• Creative

    Winning at Writing

    On a whim at the end of October I decided to actually participate in Nanowrimo. Back in the mid 2000s I gave it a half-hearted go and quit pretty early, enough that I didn’t even have any of it documented in my Nano account. I hadn’t logged in there in years and saw the last time I gave it a real whirl was in 2011, when I was writing my FT hiking memoir. I made it to something like 26K words, I believe, at that time. I accidentally deleted that after I logged in and tried to set up my new book. Oh well. The only way I was going…

  • Friday Five,  Memes,  Thoughts

    Friday 5 | 11/19/2021

    It’s been a bit since I’ve done one of these, so let’s dive into five things I’ve been loving lately! +Lesson 6. Be wary of paramilitaries – via Timothy Snyder’s newsletter – I’ve listened to Mr. Snyder on a few podcast episodes, mostly to talk about his book On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, which is on my ever growing stack of books to read, but I recently found out he has a newsletter so I subscribed. The first one to come through was this audio clip about paramilitaries and it is extremely prescient to today’s times. +City Cast Houston – This is a podcast and newsletter hosted…

  • Hiking,  Outdoors,  Texas,  Travel & Places

    Snapshots from Goose Island State Park

    Our trip to Goose Island State Park in early October was lovely, though the mosquitoes and the heat were still ramped up onto “high”. But we made do and enjoyed what we could. The Goose Island Oak still stands tall, though quite weathered and who knows how many more decades (or centuries) it still has left in it. Wineflower, Boerhavia diffusa As is my usual these days, I am always on the prowl for plants and interesting fauna to add to my iNaturalist sightings. This interesting little plant I only took a few quick pictures of because I thought it was nothing of particular interest but if it is what…

  • Gardening

    At last, the garden beds are done!

    Well, it took a good six or so weeks of us putting our heads down on the weekend and just getting the work done, but the concrete beds are all poured! We finished the last one on Saturday afternoon and my back rejoices! The next steps will be to fill the remaining beds with soil, put some mulch down, and eventually get the perimeter beds done. Chris has figured out a way to make that work, I think, by creating smaller concrete sections and piecing them together. I’m just glad we can finally grow something out there once again! I’m really looking forward to a stellar tomato season! The beds…

  • Hiking,  Outdoors,  Texas,  Travel & Places

    October Wanderings at Lake Creek Preserve

    A few weeks ago we escaped the constant weekend work that has been pouring concrete raised beds and went for an early morning hike at Lake Creek Preserve. Chris and I had visited by ourselves in July while Forest was visiting grandparents and the mosquitoes were terrible then. I guess I didn’t end up writing about it here but you can read a post from Dec 2020 to see this park in a different season. Autumn has brought out the fungi once again and I got a kick out of this fungi upon fungi situation with the mold growing on the mushroom. There used to be a sign marking this…

  • Thoughts

    One More Step Forward

    Yesterday, Forest and I got up well before dawn to drive over to Texas Children’s in the Woodlands to get his first Covid-19 vaccination! What a monumental feeling to know we are finally here! I know the 0-4 year old parents are also quite antsy and I hope it is approved for them soon, too. The day the FDA approved it I was able to find an appointment for the 10th at Texas Children’s in downtown Houston. I’d gotten the tip from a friend who’d already made appointments for her kids, which were for today. Then on Tuesday evening this week, after the CDC approved it, Chris was on the…

  • Monthly Rewind

    October 2021 Rewind

    October felt long, didn’t it? Maybe it was just me, but the month was hectic and slow at the same time. Some weeks it felt as if we were go-go-go and other weeks crawled. Halloween has come and gone and Forest was a Minecraft player—seen here without his sword and hat! This was a last minute change the week before from wanting to go as a dinosaur as he did two years ago, using the same parts of the costume. My orchids are work are starting to thrive once again. After dealing with sub-zero temperatures for multiple days back in February, I managed to only lose one! One or two…