§ The Fountain....Part II

This fountain [previously mentioned in last post] is part of the culture center and kiosk along the seawall. Palm trees line the walkway and flowering plants and grasses are strategically placed with benches and stone paths [sometimes brick here and there] and trellises that have climbing vines for shade. Along the entire seawall [about a mile long] there are also sculptures every few yards along the bayfront and the roofed miradors. I walked there purposely to just sit at the early morning hour and listen to the sounds of the flowing water and birdsong!

§ Down By the SEA -wall....

Early, before I did anything around the house, I left for a short walk along the seawall! The temp reading on our atomic thermometer showed 75 degrees outdoors. Even tho, the humidity was present, and the dust from the Saharan Desert prevailed, I was stir crazy [cabin fever], and anxious to get outdoors. Armed with my cellphone camera only - I headed on the Expressway toward downtown and parked across from the Federal Courthouse on the shore of C C Bay. I had intentions of getting a photo or two of the fountain as I walked along the wall toward the WWII Aircraft Carrier, USS Lexington. Of course, you should know me by now, "a couple of photos" turned into a couple of dozen. Why not?

As you can see in the following, the early morning sky was YELLOW...not from the sun, but mostly showing the dust storm in the air. One particular image I captured [of the shrimp boat] you can see, if you look closely, the blue sky at the top of the photo and the haze of the dust between the blue and the boat. It's been nasty this year. But, I will take the dust any ol' day instead of those HORRORcanes coming ashore. [someone called them "horror"canes and it stuck with me. I like the reference to its similarities to HORROR - a Cat 1 - 5 storm!]

Okay, I will put this into two posts since I took several photos to stay away from overloading. Next post will be part II.

§ The Seawall Walk...

Around here, in this area of Texas, when it rains heavily for a day or two, by the end of a week's time, the mosquitoes [Texas sized] come out of the woodwork so to speak. Bud and I mowed the front lawn and edged it, and I was literally fighting those hungry blood suckers from my face [nose, mouth and eyes!]. I had to stop and get in the car trunk where my stash of repellent is. Sprayed myself liberally and then continued some yard work. Next morning, I was wondering if I should even go outdoors at dawn to walk and get eaten alive after an early morning rain shower, or stay home and be bored. I opted to take the 'genius' trek and head for the seawall and marina. Mosquitoes don't like salt water and this area IS nothing but salt water bays. I was safe walking. Now, the seawall has a lot to offer: shrimp boats, the marina, the skyscrapers [skyscrapers - consider them very short because of the dreadful hurricanes hitting]...in other words not too far up scraping the sky like New York City. lol Then, there is the culture center, the art center, museums, fountains, outdoor sculptures and median parks [grassy knolls and palm trees lining the Blvd.] It was a decent morning. Warm, a shade humid, but the sea breeze kept the sultry temps tolerable. I didn't take my heavy zoom lens camera and was only armed with my cellphone. [The photo at the beginning of the paragraph shows the direction I took on this particular morning, and the Corpus Christi Bay is midway, down the street, between the tree-lined avenue.]

...

I walked...
Along the entire 3 mile seawall, there are miradors that line your way. On really hot days, they are a good respite from the daytime heat with a slight breeze shifting the air as you sit on the marble seating and view the scenery. At night, the moonlit view of the bay and the sound of nightlife is refreshing. The silence during the winter mornings before the bustle of daytime users is pretty awesome too. Mirador views:

The Skyline and the Marina areas...

§ Sunday Morning Walk....

It's been about 3 months or more going there to walk because of road closures, etc., Sunday morning I decided to try my luck at taking the route to Indian Point [in Corpus city limits] and Sunset Lakes [in Portland city limits] Trail System that connects the two cities by one trail. Well, I had in mind that the construction of the new bridge being an ongoing mess on the two freeways would be disastorous what with lane closures, barricades, rough surfaces, etc. I decided to take the downtown tour [a detour of sorts]. Being that it was early in the morining and Sunday, no heavy city traffic. I would probably be able to zip through the downtown area with very little effort and if lucky hit all the street lights green through town and take the exit ramp that will avoid 90% of the destruction construction mess. Taking Carancahua [pronounced Kuh rang KUH wah -native american] Street. At the lights I snapped a few photos since I was the only one on the street...

Once at the last intersection, choose between I-37 to San Antonio or TX hwy 181 to Portland, over Harbor Bridge. After crossing the port channel, only a short two or three city block length of road construction then...out of it all and on my way to cross the Nueces Bay causeway, heading toward the exit to Indian Point.

When I arrived, there was a lot of park street flooding...high tide!!  I finally parked and got out to walk, a very thin shroud of fog was present.  I walked but only along the shoreline since most everything was muddied or under water.   Birds I saw were oystercatchers, gulls, pintail ducks, sandpipers, willets, plovers, herons, and egrets...totaling around 4000-4500 steps before pivoting to return to the parking lot.

As I mentioned above, a thin layer of fog was present, I sighted in on an rare and unusual occurence...a fog bow [same as rainbow without sun reflecting]


Back in the car, I then drove [driving since most was flooded and walking was nixed] to the other side, entering Sunset Lakes.  I walked another 3500 steps before getting back into the car to head for the grocery store...

_ _ _

On my list of groceries, one item was essential...milk. Chocolate milk to be more specific. But this brings me to a question for you...would you spend $8.00 for a gallon of milk?!!  I do. Crazy, I know, but...For good reason. I also spend more for egg nog too during the season...Southern Comfort Egg Nog at $5.48 for a half gallon. [my math says that is nearly $11.00 a gallon] Other than Mootopia being lactose free [doubly pasteurized for longer shelf life], I get what I pay for with taste sensational!! This milk, store brand, is called Mootopia. And low in fat or fat free, it's like drinking a chocolate shake...less sugar, more protein, no or little fat depending on your fat content preference.  With vitamins and good healthy stuff added. Seriously, I could live off this stuff.  Here's the rundown:

Mootopia contains the same high‑quality milk protein found in traditional milk ‑ there's just more of it! We start with delicious milk and ultra‑filter it to concentrate the protein and calcium while removing unnecessary sugars and lactose. The result? Smooth and creamy goodness that provides you with 60% more protein, 50% less sugar and 50% more calcium than flavored milk.

ps...take note of my chartruse arrows in image above. The carton specifically states the package contains milk!! Y'think?