exact same shot. (By the way, these daisies are kind of nasty looking, right? They need to be rated 'R'.)
Another tie on this one...
And on this...
This was a long distance shot and the Canon definitely wins on clarity...
On this photo, I was trying to accomplish the "satiny" look of the waterfall rather than crystal clarity. I achieved it on both, but I think the Canon did a better job.
I was a little disappointed in the garden. It was pretty and peaceful, but it didn't have nearly the variety of tropical plants like the one in San Antonio. I did a post on that a couple of years ago which you can see here. I took those pictures with my old Lumix which made for quite a colorful display.
The group from "behind". Haha! In know...I'm terrible! I do like the color of the groom's vest!
Here was the other party's bridesmaids...
Well, the day involved a lot of walking so I was glad my ride was waiting when I got back to the main gate. Haha! I asked the driver if there was a pool inside.
So...back to the cameras. At right around the same price of $500, I would say they're pretty much identical in quality. I think the G12 is a little easier to change aperture and shutter settings...the Lumix is a bit more confusing in that regard. But I just know that lens cover is going to disappear one of these days.
