A Typical Morning Walk

We finally had some rain around here, but these photos are from the day before the rains came, when the corner pond had just enough water for Max's therapeutic swim. 

Just a typical morning walk with my puppies, when I have to search hard for something different and interesting to photograph in the same places, every day...

I snapped several shots of this tumbleweed. 

That's just what I do on morning walks, take photo after photo of the same thing...

I'm very fond of these feet. 

Oh, the places we've been together...

Max never passes up a chance to go swimming. 

It's a great way to take the weight off of his old, achy muscles - and also to cool down in the triple digits we were having.

Belle is happy to wait on the sidelines with me while Max swims. 

She prefers wallowing in the dirt on the walk back home. 

This heart-shaped leaf waited for me on the dry pond bed. 

A little country love. 

What the dry creek bed must have looked like to the porcupine last week.

This peeling bark just caught my eye.

It's pretty in its own way, isn't it?

Baby acorns. 

A sure sign autumn is right around the corner.

I'm not sure what these tiny purple-tinted flowers are called, but they're one of my favorites, just because they show up when everything else fades away, giving the Hollow a bit of color.

I'm spinning a lot of plates right now... writing my children's book, editing two photo shoots, learning PSE, searching for an anchor job, a book review... those are just a few I'm trying to keep from crashing to the ground. 

But I'm never (okay, I'm rarely) too busy for my morning walk. 

Where else would I find the oomph that keeps them all spinning?

Hope you're having a week full of oomph!

I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read and all the friends I want to see. 

~ John Burroughs

On an early morning walk...

Life is busier than ever right now, but I'm hanging on to my morning walks as often as possible. 


Grab a bottle of water (it's hot, even first thing in the morning), douse yourself with bug spray (we're in the woods, after all), and come along with me...

Purple thistle still adds bright splashes of color to the hollow. 

A dandelion vagabond is resting on the stem of this one.

The ponds are drying up fast. We need rain!

About a dozen different types of yellow flowers are blooming, though. 

They love the sunshine!

These odd little plants grow near the bend in our road. 

I loved how the morning light caught them and brought out the different colors.

Doesn't this web look like a tattered sail? 

I'm not sure if that's a spider weaving a web, or a bug caught in a spider's web near the bottom. 

What do you think?

This large daisy is growing all alone. 

I hope more follow its lead!

Woods bokeh.

Morning light coming through the trees is magical.

I startled this heron and barely captured its escape in my camera.

Wild chicory, I think. 

It only opens in the morning.

A reward for early risers.

This tiny beauty is about the size of a marble.

Thanks for tagging along!

Time to grab another cup of coffee, sit on the deck while the puppies eat, and listen to the birds for a few minutes before revving it back up to full speed.

Hope you have a beautiful day!

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

~ Henry David Thoreau

Once upon a time there was a lake...

After months of blue skies and drought here in the Texas Hill Country,

we've finally had rain... and rain... and rain.

Our small pond has filled up, spilling over into the creek below our house. 

The larger ponds... ours and those upstream... are no longer grassy fields, 

but reflective pools for the surrounding trees. 

But the photos below were taken within the past few weeks, 

even after inches and inches of rainfall.

They're of branches of Lake Travis... well, of what used to be branches of Lake Travis.

It's just a matter of time now... I hope it's just a matter of time... 

before the water makes its way to these grassy fields and rocky slopes, as well.

How much more rain will it take?