• Florida,  Hiking,  Native Plants,  Outdoors,  Travel & Places

    Christian Point Trail at Everglades National Park (2007)

    If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed by email! Thanks for visiting! Looking back through some of these photos I wondered why I didn’t bother editing some of them. I had completed a small handful but had left a decent amount untouched for over a decade it seems. And it made me wonder why we didn’t make the effort to go into Everglades NP more often, though I know the reason why—you had to pay to go in! Big Cypress and so many other areas were free, and though we did pay for a state park pass, the pass let us in to a…

  • Thoughts

    Life Lately | January 2023

    It’s been quite a while since I’ve done one of these so I thought I would get back into the habit. I do like looking back at old ones to see what I was thinking at the time and they are fun to laugh at! Lots of gifs in this one because, why not? Thinking: About perimenopause. Yeah. Fun subject to talk about, right?! via GIPHY About 6 or so years ago I followed a crafting newsletter and she was in her very early 40s at the time and she would mention perimenopause from time to time. I didn’t really pay much attention to it because in my head, and…

  • Thoughts

    Mid-ish January Check-In

    Lobelia cardinalis It seems January is blazing right on by, doesn’t it? We still have a week and a half or so left but typically January is one of those months that seems to never end. Maybe because we’ve had so much planned the last few weeks that time seems to be zipping on by. The warmer weather and the feeling as if spring is imminent isn’t helping. It makes me feel behind in gardening. One thing I need to do is assess what blog posts I need to write over the coming weeks. I haven’t shared much in the last few years from trips we’ve taken because I got…

  • Memes,  Outdoors,  Wildflower Wednesday,  Wildflowers

    Woolly Ironweed, Vernonia lindheimeri | Wildflower Wednesday

    We came across this gorgeous ironweed species back in July 2021 at Pedernales Falls State Park. Like many other Texas species, it was named after Ferdinand Lindheimer, the botanist who was the first permanent-resident collector in Texas. I have a book about his journals that I’ve been meaning to read for a year and this might be the year I actually tackle it! This particular species is very much a central Texas plant, and on iNaturalist you can easily see all of the observations starting in DFW and trailing down along I-35 to San Antonio and then west towards Kerrville. There are a smattering of sightings west of this area…

  • Family

    Family Photos on South Padre

    During our trip to South Padre over Thanksgiving I took some photos of my brother’s family and my parents. The wind wasn’t the best and neither was the weather, but the overcast day actually made it fairly decent for the quick photo session. Grayson, my nephew, wasn’t in the best of moods, but eventually he was coaxed into smiling and even laughing! It was fun to photograph people, something I don’t do very often. Forest doesn’t want his photo taken that much these days so I have to sneak it in, usually with my phone. My SIL Stephanie took the last photo of my parents, brother, and me. Look at…

  • Thoughts

    Launching into 2023

    2023, huh? Well, another year full of promises—hikes to be walked, photos to be taken, plants to be identified, words to put down on paper, and paint to spread onto the page/canvas. I have a lot going on in my head, creative ideas and things to do, projects to accomplish. I’m attempting to spend less time watching streaming services and instead work on creative projects or reading in the evenings, at least until the light changes and I’m sure I’ll be spending more time outside again. There’s just so much to do and if I can do a little less tv watching, maybe I can get some things done. About…

  • December Reflections 2022,  Memes,  Thoughts

    31. My Word for 2023 – December Reflections 2022

    Well, these last few days have escaped my attention here and that is all fine by me. I’ve been off this week and with Forest and Chris was out of town for work, so Forest and I have been doing various activities together and cleaning up after the holidays a bit. My parents came down (and are currently here) so my focus has been elsewhere and not on writing here. But I figured I should at least wrap up on this last day of 2022 and finish out this reflection challenge. I haven’t done a word for a few years now. I found that much like resolutions I would focus…

  • December Reflections 2022,  Memes,  Thoughts

    27. Windowsill – December Reflections 2022

    At home we don’t have houseplants because we have housecats. They enjoy nibbling on plants that would end up poisoning them so we keep those out of the house. But at work, we both have a varying array of plants. I mostly keep clearance rack orchids from Kroger but also some other various ‘houseplants’ and that has expanded over the years. Earlier this year I bought a plant called string of needles or Ceropogia linearis. It’s a succulent-ish plant that requires low water. I keep it and several other low water plants in a south facing window in the kitchen at work and the heat that the window gets allows…

  • December Reflections 2022,  Memes,  Thoughts

    26. So Grateful For… – December Reflections 2022

    The ability to still hike and walk! Aging and aches and pains makes you grateful for what you are able to accomplish. My ability to pick Forest up from school and then bring him back to the office—the school is right across from our office! Lunch breaks at home! My group chat text sessions with my friends—love those girls so much! Books…always grateful for the amount of books just begging to be read! This week off work after Christmas! I always cherish it. Warmish afternoon, almost 60* today! Uncovered the plants and now I’m excited for spring. (shh, I know we have to get through two more months of cold!)…