This is the view from my office window. In the distance, across the intervening Barton Creek Greenbelt and Colorado River, you can see the skyline of downtown Austin, including the Capital. We like to joke, you can only see the right wing from here, but you’re not missing anything, because the Texas State Capital has two right wings.
Something about the optical effect makes it look microscopic in this shot, but to the naked eye, its actually seems closer. Another unfortunate optical effect obscures the half rainbow arching over the skyline, which to my eye was beautiful and evocative.
There is something about this city that arouses an affection. I can’t put my finger on it. Its kind of an insouciance, or maybe the feeling you get when you recall a lost love of your youth. That’s not exactly it, but close. Sometimes they use the word nostalgia, which literally means “homesickness.” Its a longing, but not for a “where” so much as for a “when”. I said at the time that someday I’d write about it, and tell the story, and God willing, I will still do someday. But then as now, my life was not my own.