Italy Pictures #1- Venice Addition

The posting of Italy pictures shall finally begin!
We apologize for the delay...we have been picture sifting & sorting.
We had a wonderful trip and are so grateful
we were able to take the time away together.
We ended our trip in Venice...but will start the vacation picture review with it...

in front of St. Mark's Cathedral

St. Mark's Square...full of pigeons and people

The Doge's Palace

the inner court of the Doge's Palace

The Bridge of Sighs

the bridge from the Doge's Palace/Courts to the prison,

offering those convicted one last look out at the city

Rialto Bridge

Two Classic Venice sites: a gondolier and a small connecting bridge

The Grand Canal can become very crowded

Views down the canal- with lots of water and boats!

Mansions along the grand canal

Eating dinner on the Grand Canal

Miller Outdoor Theater

We then ended a great day by going to Miller Outdoor Theater in

Hermann Park to see a production of Peter Pan

And were pleasantly surprised to find friends from Kaleo also there...

Rustin & Amanda Alan & Tracy

Texas Donor Dessert #3

This weekend we went to Austin to see Jessica for the annual Texas Donor Dessert. We brought the puppies with us this time, as Battlecat has recently had severe allergies and is currently on 4 medications (2 oral, 2 topical)...after the Dessert, Jess came back to our hotel room to meet our puppies and get some puppy love as she was missing her own puppy, Alamo. We again had a great time catching up with Jessica and also got to do some very Austin things... beginning with a yummy breakfast at Kerby Lane Cafe.

Jess cuddling Kelsey...Kelsey is instantly friends with anyone who will love and cuddle her!
Lady Bird Lake (formerly Town Lake) with a nice view of downtown Austin.

We took the dogs for a walk around the nice trails around the lake.


For Mr. Rud...if you look closely, there's a recumbent rider Rudy's...apparently the best BBQ in Austin...
they just cut off a bunch of meat and serve it with bread on a
piece of wax paper.
Interestingly its attached to a gas station,
but out back they have a big grassy area, where we had a nice picnic ...
and the food was tasty!
There was a cute little girl (under 2 yo) who was in love with our puppies
and kept coming back again and again to pet them...
and they both did really well with her


The dogs hanging out on the way home....

Blurry views of some of the many wildflowers we passed along the way...
unfortunately there were not too many bluebonnets left,
but the other flowers were still very pretty.

Back from Africa

Erin and I still intend to post a proper update from our Italy trip....we've just been busy. The week after we got back from Italy I went to Utah to teach a class at the University of Utah.... then I left two days later for the Karoo basin in South Africa. I had back to back overnight flights to get into Capetown....I was so excited to sleep on a bed once we got to the Wild Game reserve where we were staying.
I went for a work trip to look at rocks.... more specifically deepwater turbidite deposits...I know that you're all waiting on the edge of your seat for an in-depth explanation of the ins and outs of South Africa geology but I will instead allow pictures to do the talking.

S. Africa is wine country near Capetown
Cheetahs....
Giraffes
Rhinos

The Dinner Setting at Inverdoorn Wild Game Lodge
Some sort of plant
One of the few places on the planet where you can look as far as you can in any direction and not see anything man-made

More rocks.
An abandonded colorful barn
Dwyka - a glacial formation..... it's the type of thing you read about in textbooks but never get to see.....that is... if you read geology textbooks.....

More rocks
Apparently South Africans drink coke... and then dump their cans wherever.... just like the rest of us.
Another plantThe remains of a desert turtle

The Lord Milner Hotel in Matjiesfontein
The town bus
The Colonel doing his thang in S. Africa
Right across from the airport... a shanty town... closer to the harbour there's a Bentley dealership.... sick.

Looking across the harbour towards Table Mountain