Final flowers before frost
Brilliant intensity
A last hurrah of beauty
flowers
Walking Among the Flowers
After feeding the horses, completing chores, a late afternoon walk to look for the last of the wild flowers took my fancy. Here in the canyon country of the Panhandle of Texas, the majority of wildflowers are three colors: yellow, white, purple.
Butterflies feeding in the gay feather.
At first I thought this might be bitterweed but now, not sure.
Although this one and the last one may resemble each other, they are different.
Looked up, the sun decided to shine–at my place four inches of rain in the last week and more than seven inches ahead of normal.
Black foot daisies and prairie zinnias bloom from early spring almost until frost.
Athena among the flowers.
Prickly pear can grow almost anywhere.
I almost missed this one hidden among the grass.
Unconditional Love
All the beautiful flowers I see today, Mother’s Day 2017, make me think of my mother. She loved flowers, especially roses, horses, music, beauty. When I think of her, I also think of unconditional love. Even when young and I sometimes thought she expected too much of me, I still knew she loved me no matter what the circumstances and always would. For this I feel unending gratitude. As a teacher, it has become very clear to me that many children do not experience the kind of love my mother gave me. She died suddenly many years ago. Her love will never leave me. Thank you, Mom, wherever you are!!
Spring
I love:
sunrise
mockingbirds
wildflowers
iris
breezes
mowing
sunsets
night hawks
Celebrating Earth Day–Photos
I decided the best way I should share my reverence and love for nature and this precious planet on which we live is to share photos from various countries, states, and my own little piece of wonder.
The three photos above were taken at Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Texas about ten minutes from where I live.
Above and below the Rio Grande looking into Mexico.
Four photos above — Big Bend National Park.
Between Marfa and Alpine, Texas.
The Rio Grande north of Albuquerque on the Santa Ana Pueblo Nation.
The above four photos taken in Simien Mountain National Park, Ethiopia. The animals are gelada–the only surviving grass eating primates found solely in Ethiopia. They actually “talk” to each other.
Menelik’s Window, Ethiopia
Awash Falls, Ethiopia
Where the Blue Nile begins draining from Lake Tana, Ethiopia
The photos above were taken at various places in Costa Rica.
Northern New Mexico
Grand Canyon North Rim
The Missouri River running full.
California dropping down from Sequoia National Monument
Near Lake Marvin, Texas
The above photos were all taken within the last year on my little rim of wonder.
And finally below, my favorite animal.
A Week of Wonder and Flowers
This past week was my birthday. The wonder started a week ago when my friends came for dinner and my friend’s father, visiting from Mexico. brought me red roses. I had not seen my friends in a long time and it was fun. Then on Sunday, Roberto, the father, and I went hiking in Palo Duro Canyon on a new trail. I never saw a name for it.
We found this trail by starting at Chinaberry (for those who go to the Canyon), taking Comanche Trail up to this new trail. When they intersect, we went north rather than south on Comanche.
If you read the previous blog in December about hiking Comanche, you saw this peak but from the center and to the south. This is a view from the north looking south.
Eventually, after hiking up and down across an arroyo, you end up above the river which looks tiny here, but when a big rain comes, it can rise many feet in a few hours. It was very sunny, I had a hard time focusing so occasionally a finger got in the way.
Roberto has a funny sense of humor. He could not resist pretending to hold up one of the many giant boulders along the trail.
This is not a difficult walk and not too long if you only have a few hours. We came across a group of wild turkeys, but they moved so much, I was unable to get a good photo so gave up.
Wednesday was my birthday. It began with my first period class–I teach senior high school English. They showered the room with confetti, brought me a giant chocolate muffin with a candle in the middle, lit the candle and sang me Happy Birthday. Then during second period, two of my students arrived with two bouquets of flowers. The room smelled wonderful for three days. I brought the flowers home yesterday in a big box.
My grandson told the florist to make me a giant bouquet with exotic flowers. This is one side of it. Orchids, roses, hydrangeas, and some really unusual flowers which I cannot identify.
This is the other side of the same bouquet.
This bouquet is from my son. He knows my favorite color is orange and that I have a lot of that color in my house so….
I am seriously nerdy and asked for an atlas for my birthday. My daughter outdid herself and bought this one full of all sorts of information I never expected and maps. I love maps. When I read a book from Latin America, Africa, etc., I look up the places on maps.
Last night I sang songs, using the poems of Octavio Paz and Pablo Neruda among others, with the Amarillo Master Chorale in a church with perfect acoustics for choral music. Tonight I will see friends at an opera party. What a wonderful week!!
Spring Break Adventure–3
Today was day one in Big Bend National Park. This place is huge. We drove down to the Rio Grande, took a hike up a big hill/cliff above it, and later drove off on a gravel road which became a bit daunting at times–four wheel drive only. We saw people riding horses across the desert, others canoeing down the river, all sorts of mountains, cactus in bloom, ruined corrals from a extinct ranch, and passed a border control check point–nothing new really. Used to get checked all the time down near the border. Here are photos I took along the way.
Summer Blues
Remnants of summer remaining
Sunrise over canyon walls, hoot owl calling
Hints of autumn lurking
Beauty is Whatever Gives Joy
When negative sights overwhelm, look at the flowers–sharing this beauty from a blogging friend.
Typical Summer Morning
listen to birdsong
walk to barn
feed Rosie
photograph flowers
writingontherim 