APS 2013 Tour Logo

True to form, the Austin Pond Society held it’s usual monthly meeting at the Zilker Gardens Meeting Room on the third Monday of June. This meeting immediately followed another very successful Annual Pond Tour in which twenty-three ponds were on display on Saturday and Sunday two of which were also shown at night.

Sonja’s food

This meeting started with dinner provided by our own Chef, Sonja and consisted of Salad, Taco Meat and all of the fixin’s and as usual really hit the spot. We are so fortunate that Sonja has volunteered to be the person who feeds us at the meetings. It can’t be an easy job to think of a varied menu every three weeks. Last meeting, she was held up I believe in Houston on business and did not get back in time and we had to suffer through the good old American stand by, pizza. Not that I dislike pizza and in truth, would eat a lot more of it if I wasn’t trying to watch my weight but compared to what Sonja provides, pizza is way down the scale.

Following the enjoyable food, the real reason for us being there was brought to the floor led by Carl Tinsley, in his role as Chair of the Organizing Committee. This meeting was a little different in as much as it really consisted of major discussion of the Pond Tour. Many of the owners that had participated and shown their ponds attended and each in turn, spoke up of their impressions of the tour, what could be different and if they had any comments to pass on. There were several items that they brought up some of which provoked a lively discussion among the members. Most, if not all of the owners present classified the experience as being very enjoyable and it was easy to see that they had a lot of pride in showing off their ponds to the general public.

Like most of us, our ponds are generally secluded in our back yards to be enjoyed by family and close friends but not to the public in general. The Tour gave the owners an opportunity to show them off. It was enjoyable enough for most of them to state that they would seriously be thinking of doing it again next year.

I filmed the entire meeting for those of you that want to see yet a different version of the Tour. This one is accompanied by owners giving their impressions and the many comments from the floor. The first video is of the pre-meeting when everyone is enjoying Sonja’s delicious food followed by comments from our President. The second is all about the actual tour with the owners telling their very interesting stories. The third video is the remainder of the tour and then closing out with Carl thanking everyone who participated. Apologies for the quality of the video as I was filming it from the projector screen.

Owners, Guests and Pond Members, all in yellow…

We took a group picture (above) of all of the attendees, pond owners, guests and regular members in their pond tour shirts. It’s a lot of yellow in one place.

I also took many pictures and as is my usual custom, turned them into a slide show. Enjoy and comment as you feel fit. Don’t forget to click on the “Like” button if you are pleased with what you see and the “Follow” button to be notified of new blogs.

2013 Post Tour Meeting from Francis Allcorn on Vimeo.

This video is of the early part of the meeting when everyone was enjoying Sonja’s scrumptious food and with El Presidente and then Carl Tinsley opening up the discussion prior to the Pond Tour meeting.

2013 APS Post Tour Meeting from Francis Allcorn on Vimeo.

This next video is of the Pond Tour with the comments from the owners and from the floor.

2013 APS Post Tour Meeting Slide Show 1 from Francis Allcorn on Vimeo.

This last one is the completion of the tour and then Carl closing out the meeting.

2013 APS Post Tour Meeting Slide Show 2 from Francis Allcorn on Vimeo.

Our next meeting will be on July 15 at the same place, Zilker Gardens starting at 6:30 pm. Hope to see you there. The website for the Austin Pond Society is http://www.austinpondsociety.org

Related articles

• Austin Pond Society Annual Tour. (pondblog2011.mlblogs.com)
• Austin Pond Society 2013 Tour The Video (pondblog2011.mlblogs.com)
• Pond Society Splash Party 2013 (pondblog2011.mlblogs.com)