I’m cheating a little on this one, this is two years ago. I didn’t have anything interesting on Flickr from a year ago, or within a few days of a year ago today but I did have some interesting things from 2020. Forest is playing with the feral/neighbor’s cat Miles here. And Forest’s hair! It’s so long! This was the end of the first semester of kindergarten which had been all online at home. And being as it was the pandemic before vaccines, we didn’t go many places and certainly not for a haircut. My collards were heading into year 2! The red giant mustard was looking amazing here! WOW!…

Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace. May Sarton

I, like many others, do not write by hand very often. Sure, I take notes, make my lists, but I’m generally not writing by hand very often. Apologies to everyone who ends up with a handwritten note from me and can’t decipher what I’m writing. I tend to start off well and then by the end my cursive tends to run together! One thing I have started this year, but haven’t done as much of as I wanted to, is handwrite short notes to Forest in this little notebook. It’s really for him to read in the future, at whatever point I feel like giving it to him, but I…

This prompt was a little difficult at first because I couldn’t think of anything big that I said goodbye to. But then I thought a little bit deeper and realized that I say goodbye to a lot of little things throughout the year, in particular things revolving around Forest as his grows up. So, this is a goodbye to the sandbox! He hadn’t played with it in a couple of years and I would keep asking if I could get rid of it but he would say no. Finally he told me he was done playing with it and that turned out to be a good thing because when I…

How about some beach treasures from South Padre Island for today’s post? Common Sundial, Architectonica nobilis Spotted Porcelain Crab, Porcellana sayana Lettered Olive, Oliva sayana, with Common Atlantic Slippersnails, Crepidula fornicata Gray Sea Star, Luidia clathrata Clearnose Skate, Rostroraja eglanteria –a mermaid’s purse, the egg case for this species. Western Gulf Stone Crab, Menippe adina Giant Hermit Crab, Petrochirus diogenes Blackback Land Crab, Gecarcinus lateralis Yellow Prickly Cockle, Dallocardia muricata

…Florida again for the first time in a little over 2 years. The last time I had been in the state was January 2020 and that was in central Florida, and the time previous to that was in March 2014 when I was pregnant with Forest and that was to south Florida. I hadn’t been back to the panhandle since we hiked through in February/March 2011 on the Florida Trail. I had forgotten what a stunning part of the state the Apalachicola area was and it really made me want to move there. A little bit of Florida without the crowds…just perfect! Chris still pretends he’s along the Forgotten Coast…

I don’t have many photos of Little Me around as most of those photos are at my parent’s house, but I do have a scan of this photo on hand. It may have even appeared on this blog at some point in the last 20 years, too, so apologies if you’ve seen it before! For years I thought I caught this fish. Years. I was three and we’d gone down to Rockport for a vacation, I feel like it might have been over Labor Day weekend. My parents can probably clarify that part. I remember the condo we stayed at and can conjure up some vague memories and feelings about…

Traveling to New Mexico this summer for our 20th anniversary was the best decision of the year, I think. Forest was at my parents house for two weeks and Chris and I had solo time in New Mexico. It wasn’t quite the trip we were planning because of the wildfires going on in the mountains around Pecos but we made the best of it. This tiny cabin along the Pecos River was an utter delight and I cannot wait to go back there again in the future. The trip helped round out the last state in the Four Corners that I needed to visit and now all I’m missing in…

This kid, always bringing me joy. He lights up the room and has so much curiosity and love!

Back in early October we went to Martin Dies Jr. State Park for our first camping trip of the season. On Saturday morning we headed out for a hike on the Wildlife Trail in the Walnut Ridge Unit and found the trail fairly busy. In fact, it was bustling not just with hikers but folks heading out for paddling trips as a canoe launch is right there, too. Honestly, I was surprised how busy the whole area was considering it is typically pretty quiet in that area when we hike. We crossed the big bridge over the pond inlet and weren’t too far down the main trail when suddenly Chris…