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Best of 2014
This was a year, y’all! On Christmas Eve this year I kept thinking “This time last year I had a hunch I was pregnant.” On Christmas I thought, “I was pretty damn sure I was pregnant this time last year and was keeping my hunch a secret.”, and remembering how much I was analyzing my possible symptoms before getting a pregnancy test. The day after Christmas this year I thought that it really couldn’t have been a whole year ago that I went to visit my friend Stephanie and was too nervous to tell her I thought I was pregnant and to ask her if I could please use her…
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Thanksgiving Day Jaunt to McKinney Falls State Park
Our trip to McKinney Falls State Park was very short as the sun was already low on the horizon that afternoon. We visited both the upper and lower falls but our plans to see the old cypress in the park were thwarted when learning that the bridge on the trail to the cypress was out. Apparently it was a little rough crossing and I doubt a stroller was going to make that trek. So, we made it a short trip and decided we’d have to see the rest of the park another time.
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Influenster #FrostyVoxBox
It has been awhile since I had gotten a Vox Box but I was sent a survey from Influenster back in November to determine if I was going to fit their target audience for the #FrostyVoxBox. After I submitted it several weeks went by and I never heard back from them. I had submitted another survey for a different box several months before that and didn’t get chosen for it so I figured I wasn’t going to get this one either. Then, finally, I got the email saying it was coming in the mail. Overall I’d say this was a pretty good box and I’ve now used the brush, which…
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Thanksgiving Day Hike at Hamilton Pool
On Thanksgiving morning we got up from our hotel in Austin and tried to find something we could take for lunch with us on our day hikes. The only place open was an H-E-B grocery store and we made do with some pre-made sandwiches and random snacks. In hindsight we should have thought it out a little better and brought stuff from home but that’s not what happened. Our goals for the day were to hike at Hamilton Pool and at Reimers Ranch next door with a stop at McKinney Falls State Park on the way home. We ended up ditching Reimers Ranch and only hitting the first and last…
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Thanksgiving at the Lady Bird Wildflower Center
We arrived at the wildflower center in the early afternoon with the light just right, producing glorious color everywhere we turned. The light made the Virginia creepers at the entrance look spectacular in their fall dress. Virginia creeper might be one of my favorite native vines in the fall. Out and about in the gardens there were quite a bit of butterflies flitting about like this sulphur. And this skipper. I tried to identify it but without a photo of the wings open I am not having much luck. This gulf frittilary was a great ‘old’ friend to see. I think this is a common checkered skipper. Light, the light…slanting…
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Learning About Sweetgum Trees | Forest Friday
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Late November in the Vegetable Garden
Chris has been managing the vegetable garden for the last three months. He’s been great at tending the new seedlings, ripping out weeds, and lamenting the poor harvest of sweet potatoes. Next year—that’ll be our year for sweet potatoes and garlic—we hope. The luffa was bit back by frost with the fruits ready to harvest. We should have plenty of dried sponges to share once again this year. The brown cotton managed to survive my neglect this summer, going on to flower and produce the fluffy cotton bits you see below. It’ll die back with the freeze but I wonder if it’ll resurrect from the roots come spring. I had…
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Golden | Silent Sunday
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Harvesting a Christmas Tree
Chris and I have always wanted to harvest our own Christmas tree but since we don’t live in northern climes with fir trees and acres of our own forested woodland we made do with going to Spring Creek Growers for our first Christmas tree in this house. I haven’t decorated for Christmas in over five years, mostly because I’m too lazy to get the decorations out and then put them back up again a month later. Since we now have a little one in the house we figured it would be good to enjoy the holiday season a little bit more and opted to get our decorations out and get…
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Out In The Garden | Forest Friday
New winter hat means winter exploring in the garden!