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Forest Friday | “I’m a Lady Bug” Edition
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed by email! Thanks for visiting! For Christmas this year Forest received a Koala Crate box subscription from Chris’ mom and so every month we’ve received a really fun box of crafty things that we make (read: I make) together. Forest loves getting mail so he definitely looks forward to this craft box! What I love about this box is that it isn’t junky for the most part, though there have been a couple of crafts that don’t quite get played with while others are used over and over again. A few day ago we received May’s box…
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Life Lately | April 2018
+In My Head Stopping to just look at the garden, to see where the light falls. Enjoying the funny and interesting things that Forest says. The ERA is Back: That would be really damn awesome! There have been other people writing about this thought I’m about to say—-as much as I’m still bitter we didn’t end up with a female president in 2016 I think some of the fall out from that (as sucky as it has been) has triggered some things into our general conscience and awakened a new revolution of pushing forward some issues with equality I think we all got complacent with. And if we can *crossing…
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Along Onion Creek
Onion Creek is a significant waterway coursing through southeast Austin and is prone to flooding issues. Some of the results of those flooding issues were seen along the sides of the creek with piles of debris and trash towering far over our heads. The area along the creek within McKinney Falls State Park is somewhat reminiscent of the slabs of rock along the Pedernales River at Pedernales Falls State Park. However, the falls are much smaller and quietly stated than what you see at the river. Being so close to the city, this park sees the influx of crowds on weekends and being that it was a holiday weekend made…
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Bluebonnet Boy | Forest Friday
Spring in Texas is usually celebrated formally when the bluebonnets have painted the roadsides throughout the state. When we were at McKinney Falls State Park over Easter weekend I was glad to see that they had a large field in the middle of the park full of bluebonnets so we wouldn’t have to find a roadside to take photos of Forest. And being that it was a holiday weekend everyone else had the same idea! I bought Forest that explorer vest from Oaki about two years ago but it has taken until now for him to be interested in wearing it. He wore it frequently over the weekend and paired…
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Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillars | (Nearly) Wordless Wednesday
Over Easter weekend we went camping at McKinney Falls State Park just outside of Austin. As we were hiking along one of the trails headed back to our campsite we came across several pipevine swallowtail caterpillars walking in the grass and crossing the bike path. We searched and searched for pipevine but didn’t see any but there must have been some nearby. The caterpillars were in dangerous territory so we carried them over to a tree and out of the bike path—hopefully they managed to find more pipevine to chow!
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Greening Up In The Garden
A lot of these photos are going to be from March and early April. I’m working on taking photos now for another post later in the month. This spring feels like it has been a lot slower than in years past, though many plants that were slower to awaken last year due to freeze woke up earlier this time around. I’m still waiting on the Mexican flame vine. Only time will tell on that one. Strawberries have been abundant but the snails have been feasting on them before they ripen and thus many are already bad before we even get to them. Very disappointing this year. The plants waned a…
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High Island Birding & Marc and Eliana’s Visit
*Extremely photo heavy post—write-up at the end. Thought about making it two posts but decided against it* It’s hard to believe it has been nearly a month since Marc and Eliana came to visit on their way to Alaska. Processing the photos took far longer than I had planned and so last weekend I made a point to get them completed. I’d processed a handful for Eliana to use on social media when they were in the area but beyond that I didn’t get far. And I’m only sharing a smidgen of what I took over the three days they were in Houston. For those unfamiliar with Marc and Eliana,…
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Finally, Red Admiral Caterpillers!
It was about two years ago I stared noticing the false nettle (Boehmeria cylindrica) coming up in the garden. It grows naturally down by the pond edge and had found itself at home in the garden. Originally I began by pulling it because: weed, but eventually I came across several mentions of it being the larval host plant to the red admiral (Vanessa atalanta) and decided to let it stay for a few seasons to see if I would ever get caterpillars using it. Eastern comma and question mark butterflies also use it but I have never seen them in our yard. Red admirals, though, they are plentiful! Last year…
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March 2018 Book Report
I finished a book over the weekend so I thought it worthwhile to get a March book report in. Wildflowers of Texas by Michael Eason: Finally, a wildflower book for Texas that is a bit more comprehensive than what is currently out there. Texas is such a big state with many eco regions and each side of the opposite ends, north-south and east-west are such drastic differences in habitat. I read this one via Net Galley and loved it and knew it had to go on my purchase list—so I bought it this morning and it will arrive from Amazon on Wednesday! Not only will it be valuable for us…
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Life Lately | March 2018
+In My Head Social media, internet privacy, and tech companies jacking with our brains. I’ve loved the internet since we got out first home computer sometime around 1996. Ah, good ol’ AOL chat rooms! And then later, Geocities websites, Blogger, blogs, forums, and on. I’ve met a lot of great people over the internet, some I’ve met in real life and others, just turning into good internet friends. I remember when at one point in time that last statement would make the people in your real life give you a concerned look but now it isn’t uncommon at all to meet up with people you’ve met on the internet. That…