Community Blog

One of the great things about living at The Park at Brushy Creek Apartments is our easy access to Lake Travis and all the outdoor activities it offers.

Here’s a spot you might not have heard of: Tom Hughes Park. It’s not on a major road, and it requires a short but steep hike– which is exactly why some people think it’s the best spot on Lake Travis. And it’s so easy to get there from the Park at Brushy Creek Apartments, that you really should check it out.

The park is just a 20 minute drive from the Park at Brushy Creek Apartments down Ranch Road 620. You’ll have to follow a winding road  though a residential area just off 620, and you’re there.

The journey isn’t quite over once you get to the parking area, though. The parking area is above the lake, and you’ll have to walk down a fairly steep trail to get to the water. But that’s kind of what makes this park such a favorite with some people. The combination of being a bit hidden and the steep trail keeps the crowds away.

It’s a terrific place to swim or just lounge on a limestone slab catching some sun. It faces west, too, so you might be tempted to stay for a Lake Travis sunset. And don’t be intimidated by the trail. Just remember to pack your snacks and towel and such in a backpack, and wear some substantial shoes for the short climb down to the water.

Tom Hughes Park Travis County operates the park, and has plenty of information about Tom Hughes Park on its website.

Photo used under Creative Commons from mookielove.

What’s more fun than a garage sale?

OK. Sure, I suppose we could name a few things that are, in fact, more fun than a garage sale. But really, it is fun to see what sort of bargains you can get. Or what out-of-print books you might pick up, or maybe there’s an awesome lamp that would be perfect in the living area.

And garage sales can be good for the environment when they lead to the reuse of items that otherwise would just be tossed into a landfill.

That’s exactly the idea behind what is probably Austin’s most gargantuan garage sale of the year– the Trash to Treasures Garage Sale organized by the UT Campus Environmental Center.

It’s timed every year for the beginning of the fall term, when thousands of UT students arrive, looking to furnish their dorms. There will be furniture, clothing, lamps, books, area rugs, kitchen stuff, and a lot more– all in good working order.

It’s not just for students, either. The public is invited. That means you, residents of The Park at Brushy Creek!

It happens on Sunday, August 22 at the UT Recreational Sports Center, 21st and San Jacinto. That’s right behind Memorial Stadium.

The doors open at 9:00am, and the garage sale fun continues until 3:00pm. You’ll want to get there early. But, of course, so will everyone else. So, organizers will charge non-UT students $4 until 10:30am ($2 for UT students). After 10:30, it’s free.

All the money raised will benefit the Campus Environmental Center, helping fund student-run environmental projects on campus, such as glass, ink & toner recycling, the campus community garden, and stuff like that. And of course, you’ll be saving some bucks, too. It’s definitely and win-win.

Image via Wikipedia

Some business problems for a new farmers market turns out to be good news for residents of The Park at Brushy Creek.

The Cedar Park Farms to Market has only been in business a few months. Thousands turned out for the grand opening at the end of March. But very quickly, the non-profit organization that operates the market ran into conflict with the merchants at the mall that originally hosted the Saturday morning gathering. So the market is moving to our very back door.

Starting this Saturday, the Cedar Park Farms to Market will meet at Lakeline Mall in the parking area between Dillards and Sears. It would be difficult to find a place more convenient for Brushy Creekers.

This will be a terrific place to pick up the freshest produce imaginable from local growers. You’ll also see plenty of locally produced jams, salsa, bread and other ready-made food. And it’s a lot of fun cruising the stalls, and sampling the products for sale.

The Cedar Park Farms to Market meets every Saturday year-round, from 9am to 1pm.

This being the Facebook Age, the market has a very active and informative Facebook page. Vendors announce what they’ll have available, and shoppers can ask questions, request items, and generally keep up with what’s going on at the market.

(Photo courtesy Cedar Park Farms to Market)

Nothing says Summer to me like grilled food. I have invested in a grill pan, because I don’t really like to grill outside. A great grill pan is a fantastic edition to any kitchen, you can have BBQ when it is raining outside. Tonight, I made grilled asparagus, with balsamic vinegar. Basically, all you have to do is wash the asparagus, put a little olive oil on your grill pan and grill for about 10 minutes, then top with balsamic vinegar.

I like to serve it with homemade lemonade, you can find some on great recipes on cooks.com. When buying a grill pan, you want to look for one with deep grooves, tall sides and a non-stick surface. We have such fantastic kitchens here at The Park at Brushy Creek, and a grill pan would make a great accessory.

What is your favorite summer meal?

Every now and then I have a craving for some really good Asian food. Sometimes I just need a change from burgers and pizza, and that’s what you’ll find at Kim Phung’s.

The great thing about The Park at Brushy Creek is that we’re close to the Kim Phung’s on Lakeline Mall.

A hot bowl of their Pho soup with a side of spring rolls and peanut sauce will hit the spot, and add a tall glass of iced Jasmine tea which goes great with just about anything they have on the menu, and you have a great Asian-inspired feast in-front of you. Don’t forget the pan-fried pork dumplings as an appetizer.

The staff is helpful and friendly. Portion sizes are very generous, and everything is priced great.

Another nice change is that Kim Phung isn’t decorated in the traditional style that is found in most Chinese restaurants. Kim Phung is more modern and isn’t an ‘in-your-face’ experience, which is also a nice change of pace.

If you haven’t been before, I suggest you check it out with friends tonight. You will walk away stuffed.

(Photo: Some Rigts Reserved, Samson Loo)

We all know that Austin is the Music Capital of the Milky Way Galaxy.

But I also happen to know that quite a few Austinites spent last weekend in Tennessee at one of the biggest and best music festivals in America (yes, bigger even than Austin City Limits). I’m talking about Bonnaroo.

If you missed it… heck, even if you were there… we have a cool music download for you. National Public Radio put it together as part of its excellent coverage of Bonnaroo.

It’s a sampler of eleven of the up-and-coming bands that were at Bonnaroo, including The Black Keys, The Dodos, Bomba Estéreo and others. It’s a pretty eclectic mix, which is what makes a good sampler.

Best part: it’s free for residents of The Park at Brushy Creek (and everyone else in the country, too, but they don’t count).You will have to register for a free iTunes account if you don’t already have one, but otherwise there are no strings attached.

NPR’s free Bonnaroo music sampler will be available for download through July 31. Click  here <— for the NRP web page to get started.

Yay free music!

(Photo: Some rights reserved, Julio Enriquez)

Why are dads the hardest people to buy gifts for?

Seems like my dad already has everything he could ever want– which makes finding something unusual, maybe even one-of-a-kind all the more important.

The Park at Brushy Creek is here to help. The solution: spend a few minutes surfing on Etsy.com.  If you’ve never been to the Etsy website, you’re in for a nice surprise.

Etsy provides virtual shop space to artists, craftspeople and collectors, who sell their creations or rare finds. You can find just about anything you can  imagine, there , and some stuff you probably can’t image, too. And it runs the gambit from cutesy to cutting edge, useful to completely frivolous.

Here’s an example of an Etsy shop with several handmade items Dad would love. It’s called In Blue (www.etsy.com/shop/inblue), which sells beautifully designed and produced leather goods. This includes business card holders, journals, checkbook covers, and my favorite– leather iPod/iPhone sleeves.They all have appealing designs on them, often with stylized trees, birds, bicycles, animals… all appropriate for Dad.

My favorite: an iPod case with a very cool stylized chimpanzee face.

You still have time to get your order in and have it shipped to Dad in time for Fathers Day. But don’t delay, Sunday’s the day.

There’s a movement going on that’s not really underground. But it is pretty much under ground.

It’s guerrilla gardening.

Usually this involves groups of people planting flowers or vegetables in overgrown patches of public land. Occasionally they’ll do some planting on neglected private land.

Austin being the non-conformist and green-loving kind of place it is, there has been some guerrilla gardening reported here.

But you don’t have to be part of a group to do this. It’s as simple as tossing an occasional “seed bomb.” That’s a mixture of clay, fertilizer and seeds in a jawbreaker sized ball.

Toss one along a barren strip of road, or in a weedy lot, and a while later you’ll see a few flowers sprout.

VisuaLingual, a design group in Ohio, mail orders seed bombs from their Etsy shop. They’ve created a few different varieties of seed bombs to work best in various parts of the country. They come in a cute cloth bag, too. Just throw and grow. And feel like a rebel.

(Photo: Some rights reserved, Waldo Jaquith)

I’ve heard this before, but I still find it weird– there is growing evidence that there’s a link between poor oral hygiene and heart disease.

Western medicine tends to compartmentalize our health into physiological systems– digestive, cardiovascular, neurological, etc. But they are, of course, all interconnected.

A recent WebMD article helps explain the connection between heart health and oral health. It has something to do with inflammation, which Wikipedia tells me is the body’s complex reaction to a pathogen.

Some inflammation is a good thing– it’s the way a body heals itself. But too much for too long is bad. It’s associated with, among other diseases, arteriosclerosis– hardening of the arteries.

According to WebMD, researchers found that subjects who reported poor oral hygiene habits tended to show an elevated level of signs of inflammation in the bloodstream.

So when you brush, you are not only freshening your breath and whitening your teeth, you could be saving your life.

Read more at WebMD.

(Photo: Some rights reserved, sarah n)

We made it.

We just got through one of the longer stretches in the American calendar without a three-day weekend.

We hope you’ll be able to spend some down time the next few days doing something you like, even if it’s just remaining horizontal on the sofa.

But we invite you to take a moment this weekend to think about the terrible sacrifices made by our servicemen and women– and their families– to protect our country. We are grateful to everyone in the armed services, past and present.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend, everyone at The Park at Brushy Creek.

(Photo: Some rights reserved, Tom Nguyen)

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