TGIF of a 3 day weekend. As much as I have been desperately awaiting this weekend to spend on the lake, I am ecstatic that we are finally getting some rain. It can rain all weekend as long as it all runs into the lake.
Category: Nature
First zinnies.
Monte’s zinnias are starting to bloom. These are the first ones we’ve brought inside to enjoy.
Mock – yeah. ing – yeah. bird – yeah.
We share our property with some very friendly and vocal mockingbirds – the state bird of Texas. Here’s one:
And here’s the song that is now stuck in my head. Enjoy!
Cascades in clouds.
Thanks to Noreen for schlepping me to the airport in the wee hours of the morning. I’m not home yet, posting from ORD.
I got a window seat on the right side of the plane, on purpose, expressly for this (my favorite) view. Looking south, Mount Rainier is in the foreground. Mount Adams is to the left farther south. In between, even farther south and very hard to see, is Mount Hood. Mount St. Helens would be visible to the right of Rainier, except for the cloud deck sitting above it.
Colleen is up on Rainier this weekend. Don’t see her though. 🙂
Scenes from my Saturday.
I headed into Seattle today to visit Pat & Nga and the kids. Before I hit the road I stopped by a park on the puget sound shoreline where attended girl scout camp back in the day. I remember camping, cooking, clamming and making sand sculptures here over several summers here. I dare say it has been 35 years or so since i last stood on this particular stretch of beach. It is still amazingly beautiful.
I drove my mom’s car. Not your typical dashboard.
When i got to seattle, we drove to a park on the *other* side of the puget sound to fly the kites that I gave the boys. They are master kite flyers. One shot with both of them:
One shot of Nicky:
And one shot of Will:
A great day. Back to Austin tomorrow. Goodnight!
60 years on.
I finally got a chance to go outside today! I went for a walk this afternoon after my last meeting. There is a new park with a huge network of trails through towering trees about a mile walk from my mom’s house. It was gorgeous. This cut log was laying next to the trail. I stopped counting at 60 rings. Thank you log, I now have Elton John’s 60 Years On ringing in my head. Now you do too.
A shot of the beautiful canopy … I like the glowing green of the leaves in this shot.
I drove jake here tonight and we cooked dinner and ate with mom. Then he played guitar for us for a while. He’s very good. He reminded me that I had taught him the basics many years ago. Very sweet.
Lilac.
My dad planted lilacs in the yard many years ago. They multiply like crazy in these parts.
Fuchsia.
I spent a great Mother’s Day with my mom and 3 sisters and many of my niece/nephews. We also took a trip to Tacoma to visit my brother’s family who just welcomed his first grandkid into the world. A nice day indeed. The array of colorful flowers that explode here every spring is staggering. This is a beautiful place year round, but especially this time of the year. This is one shot from my mom’s backyard.
Stormy weather…
Headed to Seattle tonight. Boarded the plane. Fell asleep. When I woke up they were asking everyone to deplane due to storms in the area. I did not know that most of the bars AND the admirals club close at 7:30. What were they thinking?! Still hoping our flight leaves after the storm passes. Here’s some of my moments…
Thank you Ray Benson’s Roadhouse Bar!!!
Jasmine!
We have a fence along the south side of our lot that has several flowering vines covering it. Some Carolina Jessamine. Some orange trumpet vine. And some jasmine. The winds have turned back out of the south again, where they should be. So our backyard is engulfed in the entrancing fragrance of jasmine. I love spring!
‘Tis Tuesday.
We have another niece visiting us this week. Rachel and Monte went out to the lake and sailed for a few hours. Then Julie and I joined them about 4 o’clock. We sailed around for a couple more hours. Then got a great table at the Oasis. And surprisingly enjoyed the appies that we ordered. The view of sunset was awesome, as usual. Very, very nice!
A Saturday drive.
For the last 15 years, Becker Vineyards has had a Lavender Festival. Its been one of the things on my todo list. This year, i put it on my calendar several months ago, so I wouldn’t miss it. And, it worked! Today we headed out for a long drive through the hill country, in the miata with the top down. And we had a really great day…
We walked out through the lavender fields. They have several different varieties. It didn’t look quite like I had expected – i was imagining endless rows of deep purple, like in Provence. But it was pretty, nonetheless.
They also grow their own artichokes. I have never seen them in the wild before!
We walked through the vendor booths. Lots of lavender goodies, flowers, herbs, nibblies and such. 
Then one more walk through the fields, this shot is looking back at the winery.
We packed a light lunch and ate it at the festival while sipping wine and listening to the Raggedy Cats (we really enjoyed them).
Then a winery tour. Lots of new factoids. Becker has been here 20 years or so, and in that time, they’ve increased the amount of their wine that they make from grapes grown at the winery to 85%. The rest come from Lubbock.
Can’t wait for the Fredericksburg peach harvest!
On the way home we decided to dodge the brewing thunderstorms and buzzed over to Der Lindenbaum in Fredericksburg for some German home cooked food for dinner.
The festival is open tomorrow, too. Get out there if you can, this year or next!
For the birds.
We anchored in Arky south last night. It was chilly, in the 40s, so we hunkered below. This morning we lounged around until the wind filled in, then went for a sail. We beat upwind all the way to Bee Creek. We dropped sail and motored up the creek until it got too shallow. The big wide basin where we’ve rafted up in the past is just a twisty creek now. 20′ deep where we turned around.
On the way out of the cove we turned the motor off and ate lunch as the wind nudged us back out to the lake.
Another lovely day on Nirvana.
On the sail home this row of birdhouses high on a ridge caught my eye. What a great spot for a birds eye view.
Home court.
We made it to the lake today in time to race the Beercan. We got a late start, and crossed the starting line about 2 minutes late. But we caught up with the field. In time to come in third out of five!! Woot woot!
We headed to arky and put out an anchor and are waiting for the riff-raff to show up.
Lovely sunset.
Sheila365 