I’d avoided it all summer, but today I finally got overheated. I should have know there’d be an issue when I couldn’t even take sitting in my birding chair more than a half hour this morning. Ugh. At least I managed to see the pretty white rain lilies that appeared today.
Brazos rain lily Zephyranthes chlorosolen
Vicki and I had a horse lesson today, and of course we worked to stay hydrated as we groomed Drew and Apache. I got through my lesson and felt a bit tired but okay. I think what got to me was that Apache acted like he had to pee and so I just sat on him with the August sun bearing down on me and got too hot.
An earlier pee time when he made us wait.
By the time I was trying to unsaddle him I felt bad. I HATE getting all messed up by heat and having to make people stop and take care of me. I ate into Vicki’s lesson time, too. Human bodies can really let you down sometimes.
Trying to look perky after I cooled off.
Sorry to whine about my body not doing my bidding. It could be a LOT WORSE and I know that. But I really do try to not overheat, though that’s a challenge in August. That’s one reason Apache and I are trying to stay in shape but not overdo it. It’s a fine line.
The moon cheered me up again, as it will.
Still, I’m feeling my grief over losing our friend Gail settling down to a more reasonable level, but I remain saddened that someone I admire has gone into hospice. I know I’m at the stage in life when friends start to pass on, but it’s worth honoring them all and sharing stories.
While I try to regulate my thermostat, I’m glad I have flowers to enjoy.
I’ll continue with memories as I get through another travel period starting tomorrow.
The tarot card of the day is the 3 of Cups/Water.
Otters!
I’m happy to see more fun otters from the Gaian Tarot. The card tells us to have fun with friends. I did that today, with both friends and family. I’m so relieved that I’ve been drawing happy cards except on sad days!
Yesterday I wrote a long post about my day yesterday. But did I manage to share it? Nope. At least the email subscribers got to see it. I shared this evening. Better late than never.
In related lateness, I finally found a moth, after moth week ended. Helicoverpa zea, a huge pest to agriculture.
I also was tardy with my own health. Thanks to the internet outage last week I wasn’t able to go to my nurse practitioner to get my thyroid medication prescription refilled. Today it was very obvious that my body wants its pig hormones (I use natural hormones for all my faulty bodily functions). TMI. Anyway, I have a sore “throat,” which is really sore glands. Let’s hope I can get to the pharmacy tomorrow, which may be hard given my schedule.
I’ll try to be as persistent as this scary robber fly
That’s enough whining. I will end this short blog with three different species of Ruellia that I’ve seen in the past three days. It’s been a good year for these “Mexican Petunias” around here this year, but I only have one kind here at the Hermits’ Rest. These are so pretty, but they get around—the flowers shoot seeds for quite some distance. I’ve witnessed it at my old house, where I actually planted some. I feel sorta bad for the people who bought the house.
Metz’s Ruellia, Ruellia metziae – I’ve only seen this one other time The flowers look like wet paperDrummond’s Ruellia, Ruellia drummondianaViolet Ruellia, Ruellia nudiflora – the one at our place
Tarot card of the day
Today was a welcome return of the 9 of Pentacles. It’s funny, because I told the nurse practitioner how content and grounded I am right now. I’m so much better at observing the negativity without absorbing it these days.
This morning, Lee and I awoke in Brownwood, Texas, which was not in yesterday’s non-plan. After a reasonable hotel breakfast we went less than .1 mile to the Tractor Supply in the same parking lot as us. Odd, huh.
Proof I made it home: Indian Jute from the ranch.
I got all the horse food I needed and the cashier informed me there was a bunch of chicken stuff on sale, so I got some herbal yummies to go with the grit Connie has been hinting for. How efficient!
I had been wanting to go back to the state park nearby, so Lee looked up Lake Brownwood State Park. He was directed a half mile down the road the hotel and TSC. That was not where I remembered the park to be, either unit. I kept saying we weren’t going to the right place.
The weird shape is our hotel. The nature trail starts where the road ends. Also on the map is my favorite restaurant, which we didn’t get to go to, Katana.
It wasn’t where I thought we were going, that’s true. But we were in Riverside Park, which may be the nicest city park I’ve ever been to. I ended up thanking Lee.
Nice entrance with native plants
Even though I still had the wrong shoes on, I was able to happily walk the sidewalks that went along a pretty bayou (Pecan Bayou) and an adjacent woods. The park has a nice disc golf course, a beautiful playground and a cool meeting pavilion. It looks quite new, but is full of old trees, mostly pecan.
Park views
I enjoyed walking the paths, other than when disc golf players yelled at me. The other interesting sight was a family who brought a confused but patient palomino horse to the park and posed their children with it. Everyone had cowboy attire, the fancy kind.
Horse photos. I assume they scooped any poop.
I found many plants, including a new one for me. There were 24 bird species in total that Merlin heard, including a loud Mississippi Kite and many Lesser Goldfinches. Here are a few plants and an insect in the park (not bad for such a well mowed area).
Gregg’s tube tongueOr Justicia pilosellaVitex, in a flower bedDesert willow in a flower bedFrog fruitDandelion Chicory of some kindShaggy portulacaPecan set in a firmer tree branchBlue-fronted Dancer
As I finished the walk by the bayou I saw a nature trail sign. It said it was only .7 miles, so I let Lee know I was going down it.
Ooh!
What a gorgeous trail it was, winding along the water. While enjoying the birds, I realized my two favorite vines were everywhere, Pitcher’s leather flower and pearl milkweed. I was excited.
Leather flower seed pods are coolFlower and pod The precious pearl milkvineTwo beautiful vines.
There was so much more to see. And the trail itself made you feel totally alone in nature. Just perfect.
Trail views
I saw too many fascinating plants to share, but here are some highlights. This is probably mostly for me so I can go back and enjoy them, though I did put them all up in iNaturalist!
We headed home after this, and just enjoyed the countryside. I also enjoyed a mango-pineapple Icee. What a spontaneous indulgence.
We had a brief but intense storm with lightning while I was feeding horses, which produced thunder loud enough to scare both humans and equines. It did lead to a beautiful sunset, so I’ll share those!
Oh yes. Card of the day was 5 of Wands, which deals with conflict. I chuckled because I drew it after thinking for a few minutes about an interpersonal conflict I need to resolve. Thanks, cards.
I didn’t write yesterday, even though it was a good day, all in all. I felt useful at work and had a good time doing horse stuff with Vicki (other than getting stepped on by Apache when he was in a “spooky” part of his path). Walking on the paths was a great way for Vicki to practice leadership with Drew, so I’m glad we did it, even though Drew wasn’t thrilled.
Laughing because we were trying to get Drew to look cheerful.
Today I had no plans, Lee had a sore toe, and we were just blah. So, he said, “Let’s just go!” And we spontaneously went somewhere. Spontaining has a lot going for it! We drove around Texas to see what we could find.
One thing we found: free-range cattle. That’s Texas.
First we drove to Buc-ees because I really wanted one of their sandwiches for lunch. I also got over-priced watermelon but it was so good! I got a new large water holder to replace the previous one whose straw disappeared then the lid shattered in one of my more-frequent “accidents.” I’m pleased.
It has a horse and flowers on it. Good.
Then we meandered our way through the dangerous roads between Temple and Copperas Cove, Texas. You are inevitably passed on all sides by small, audibly-enhanced sporty vehicles driven by young people with very neat haircuts. Those would be folks starting their military careers at Fort Cavazos who have purchased their dream vehicles and want to go zoom zoom. We survived and made it to our random destination, a “metaphysical shop.” There are actually TWO in the area, down from three.
My souvenir was a cutting of a fascinating pothos plant with curly leaves. The shop owner has a jungle in the back of the store.
This store has all kinds of fascinating stuff in it, like dead things in jars, homemade spell candles, and what I think were some homemade oils. This was not one of those goofy crystal stores. They are serious and have some interesting classes one could take. I liked their tarot candles, so I got one for me and a Hermit for Lee. Lee gave me a VERY nice Bridget goddess statue to go with my collection. This makes me sound very woo woo. I assure you, I’m just out here sending Lovingkindness.
This avatar sucks.
After chatting about dogs, horses, and plants with the proprietor, we headed for our next destination, which we picked at random. Mostly we enjoyed the drive through rolling hills and (recently flooded) river valleys. We ended up in Lampassas. We tried to go to a nature park, but it was closed. That was a theme for the day, thanks to the floods on July 4.
The clouds were cool all day.
My big discovery in Lampassas was a huge factory that makes Ajinomoto. That’s MSG. I always thought it came from Japan. I stayed clear due to my sensitivity.
I see.
We saw a sign for Colorado Bend State Park, so we decided to go there and check it off our list. It’s a good thing, since it turns out our RV would have no place to go there.
Flood-damaged bridge to get to the park. Had to drive very slowly.
Much of the park was closed, but I did get to go on a little trail walk in a meadow with Ashe Juniper trees and lots of silver bluestem. I was hampered by my footwear choice of shiny sandals, but remember, I didn’t know where I was going earlier today.
My dumb shoes. The scenery on the trail. Pale YuccaCommon Checkered SkimmerSome kind of bee assassin bugThere were still a few clasping coneflowers.
The weird thing about my walk was the eerie lack of birds. For most of the time there was one persistent Field Sparrow, who sang very well, it all alone. At the end I finally heard a Bobwhite Quail, a Cardinal, and a Red-winged Blackbird.
It was so quiet. Even Lee noticed.
We then drove to the camping area, which was the only riverside area you could get to, and there were normal birds there in usual numbers. Whew. I’ve never been so relieved to hear wrens, titmice, and buntings.
Ridge above the Texas Colorado River Not a honey bee! It’s a northern plushback, whatever that is Pecan treeGlimpse of the River.
We left the park and for no good reason drove to San Saba, another typical town of the region. I enjoy the town squares and small shops you find. The big business here is pecans. Some of the pecan businesses have beautiful buildings. Of course, a pecan plantation is also lovely. Wish I had a photo.
The nearest place we could find to get a free hotel on our Hilton points was in Brownwood, so off we went through more scenic byways until we suddenly were there, not the way we came here last time when camping. The best thing about this Home2 Suites is that it’s next door to a Tractor Supply store, where I need to go to replenish horse food.
Hotel sunset, looking away from TSC.
It’s almost like we planned the day!
A good day needs no plan when you can spontane.
Tomorrow we get those supplies then see if this is the town with the amazing Japanese restaurant that used to be Pizza Hut. If so, that will be lunch before hitting a different bunch of Texas cow-towns on the way home.
Crude map of trip. We live due east of Temple 40 miles or so.
Tarot card of the day
Yesterday I drew the 6 of swords, which is about having a supportive community. I drew it right after chatting with my supportive Friday morning friends. I forgot to take a picture.
I didn’t draw a card today, but was impressed to see that the woman in the metaphysical shop was doing a good business with readings. Interesting!
It’s a good thing there’s a prompt to answer today, because action around here was fairly limited. So, I’ll dwell on my favorite season and you can think about yours, and maybe even share it in the comments! Why not? I’ll share some pretty nature sights from today, in the unofficial season of late spring humidity.
They took the forms off our concrete slabs. Whee.
When I lived in Illinois, I could never choose between spring and autumn as my favorite seasons. Crabapple trees, spring bulbs, peonies, and lilacs made the world so beautiful up there. But in autumn there were the orange, red, and yellow deciduous trees that contrasted so beautifully with the dark tree trunks (or light, with birch trees). It was beautiful in Champaign-Urbana, all year round. That’s right. I liked winter as long as it was above 0°F and there wasn’t an ice storm.
Simple sunflower and resident crab spider.
Here in Texas, I only have one season I don’t enjoy, and that’s summer. At least my new job will force me to stay indoors during the worst of the heat. I always feel sad for the animals, especially the chickens, and the dying grass on ground with huge cracks in it from drought always looks apocalyptic. I don’t need more reminders of apocalypses. Plus there are the fewest birds here in summer.
Gaillardia and frog fruit.
It’s hard not to like spring in this area, with all the wildflowers, birds, and butterflies. I hope we still have them in the future. This year was pretty bad for all of them, thanks to an unusually dry winter. And sadly, spring always reminds me that summer will be here soon. Not to mention how many allergies spring brings (but I appreciate the plants’ need to reproduce).
Black swallowtail
At this point in my life, autumn is my favorite time of year, even though it often arrives late. I can take long walks, once it cools off, and more birds show up as they migrate south. I love the smell of fallen leaves, which also make it easier to see wildlife. The only problem with that time of year is that it’s so busy! There are conference and events and trips…
Clouded skipper.
Winter here is surprisingly great, though. It’s not that cold except for a few days each year, and there are so many entertaining birds to enjoy. Campgrounds are more empty, too. And I never sweat. I hate all that sweating in the other seasons. (I rarely sweated until menopause finally happened and I’m still not used to all that dripping.)
Mockingbird nest in the little tree we planted in the front yard. What a quality nest!
I’m not confident that I’ve answered the question. Let’s hope I’m much more with it tomorrow.
I didn’t write anything yesterday, because I couldn’t think of a great theme or deep content, but this morning I realized that having a day that was just good and full of pleasant interactions was worth writing about.
I also did my nails tie dye. Oh happy day.
I guess there was one vaguely exciting thing that happened. We got a new gate opening mechanism on our front gate, because Lee was unhappy with how the previous one kept coming out of adjustment. The new one is really cool, though, and is made from a horseshoe and some chain. Once the welding machine gets some oxygen, it will even have something that helps it auto-close.
This is a lot easier to use, and quieter.
The excitement came when a welding spark ignited the long grass by the gate (mowing has been delayed by rains and husbandly illness). I saw it and went to get the conveniently long hose over to it, but in a fit of incompetence, it took me three tries to get there. First I had to go back and find a hard surface to turn the spray attachment on (it’s old and stuff), then there was a hose kink, and finally, I realized the hose actually wasn’t on. But, I did get there faster than the other hose, so I got to put it out. Now we have a nicely edged spot which will come back all green and pretty.
What an orderly burn.
I enjoyed the new porch a lot, and was impressed at the good job that’s been done preparing my birding station for concrete. It’s going to be so cute, and we even have a little auto-waterer to turn into a bird bath out there!
It’s got plastic and rebar, ready for concrete.
The rest of yesterday was very pleasant. I got some work done on my temperature blanket, which has been delayed due to the package getting lost in the mail. The replacement arrived, and I’m up to the middle of May. Also pleasant was a nice visit from our friends Mike and Martha. We went swimming and then Martha made some spaghetti for dinner. Our weekly dinners have fallen by the wayside, and we need to pick it back up and try to drag Anita over (I haven’t heard from her except on Facebook since April! She’s a hard worker).
I can’t resist a purple flower, even if it is extra prolific Ruellia.
It rained over an inch last night, which made us happy. The front pond/tank is almost back to full capacity, and if we’re lucky, it will rain more this week. Now, the rain put the next “exciting” event in jeopardy, the pouring of the concrete. Nonetheless, it cleared up enough this morning for the big truck to show up and start pouring. Cleverly, it pulled into the RV parking space and could dispense concrete out that way.
Action!Dumping concrete from the tractor.Smoothing it outReaching around to pourWhat a handy parking spot!
I guess the highlight of the rest of the day will be watching cement dry. That’s okay with me. I’m enjoying every moment of not working and trying to savor the small things in life, like watching the horses and looking for bugs.
Typical arrangement. Everyone clustered but Apache, who’s on lookout.Fiona had been rolling to remove flies.
Last night, Mike and I talked a bit about our Buddhism practice and whether we were doing a lot of living in the moment. We agreed we are doing better than we once did. That’s why they call it practice, I guess! In any case, I’m pretty content right now if I just focus on home and friends.
As I promised yesterday, Lee and I went to a zoo today. First we spent the night last night in a blissfully dark and quiet Home2 Suite in Waco. The hotel was a little odd in that their breakfast oatmeal was in reality gravy for biscuits. I’m sure glad I didn’t spoon it out and sprinkle brown sugar on it!
Good thing I left to watch urban birds.
Still, I enjoyed a morning walk in the working class neighborhood, where I managed to hear some birds and met some dogs that didn’t particularly want me there. But, hey, I found some weeds to photograph, too. That let Lee have his morning alone time!
Woof woof woof
We eventually went to the Cameron Park Zoo, which is in a beautiful riverside location near downtown. It’s worth a visit. I’m sort of glad we didn’t go when we’d originally planned, because now we were able to see the new exhibit of African penguins. They were cute, though many were shy.
HabitatBeautiful new area. These guys were all clustered in a doorway. Sorry for the glare.
I had two exhibits I really liked. One was a lot of fish native to Texas, including paddlefish, gars, and extra cute rays. There was too much glare and too many kids running around to get photos. Those big fish were mighty majestic, though.
Arrowhead flowerWater lily Here are flowers, not fish
The other exhibit I enjoyed was the Texas shore birds. It was great to get close-up views of the birds I usually see at a distance. They’d just been fed, so many were eating fish. A couple others were carrying around sticks. Perhaps they were building nests. Forgive all the Roseate spoonbill pictures. They were so pretty.
I loved seeing it up close. Look at that orange eye area!It has a fishThis one has a stick. Black-crowned Night Heron with stickLaughing GullsLittle Blue HeronBrown Pelicans and an Anhinga I think. PelicansStilt!!Blue-winged TealVirginia RailThe most numerous bird in the zoo was the Black Vulture. Texas birds
There were many other birds to see. I was surprised how many I knew from watching nature shows. Some were spectacular, like the bustard. All were fun to watch.
African Sacred IbisOne of these was also making a nestFlamingos African storkA Kori bustard! Wish I’d gotten a better shot. Crowned CraneRed IbisBarn Owl, should be with Texas birds.
Of course, there were other animals at this zoo. It’s a fairly good sized one. Here are a few that I enjoyed.
This is a tiger lying on its backDim-dimAfrican tortoiseGiraffe feeding time. Happy capybara Galapagos tortoise enjoying lunch
I also enjoyed the people, especially kids. We watched one boy, around 3, dragging his grandmother from exhibit to exhibit saying he wanted to see more animals. He was thrilled at each one and knew what they all were without being told. I just wanted to hug him.
Bald Eagle habitat, surrounded by vultures. .
There was also a little girl who bravely fed the giraffe, to her parents’ surprise. The best part was on her way out, she grabbed some of the romaine lettuce for herself. If it’s good enough for the giraffe…
Chinaberry tree. Lots of nonnative plants were around.
One thing I liked about the design of the Cameron Park Zoo was that it was quite shady, either additional shade canopies where needed. And it seemed like each area had an indoor air conditioned exhibit to cool down in. That was good planning. And wow, it was clean. It didn’t smell like poop, which many zoos do.
If you live around Waco or visit, be sure to go visit this zoo and maybe hit the mammoth dig site, too.
I’ve got to tell you how much fun I had this morning! My friend Ann and I went to see the property of our fellow Master Naturalist, to help her improve her skills and see what plants and birds were there.
A beautiful place.
Our friend lives far enough east of the Hermits’ Rest that the soil is very different, quite sandy compared to my soil. That means different plants will grow. I’d already noticed that along the road to my horse lessons, where the Gaillardia are solid red, and standing cypress lines the road this time of year, with its red plumes. So pretty.
Maroon blanketflower (Gaillardia amblyodon)
The birding where we visited was pretty good, and I learned the sounds of a Swainson’s Warbler very well when the ubiquitous White-eyed Vireos rested momentarily. It gave good opportunity for Merlin Bird ID lessons.
The plants were what had me all in a tizzy, though. There were expanses of meadows bordered by nice thick woods, plus excellent trails the homeowners maintain. So much to explore!
There were so many kinds of plants. I found this expanse of spotted horse mint breathtaking Nice, wide paths.
I found interesting insects, too. I wish I could have gotten photos of all the different bees and wasps buzzing around all the flowers, but I did capture a few as well as butterflies. The pale pipevine swallowtail was so lovely I will share multiple photos.
Metric paper waspClubbed Mydas flyDusky-blue groundstreakUsually these are darker. Pipevine swallowtail Bonus baby toad
There were some impressive wildflower areas, and in one of them I found many species I’d never seen, even some Ann had never seen, and she doesn’t live too far away. A couple of these, like the prairie clover, are pretty rare, so no wonder I wasn’t familiar with them.
Slimspike prairie cloverSame, from a distance with maroon blanket flowerTexas SandmintDrummond’s NailwortQueen’s DelightHappy me.
The flowers were in a place is where someone built a new tall wildlife fence about ten feet back from the original barbed wire. The area where cattle or other ruminants can’t reach was a blaze of flowers. It’s a secret botanical treasure we discovered!
Like a river of flowers
It wasn’t just flowers that were new. There were plenty of fungus and moss samples to investigate, too. I’d never seen a moss inflorescence so spectacular as the one we found on a trail, and after the recent rains, mushrooms were everywhere.
I think it’s pale cow hair mossIt was kind of shinyLatte bracketGolden reishi Coral-pink meruliusRingless Honey mushroom
I don’t mean to go on and on, but this unknown wonderland brought a lot of joy, as did hanging out with my fellow nature lovers. It’s hard to believe I found so much that was new to me, so close to home.
Beautyberry
I’ve spared you most of the species I saw, but this location has gone from nothing on iNaturalist to dozens, including the rare ones. I hope this makes a scientist happy someday!
Voted Most Beautiful Flower, by me, was the propeller flower or Alophia drummondii
You can tell I live in a semi-arid environment by how often I mention that I’m grateful for rain. Our land is so prone to drought that we always fear it will never rain again. Of course, that’s not true. Usually, we have a very dry period followed by a flood. We’re used to it.
Rain brings sunflowers!
This year we have had some dry spells, but also some nicely spaced rain episodes, just nothing huge, until last night. We had over 2.5″ of rain here yesterday, and since 2″ is usually enough to get runoff happening, that means our ponds/tanks all filled.
Nice to see the front pond full of
It also means that the creek is overflowing, which is always fun, as long as it doesn’t cover the road, which it did not. It only got to the top of the fence that keeps the cattle in. No giant logs banged into the fence, either, which means the new owners won’t have to fix it.
You can see the fence posts almost underwater.
The rain was scary, and there were tornadoes in the area. Some folks got damage, but nothing like what we see in the news in other places, so we’re lucky. One of my friends even got up to 6″ of rain over the past few days! We’ve had at least 3 in total. Now all the animals will be happy.
Walker’s Creek is muddy and wide.
Something did die, though. The vultures right next to my birding chair told me, along with the large number of flies. Ick. I may have to move my chair!
My friends and I smell something good. Please leave so I can eat. It’s right next to my chair!
I enjoyed many clean and shiny birds on my morning walk, though, which is the best bonus. I’m still seeing a Tricolored Heron here, so who needs to travel to see interesting birds?
The heron still doesn’t come close This Lark Sparrow was singing away. Lovely song. Here’s a Phoebe, saying Phoebe. Great Blue Heron flying around again. The Crimson King going through his repertoire of songs
I went into town to have lunch with a new Master Naturalist and help her get her Merlin and iNaturalist set up for ease of use. Driving around I saw lots of hail damage and trees with lost limbs. The storm was a lot worse southeast of the ranch!
Our Merlin lesson was a bust, because the birds decided to stop making noise at our Cameron renovation project, where we tried to practice. But I did give my student some hints, and we had more success with iNaturalist. A lesson that I learned (relearned) is that everyone’s cell phone and service are set up differently, which always adds to the challenge of assisting people. We had fun anyway, and found some plants we want to transplant before the old landscaping gets obliterated.
I want some of this Turk’s Cap to plant next to our woods.
Today remains sunny, though more rain is in the forecast. Other than how muddy the horse pens get, I’ll welcome all we get!
Ha ha, mission is an appropriate word choice, since we did visit an area full of missions today.
Mission Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo de Zúñiga, Park Service photo.
After a highly disappointing hotel breakfast, we drove a half hour from Victoria to Goliad, Texas. It’s where lots of Texas history occurred. Just go over here and read about it, unless you are a product of Texas schools, in which case I assume you already know.
The old downtown of Goliad
Since we were pressed for time, we looked at the beautiful old buildings briefly and then went on a short hike along the San Antonio River, which appeared to be a very old trail.
Hike scenery
It was a great joy to investigate this new ecosystem. I found a new-to-me butterfly, the Texas Crescent. It’s so beautiful.
Texan Crescent Anthanassa texana
Even more beautiful (to me) was the new grasshopper I found, which is apparently the most distinctive grasshopper in the southern US.
The Eastern Lubber (Romalea microptera)
It’s so pretty. And big! They get to be up to four inches long! I was impressed and very grateful to Lee for spotting the first one.
Very cool.
We enjoyed the river, woods, trees, and birds. I even identified a Northern Parula before seeing the ID on Merlin. I’m learning!
There was a bird blind, but we were too late for the morning feed and only saw a male and female House Finch. The male was very colorful, though, and since I usually only hear them at home, I took it as a birding win.
House Finch. Last one is the female.
We were ready to head home, but enjoyed going a different route, which ended up being a tour of different roads Lee used to take to visit his parents in the Cuero hospital. That’s where they’d go unless they had heart attacks, in which case they’d go to Victoria, where I’d already had the hospital memory lane tour. Yes, my previous visits to Victoria had been hospital or funeral visits. A wedding was our first happy reason to visit. [edit: second happy reason—we also went down to Yorktown for Chris and Kathleen’s wedding!]
All is well at home. I didn’t even lose any plants! The dogs, chickens, and horses were fine, too. Kudos to our pet sitter!
The Hermits' Rest 