April in Texas

Spring is nature’s way of saying, "Let’s party!"  

Robin Williams

April in Texas. Best time of the year for me. After the brown of December, January, February and most of March, I've escaped from winter's hold on the bleak. Perfect weather has arrived. I sit outside and I'm not hot. Nor am I cold. The sun on my skin provides much needed Vitamin D.

Everything sings green. My garden grows.

Best part? No bugs.

Doesn't get much better than that. Except for when you head out in the car for a Saturday adventure. Country roads. Beautiful vistas. Wildflowers.

In the 1960's First Lady Lady Bird Johnson began a beautification project throughout Washington DC and America. Since she lived in Austin and also in the nearby Hill Country, her efforts are seen in abundance here as she saw to the spreading of wildflower seeds to enhance the landscape. You can read more about it here.

The roads surrounding us in Spring are filled with camera toting families, oil painters, and flower lovers cruising the countryside to find the best fields of Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush along with many other species of yellow, white, pink and purple persuasions.

On Saturday my husband and I joined the masses and headed out with our friends Mike and Bonnie. I planned to drive so I could go as slow as I wanted and stop whenever to get a better photo. However, that bad wife in me felt sorry for my husband as I know he likes to drive. I offered him my car keys and listed the parameters of his task ahead.

1. This isn't a race.

2. We will need to go slow.

3. You will have to listen for "What a great place to stop." or "Slow down." or "Go back, go back." and comply.

4. This isn't a race.

He agreed.

Off we went.

 Passed by the strawberry picking place and

 

headed onto the highway and then many country roads.

All of those merited a Stop the Car shout.

But this one, this one was just perfect. Took a turn onto a road that ended up a dead end, but, oh, my. Overwhelming find.

Let's see that again.

We came around this corner and found a perfect spot for a vista view.

Any time you guys are ready...

Shortly thereafter, my husband forgot the mission of the trip. I opened my window to take a photo and he sped up. Bonnie said, "Wow, what a perfect place to stop." He turned up the radio.

But gotta love the man for shortly thereafter he took a quick turn into a long drive that took us to this view

and a winery. Nothing like finishing out the drive with a wine tasting and a view.

After that, all we saw was just icing on the cake.

Ended up in the metropolis of Marble Falls for a big hamburger at Bill's.

 Cheers.

Thanks Bob, Mike, and Bonnie. Fun day.

Happy Spring Northern Hemisphere. 

Loving the Bluebonnets.

And the paintbrushes.

This and That, Double Dog Dare and March Scavenging

Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in. 

Henry David Thoreau

This and That Days have overtaken my life. I love them. You are probably familiar with their workings. You spend the day busy at a pace where at day's end you couldn't really list all you've done. Nor could anyone walk into your home and necessarily see exactly what has kept you so busy. 

But you know. It accounts for your calmness. For you've put in a full day, yet don't feel like you dragged a steam ship through a mucky channel. 

On my This and That Days I may have cleaned the hairbrushes. Washed the kitchen window. Threw away the grocery sales slips littering my car. Read a short story. Blew the dust off a book shelf. Secured that loose upholstery button on the pillow sham. 

Written in my journal.  Swept the duck crap off the dock. Picked the dead leaves from my plants. Read a few new poems. Scoured the coffee pot to a new clean. Gone through the fridge and thrown away all the jars of expired jams, mustards, horseradish and mayos. Planted the Moonflower seed packet that has sat on the counter for a month. Turned the calendar to the appropriate month.

Rehung the fairy windows on the big tree in the yard. Changed the sheets on the bed. Written five gratitudes for the day.  Washed the rugs in the bathroom. Glued wine corks to the cork board. Fed the ducks and geese. Put a new mattress pad on a bed. Finished a Dot to Dot picture. Pulled a few weeds. Gone through the basket of papers on the desk.

You know. Stuff. Little stuff. This and That. 

Which also provides fodder for this post as it is a little of this and that. RE the Double Dog Dare that ended on April 1. 



You might recall my post in January regarding all the baskets, shelves, and stacks of books on my To Be Read shelf. That I'd taken on the dare to only read from those piles for three months. 

I succeeded.  As of April 1 I've read 15 books from those stacks. I have my To Be Read books down to one shelf and one basket. Okay, so that shelf still has 28 books on it and the basket is how big? But, hey, 15 less than before. 

I even made it to March 25 before I bought any new books except for the two I needed for Book Club.  Broke down late one Saturday night while perusing online. I know, shouldn't buy online, but midnight, husband asleep and too late to plow. Might as well buy a few books. 

Which brings us to the next topic, The March Scavenger Hunt. 

A post consisting of your interpretation of a given list whereby you take photos and then link to  the Scavenger Hunt's inventor, Made with Love. 

The March List   - Circle, Card, Window, Art, Skyline, a favorite word, Movement, Bathroom, Car, Plate, Something you made, whatever you want. 

Here is my take.

 Circle

 Card

 Window

 Art 

Dirt road leading to Lake Michigan

Skyline

A Favorite Word

 Take me to the water, always.

Movement

 Bathroom

Waited 16 years in this house for a bath tub. Finally -- last year. I live there now.

Car

My 2003 VW. Thirteen years old. 110,000 miles. Put that top down and it becomes a truck. (My husband will cringe when he sees this. "Couldn't you have washed it first?" Wash it?  Do they last longer if you do that?)

Plate

Something I Made 

A mess

Okay, I needlepointed the seat for this old rocker of my grandmothers. But I did it a hundred years ago.

Whatever I Want

Still Life

No, I'm not the one who picked those bluebonnets. I just helped save them from drying up.

Hope you enjoyed this This and That post. Hope you have many a This and That days coming to you.

Happy Easter

How Beautiful the Bonnets

I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one.

Edna St. Vincent Millay, "Afternoon on a Hill"

Spring had indeed arrived as evidenced by the Texas countryside. Wildflowers abound. I wasn't able to stop the car on the windy roads last Saturday, but happened to catch these few photos near my house. Imagine an entire field rolling in blue.

Last year's drought? Long forgotten. The winter's rain has provided a bumper crop of beauty.






So much for that brief visit to nature. Back to completing my taxes. When I come out of the number blitz, I'll resume regular life again.