• Outdoors,  Texas,  Travel & Places

    Along Onion Creek

    Onion Creek is a significant waterway coursing through southeast Austin and is prone to flooding issues. Some of the results of those flooding issues were seen along the sides of the creek with piles of debris and trash towering far over our heads. The area along the creek within McKinney Falls State Park is somewhat reminiscent of the slabs of rock along the Pedernales River at Pedernales Falls State Park. However, the falls are much smaller and quietly stated than what you see at the river. Being so close to the city, this park sees the influx of crowds on weekends and being that it was a holiday weekend made…

  • Baby Teddy,  Family,  Forest Friday,  Memes

    Bluebonnet Boy | Forest Friday

    Spring in Texas is usually celebrated formally when the bluebonnets have painted the roadsides throughout the state. When we were at McKinney Falls State Park over Easter weekend I was glad to see that they had a large field in the middle of the park full of bluebonnets so we wouldn’t have to find a roadside to take photos of Forest. And being that it was a holiday weekend everyone else had the same idea! I bought Forest that explorer vest from Oaki about two years ago but it has taken until now for him to be interested in wearing it. He wore it frequently over the weekend and paired…

  • Memes,  Wordless Wednesday

    Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillars | (Nearly) Wordless Wednesday

    Over Easter weekend we went camping at McKinney Falls State Park just outside of Austin. As we were hiking along one of the trails headed back to our campsite we came across several pipevine swallowtail caterpillars walking in the grass and crossing the bike path. We searched and searched for pipevine but didn’t see any but there must have been some nearby. The caterpillars were in dangerous territory so we carried them over to a tree and out of the bike path—hopefully they managed to find more pipevine to chow!

  • Gardening

    Greening Up In The Garden

    A lot of these photos are going to be from March and early April. I’m working on taking photos now for another post later in the month. This spring feels like it has been a lot slower than in years past, though many plants that were slower to awaken last year due to freeze woke up earlier this time around. I’m still waiting on the Mexican flame vine. Only time will tell on that one. Strawberries have been abundant but the snails have been feasting on them before they ripen and thus many are already bad before we even get to them. Very disappointing this year. The plants waned a…

  • Family,  Friends,  Outdoors

    High Island Birding & Marc and Eliana’s Visit

    *Extremely photo heavy post—write-up at the end. Thought about making it two posts but decided against it* It’s hard to believe it has been nearly a month since Marc and Eliana came to visit on their way to Alaska. Processing the photos took far longer than I had planned and so last weekend I made a point to get them completed. I’d processed a handful for Eliana to use on social media when they were in the area but beyond that I didn’t get far. And I’m only sharing a smidgen of what I took over the three days they were in Houston. For those unfamiliar with Marc and Eliana,…

  • Gardening

    Finally, Red Admiral Caterpillers!

    It was about two years ago I stared noticing the false nettle (Boehmeria cylindrica) coming up in the garden. It grows naturally down by the pond edge and had found itself at home in the garden. Originally I began by pulling it because: weed, but eventually I came across several mentions of it being the larval host plant to the red admiral (Vanessa atalanta) and decided to let it stay for a few seasons to see if I would ever get caterpillars using it. Eastern comma and question mark butterflies also use it but I have never seen them in our yard. Red admirals, though, they are plentiful! Last year…

  • Creative,  Reading

    March 2018 Book Report

    I finished a book over the weekend so I thought it worthwhile to get a March book report in. Wildflowers of Texas by Michael Eason: Finally, a wildflower book for Texas that is a bit more comprehensive than what is currently out there. Texas is such a big state with many eco regions and each side of the opposite ends, north-south and east-west are such drastic differences in habitat. I read this one via Net Galley and loved it and knew it had to go on my purchase list—so I bought it this morning and it will arrive from Amazon on Wednesday! Not only will it be valuable for us…