I am not one to complain about all the great rain we’ve gotten this week. God knows we need it. Yesterday was mostly overcast but dry. It was a good day for a drive in the hill country, and for a pickup party at Becker.
Sunday drive.
Tag: Spring
Park Warriors.
As we roll into this year’s Earth Day, I find myself coming home from a whirlwind trip to California where I experienced four national parks in four days with Lori, Doray, and Laura.
The first park was Yosemite, where I got a glimpse of the amazing scenery of El Capitan, Half Dome, Bridal Veil Falls, and Yosemite Falls. We walked through the Yosemite Valley, along the Tuolumne and Merced rivers.
We stayed at the Wawona Hotel. It was comfortable, but the shared bath/shower house attached to the Hotel might not be for everyone. There’s no elevator, so pack light, because everything must be removed from your vehicle at night to prevent attracting bears. The restaurant meals were good. The scenery everywhere was amazing.
The next park was Kings Canyon, a deep glacially-formed canyon where the ‘kings’ are gigantic monarch sequoias, including the one called General Grant. We enjoyed up-close views of these giants, and hiking through incredible groves of trees.
The next park was just down the road, Sequoia National Park. Snow and downed trees had kept the connecting road, Generals Highway, closed this season until just an hour or two before we arrived. This was a much appreciated surprise which saved us hours of driving.
Inside Sequoia, we stayed at Wuksachi Lodge for two nights. It was comfortable, but we schlepped everything up and down stairs here, too. The restaurant and lodge was convenient for breakfast and dinner. But we made our own lunches to eat on the go. We visited petroglyph rock, the Giant Forest of 2000+ year old sequoias, and its museum. We had lunch at Beetle Rock, overlooking the San Joaquin valley. The highlight of Sequoia for me was the hike to, and up to the top of, Moro Rock and its 360 degree views of the canyons and surrounding valleys. It was breathtaking.
Even though we were pooped, we made the trek down to see the biggest known single trunk tree, by volume, in the world, General Sherman. Impressive. But I sure wish it wasn’t downhill from the parking lot at the end of day three. 🙂
The next park was Pinnacles, which featured rugged peaks formed from volcanic eruptions. We didn’t spend much time here but we enjoyed lunch and a hike. We didn’t originally plan to hit this park but realized it was close enough to include in our trip after we arrived.
We started and ended the trip in Santa Barbara, which allowed us to see Laura’s beautiful new home.
I’m back home now. And scheming my next park adventures.
Big year.
It’s hard to predict because of the seemingly endless droughts and freezes, but the Texas bluebonnets are blooming early and it looks like it will be a big wildflower year.
Monte has been grooming our front yard bluebonnet patch for years. Looking good! More photos to follow.
Pickup party.
Every three months we take a drive through the Texas hill country to pick up our wine club package. The May pickup party was lovely. The weather was beautiful. The nibblies were delicious. We made a few other stops and enjoyed a really lovely day.
The next best thing.
I visited my family in Washington State last month. I had planned to get my first ever amazing pics of the tulip fields in Skagit Valley, but it was a tad too early.
Here’s a lovely field of daffodils in bloom instead. 💛
Happy Earth Day!
Hiatus?!!
Wowza. I’m sad to acknowledge that I haven’t posted here on sheila365.com for THREE MONTHS. I’ve had this photoblog for over 12 years now, and this is by far my longest period of radio silence. I can only blame an extended creative funk that I’ve been in.
Ok. With that said, I won’t linger on a long-ish, nostalgic post, I’ll just leave a few views from my day that make me happy.
I’m baaaack. 🙂
A look back at my 2021.
A year ago, it was anyone’s guess how 2021 would roll out after the cluster that was the year 2020. Today I paused to reflect on a few of the memories I captured from the last twelve months.
January – I started to direct my energy towards making things and sewing. I asked Monte to make me a rack for my growing collection of spools of thread. It turned out perfect, as usual, and has been well used by me over the last 12 months.
February – The deep freeze descended upon Texas. We were incredibly lucky to not have lost power during the prolonged freeze. So many people were really hurting during the weeklong outages. I can’t deny that I loved the temporary snowscape around the house. But I was happy to see it go.
March – The power across the state eventually came back on. The weather warmed up. Things started to bloom. The leaves fell and were raked up. I think we set a record for leaf bags set out on the curb. The City of Austin yard waste collection crew even took a picture of our curbside menagerie.
April – Incredibly, a year after this shit-storm started, COVID vaccines were available to the masses, and we got in line. For both of us, the reactions were pretty mild. The worst thing I can report is a temperature of 100 degrees F.
May – I flew to Charleston to help Lori take Trident north to Annapolis. We had some great days and nights on the water, including several legs on the outside. Sadly, my precious little Keeto died while I was away. Nearly 10 years old, it was still too soon. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for my sweet baby bird. And I’m sorry Monte had to go through it alone. It still brings a tear to my eye. He was just the best bird ever.
June – Nirvana received lots of TLC. A prolonged bottom job. New batteries. Scheduled maintenance undertaken by me and Monte. Inverter replacement. Cushion repairs. Some new running rigging. And many hours with friends and family spent on her this year.
July – We had fun family visits this month; the first since the pandemic descended. And, as we do every year, we took a boatload out on Lake Travis to watch the July 4th fireworks.
August – Monte and I continued enjoying Nirvana and the lake throughout the summer. One week, we spent several days sailing 30 miles upstream, anchoring up around mile marker 44. Our goal was to watch the Perseids meteor shower. We did see some meteors. It was just nice to be out and about on the boat so much this summer.
September – We crewed for Kurt & Kevin for the Austin Yacht Club Fall Series Regatta on Camelot. We helped them nab 2nd place for their class in the end. Huzzah!!
October – I flew up to Baltimore to join Lori on Trident for the Annapolis Sailboat Show, my first. This was more of a for-fun trip than a move-the-boat trip, and I really enjoyed the two day trip we took sailing to St. Michaels and back across Chesapeake Bay. After the boat show, we drove back together to Austin, stopping at 4 US National Parks along the way. Amazing!
November – We enjoyed more time out and about this fall. Monte took me curling for my birthday. We both had loads of fun. And I think we’ll do it again!
December – Wow, the year flew by. Again. We took another boatload out for the Christmas boat parade. Unfortunately, COVID fears are starting to seep back into our lives. But I really hope that by this time next year there are many more fun outings and visits under my belt. I just can’t take another lockdown.
Time flies. We are immensely blessed. It’s easy to complain about the events swirling around us, but I’m focused on celebrating the small day-to-day good times that we spend together and with friends and family.
I wish you all an amazing, healthy, and happy 2022.
Flit & float.
This Common Buckeye moth paused just long enough for me to snap a picture.
A real treat.
I ventured out to get my first real birding of the year in. Oh, I’m always looking for birds, but “real birding” means that I bring my binoculars and my camera. The Golden-cheeked warbler nests exclusively in Central Texas, and there are preserves that are closed to the general public during their breeding season of Feb-July, during which they are only accessible to those with permits. Welllllll. I have had a permit for several years and took advantage of it today to get away from people and find me some birdies.
I was treated to my first of season golden-cheeked warbler:
A very vocal, but elusive white-eyed vireo. I caught him here mid-song:
And one of many blue-grey gnatcatchers. They are so tiny, vocal, and always moving! This one stopped long enough for me to get a blurry picture:
Nice. Very nice. 🙂
Redbud.
My favorite flowering tree is the Texas Redbud (Cercis canadensis var. texensis). Their blooms are fleeting but gorgeous, some of the first of the year. This bee likes them, too.
Hanging in there.
I planted this impatiens last spring. I typically lose my annuals over the winter and just plant new ones in the spring. I babied this one through our warm winter and it has rewarded me with these beautiful late-winter blooms.
Frequent your happy places.
Commons Ford Park is one of my happy places. I haven’t been out here in a while, though. The prairie is breaking out in color and teeming with songbirds.
A painted bunting singing atop a mesquite shrub:
One scissor-tailed flycatcher posing in the foreground, and another flying away in the background:
A dickcissel pausing his constant singing to give me the once over:
First raft-up.
Camelot and Nirvana rafted up last night after going for a nice long sail. It was the first raft-up of 2019, and the first one in quite a long time before that. It’s nice to be at anchor, and we were tucked way up in a creek where the only wakes being thrown at us came from kayaks. Perfect.
The lake is rising and is above full, due to recent rains. We’ll see how high it goes in the next week or so.
I kayaked up to the end of the creek that we anchored in. Lake sailing in the Texas Hill Country doesn’t suck.
A mallard duck came out to greet me.
Pretty view of a lovely anchorage.
Migrants.
Over the weekend I made a trip to the coast. The Spring migration is underway, and I wanted to see some colorful birds arriving after their Gulf crossing. I thought the cold front headed for the coast might make for favorable chances of a fallout. As it turned out, the front passed north of where I was, so weather conditions were not exceptional. I did end up seeing lots of birds – almost 70 species. But, I had to work at it.
Scarlet tanager eating a juicy mulberry…
Painted bunting and common yellowthroat…
Black-necked stilt, standing daringly close to an alligator…
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