Easter day trip.

With no commitments until Easter dinner with Julie later in the day, we headed out to visit Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.   It is a beautiful place to see in the spring, full of gardens teeming with wildflowers, and several miles of lovely trails to explore.

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I don’t think the wildflowers have peaked yet in south Austin, based on what we saw here, so there’s still time to get out there and see them!

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The view from the top of the cistern tower, overlooking the surrounding meadow trails.

There is a great-horned owl family roosting in a wall ledge just inside the entrance.  There are two owlets, but they are not sticking their heads up in this shot.

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Feeling a little blue.

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Big blooms already in our bluebonnet patch out back

Spring is in full gear in Austin!   Temps swing between the 40’s and 80’s every few days.  The wildflowers and trees are in bloom.   Trying to make sense of just how quickly the year seems to have flown by, I looked back over my calendar, only to realize that I have been out of town four of the first ten weeks of the year.  Yep, that’ll do it.

I’m looking forward to getting out and about to take in all the beautiful sights.  This is the prettiest time of the year.

Undecking the halls.

One last photo of the Christmas tree before I take down all the lights and decorations.  Oh, have I mentioned that I love tulips?

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Red.

Pretty poinsettia.

September morn’.

As I walked into the kitchen this morning for my second cup of coffee, this glowing orange zinnia caught my eye, backlit by the rising sun.  

Good morning!

Every drop counts. 

I awoke at 3:30 this morning to the sound of rain falling.  I think I could hear the trees rejoicing as well.  We got half an inch.  I’ll take it!

Family time in the garden. 

We are spending the weekend at a family reunion this weekend.  Our hostess, Susanne’s, garden is the perfect setting.  Everywhere you look there’s a lovely surprise.  We are missing those that can’t be here.  

Summer.

A male (red) & female (yellow) summer tanager couple:

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Sunny.

We have some giant sunflowers growing out back.  Seriously.  They are at least 8 feet tall.

One of the blooms:

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Red yucca blooms.

Pretty flowers.  I have four red yucca plants in the yard, each one seems to bloom every other year.   But luckily for me they are not all on the same schedule, so I’ve had at least one in bloom every year.  My next plant on the wish list for the yard is a white yucca.  Stay tuned.

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Stop & go.

Black-chinned hummingbird stopping for a taste of Texas thistle…OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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Practice makes perfect.

I am still working on improving my manual focus skill with my Olympus camera.   In this picture, I was trying to focus on the butterfly, but turns out I got an absolutely crisp image of the opening zinnia that is just above and to the right of where I was trying to focus.   I’ll keep trying…

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The real yellow rose of Texas. 

Happy Easter!

Red. 

And one pink.