City Hall.



The newest thing in the City of Kyle is the amazing new Kyle City Hall. It opened about 4 months ago. It is an awesome building. Definately a shot of "new Kyle" at the corner of the City Square.

This is where the City Manager works and the City Council meets..
If you click the photo you'll go to the "building of" page on the City Website. If you're looking at the Architectural Rendering on that page, the vantage point of my photo is from the right corner...

If you scroll down..you'll see that someone's "date stamp" wasn't working properly... Ground breaking was on 9/15/05... but I don't think the interior shots were taken in 2004... (Maybe 1/06)

Happy Thursday!

Bordeaux’s Restaurant.



Bordeaux’s Restaurant (108 Center Street)
Folks from all over drive to Kyle, Texas to eat at this upscale restaurant with a casual feel. Bordeaux’s Restaurant features an original take on steaks, pastas, and seafoods. Some of the dishes sure to please include the Caribbean Rock Lobster Tails (stuffed with grilled asparagus), the “New Orleans” style sausage gumbo, and the grilled prime rib. Veggie lovers will enjoy the vegetable grill (served over penne pasta) and Bourbon Street pasta.

Bordeaux’s also is the home of the only full bar within the city limits of Kyle, so crack open a bottle of wine and celebrate the moment.

Click on the photo to go to their Web site.

Two For Tuesday!

For the first time since I started Kyle Daily Photo, I missed a day. I had the photo, just didn't have the time to post it...So... here's two for Tuesday.


I love the fact that the person who posts things on the city square billboard has a sense of humor. School's been in a week around here now... so obviously the important thing to know is the last day is May 24. I better start buying my Graduation gifts today!


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Normally I'm not a fan of intentional mispellings (there was actually a place called "Karen's Kountry Kitchen" in town up until recently...that makes me shuddder) but Fonzie'z is kind of like a Kyle institution.

The name and look are very telling. It kind of looks like an old 1950s sock-hop greasy spoon... and for the most part..that's exactly what it is. Don't think about health when ordering a burger and fries from Fonzie'z... because the tastebuds will thank you even if your heart takes an extra "bump-bump" because of the grease.

Also, If you really want to know what's going on in the city, head on down to Fonzie'z in the morning and have a cup of coffee... just listen to the conversations around you. That's small town politics the way it should be, with a side of hashbrowns.

Lizard.



Sunday... Nature shot.
Do not attempt to adjust your computer... this lizard is, in fact, standing upside down. This little buddy actually stopped from running in and out of the fence and flowers when I bent down to snap this shot. Like he/she was posing.

Happy Sunday.

Construction.



It's true... we're going from 2 two-lane bridges over I-35 to two 4=lane bridges. Woo-Hoo!
This is the "main" bridge into town..you know... the one by Dairy Queen (that's Texas' Stop Sign by the way). It goes straight into the main town square... Well it's being widened.

That's about all I have to say about that.
Enjoy your Saturday.

Where are we?



Where in the world is Kyle, Texas? Well....
Fifteen miles west of Driftwood.
Seven miles east of Uhland (pronounced YOU-LAND).

If that doesn't resonate.... we're actually about 15 miles south of Austin, Texas...
Happy Friday!

Goats.



Things I learned while taking this photo:
1. If you yell "nyyyaaaahhh" out the window of your car to get goats to look... it works.
2. If you yell "nyyyaaaahhh" out the window of your car to get goats to look... Your two year old daughter will laugh at you.
3. If you yell "nyyyaaaahhh" out the window of your car to get goats to look... sheepdogs will launch toward barking and growling and being generally mean so you're glad that they are behind a fence and you are accross the street in a car.

My daughter and I have lots of fun driving home from daycare...

Oh, if you click the photo it goes to Terri Hendrix's Website. She's an awesome singer-songwriter that recently put out a kids album called Celebrate The Difference that everyone really should buy. What does that have to do with goats? Only everything... her label is Wilory Farms and the logo is a goat... and there's a song on the kids record (get it goats...kids) called "Get Your Goat On" that ROCKS!

Big D.



So... yesterday I was taking the little girl to daycare and out of the corner of my eye I saw something odd. 8:45a.m. there was a group of folks performing in front of one of the old uninhabited structures that Kyle boasts. I decided to check on that on my way home.

Well... I came across a commercial shoot for an Austin rapper by the name of Big D. This guy is so new that I can't find him online except for a photo on his label... Third Coast Productions... and that doesn't do much but give me names. You can click on the photo to go to that page.

I decided to take a few photos. Here's they are doing the "walking on the tracks over the camera" shot. The commercial will air on BET and some other music channels soon. If he's the next big thing...remember where you saw him first!

First Day of School.



Yesterday was the first day of school in Kyle, Texas so I thought I'd take a photo of the stars of the day - the school buses. THink about it, bus drivers make sure your kids get from point a to point b safely and usually get no glory for it. Well.. this guy appreciates school bus drivers... you guys rock.

Also...I think it's somewhat funny that the first line on the Hays CISD Website (click the photo to go there) is "The first day of school for students in Hays CISD is Monday, August 21 and the first holiday for students and staff is Labor Day, September 4."

Ready for a holiday already?

Welcome back to school everyone.

Service Station.



I've always liked the look of this service station. To me it typifies "Old Kyle" before all of the new subdivisions and neighborhoods moved in in the last 5 or 6 years.

You know, the population of Kyle was about 5,314 in the year 2000.... An estimated 17,770 folks called Kyle home in a July 2005 consensus. It's a 234.4% increase in 5 years.... and still growing.

I hope stations like this one can survive. I'd hate for the city to become a chain business mecca.
Happy Monday

Butterflies.



I figure it's Sunday. Time for a nice serene nature shot. This beautiful little butterfly is just one of the many fantastic winged creatures that lives in my neighbor's yard. They have employed Xeroscaping to their lawn and created an awesome looking space.

Well, I caught this colorful little bug smelling the flowers.

It's nice to have neighbors who have a green thumb. It means I can enjoy a nice yard even if mines isn't.

For more on Xeroscaping, the photo links to a "Tips and Tools" article I found online about it.

I hope your Sunday goes well.

Lucky Cup.



This is the interior of our friendly neighborhood coffee shop. This is the Lucky Cup. I've actually got a bunch of my live music photography up there right now (you can't see any of them in this picture... by the way). But that's not important. What is important is the coffee.

Aaron (the guy behind the counter) took this place over about a year ago. I'm not sure who they are using now... it's a Texas grower...I know that much. I also know it's some really good stuff. He's got the whole line from Moccachinos to plain drip coffee. Free Wi-Fi and good conversations.

Great deserty snack food too... I love the lemon bars... but the big news here is they just started serving Manske Rolls.

Yum.

Oh... if you click on the photo, it's a link to their MySpace account.

KASZ Party.



You may think a radio station is hosting a party in Kyle tonight - KASZ. You'd be wrong. The Kyle Area Senior Zone (KASZ) is a group of folks from the Kyle area who are "55 or better" whom have apparently gotten together to organize paries and help make some cool things happen in Kyle. Neat.

I'll bet this 60s party will be off the hook.

If you are in the area... the party will be at the "Old City Hall" which is actually in the background in this photo. Click on the photo to get all the details...

I don't meet the age requirement so I can't go. Durn this 33 year old body.

Texas Pie Company.



This big slice of cherry pie was hoisted to the roof of the Texas Pie company last year. Thus, creating a great landmark to give folks directions by.... "Just after the slice of cherry pie, take a left onto Burleson Street."

One of the greatest things about living in Kyle, in my opinion, is having a pie company that makes my favorite treat, the Peanut Butter Pie. If you've never had one, you need to treat yourself.

Also, Texas Pie makes the best darned macaroons I've ever had (one of my dad's friends in Laredo, Texas - 215 miles south of Kyle - has me pick macaroons up for him when I head down there).

Oh, and just because you're in Saginaw Michigan doesn't mean you have to miss out...

They offer mail order on ALL Pies.

10 in Pies $23.95 + tax
3 inch Pies ( 4 to a box) $ 25.95 +tax
1 doz. Brownies $ 18.95 +tax
1 doz. Lemon Bars $ 18.95 +tax

Shipping is 1 day delivery. For orders e-mail: texaspie@austin.rr.com or call 1-512-268-5885. MC/Visa, Amercan Express, and Discover accepted.

Taste a little taste of Kyle where you are tomorrow... click on the photo to get to their Website.
Let them know Kyle Daily Photo sent ya... and say hello to Spencer.
(Maybe it'll be worth a free Peanut Butter Pie next time I wander in.)

Call Cleto.


I stop at this corner to go over the highway about 2-3 times a week. There's always something for sale. I'm not sure what the thing on the left is, but I am not too cityfied to know that the thing on the right is a water tank.

OK.. the hint was the word "TANK" spraypainted on the tank itself...
Cleto has thought of everything.

I always liked the name Cleto... it's an odd one.. don't know anyone named Cleto. Wonder what it means....
Hmmm (google is my friend)

Cleto – nickname for Italian/Spanish Anacleto meaning “called back, invoked”

According to Wikipedia it's a town in southern Italy. I doubt you need to call southern Italy to buy a water tank in Kyle, Texas.... but who knows...

File this under "not informative...but kind of entertaining."

A little snapshot into my yard for today... hope you don't mind. I didn't actually go anywhere today, I was on deadline.



I'm a gnome collector. One of the coolest gifts my wife and I got at our batchelor/batchelorette party almost 5 years ago was a garden gnome that we registered for... Friends come to your party. REAL friends buy you gnomes. Sadly, that gnome broke. It's still one of the 4 gnomes "hiding" in my flowerbeds...but it's kind of buried in the flowers so you can't see there's no legs.

Well.. this particular gnome is also in my front yard. One of my best friends gave it to me for Christmas a few years ago. I can't figure out if he is planting the other ggnome or pulling him out of the ground. It's a funny one nonetheless.... The name brand of this guy is "Lawn Loonatix." We also have a "mooning gnome" that I have fun pointing at neighbors houses...

If you click on the photo it goes to an e-bay page where, for the next 14 hours, you can bid to get one for yourself... or just google "Lawn Loonatix" and I'll bet you can come up with somthing.

Come on.. didn't you want to be a fireman when you grew up too?
Well.. in Kyle, Texas you CAN become a volunteer fireman (or firewoman) as long as you live in the area... The Kyle Fire Department is, by and large, made up of volunteers. They've only got five full-time and ten part-time employees.

This photo is of the Fire Department's "Pierce Contender engine" that they got last year. It was taken back in May when my neighborhood (Plum Creek )had an event called "Front Porch Days." I was running around taking photos when I saw this mother taking a camera-phone photo of her son with the fireman.

I work sound for God.

Since I mentioned getting dounuts for church in yesterday's photo...I thought I'd post a photo of my church. This was taken during the service this morning. I volunteer to "run sound" for the 11:00a.m. service....so I was at the back of the church on the soundboard and not in the way as I took photos.

It was also my turn to bring the donuts today... so, of course it ment a trip to Hays City Donuts this morning.

You know, It's hard for me to write "donuts" when I prefer to write "doughnuts"...but it's Hays City Donuts...so I'm giving in. Anyone have any opinion on this?

Anyhow...on to the photo.



The Kyle United Methodist Church turned 100 in 1980.
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From the Kyle United Methodist Church Website (Click the photo to go there)
Remembrances of Mrs. C.C. Young, born in 1876, moved to Kyle in 1880, and a member of the Kyle Church all her life.)

“The Kyle Church was organized in 1880 by Brother T.S. Garrett… The Baptists had a Seminary here consisting of four large rooms where all four churches held services at that time. They were the first group to build their own church… In two or three years the Methodists followed suit with a building program. A catalog was ordered from the Church Extension Service containing plans… [On September 6, 1886, a sum of $50 was paid for the purchase of two lots and the original church (current sanctuary) was built in 1887.] Sufficient money was obtained to build the outside of the Church, but there was not enough to finish the inside. Colonel Rogers of Austin gave money for the completion of the inside work, but it was not painted…

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Happy Sunday. We're headed into San Marcos, Texas (about 5 miles south) to watch some live music tonight... so perhaps tomorrow's Kyle, Texas photo may come from San Marcos.. Hmmm...is that allowed?.

Mmmmm Doughnuts.




Hays City Dounuts (106 North Burleson Street) is close the the main square in town. I first discovered them when I was going to be late for work one day last year, so I decided to be the guy who brought breakfast instead of the guy who came in 10 minutes late.If you've never tried this... try it.. it works. You can only do it once in a while though....so it seems planned.

Anyhow...It was a week or so after they had opened. I went into the shop and didn't have any actual cash on me. They we're set up at the time to take credit cards (they do now) and the lady at the counter let me skate with an "IOU" for the dozen donuts. That impressed me about as much as the donuts themselves.

The donuts at Hays City are not cakey, not greasy, just the right amount of fluffiness to the mix. They are sweet without being too sugary and they have the regular assortment of sprinkles, nuts, and fillings you'd come to expect from a donut shop. For those who love donuts but don't want to seem like you're eating a whole one, they sell donut holes for 99¢ a dozen.

The star of the Hays City Donuts are actually the kolaches though. The little rolls filled with sausage, cheese, and/or bacon are just great.

I make it a point to stop off there when I can. About a month ago I signed up to bring donuts to church (we take turns so nobody is out a bunch of money.) and I decided to forgo the Krispy Creme that was usually there (they sell Krispy Creme at gas stations in Kyle.. not the "light is on so the donuts are fresh" experience I associate with Krispy Creme) and head into Hays City Donuts for that weeks selection. I bought three dozen donuts and 3 dozen donut holes.

They went quickly. The church has been getting donuts from Hays City ever since.

Good stuff.

I've been driving past these things for a few months always wondering why a Hyundai Sales Office would have aluminum longhorns in the pasture near the lot...


Acording an article by Amy Woodruff in the August issue of Austin Monthly the reason that these longhorns (and there are presently 8 of them there) are residing at that lot was because the City of Kyle wouldn't allow then to have real ones... so they did the next best thing... brought in a fake herd.

"According to General Manager David Richards, they hope to add two cattle each month, eventually filling the field."
(Austin Monthly, page 44).

That's awesome.

So I was on my way home from dropping the little girl off to daycare and I saw this sign... "Miracle Treat Day" doesn't refer to the fact that Dairy Queen Blizzards seem to miracuously not fall out of the cup when the DQ worker flips it upside down before handing it to you (they still do this, but sometimes you have to remind them... I think it's the show built into the price personally).. it's because since 1984 DQ has been having these events called "Miracle Treat Day" where they donate the proceeds from thier Blizzards to local Children's Miracle Network Hospital.

Well.. it's today. So... I recommend the chocolate covered cherry. Get a medium or small.. you'll regret the large.
My wife prefers the chocolate chip cookie dough... and I find that acceptable.


Click the photo to find out if you have a participating DQ in your area... and to find out more about Miracle Treat Day
Click here or on the logo below.

This is the train behind the "Original Kyle Train Depot" which recently was put at the entrance to Kyle and has become the new Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau.

I chose this photo over others because the sky has what I refer to as "Simpsons Clouds." It looks like cartoon clouds from the cartoon series The Simpsons

I chose to take this water tower shot, rather than the "old water tower" in town mostly because I see this one every day...as it's at the front-end of my neighborhood. It also reads 'Welcome Home" so I thought it'd be a nice early shot for this Daily photo. I'm sure I'll take one of the "old tower" that is the landmark... but this is my perception.. not "historic" right?

I took this shot in the parking lot of the Lucky Cup Coffee House.. A truly sweet place to grab a fancy cup-o-jo when the gas station cappicuccino (that is available across the street from the Lucky Cup by the way) just doesn't do.

This photo is from August 5, 2006. Bruce Curtis Fallgren plays the Railroad BBQ in Kyle.
Click on the photo to find out more about Bruce.

Kyle, Texas Photos by Sean Claes

I came across a blog of daily photos from Austin, so I thought I'd take a stab at doing it for Kyle, Texas.

It's where I live, just a short shot south of Austin and north of San Marcos.

I'll do my best to take a photo a day... or at least 3-5 a week.

I'm a freelance writer, photographer, and a husband and father. These shots will reflect my life as it pertains to Kyle.

Here's a link to my Event Photography Just FYI.