Ellinger, Texas

A slow spot on the highway,

halfway mark between Austin and Houston,

home of Hruska's - pitstop extraordinaire.

I took advantage of driving solo on my return trip this week

 to do a bit of exploring beyond the highway.

Look what I found...

Bluebonnets...

Honeysuckle...

...embracing this old red brick building.

I love old red brick.

And honeysuckle.

Daylilies...

...facing an old church...

I also love daylilies and old churches.

There was more ... I spotted an old cemetery, some old houses, a few old trucks ... 

but I knew I better hit the highway again.

Next time.

Now I know.

Deepwater in Color

I spent a weekend back in my childhood neighborhood

where shaded streets meander ever outward from a garden of schools planted in an open field,

like petals on a flower expand outward from the pistil.

On Sunday I laced up my running shoes and hit a path that circles through the field, connecting the campuses.

All around me color popped from the green grass, 

flowers I once took for granted because I saw them spring after spring after spring. 

Except primroses - they inspired my wedding colors.

I never took them for granted.

 Still so lovely...

My parents' backyard also exploded with color

from wisteria 

from a yesterday, today and tomorrow bush

and from tiny pink blossoms, nestled in the grass.

This fig tree has guarded the back fence for as long as I can remember, 

an offspring of one in my great- grandmother's garden.

I found tons to capture in my camera, just by stepping out into the yard. 

Not all of the color was from nature, but it was interesting, nonetheless, like this laundry tree in an adjoining yard...

Bird Love

A glimpse through the window, a tiptoe for my camera, and snap! I caught it. 

I just have no idea what it is. A wren? A finch?

But I'm adding it to my friend Jillsy's Tweeter Board anyway. Maybe someone else can figure it out.

All I know is he/she's awfully cute.
(Update: thanks to Jillsy, I believe this is a brown-headed nuthatch! From what I've read, they're usually found in the pine trees of East Texas. This one wandered a bit, but I'm glad!)

Jillsy's trying to collect images of 50 birds from around the world by the end of March.

 Grab your camera and help her out! You don't need to be a blogger. 

Just click on the image below to get more information.

A Morning Walk

A morning walk cures just about anything, especially a morning walk along a dirt road in early spring,

 and especially if two goofy dogs tag along.

These are images from my walks the past two mornings...

(I take way too many photos.)

The night walked down the sky with the moon in her hand.  

~Frederick L. Knowles

An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day. 

~ Henry David Thoreau

Thoughts come clearly while one walks.  

~Thomas Mann

Above all, do not lose your desire to walk.  Every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness.  I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it.  ~Soren Kierkegaard

Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.  

~Henry David Thoreau 

Walks.  The body advances, while the mind flutters around it like a bird.  

~Jules Renard

Walking is good for solving problems - it's like the feet are little psychiatrists.  

~Pepper Giardino

Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk. 

~ Raymond Inmon

What really helps motivate me to walk are my dogs, who are my best pals.  

They keep you honest about walking because when it's time to go, 

you can't disappoint those little faces.  

~Wendie Malick

Walking gets the feet moving, the blood moving, the mind moving.  

And movement is life.  

~Carrie Latet

A dog is one of the remaining reasons why some people can be persuaded to go for a walk.  ~O.A. Battista

My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. 

 She's ninety-three today and we don't know where the hell she is.  

~Ellen DeGeneres

This is my contribution to Jan@twoscoopz's Focus 52 project - the theme this week is 'the view from here' - and this post pretty much summed it up for me!

Meet the Cedar Waxwing

I noticed them hanging about, 

high in the bare branches of the willow by the pond.  

Ordinary black birds, I thought, 

Nothing special about them, 

except for the way they swooshed in magnificent synchronized flight, 

circling up the Hollow, back again, 

twirling in Figure 8 formation 

before settling all together back in the tree. 

And then one morning, using my zoom, I snapped some photos.

Turns out they aren't black, and they're far from ordinary.

I think they might be my favorite bird now,
with their black eyeliner and gold-tipped garb.

Let me introduce you to the Cedar Waxwing.

(I love my zoom.)

Do you see that bit of yellow on the tail feathers? Amazing!