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Hale Hollow Creek | Lost Maples State Natural Area
Hale Hollow Creek branches off the Sabinal River near Campsite A and heads west through the northern portion of the park before running into private property. We didn’t walk that far down it, but to kill some time before setting up our tent and waiting on our friends we decided to explore the creek bed a little bit. Maidenhair fern line the walls of the creek, some in better shape than others. Virginia creeper provided a nice contrast in color along the way. Even the maidenhair fern were providing some fall colors throughout the creek. We are fairly certain this is an orchid, in particular I think the chatterbox orchid.…
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In The Leaf Litter
Parsley Easter egg radishes Olive leaf broccoli The leaves in the garden are creating a second layer of mulch throughout. I poked around this evening, still dressed in my work clothes. The snap peas are coming up, a few radishes were ripe for picking and found themselves cooked into our stirfry tonight. A day of rain on Tuesday produced good conditions for the fungi to grow. I’ve gotta start learning to identify them better as our yard seems to proliferate fungus after a good rain or several dewy mornings. We’ve had rather warm days lately with a couple of cooler nights interspersed, but my brother is warning of a real,…
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Hoh River Trail | Olympic National Park
A continuation of our trip to Washington state back in August…. We packed up our campsite and set off early down the Hoh River Trail, early enough that everyone in the campground was generally still sleeping. The forest itself was relatively quiet with a few birds chirping here and there, the sound of the river faintly heard in the distance. If we continued on this trail we could eventually end up at Mt. Olympus, however our destination for the day was only about 3 miles down the way to waterfall. A short hike and waterfall??? Sounds like a winner to me…and the sights—-oh the sights were truly magnificent! Little bits…
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Along the Sabinal River | Lost Maples State Natural Area
We arrived at Lost Maples, which is pretty much in the middle of nowhere west of San Antonio, to find we were definitely not the only people at the park. This park is known for its fall color and people from all over flock for day or overnight use. A line to check in, lines for the bathroom up front, a full parking lot—this place was busy! There are few and far between state parks that I have been too that have ever been this crowded and usually they involve a beach (Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park comes to mind). We found a parking spot and got our gear…
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Searching For Wonder In Hidden Places
I originally wrote this to submit to Taproot but my submission didn’t fit their needs so I decided to share it here as I didn’t have another place that I wanted to submit it to. Excuse some of the background information if you, you know, actually know me in real life or have been reading here for the last 10 years. Growing up, I was an ocean girl. I thought my destiny lay in the ocean, the vast and unexplored spanse of water that covers three-quarters of the Earth’s surface. This notion developed over the many years my family spent vacationing on the Texas coast, with a few trips to…
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Around The Yard | Late November
The leaves are falling in droves now. When gusts of wind come through the leaves rain down covering the grass in some areas rather thickly. Sometimes there are ducks on the pond, lately there is a lone great white egret hanging out. The feral cats still follow us around the yard, entertaining us with their antics. Our newly planted almond verbena is offering up delicious smells in the side yard. Isis (the muted tortie) and Ruby (or it could be Fred, her dad. They look similar from a distance) on a downed pine log, followed me while I watered the azaleas. Fred Momma makes an appearance every now and then,…
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Monkey Rock | Lost Maples State Natural Area
A couple of weekends ago we went to Lost Maples State Natural Area which is located in Vanderpool, Texas, a town west-northwest of San Antonio and south of I-10. Along the east loop, not far from campsite A, we found a sign delineating something called Monkey Rock. A middle aged couple were coming from the opposite direction headed towards the rock too, and I asked them if they had been before, to which they replied they hadn’t and were just as curious as us. The sign didn’t specify distance or anything else so I had no idea if we were in for a hike up the bluffs or what. Instead…
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Radish Wednesday
They’ve taken their time getting plump and ripe. But the pink spheres of peppery goodness are starting to come in. Garden happiness.
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A Couple of Munchkins
My niece and nephew came down to visit with my mom and sister in law a couple of weekends ago. I love being around my family and it is always fun to have them come visit. I can’t wait to get a couple sets of chairs to put outside so we can spend more time enjoying the yard and watching the deer. This time around my sister in law, Stephanie, opened the front door and found herself practically face-to-face with a deer in our side yard. Deer even enticed her to get out of bed shortly after she’d told the kids to let her lay in bed longer. See, deer…
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Hello
The habit of writing here definitely begets more writing. My head was cluttered and the urge to just be away from writing in this space overtook me. Spending time working on photos, writing, thinking of something to say, to share—all of it went away. It still isn’t back, but I will force myself to spend a little time writing here again and maybe I will be creative again. There are times that I just miss walking in the woods. The only thing I had to do was to walk and in the evenings I could read books. Sometimes it is just nice to live life and now worry about documenting…