Travel Report – Page 21 – The Hermits' Rest

Could I Have Had More Fun Today? Not Safely.

Whee. Did I have a good time today! Oh sure. It was time to go to the Texas Master Naturalist Annual Meeting. This year it’s in McAllen, Texas, way at the bottom of the state. I’ve never been here before, so it’s all new to me! But getting here was ALL the fun.

Rain lilies carpeted the roadside. None of us had ever seen so many.

I am very lucky that I was invited to go with the members of our chapter that I admire most, three natives of Milam County who know everything about the plants AND the people. I love listening to their stories.

We also found a new rain lily type. it’s not found in iNat.

I also love their sense of adventure. If the gals in the front seat saw an interesting plant or a roadkill, we stopped! Then we captured every possible image of the plants on the side of the road. It was so much fun! I found new-to-me plants.

This is a lance leaf blanket flower (*Gaillardia aestivalis*) which was new for me.

One highlight of the trip was the very nice bakery we visited in Schulenberg. I had a deer kolache and a pecan roll. We really enjoyed the story of a steer with three horns they had on the wall.

The next highlight came when we were investigating some plants south of Victoria. A car pulled up in front of ours and a woman jumped out and cried, “It’s Linda Jo Conn!” That’s right, one of our party can be recognized on the side of a road when going 75 mph. She has very white hair.

See, the hair is so lovely and easy to spot.

We had a great time identifying plants with the fellow Master Naturalists from the other car. They were really knowledgeable and nice. What a fun time!

The final highlight of the trip was, believe it or not, the rest area we stopped in. This was the most beautiful and interesting rest area I’ve ever seen. The architecture was sort of Spanish, but not overdone. It’s near Falfurrias on US 281.

The brickwork was fascinating, with patterns and rock accents.

The bathrooms had beautiful tile!

There were all kinds of birds there and many woodsy plants, because the whole place was in an oak grove. I had a blast on the little walking trail, where I found dozens of caterpillars and an ant bed. Whee!

Eventually we made our way to the edge of the US. There are lots of police and border patrol officers. There are lots of palm trees and a pretty tree with white flowers called anacahuita or Mexican olive (Cordia boissieri).

Two of our group went to a state park on the border to find moths. I’m not comfortable doing that. Plus I’m extra tired. So my other friend and I walked around a bit and I got a pair of shoes. I’d totally soaked mine traipsing around in ditches to photograph plants. They are drying now.

Tomorrow will also be fun!

Food: I Am Fond of It

What are your favorite types of foods?

Oh gee, it would be easier to say what I don’t like. That’s tripe, brains, and green bean casserole.

Well, it says “types of food” in the prompt. I’m that case, I’d say I like fresh food minimally seasoned and not full of fat. From that I guess you can figure out that classic French cuisine is not high on my list of cuisines. Too many sauces and other adulterations.

What I love is Japanese food, which is fresh and simple, and dishes that would count as part of “the Mediterranean Diet.”

I even have sushi undies. Hey, at least I didn’t show the matching bra. Thanks, MeUndies.

But honestly, I like most food. Variety is fun, especially with vegetables. I love them. Meat is fine, but I don’t need it every day. If I was cooking just for me, I’d eat more fish and chicken and less beef, pork, or venison.

Lest I sound overly healthy, I do love ice cream, Blue Bell, of course.

I had good food this weekend. The Italian food served at the 50th anniversary party we attended last night was very good. My favorite was the mushrooms in the chicken Marsala. Ooh there was a lot of flavor.

And this morning I enjoyed a nice Mexican breakfast at a San Antonio favorite, La Familia. We were joined by a friend I’ve known since I moved from Texas and her high school sweetheart boyfriend. Eggs and green salsa go so well together.

I’m impressed I managed to write anything on this topic. I’d rather be telling you that rain lilies and sprigs of grass are appearing back home at the ranch.

In the desolate sand are two rain lily sprouts.

Walking Wherever I Am

How often do you walk or run?

Hmm, I’m assuming they mean walking or running for exercise, because those of us who are able to walk do it most days. Movement is life. If I couldn’t walk, I’d do something to get around, depending on my ability.

This palo verde is moving, so it’s alive.

As for exercise, I don’t run other than to chase an animal or the postal carrier. I’ve tried running as my exercise but I don’t like it. It hurts my knees.

Maybe I’m slow as this guy, but I don’t mind.

Walking doesn’t hurt me, other than the ball of my right foot after a couple of mikes. You can also see your surroundings better when you walk, which I like.

Today I saw a climbing milkvine and an assassin bug.

I’ve walked most days for many years. When I walk to build fitness, I go pretty darned fast. I may walk faster than I jog. I have to slow down for others.

Lee doesn’t walk very fast, but he doesn’t stop as often as I do.

For many years I’ve walked with dogs. They mess up my goals with all that sniffing, peeing, and pooping, but you neat more people walking dogs. Anita meets SO many people walking Pickle. What a way to make friends.

Now, walking in nature is my favorite. You may have noticed that if you’ve read more than a few of my posts. The problem with that kind of walking is that I stop so often. I can’t call my hobby hiking, because I don’t exactly hike, I meander. I pause, I admire, I get curious. That’s my idea of a good time.

I’m glad I got to walk with Lee in the Bamberger Nature Park in northwest San Antonio. It must be beautiful there in the spring, but I managed to find interesting plants even after the dry summer.

The weather was bright and warm, but there was a nice breeze. I had fun. So did my spouse, because I didn’t walk TOO far. I was overdressed. Enjoy the scenery.

I think you can tell I was having fun.

Far Away Memories

Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home.

I haven’t traveled all that much. My parents could not afford it, and neither could I when I was younger and living on grad student pay. I got to drive to conferences, and when I got a job, did get to see California and Boston for conferences. Most of my travel to this day has been for conferences, mostly work related, so light on sightseeing.

However. I lucked out travel-wise by marrying a European person, though, so in the 14 years we were married I got to see Ireland, England, and the furthest place I’ve ever been, Switzerland.

So here’s a story about the first time I went to Switzerland, a place I’ve never seen without jet lag (I’ve spent 3 days there, total).

The children’s dad had a work thing in Zurich, so we got the idea to all go so we could save one fare. I was to tote the children, ages one and 3 or a little less to Ireland, where he’d join us for a visit with the kids’ grandparents.

We arrived after the very long flight with small children and fell asleep the minute we found the hotel. We woke up in Switzerland morning, which was really early to the kids, but we had an idea to entertain them.

My older son was fascinated with trains at the time, like obsessed. So we went to the train station. So many “frains” as he called them. We took a delightful short ride and came back. The younger son woke up in time to see the giant Toblerone display in the station, so we had to get chocolate.

I still remember the look on my older son’s face when he saw all those real live trains. It was pure wonder. He’d just say “frain” over and over like he was in paradise.

That’s all I remember of Switzerland other than being at the airport trying to fly alone with two little ones. Declan fell asleep in the customs line, where I had to drag the luggage and the kids. He wouldn’t wake up due to the jet lag, and I couldn’t lift him. But people were kind to us, and we ended up having a nice flight thanks to helpful airline staff. Irish people love children so much.

The other time I went to Switzerland was the only time I ever got Lee to fly with me anywhere. We landed in Basel and went directly to a boat. I didn’t see much!

I do want to say that though I am sad to no longer hear from the older child, I will always treasure the memories of him when he was small. He was very smart and hilarious. He talked at 9 month (said “moon” and pointed to it). He spoke long sentences way too early, which confused people, because he could be hard to understand with the interesting consonant combinations he came up with.

Our conversations, walks, playground time, and endless playing with Thomas the Tank Engine wooden railroads were among some of the best times of my life. I’ve also traveled very far from that safe, happy home.

Water! Maybe

It was a good Sunday of camping at McKinney Falls State Park, near Austin, Texas. The motorhome kept us at no more than 81° when it was 109° outside, so we’re proud of it. I did indeed get up early to hike, and I enjoyed it a lot. I had plenty of Gatorade and some snacks, so I didn’t get stressed at all.

There’s a new trail at this park, so of course I took it. It was so peaceful. I did get to see a young skunk (too fast to photograph) and a cute little woodpecker.

I wish I hadn’t turned the wrong way at the end of the new trail and headed back to where I started, but I ended up seeing lots of beauty anyway.

I just kept going when I got back to our campsite and hiked over to the lower falls. I’ve always loved that place. On my way I passed the extra pleasant picnic spots. Many are very secluded and shady. I’ll have to eat there sometime.

The waterfalls on Onion Creek are a Texas treasure, and they’re different every time you visit. This year there was just a trickle going into the swimming hole.

I’ve seen these falls even drier than this, in 2011, and also flowing like crazy in rainy times. When this creek floods, it FLOODS.

Views of Onion Creek between the upper and lower falls.

I like it when you can walk around the limestone formations and see little pools full of fish and marvel at the power of water. Some of this area looks like a moonscape or another planet.

I was relieved to see some actual flowers blooming and fruiting as well as actual insects. I feel hope that things will turn around soon.

And that turnaround may happen sooner rather than later. A front May have brought the ranch some rain this evening, and down here genuine clouds appeared and it was pleasant enough to sit outside at our campsite. It felt like normal camping!

I’m looking forward to getting home and being able to work more with Drew and Apache without overheating each other. But this time in nature, even with heat, is so healing and calming. I’m glad Lee and I decided to trace before we become unable to do so.

Sure, There’s Life in These Woods

While I’m pretty sure I’ll go somewhere greener to camp next August, I’ve been trying to find the positive aspects of visiting McKinney Falls in a drought with a heat dome on top of it.

I assure you, it’s hot. Good thing water drips off this RV!

For one thing, it’s very quiet. I only saw one campsite playing loud music on my early walk (and they are serious—they have an outdoor lighted disco ball). I’ve only seen three people walking dogs, and only two groups have f children, all moving slowly. I assume they all went to the swimming area.

I just walked around all the campsites this morning, to determine where to park next time we come, in the spring! Some are very large and shady. I took pictures.

I also looked to see how the plants were doing. I found a couple of areas that must be near the creeks, because they looked better. Mostly all understory plants are shriveled up.

What a surprise it was to see a rain lily! It did rain 5 minutes on Thursday here!

Trees look better, except the cedar elms and hackberry trees. They are dumping leaves to conserve their internal water supply, as I learned in a Master Naturalist class.

Look at the cool texture on this large persimmon tree’s bark.

There were a lot of birds this morning, which cheered me up. This afternoon, though, even the incessant cardinal chatter has died down. I heard typical birds for this area, though I was surprised to find a summer tanager still hanging around. Otherwise here’s what was around (including seen and heard): blue-gray gnatcatcher, blue Jay, cardinal, Carolina chickadee, Carolin wren, crow, dickcissel, goldfinch, house finch, Phoebe, red-winged blackbird, titmouse, turkey vulture, warbling vireo, and the white-eyed vireo. Not bad for summer.

Carolina wren, the only bird I photographed

The best part of today was that my friend Susan, who lives near San Antonio, came up yesterday to camp with us. She was trying out her very cute little Casita camper before taking it on a longer trip. I don’t think I’d seen her since 2016, though we’ve Zoomed since then.

She had enough RV adventures for more than one trip, but got through it! First, the water line broke at her campsite, quite spectacularly. It took a lot of effort, Shop vacs, and extension cords to get things shut off. The park police officer said he missed the day they taught water line maintenance in his training. The park ranger said she missed hers, too. I felt bad for them. It was so hot.

Because they had to turn her water off, Susan just stayed one night. We did get to enjoy a nice chat this morning about horses and mental health, etc.

Sadly, on her way home, the hitch fell off! Luckily the chains held and she safely got off the highway. After getting some help, she made it home and should have time to get repairs done before her next trip. Whew!

She will drive like this guy, just in case. Ha ha.

We relaxed in the heat of the day. I may try to walk a little around sunset. I’ll get up early again to do the hike and bike trail in the morning. I will take water!

I was very excited to find this feather. I pretty quickly realized it’s from a parrot, probably a park visitor. No native bird has giant blue and yellow feathers!

Oh! And good health news! I am feeling less throat pain, so I may be back to happy thyroid time. Yay!

My nail polish is dazzling and unnatural, too.

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

I Was Wrong (about summer camping in Texas)

I thought if I skipped July and didn’t camp until late August, it might be pretty. Well, I’m in one of the prettiest places I’ve ever been (in other years and other seasons), and it’s depressingly hot, crunchy, and dead.

The good news is that there are empty sites, and it’s pretty quiet with hardly anyone outside.

The bad news is all the trees are super stressed, all the small plants are dried up and not blooming, I haven’t seen any butterflies or other insects, and I’ve heard two birds.

This cedar elm looks better than many, which are all brown.

Plus the bedroom won’t slide out for some reason, so I don’t get to try out the office setup I’d planned, which involves an Indian tall ottoman and a “chair pillow.” Hoping we figure it out and can try again next time. I can sleep just fine (especially since I took painkillers for my throat).

I’ll have more blistering hot camping tales tomorrow. I’ll get up early to walk a little.

At least the air conditioning is working!

Back at the Ranch: Amazing Animals

I made it home yesterday, but for some reason the travel completely wore me out. I guess travel is stressful, since my right eye wept all day, while the left eye had a tic. The plane travel was fine, other than the fact that the Charlotte airport was dirtier and dingier than I remembered. Of course, the flight from there to Austin was delayed, so I got to stay there and look at food on the floor and seats quite a while. By the time we boarded, I thought I’d fall asleep standing up.

None of this was heavy except the backpack, which was a carryon. It tried to kill me.

Lee was late exactly the amount my plane was late, which meant for an easy pickup, and I did try to converse with him though I was feeling distinctly zombie-like. By the time I got home I was dizzy and nauseated. What the heck? I’m much better today, with no eye issues and only a bit of fuzzy-headedness. Maybe I have 9-11 PTSD or something (for those of you who don’t know, I was on a plane headed to O’Hare when the events occurred, leading to some traumatic times).

I came home to a lot of love, though. Goldie glued herself to me the second I got into bed and didn’t move for a couple of hours. Today she’s been constantly checking on me, and also trying to inform me that she can’t sit on “her” couch because someone put an immense television on it.

So I got up and moved the immense and very heavy television. It’s the old one from our house in Round Rock, and apparently giant televisions were much heavier then. Glodie is much happier now and I can type (she kept nosing the keyboard away!).

Of course all the dogs were glad to see me, as were the chickens. Some horses seemed more glad than others. Apache was ecstatic, and glued himself to me much like Goldie did. He looks good, other than two sores on his shoulder. The good news is his grass allergy issues are gone, thanks to the Zyrtec, and the rest of him looks wonderful.

Drew was more interested in the water trough I refilled than in me, but after he drank he came and rubbed his wet face on me. He looked really clean, and I wondered why. Here is why:

Apparently, while I was gone, he figured out that the front pond is swimmable. The edges aren’t as quicksand-esque as they were when the water was higher, so he’s taken to swimming around and having a blast. Kathleen said the first time she heard the splashing, she thought we had a gator. Nope, just a sea serpent/horse hybrid.

It doesn’t appear that anyone else has joined Droodles in the horse swimming pool, but I sure was happy to watch him cruising around and having a great time.

There’s really no grass, so I need to get more hay out to them this afternoon. The heat is still miserable, and it hasn’t rained. The high was “only” 99 on Tuesday, but it’s still hard on everyone here. I will be getting out early to work with horses starting in the morning.

It was nice to get back to my office to work, though my house looks like hoarders have moved in. The rest of the furniture from my old house got brought in while we were gone and we’re still working out where to put everything. Much of the stuff is in our newest shipping container, and I owe a HUGE debt of gratitude to the guys who moved everything out of our old church, up and down those stairs.

Yes, we no longer own a church, which I’m not too sad about, because now Cameron gets a new church. I’m told the minister is really nice, so I’m happy for them. It looks like it’s time for our real estate business to find a new investment.

Thanks for reading, and hi to all you new readers! I do have a book report to write, which I hope to get done tomorrow. It takes thought, and I’m too tired to think right now.

Nope, Nada

I have nothing today. The only time I left the room was to get all the condo staff to try to find Lee’s driver’s license. He later found it.

I’ve enjoyed a lot of diabetes drug commercials today.

Other than work, I had a nice phone chat with my dear friend Mike, who is conveniently going out of town when I’ll be camping in his neighborhood. We are like ships passing in the night. Well, only he goes on a lot more ships than I do…back on topic, I also colored another page in my coloring book with questionable grammar.

I did this psychedelic stuff while watching Everything Everywhere All at Once. It was one psychedelic movie. It’s fun when the star is also a martial arts expert. I see why Michelle Yeoh won so many awards.

There was no Barbie movie this evening, since my friend was busy moving a desk. It was heavy. I understand. Oh well.

I’ve done a good job entertaining myself this past week, though I didn’t expect it to be THIS solo. Next time I’ll remember to get a two bedroom place so people can visit. I didn’t do a great job making friends this visit, though of course there was Bill and Steve. I’ll try again!

My flowers stuck with me the entire time I’ve been here.

I’m a good friend to me, though! Way to go, Suna self esteem.

Whee! Crazy fun HGTV watching fun times!

Tomorrow: book review!

Slow News Day, Featuring Creatures of the Sky

I may have done less today than I have any day since visiting my dad and just sitting around with him. I got enough movement in, but barely. Every time I went to go outside, a band of showers passed through, but that’s okay, because the clouds were pretty. I’ll miss beach clouds.

Luckily, I got on a roll with the ole technical writing, so I got a lot done as I looked outside at rain. I enjoy those breaks I take to help with eye strain. I looked up one and there, practically motionless outside my window was a beautiful osprey. I guess it was the same one I saw before, but it was so close I could see its feathers.

Looking east. No osprey picture available since I was working.

I had plans to go see the Barbie movie, but we are now going tomorrow, since tickets are half off. That sounds good to me, so instead I finished last night’s movie and watched two more.

My “cinema” friends like Anita will probably enjoy picking out themes and cinematic techniques in the documentary I watched about two women who fell in love in a concentration camp and found each other afterwards. Nelly and Nadine (also the film’s name) were very interesting women, and the super 8 home movies they made showed glimpses of a 50s gay and lesbian world few knew about. I was proud that I made it through the concentration camp parts.

I promised creatures of the sky. Here’s a 27th floor bird grasshopper.

I then switched gears and saw Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, which was as good as I’d hoped it would be. The movie was set at very close to the time I was Margaret’s age, so everything was eerily familiar. The sets were 70s fun.

I couldn’t find the other movie I was looking for, so I watched Somewhere in Queens. The New York Italian culture is like visiting a foreign land to me, but I enjoyed glimpsing into Ray Romano’s vision.

These guys enjoyed peanuts again. I had three at once.

I guess I’ve gotten enough out of Amazon Prime on this trip. I wish I could use it more at home. Bandwidth. Ugh.

By the way, I haven’t been eating out. I’ve made myself weird dinners out of the supplies Lee and I bought when we got here. I’d sure be cheap to feed if I lived alone, since in addition to cheese, I could live off Tasty Bite curry packages, rice side dishes with vegetables thrown in, hummus, and Progresso soup. Throw in cans of tuna and I’m set.

More than you wanted to know, but it was a slow Suna news day.