Austin Film Festival

This week I have been volunteering as a driver for the Austin Film Festival. Austin has a growing film business, and people in town are hungry for more. This festival is in its 17th year, and is devoted to screenwriters. It is said to be the third largest film festival in the world. The festival, with a minimal full-time staff, depends on contract hires to organize and manage a large staff of volunteers. The festival nicely complements the film programs at University of Texas and Austin Community College. Many students volunteer to gain exposure and see absolutely new films.

BH (Better Half) has been in charge of "interesting things to do" since our exile in Paris a few years ago. She routinely scavenges her newsletters, Craigslist, etc. for possibilities. Sometime a couple of weeks ago she IM'd me a link to "Volunteer drivers wanted for Austin Film Festival". I said to myself (and to BH), "I'd better do that." I proceeded to email in my willingness and went to visit Taylor, the Transportation Coordinator for AFF. Taylor, who I had assumed to be a guy, turned out to be a good-looking redhead! I passed the snicker test - I didn't look like I would be giving people head shots or my favorite script.

This past week I have been picking up at and/or delivering people to the airport. Apparently some people live for the opportunity to deliver interesting Hollywoodish people to the festival. I was just interested in meeting some people (volunteers and anybody else), but I had some good conversations with several notables along the way. I was pretty impressed with how friendly and willing to share these people were. Here are a few I met.

• Barry Blaustein - writer for Nutty Professor, Nutty Professor II - The Klumps, The Honeymooners, Police Academy 2, Saturday Night Live
• John Woldenburg - producer for Smart People, The Visitor, Silent Partner
• Michael Arndt - writer for Toy Story 3

• David Peoples - writer for Blade Runner, Twelve Monkeys, Accidental Hero, Unforgiven, Ladyhawke, Leviathan
• Allan Loeb - producer for The Beast, New Amsterdam, Things We Lost in the Fire
• Steven Arvanites - screenwriter and actor (Crocodile Dundee and many commercials)

For anybody considering this, it has been kind of exhausting work. Young Taylor did an excellent job of organizing mayhem, but with film people, things happen. Schedules change, people cancel and/or want to go elsewhere, and more. This means that the coordinator and drivers must be ready for instant changes. The nice side is that the festival recognizes the aspiring filmies and aficionados who volunteer by providing passes in return for a few hours of work.

All in all, this has been fun. I have made some friends and met some good people. This is really the first chance I have taken with volunteering, and it has been good.

Farkleberries? Bastrop State Park

This is a really nice park, about an hour's drive from Austin. It appears deceptively flat as you enter, but has quite a bit of relief as you get farther on. The ups and downs make for good hiking. There are both long and short hikes to be had. We chose a medium hike for later in the day.

We began our day with a picnic lunch, barbecue from a nearby restaurant. This park has facilities of all kinds, with a golf course, pool, picnic areas, and lots of campsites. Here BH, FYD, and Slobber Dog set out on the trail after lunch.

The loblolly Lost Pines here smelled wonderful. This time of year the surroundings are very dry, and the sweet, resinous scent of pine was all around.

Also all around were these Farkle Berries. Apparently the small animals and birds like these a lot. They look quite good. Later in the day BH asked if they could be made into jam. I told her, "If you make some, please farkelittle on my toast so I can taste it, too." She answered, "It might not be berry good."

A short way into the hike we found this remnant of CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) work from earlier times. It looked to be a drinking fountain, though the pipes were no longer attached.

As we had read a bit of natural history on the area, we had felt chert that there would be flint around. And there was, lots of it in and along the paths.

Lots of millipedes seemed stranded in the path, as well. This one was wiggly, but some appeared to have dried out and died.

There were also lots of mushrooms and puffballs. These had yellow spores, unlike the ones we used to get in the North.

Even during the dry season Texas produced lots of different kinds of wildflowers along the trails.

At one trail head we found another CCC relic. This small pavilion was in great shape. The stoneworks appeared untouched. The roof beams were thick and dry and in great shape, as was the roof. The park also has some stone cabins built during this era. Unfortunately we did not get to see them. The pictures make them seem very attractive.

As we started down the track toward our car, BH played hide and seek in this old stump. It reminded me of a much earlier hike in the Adirondacks. She posed at an old pine stump in her overalls (it was one of my favorite pictures). Then she got into a hornet nest and got badly stung. We were worried for quite a while as we made our way back to civilization.

Once past the last of our mushroom and puffballs stops,

we came upon the only reptile of our hike. This time there were to be no "broad-banded" copperheads, only this iridescent skink, a variety we had seen before.

This was a good day for all, including Slobber Dog, who got pretty tired. There is still the pool and the campsites for us to try on another day. Golf, not so much. After a 10 mile drive through Bastrop State Park's Lost Pines and the associated Buescher State Park we got on the road for Austin.