Plant Sightings – Page 10 – The Hermits' Rest

What’s the Traditional Gift for Your Sixteenth Anniversary?

I didn’t look it up, so I’m not sure what the official gift is. But, according to my friends Tarrin and Teddy, the gift is a nice rooster ( as opposed to a mean one).

The rooster magically appeared on their property, where he tried to fit in, but was chased by cattle, horses, dogs, and the roosters who already live there. He was too nice to just dispose of, so I volunteered to take him, since I still miss Bruce, our previous very nice fellow.

I put him in the roost with Bianca, figuring they’ll sleep together and be more likely to get along. Maybe he will encourage the Cochins Cathy and Cindy to sleep indoors. I hope so, since it’s cooled off and rain is forecast.

More fowl news to come soon, so stay tuned.

In addition to a horse lesson and chicken pickup, I spent a little while with my friends Pamela and Linda Jo, doing a BioBlitz across the road from Pamela, where the landowner intends to clear all the plants to create a pasture. We recorded all we found, including a variety of native trees.

We found 78 species, which shows the diversity hiding in our Milam County landscape.

There may be more observations uploaded to our iNaturalist project, which I look forward to. I’m finding a bit more peace being around people who are good friends and love our plants and animals.

Home and Nature’s Glory

We made it home from Cleburne by going the back way. We saw towns we never heard of, and it was a lot less stressful than the Interstate.

I’ll miss the waterfowl. That’s a cormorant and a coot.

We were able to stay most of the day, so I got another nice hike around the lake. I disturbed many vultures, but they came back as soon as I left. Lots of flappy flappy wings going on.

The rest of the walk was filled with Robins rustling in the leaves. They were everywhere! Eventually I found the rest of the songbirds. I love the different titmice calling back and forth.

Most of my photos are of dried flowers and Shumard Red Oaks. But why not? They are beautiful.

The long weekend was very helpful for me. I made some decisions for the future that put me at ease at least a bit, and I look forward to being with friends and coworkers like normal.

Now, here are a few more photos, since I have bandwidth today.

Being a Responsible Omnivore

What are your feelings about eating meat?

I’m answering the blog prompt today, because the lack of internet at this state park means I can’t upload posts with lots of images.

Anyway, I think people get to make their own decisions about what they eat. There are many reasonable philosophical inclinations that lead people only to eat raw food, choose veganism, eat eggs and dairy, or eat various kinds of meat. I have no arguments with decisions that work for you.

My decision is based on practical considerations for the most part. Without meat, our family could never share a meal. Too many people raised on a traditional American diet. But I want to be a more thoughtful omnivore.

I believe including some animal products leads to a balanced diet of vitamins and minerals. But I also am convinced that plant-based foods are also vital, and should provide most of what I eat. If I was just feeding myself, my diet would include meat every couple of days, with carefully chosen meat. I don’t want to eat animals who’ve been treated badly, so ideally the chicken, beef, and pork would have had good lives.

By this I mean they get to live outside in the fresh air and eat varied food. They get to raise their young. And harvest is quick and humane. Does that make food more expensive? Maybe. But if meat isn’t your primary source of nutrition maybe that’s okay.

We buy grass-fed beef we know, which I hope we can continue when our neighbors move—and the small harvesting facilities are often overbooked here. Much of the pork we eat is harvested from the ranch. We also eat local venison. Chicken is difficult. I don’t have a good source of real free-range chicken (mine are for eggs). So I try to be an ethical omnivore, but it’s hard to do.

I guess the goal is to change my habits as much as I can. In the next few years, choices may differ.

More on our pleasant camping trip and how my mental health is doing in the next blog post. I do feel more calm, anyway.

Another Pretty State Park and an Update

(Written yesterday but only got enough bars to update today.)

After thinking good old Seneca wasn’t going to make it, Lee and I managed to leave town yesterday to have a quiet Thanksgiving and 16th anniversary trip to Cleburne State Park.

There was little traffic, so the trip up near Fort Worth wasn’t too bad. Our campsite is very secluded and right on the lake. Last night we just managed to get set up before we were zonked, so we put off the big meal until today.

Lee bought this nice pre-cooked smoked turkey that we ate cold I made stuffing, green beans with mushrooms, mashed potatoes, and gravy, all with the microwave. I choked down canned cranberry sauce. It was fine. And there was sweet potato pie for dessert. I’m glad we bought the glass storage dishes, since we needed them.

Before we ate, we got groceries at Kroger in Cleburne. When you live in Cameron, finding new flavors of Pop Tarts can make your day! I enjoyed the store, in other words.

Also we found where Goldie was getting all that money we find buried in homes she dug with her one good paw. (Kidding)

Then, after it warmed up a bit, I went on a nice walk around the park. There aren’t that many birds here, or I was out at the wrong time. But all the red oaks, sumacs, sycamores, and other trees are putting on a nice show of fall colors, as they go in Texas, anyway.

The hike I took went up and down some limestone hills, so I got a bit of a workout. This area is apparently the northernmost part of the Texas Hill Country. That explains the Ashe Junipers and the nearby quarry.

Later, after our meal, Lee and I went to the boat ramp area across the lake from our camping site. The light was great for moody lake and foliage shots with the new and phone cameras.

When we got back to our site, we got some sunset shots and watched blackbirds coming in to roost in the reeds. There was also one Hooded Merganser making its odd call. All that lake fun was good for me.

I needed this outing. I keep hoping that my mental state will improve. It doesn’t. By Wednesday I was barely functioning. It was like a constant panic attack with no way to turn it off. I was fumbling for words and emotionally fragile. I have tried very hard to not break down, because people around me don’t cope with it well. I also don’t like acting weird.

And the small amount of Prozac I’d been on was helping me feel normal and have reasonable emotional highs and lows. The last few weeks I have suffered, though. I feel like I’m watching a ticking time bomb and powerless to do anything about where its shrapnel will fall. I have my recurring Holocaust dreams. Oh, ick.

(Note: I am completely aware this is irrational, which is why I’m so disappointed in myself).

Wednesday I finally went to my doctor, who reassured me that if I took my other medication and a stronger dose of Prozac for a while, I won’t become addicted or a Zombie. So I’m doing that while on this news-free camping trip. Heh, it’s practically Internet feee!

Seneca has also had a hard time staying balanced. The site is not very level.

The reason I shared this is because I’ve talked to more than one friend who thought they were the only one coping poorly right now. Even friends with different viewpoints than mine say it’s a worrisome time. So if you think you’re over-reacting or being silly, you aren’t. What we are going through is a normal reaction to grief, fear of the unknown, and feeling powerless. Let yourself feel your feelings, it don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it. That doesn’t mean you’re weak. You are probably sensitive or have empathic tendencies.

Stick with your community! I’m SO grateful for mine. And I hope I’m better soon!

Rest Stop Wonders

Yesterday, Lee and I drove back home from the most unpleasantly dank hotel in Covington, Louisiana to home. We were very glad to leave that hotel; the doors, walls, and other surfaces were sticky, and when we got dressed our clothing was damp. Eww (it HAD been flooding, but the hotel rooms shouldn’t be wet).

We had initially decided to just go through and not do any more fun excursions into the wilderness, but Lee had another surprise in store for me! He pulled over at the first rest stop in Texas, which he’d remembered was a good one. In fact, it had improved since he was last there. If you’re ever heading into Texas on Interstate 10, head into the rest area and go through the welcome area.

There, you’ll find a beautiful, long boardwalk through a swamp like you’ve never seen before, Blue Elbow Swamp. There is only one other cypress-tupelo-gum swamp remaining in its original state. Even in winter the trees were all beautiful.

There were flowers blooming in the glassy, clear water, and very perky Phoebes singing.

We had a wonderful experience just gazing at the drizzly sky and enjoying the leaves. What a great break on a long travel day.

I was thrilled to see this gem of a natural site, right by the Interstate. Kudos to the highway department for investing in the protection of the beautiful Blue Elbow. That sure gives me a warm feeling.

Carnivorous Plants Found

My whole life I have enjoyed those nature films where they show those fascinating plants that consume insects. In fact, I just read an article about them, I think in Texas Parks and Wildlife No, not there; it was a television show. I learned that they eat insects because the places where they grow, like boggy areas, are low in nitrogen or other nutrients. As much as I was interested in them, I’d never seen any in person before (haven’t traveled to the right Texas state park yet).

Sure enough, I found some, in a boggy area today, twice! It’s like we planned it.

You see, today we had some extra time, because this is our short driving day. Lee suggested we find some places to look at nature. I found a state park in western Florida that said it had a boardwalk that had views of pitcher plants. They’re carnivorous! So we headed off through some beautiful coastal scenery to the well hidden Tarkiln Bayou Preserve State Park.

It’s in a beautiful wet pine forest with lots of wet areas leading to the serene and quiet bayou.

Wet pine forest, an ecosystem I’d never heard about until today.

Sure enough, white-topped pitcher plants ( Sarracenia leucophylla) were growing in lovely swaths along the boardwalk. They shown in the sun and looked quite mysterious. I didn’t see any flowers; the “pitchers” are leaves.

While we were there, I looked for birds, but there weren’t many. We did meet Phil, a very interesting birder with some great equipment. He gave me lots of good information, so it was worth it. The only new bird I found today was a Scaly-breasted Munia (non-native) in the hotel parking lot.

We headed out to Alabama (a half mile away) and got gas and snacks at Buc-Ees. Then Lee got the idea to stop at rest stops to find birds. The next stop, at the Mississippi line, was a great one, where I saw Killdeer, which surprised me.

While I was taking pictures, Lee went inside and asked if there was anything interesting bird-wise nearby. The lady told him there was a Sandhill Crane sanctuary nearby. Off we went to the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge.

We did not see one crane, only Chipping Sparrows and Brown-headed Nuthatches. But who cares, because this place, a wet pine savanna, is a treasure trove of rare plants, including three kinds of carnivorous plants! Whee!

The pale pitcher plants (Sarracenia alata) were most numerous, and amused me, because they looked like little mouths.

There was also a parrot pitcher plant (Sarracenia psittacina), whose hoods look like parrot beaks.

But the best to me were the pink sundews (Drosera capillaris). They are so tiny! Their little jewel-like sticky traps were mesmerizing to me.

That’s not all, though, the trails took us through many areas with plants that were new to me.

Tantalizing and nearby was Bayou Castelle, which was off limits, because it is pristine and hosts many rare plants and other life. I heard there are orchids!

What a wondrous place to see. I’m grateful to Lee for making the effort to find out about it.

The rest of our ride was through sparsely populated parts of Mississippi and Louisiana. There were many very pretty towns, farms, forests, and sights. We are now in Covington, Louisiana in a very tired Hampton Inn. But it’s clean.

A fine day. Home tomorrow.

Ambiguous Impressions

What’s the first impression you want to give people?

Ooh. I never thought of this before! I’m usually so anxious when I meet people that I just try to power through it. I do a lot of talking, because I’m nervous. I do at least ask questions and listen to the answers. And being short, wrinkly, and gray haired isn’t going to interest people who base first impressions on looks. I probably come across as a boorish old lady.

I’d LIKE to make a first impression as someone interesting, intelligent, funny, and friendly. At least that would be a good first impression on people who judge others on their personality.

I judge a lagoon on its birds, not its beauty. One final visit before leaving Hilton Head.

This makes no sense. My apologies. I have no idea what kind of impression to try for, or even if I should try. No wonder I’m a hermit. I think maybe I no longer care what people think. They can like me or not. I now don’t want or expect the people I meet to like or dislike me. Let’s get to know each other.

I do know I spent the day in the car, driving through Georgia and the Florida panhandle. Seeing hurricane damage was very distressing. I felt awful for the poor trees and humans.

We saw some interesting small towns and a lot of peanut and cotton farming. We were behind a truck pulling a load of peanuts that started pelting us. That was fun.

After a lovely sunset, we are tucked into a Pensacola hotel and resting comfortably. It’s always fun going in the back roads!

Can’t Say Where I’d Like to Be, But Here Is Good

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

With so many people like me dreaming of moving somewhere they feel safer, it feels weird to just blurt out someplace I’d love to live. I, like many others, have been looking at places and realizing the hurdles are very high. Also, nowhere on earth is perfect, and this is not the only country with far right factions coming into power.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that it’s no longer fun to think about moving elsewhere. Dollar signs and fears for a safe future intrude on my vision of green fields, standing stones, and holy wells. I also feel I’m acting on my privilege by feeling able to just pack up and go. So many have no choice but to stay where they are and deal with what they’re given.

But here on a barrier island on the east coast of the US, where I’ve been privileged to be staying for the past two weeks, it’s good. I am lucky enough to have access to what sustains and grounds me when I need it most.

Yep, I need to go home to my ranch with all the animals and birds, but the chance to be gentle with myself as I prepare for whatever I’ll need to deal with in the future. The woods have been good to me.

Let’s talk about something fun! The new camera has been fun! Lee and I made it to the bird sanctuary I went to last week, but this time I brought the new camera with the macro lens. I got lots of photos of mushrooms and moss.

The birds were also fun. I heard yet another Great Horned Owl there, so low and hooty. (The prayer trail owl was there again this morning—three days in a row.) I’m amusing myself.

I’m the only bird that let Suna photograph me!

I do wonder if joining BlueSky was a good idea, though. I have to carefully choose what I see. So far CBS News is upsetting enough.

Announcing My Dislike of Food Prep

What part of your routine do you always try to skip if you can?

Announcement: I don’t like to cook anymore. That’s my least favorite routine item. I enjoyed it when I was making meals for my kids and ex, who ate most foods and really seemed to appreciate my effort. Since the kids grew up I’ve lost my motivation to cook family meals, though folks often say they’re glad for the food.

Nope. Not making this. Photo from Pexels.

Some of my issue is that none of us need or want the same foods, due to health issues, allergies, and preferences. Since I’m not very creative, I can’t come up with meals. Nor do I have much time with animals to care for. Heck, I don’t even want to make meals for myself. I just want to eat stuff like fruit, yogurt, rice, and cheese.

My ideal meal. Just slap it on a board. Photo from Pexels.

I’m not sure how this all happened. It’s not my family’s fault. I’m just not motivated. Other things interest me more than food. (Unless I’m feeling extremely anxious like right now.)

What does interest me is nature, animals, reading, and knitting. Speaking of nature, I’m going to get better images from now on, with the macro lens Lee got me. It’s cool. I took pictures of small things.

I didn’t get to go try it out until late afternoon. I had a lot of work to do and I wasn’t feeling mentally well. I had nightmares all night about being afraid of people around me. Where did that come from? Lee has had CNN on again. Their coverage gets me scared sometimes. Sure, I’m easily frightened, but it’s worse when there’s justification.

Anyhow, the lens is great fun now that I’ve figured it out. I love how it focuses. Hilton Head is a good place to see small flora and fauna.

When spring comes around, I’ll be all over the flowers and insects back at the ranch. I hope, at least, to be able to! The beauty will still be there. It’s timeless.

Sending love, and understanding to each of you who has a secret part of their daily routine they’re not fond of. I can’t be alone in being bored by cooking!

Cameras and Cacophony

Is anyone reading this? Judging from my stats, few of us are interested in pretty pictures. Well, that’s what you get, my friends, because I’m not wallowing in worry about 2025. I’m going to have as much fun as I can in case I can’t later.

Gonna grab the joy of nature as much as I can. Photo by Lee.

Today was a beautiful day. Of course, because I had to work. But I squeezed in my valuable restorative nature time. I had to, because I have a new camera to play with. Lee got it for my anniversary gift ( and a macro lens for Christmas, lol, the surprise is ruined). I’ve never been good with “real” cameras, but I’m gonna try. I can upload the photos to my phone and share them with Lee, so I’m encouraged.

Look at this tiny spider! And that’s not even with the macro lens.

I took a short walk this morning on the prayer trail to try the camera out, but I got all excited about the birds I was hearing that I was distracted. The owl even showed up on Merlin, and there was some kind of major Pileated Woodpecker discussion that lasted quite a while. But I did try out the camera.

After work there was still some light, thanks to starting at 7 am, so we zipped over to a favorite spot, Pinckney Island Nature Preserve. I didn’t make Lee wait hours for me like I did last time we were here. He had more fun this time, since he got to mess with the camera a lot while I basked in the glory of looking at wading birds with my new binoculars. Oh, the glory of ibises and egrets!

The Ibis pond is one of my favorite spots in this area, and it didn’t disappoint. It was loud, though. The gallinules were making a real racket, with a variety of calls, squeaks, and hoots. I barely heard any of the other water birds. But they were all fun to watch, since there were many family groups.

I did hear and see many songbirds as I walked around the pond. There was even a new one, a group of Palm Warblers. Thanks to the binoculars I was able to easily ID them. They are distinctly marked and have pretty olive bellies. Others were bluebirds, nuthatches, vireos, kinglets, and catbirds. Oh, and there were pretty plants.

I got so involved with birds that I nearly missed this guy. Reptile goal accomplished.

I always enjoy the herons and egrets, so they filled my heart.

Mostly Snowy Egrets. My Little Blue Heron photos didn’t work out.

But where were the ibises of Ibis Pond? They were roaming all over the salt marshes finding tasty snacks. The new camera’s photos of them at a distance weren’t as good as the camera photos. I would need a telephoto lens, which we used to have…but it’s hiding.

All in all, I was holding a lot of equipment, so I’m going to have to make arrangements for everything in the future. But it was fun.

And I had a great dinner at a new restaurant in town that is in a beautiful spot. Lee isn’t fond of food or portions in nice restaurants, but my halibut was perfect, and my fancy drink was tasty and not too sweet.