It's Raining!

What a wonderful sound - rain!

Our Trip to North Carolina

We made a quick trip to North Carolina last month due to a death in our immediate family and I got a chance to take some pictures while we were out there. I spent a number of years in my youth living in Georgia and Washington State (Tacoma area); I guess that's why being amongst trees, ferns and moss really soothes my soul. I even drove around with the windows down and delighted in the cool, forest air while taking pictures of the moss growing everywhere! The Smokey Mountains are so beautiful especially compared to dry, flat West Texas.

Moss growing on the side of the "bluff" - Marble, North Carolina

Tree trunk with moss - Andrews, North Carolina

We got to see family that we haven't seen in a long, long time and some we had never seen before, "Sweet Pea", our nieces little girl. It's a long hard 2 days drive (1,100 miles) from Abilene to Andrews. In fact, it takes as long to get out of Texas (6 hours) as it takes to drive across Louisiana and Mississippi. Thank goodness for XM radio and cruise control.

Old and New Bridges - Vicksburg, Mississippi

Summertime in West Texas

It's been hot, hot, hot and dry, dry, dry but thankfully we had a nice rain shower this morning. I'm sitting here watching the birds hopping around enjoying the cooler weather.

I need to go out and check to see how the cardinal family is doing. Every year we have a pair of cardinals nest in the bamboo and this year they built their nest close to the tea house. We can sit out there and watch the parents come in and feed their babies. The other day I tried to take a picture of them but they were camera shy and I didn't want to disturb them so I guess I'll have to try again later.

Roger has drawn up plans for another project; he wants to create a covered deck in the back part of the yard. I think he is planning on working on it at the end of September, so maybe it will be cooler then. I'll be sure and post pictures of the progress when he gets started. Since he and I will be doing the work it will be slow going as I'm not much on using power tools but I sure can hold the boards for him.

Yard Work

We've been busy working in the yard - moving things around, cutting down bamboo, making new lanterns, filling in the holes that the dogs insist on digging, clipping hedges, trimming back the bamboo, mowing and weed eating, cutting back the bamboo, cleaning pond filters, catching fish, cutting down more bamboo. In case you haven't noticed, having bamboo in the backyard is a lot of work. In the spring it sprouts up and grows, sometimes over night; but the bamboo is what makes our yard unique for West Texas.

Time

I don't like Daylight Savings Time in the morning but I do like it in the evenings!

Visions of Summer -- Yard Art

Sometimes things break, for instance a clay birdbath. A little time, a little paint and there it is, a new piece of yard art.

Visions of Summer - Lotus

First Day Bloom

Early Second Day Blooms

Third Day Blooms

This past year was the best so far in my efforts to grow lotus plants. I can't tell you how many times I tried to grow a lotus from seed and they didn't make it. Then I tried buying mature plants and they didn't make it either, not even through the summer. I was beginning to think that growing a lotus was not going to happen. But three years ago I bought a mature lotus plant and finally success! This past summer I even had multiple blooms which for me is quite an accomplishment.

How about a Cure for the Winter Blahs . . .

It's cold, dreary, and misting here today.

I was browsing through some of my pictures from this past summer and these brought a smile to my face and made the day brighter even if the sun isn't shining.

Purple Fountain Grass

A tiny spider worked and worked to make this, but I can't figure out how the square came about.

Passion Vine Flower - can you see the ants?

As a side note, all of these pictures were taken with a Sony Mavica FD73 camera -- you know, an ancient one that uses floppy disks!

Happy New Year!