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The Moon | Wordless Wednesday
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Spring Camping at Huntsville State Park
We finally managed to get out for a camping excursion after several months of dormancy in that department. Busy schedules and chilly weather left us without a camping trip on the schedule for December and January and while February warmed up nicely Chris ended up out of town for work for several weekends. We’re sticking closer to this side of Texas for our spring camping trips and we kicked the season off with a trip up to Huntsville State Park. While we’ve hiked here many times, Chris and I have only camped here here once, back in February of 2012. I like that this park is so convenient, only an…
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A little botany at Huntsville State Park
A week ago Sunday, before lunch, we took off for a morning hike. We were cantering down the Chinquapin trail, perhaps a quarter or half mile from the trailhead, when we saw an older gentleman pop up out of the shrubs and back onto the trail. At first I thought we’d interrupted his tree watering moment but he had just stood up from sniffing a flower. The flower in question was lilac and situated just a few feet off trail; he said it was extremely fragrant so we stopped and sniffed too. In chatting with the man we came to find out he was a frequent visitor to the park…
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Strawberry Season
And like that, the strawberries have begun ripening and now we’re harvesting the fruits! Last Friday we picked the first few strawberries; I had found a couple at lunch that day but knew Forest would get a kick out of picking them so we waited until after dinner that evening to go out and pluck them from the beds. Forest has decided he likes strawberries lately, the ones I’ve bought from the store, and thus he is very interested in eating the ones grown at home. As a strawberry enthusiast, I like this new development! He’s also, finally, starting to request to try other things we are eating at meals…
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Early March Edible Garden Tour
My brother has his own posted, too, so check it out!
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Camping at Huntsville State Park | Part I
I’ve got photos and stories to write up, but in the meantime I processed the videos and put them into one giant video (18 minutes!) for y’all to enjoy. Lots of cute toddler talk!
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January & February 2017 Book Report (And TV/Movie Report!)
I took about a month off from reading from the middle of December through the middle of January and it was great to disengage with books for that bit, but like always, I tend to come back around to take another gulp from some books. Since it has also been a season in which I’ve watched far more television than I usually do, I thought I’d talk about some shows and movies I’ve watched over the last few months. First, books! Completed Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher: With her untimely death back in December I kept seeing everyone talk about her books. I found this audio version, read by Carrie,…
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The Garden Awakens
The fig tree is putting on new leaves! One of the pipevines has returned! As have some of the ground orchids! Still waiting on the Nun’s orchid to see if it will be revived. We will be flush with strawberries soon! The flame acanthus are greening up. Tropical milkweed sprouts! The monarchs will have food! The deer really enjoy gladiolus shoots! They chomp, it regrows, they chomp again. I think it’s safe to say that spring is here. A string of 80-almost-90 degree days gave us a taste for what a few months down the line is going to be like. Having the weather that warm already was pleasant in…
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Persist.
Consider this MY warning: We won’t be silent. We will speak out. And we WILL persist. — Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) February 9, 2017 Action items for this week: While there are a ton of items that I care about and I’m concerned about everything from civil rights to education, right now I feel like my focus has to be on the environment and public lands. It isn’t that I’m not paying attention to everything else but this is what I can manage to put my energy to and where I feel like I have the most knowledge and vocal strength. So. First up: The March for Science happening on Earth…
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Shelling on Bryan Beach
Once Chris was off work last Saturday he met Forest and me at the hotel in Clute and we drove down to Bryan Beach located in the tiny beach hamlet of Quintana. To get there we drove through Freeport and past a maze of various chemical plants, common in this region. Chris commented on a large fenced parking lot full of new car—he’d seen the cars being offloaded from a cargo ship that he’d sent me a video of when it cruised by him (as he was fishing on the jetties) as it headed for the port. It was not a great day for being on the beach; clouds and…