Nature
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Today's photo shows a branch I found down around the old greenhouse and the deer was as startled as I when I came around the corner!! This is behind the She Shed. Mike and the girls put this up one summer to use for the tomatoes he would start in December.
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@RockChalkinTexas-0 I usually do 1,000 piece puzzles. My son bought me a 5,000 piece puzzle but there's not a surface in my house big enough to work it. Lol.
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@nuleafjhawk The girls have a big puzzle board that Mike made for them and there is always the floor.
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Late getting here today. Another round of storms overnight and another limb down. Today's photo is of the east side of the house flower bed that is covered in salvia. The hummingbirds love them. See all kinds of bees too. Mike welded the railings to keep the deer out and saw a squirrel in there this morning along with a lizard. Who knows what else lives in there.
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On such a gloomy day, I wish I was here! After Mike passed away, the girls and I went to our favorite place. As a family, we made many trips to South Padre Island. We tried Corpus Christi, Port Aransas, Galveston, Houston but nothing compares to South Padre. We tried condos and rentals, but liked best a dive of a 2 story motel, The Surf Motel, in the middle of the island that we always went back to. Back in the early 90s there wasn't the tourist trappings like today. We could walk to the bay side, drive as far north on the beach as you wanted and Mike fished, the girls played in the sand and I sought sea shells and did a lot of reading. The typical family. We went to a wildlife refuge to see the migratory birds and fished off the piers. Rode the go carts. Rented bicycles. Toured the small towns around there. The girls had a pool at the motel, there was the bar and they had volleyball courts. The rooms have kitchenetts and Mike would barbeque with the other guys in the middle of everything. It was fantastic. I am thinking of heading down there before hurricane season.
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Today's photo shows how nature makes itself visible in the most barren places. These native plants (Greenthread) survive due to their long roots to tap into moisture deep in the ground. And this is on the edge of our "road".
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Today we honor all those that gave the ultimate gift so that we can have the liberties I cherish. I fly my flag in their memory.
Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it. It flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it. — Unknown
The ultimate sacrifice for freedom deserves our highest honor.
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Today's photo is of a beautiful amaryllis bloom from a potted plant I received from work when I had the girls in December 1987. I've kept this photo sealed and in a frame all these 35+ years it was so beautiful. It took years to finally get this bloom. I read that the amaryllis flower has a fascinating and dramatic origin story that dates back to Antiquity. According to a Greek myth, Amaryllis is a beautiful young maiden who is deeply in love with Alteo, a local shepherd and gardener. Strong and handsome, Alteo has a passion for flowers and claimed he could only fall in love with a maiden who brought him a flower so unique that it never existed before. Unsure of how to gain his affections, Amaryllis sought guidance from the Oracle of Delphi, who told her she must sacrifice her blood for him to win his love. For a month, Amaryllis stood upon Alteo's doorstep, piercing her heart with a golden arrow each night in hopes he would notice her, but he did not. On the 30th day, Alteo opened the door and, in her place, saw an extraordinary and beautiful dark red flower that had blossomed from the blood of Amaryllis' heart. A sad tale, for sure, but from this myth, the amaryllis flower has become a profound symbol of love, commitment, and determination. During the Victorian era, the amaryllis flower took on the meaning of pride, strength, and confidence due to its sturdiness and towering height over other winter flowers. Gentlemen would give the amaryllis flower to women they respected and thought were strong and very beautiful.
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Today's photo is of our Brittany Spaniel, Jasper, that Mike found at a pet store (with papers back then) when he was a puppy and it was just a couple of months after we had moved to Austin in the heart of old Hype Park neighborhood. We rented a duplex on a side street that was a dead end and had a fenced in back yard for $150 per month. He got some quail and began training him in the back yard. Just the best dog ever. Mike would take him to southeastern Kansas to a farm our friends had and could out hunt any other dog. I saw him once catch a pheasant in the air after he had pointed it. We got a female and they had 6 litters. All of the pups went to his hunting buddies up in Kansas and Michigan. Mike would take him to work on the various job sites and when he would be missing, we found him one time in the community swimming pool, he had a girlfriend and he would visit her house and be inside the ac while Mike would be out in 100 degree weather working, and many nights after he couldn't be found, Mike would come and get me and we would be out searching the neighborhood for him. When he was just 6 months old, he fell out of the back of Mike's truck and broke his left hip. He would sleep in the only chair we had when we first moved all that time he was healing. He lived to be 15. We kept one of the males from his last litter, but he didn't get the same genes. The female was bitten by a copperhead in the throat and Mike put Adolph's meat tenderizer on the bite and although she swelled up a lot, she survived.
Who is your favorite pet?
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UPDATE! Offspring of my banana spider spotted this morning. @nuleafjhawk be aware!
