Tag: wildflowers

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.

Painted poppy. 

Ok, it’s not really painted, but a photo that I morphed with an iPhone app called Brushstroke.   The poppies came back this year out back. I love their deep red. Hoping for even more next year!

Ides of March. 

We enjoyed a beautiful night on the lake.  I came home early today to get some Work things done before tomorrow.   Boooo!

The calendar says we are midway through March already.  The late freezes haven’t killed everything though.   The bluebonnet patch out back is coming along.  



Only one more week of winter !

Same hiker, different woods.

I took a walk through a nearby park today. Different scenery than the shaded, lush, tall forest paths up north. But nice to be here.

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Lots of gaillardia (aka Indian blanket) around. Another one of my favorites.

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Good saturday.

We went to a BBQ at Rob and Jen’s house this afternoon.  Many of the couples had babies under 18 months or so that weren’t here last time we saw these guys!!  How.  Time.  Flies.
Rob’s blue bonnets were in rare form.  Just beautiful.

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And one last shot of the pascal sky as we stopped by the marina on the way home tonight.

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A cross in the sky on the eve of Easter.

 

One more time.

My palette.

Tonight was my third foray into painting at Painting with a Twist, this time with Jen.  The shot above is the palette we used.

And…. VOILA!!  I give you…. Wildflowers at the Park:

The “after” photo.

Please hold your applause.

The one the teacher guided us through didn’t have any bluebonnets (!).   Well, i simply couldn’t paint a hill country scene without bluebonnets, so we improvised.

I’m just realizing that the clouds look a bit like hats.  Oh well.   I’m sure Picasso had to work at it a bit before he got the hang of it, too.  🙂

Nature’s palette du jour.

Field of gallardia.

A block or two away from our house is an empty field belonging to one of the neighboring lots.  From early spring to summer the field is lit up in different colors, depending on the wildflower in bloom at the time.  In late March to early April it is a brilliant blue, brimming with bluebonnets.  As I drove by on my way home from work today, this last day of May, it pops with bright red and yellow.  It is full of gallardia…a nice treat at the end of a long day.

After the rain.

Field of blue.

May the blessing of the rain be on you—
the soft sweet rain.
May it fall upon your spirit
so that all the little flowers may spring up,
and shed their sweetness on the air.
May the blessing of the great rains be on you,
may they beat upon your spirit
and wash it fair and clean,
and leave there many a shining pool
where the blue of heaven shines,
and sometimes a star.

— Irish blessing