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Eagle Rock Loop Day 1 | Ouachita National Forest
Finally, some backpacking time! A week ago Chris and I went with my dad, brother and some of their friends from my brother’s old Boy Scout troop to the Eagle Rock Loop in Ouachita National Forest. I was very happy to be getting some hiking in—on mountains especially. I was hoping that part of it would be reminiscent of the Appalachian Trail and I was pleasantly rewarded with birds, vegetation and smells that we saw on our hike of the A.T. We split the drive up, leaving Houston for Dallas at noon one day, then jumping in the car that my dad, brother and another hiker were in to finish…
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Lovely Little Peas
+Digging through my photo folders and found this from a few weekends ago when we harvested the last of the snap peas. We saved several pods and dried them for use next Fall. +Still trying to catch up from being gone last weekend. It always takes me several days to get caught up. +And getting caught up involves going through and processing all the photos I need to write the many blogs I’m working on. +Looking forward to a very creative weekend, hopefully. I hope it involves lots of writing, some quilting, and finishing and art project. Maybe throw some reading, gardening and chick-flick/period drama movies in the mix. How…
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The Weekend In A Series of Haikus
I. We followed the trail Up and over many peaks With sweet, humid views. II. Water crossed our path Hop, skip, jump, across the streams Splish, splash, don’t fall in! III. The woods smell divine Wafting heady aromas Can I soak it in? IV. Dusk falls, night begins The woods come alive with sound Who cooks for you all? V. Hiker stench sets in Sweat drips, bugs bite, stomach growls One more hill to go. VI. Back at the trail-head Feet ache, hiker hobble, tired Ready for some food. Been awhile since I’ve written a haiku—ok, probably since high school which was 14 years ago—so I hope I got the…
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My Favorite Kind of Entertainment
Growing up, my hobby, other than playing outside, was reading. Now I don’t devote nearly as much time to reading as I should, though the internet is my source of reading a lot of times these days. Anyway, this is the stack of magazines I need to weed through. Chris’ dad gave me a stack of Outside magazines, a new Yoga Journal came in the mail, as did Urban Farm, and Backpacker. So did Texas Parks & Wildlife. I have a lot to flip through! And then there is this stack, too! I have finally worked up the nerve to start The Girl Who Played With Fire, the second in…
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Spring at Westcave Preserve | Part I
The weekend we went to see the bats we went to Westcave Preserve as well. I think it has turned into our favorite little place to go when in the Austin area. We had hoped to get there again before May to see the chatterbox orchids but alas, that did not happen. Maybe next year! The prickly poppies were putting on a beautiful show and have continued doing so around the state since. Of course I love to get up close and personal with the flowers I take photos of and these were not any different. It was peak bluebonnet season when we went; the flowers were everywhere. I think…
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Then & Now | The Redbud Tree
March 2, 2012 April 16, 2012
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Beauty in Abstraction
I started going through photos I took several weekends ago in Austin and came across this photo of a prickly poppy. I loved it so much but wondered if it was good for anything other than a nice quote. I’d read and article regarding Thoreau, about the change in bloom times in many species of plants in New England. Thoreau had kept an excellent record of the flora and fauna in Concord and now scientists are comparing his data to data they are collecting now. It is very fascinating stuff, phenology. Thoreau was on my mind and so I chose the quote above. I’m over at Sprout Dispatch today….drop by…
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Photography Website Update: Wildscape Photo
I spent some time this spring working on my galleries on my section of our website. When I put everything together in late Fall 2010 I was rushed and hadn’t thought it through. I’ve taken so many more photos since then and while I haven’t put all of those up yet, I have re-organized the website into better galleries. I’ve also created an image index because our galleries aren’t easily searchable. I also wanted the words to be able to be pulled up in a search engine and this way they will. The headers of each listing should be linked to the appropriate gallery. I still have a lot of…
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Early April in the Garden
I love our variegated nasturium flowers. I think they are my favorite! The onions decide to start trying to flower and we pinched the flowers off to give the bulbs a bit more time to fatten up. We had some maroon bluebonnets decided to flower at the last minute. Sweet pea blossoms along the back fence line. The honeysuckle aroma is so delightful! I love walking in to the aroma! The County Fair cucumbers were planted a bit far apart so Chris helped them out by putting bamboo poles across so they could vine easier. Caterpillars were going crazy eating lettuce and other plants. We did a round of BT…
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Lazy Day with the Boys
+The boys really enjoy the doors being open so they can soak up the sunlight. Samson especially is missing his ability to hang out for hours on end on a porch. We had a screened in porch everywhere we lived in Florida (very typical of Florida) and thus here in Texas that isn’t available and he gets disappointed. Leo was never really allowed to wander out on the porch because he makes a ruckus of things, but he too loves the sun. +Our Sunday was anticipated to be full of hiking but then the weather said it was supposed to be 70% chance of rain and t-storms. That never developed.…