Just a little. I’ve felt a lot better the past few days, and I think a lot of it is because life has become just a wee bit more normal, at least it feels that way. Being able to take the trip out of town and see different scenery was really refreshing for my soul, and with just a little care, we hardly interacted with anyone, and those we did interact with were either so far away we had to yell, or we were all masked. I felt like we were starting to get the hang of this pandemic safety thing.
This was my Facebook post last night. It fits the theme for today…
After work yesterday, I headed up to Austin, because part of my new “normality” is going there at least twice a month, seeing Anita, and working in the office. That also gives me Vlassic time, which we both appreciate (except when he insists on going out to do his doggie business at 3 am).
When I arrived, the extended neighbors (including folks who live nearby) were having a happy hour, a thing they used to do regularly by the pool. I appreciated them doing it on a day when I could attend. And, of course we weren’t around the pool, since the HOA has banned us from going there, because they fear lawsuits (with reason, given some neighbors’ proclivities).
We cleared out the center parking area and made plenty of space for everyone to gather. We sat in family units (except I deserted Anita due to sun in my face), neatly arranged six or more feet apart. Everyone had their own drinks of choice and had fun.
Happy neighbors on a beautiful evening.
The main downfall of this is, of course, that the hard-of-hearing folks didn’t get to participate as much. I saw a couple of people who just sat quietly, and I’m pretty sure it’s because they couldn’t hear, or read lips through masks.
Nonetheless, we heard some funny stories, got caught up on each other’s ups and downs, and didn’t die from heat or mosquitoes. October sure is nice in Texas. And doing at least a LITTLE socializing, while taking sensible precautions, was a lot of fun.
Telling stories.
I have to share one little story that made me chuckle. One neighbor loudly declared that he was NOT going to wear a mask, because his doctor told him that it wouldn’t keep him from getting sick, and only helps a little in preventing you from getting others sick. Another neighbor said his doctor encouraged mask wearing, so he was going to keep on doing what he was doing. The first guy just bellowed, “You need to get another doctor!”
Yes, changing doctors is all you need to be safe…or at least have the illusion. I just smiled and declared I’d keep using common sense.
Poor deserted Anita.
The main thing is that my life feels a little more normal, even though many thing are still different. I think we’re adapting to the way things are, and that’s what counts. At least my nightmares aren’t about COVID anymore (no, it’s still kanban cards and more kanban cards).
Riding along through the Texas countryside, I saw lots and lots of political flags, signs, and such. It reminded me of how divided this country is today. I began to reflect on the books I’ve been reading lately, most of which touch on the history of this country, and how there’s always been a lot of cruelty to those who are not in power and a lot of fighting to keep those people “in their places.” I’m referring to pretty much anyone who isn’t a white dude, and preferably a white dude with mostly English background.
All is not lost. I have a nice photo of flowers now, which is revealed when the bathroom door is shut!
Reading about lynchings, realizing that people came to watch them for amusement and sent out postcards of themselves posing with the victims, learning how each new wave of immigrant to the US was treated, and learning how hard men fought to keep women from having the right to own land, sign their own contracts, or vote all have been turning my stomach lately.
At the top are the Germania Hall tokens.
Yesterday it came to life on our own property. The friend who likes to do metal detecting around town came over to investigate the fields behind the Ross property. He found two old pennies, some buckles, some keys and two tokens. These were tokens used as currency at a local dance hall, Germania Hall. It was a big deal at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th. How cool, right?
The hall was remodeled in 1914, says the Cameron Herald.
But, it abruptly shut down. Why? Because of the huge wave of intolerance towards German immigrants around World War 1. This is also why Lee’s dad didn’t speak German, though his parents did. My friend Steve, who’s from Indiana, had the same thing happen in his family. Everyone just stopped speaking German.
By the way, parts of Germania Hall were used to construct Weid Hardware in the Dutchtown area of Cameron (Dutch secretly being Deutsch). I would love to know where the hall was, but these newspaper articles never gave addresses. Everyone knew where everything was in the early 1900s!
Cameron Herald article from June 7, 1917, when the hall was still in use.
The US has always been this way. There is always someone who is the enemy or the class viewed as less than human. I just didn’t know this when I was younger! I honestly thought there were very few ignorant and intolerant people, and that society was moving at a brisk pace toward modernism and equality for all. Women could vote! Blacks could drink out of any damn water fountain they wanted to, and went to the same schools as me.
I was way too insulated, and remained so through grad school, when I was in this happy haven of love and equality that I thought applied almost everywhere. I sure was naïve. Plus, I thought that racists, misogynists, etc., were just ignorant, and that if they realized how they were treating other human beings much like themselves, they’d have some big epiphany and stop. Really, Suna? Really?
At least I have a nice, smelly candle to soothe my worried mind.
And get this, I actually thought that surely everyone would want others to have access to health care, a living wage, and a stable, safe place to live. Nope. I totally missed the fact that there is another completely legitimate point of view where everyone is in it for themselves, and only you, your family, and people just like you deserve good things. Everyone else isn’t quite human. Oops. I was a doofus. I may think folks of this midset are worthy of respect and kindness by virtue of being fellow humans, but they don’t think that of me and all us hippies.
And we will always have the love of our dogs, who don’t care one bit about who we like or dislike. These guys were sure glad to see Lee come home yesterday.
Well, I will just wait and see what happens. I’m ready, because I know who I am and like myself. I just wish I had paid a little more attention to actual history, not what I read in watered-down books that universally praised the winners and villified the losers in any conflict. The good news is that with the world being just as it always has been and apparently always will be, people have managed to forge loving relationships, live peaceful lives, and grow spiritually. There are just more ways to do it than I thought in my youth.
I guess the family isn’t used to me really, really enjoying myself. But I did this weekend. I didn’t have to worry about work issues, people issues, or world issues. I just hung out with nature and relaxed. I recommend that.
Camphor-weed. I got that right!
I’m a taxonomists at heart. I like labeling things. That’s why I feel such satisfaction identifying things successfully on iNaturalist. It tells me where things belong (when I get it right).
Couldn’t figure this one out. Had to upload it as unknown! All the suggested flowers had five petals.
I also enjoy helping research on what grows in Texas, especially places that hadn’t had much coverage. While Jacob’s Well had lots of observations, since Master Naturalists volunteer there often, the place we stayed at had only three that weren’t by me, all from 2018! I did science! No wonder I was happy.
You can see where I walked!
Plus, I got to “spontane.” I could go wherever I wanted, as long as I wanted. No one told me to stop taking pictures, walk faster, or stop talking to the birds and cows.
This one had five petals. It’s a bluebowl or Giliastrumrigidulum. It’s only found in the part of Texas where I was.
And there was something new around every corner. Yes. I WAS happy. I still am. I got to see my animals tonight, including the chicken that just doesn’t seem to lay eggs, ever.
Suna, that’s not a hen in that henhouse.
Before I get back to thinking about Kanban cards (and yes, I dreamed I was trying to capture my weekend activities in Agile stories), I’ll leave you with a few more interesting plants I saw. I can’t believe I made over 100 observations this weekend. All fun.
Biggest spray of cardinal flower I saw.
One lonely dandelion
Texas creeping oxeye. It was everywhere.
Trailing lespedeza.
Woolly vervain clump
Pink sorrel.
Edwards plateau five-eyes.
Scarlet pea
Pasture heliotrope (in a pasture)
Dakota mock vervain
Maybe they’re weeds. Maybe they’re wildflowers. But I know who they are!
I say to you, go find your fun. Now more than ever, we need to balance our lives and bring in some fun. Have a good work week!
Switchgrass. I even got a GRASS right! This was in a beautiful prairie restoration with many blue stems, gramas, and other native grasses.
On my last morning in Wimberley, I decided to see if I’d missed anything on the property. Sure enough, after saying hi to the cows, I found a nice tent camping spot.
There’s something for everyone here, as long as you like rustic.
I found a few more plants for iNaturalist, and took this photo to show those of you not from the middle of Texas what our limestone rocks look like. they have lots of water holes and sometimes fossils.
Limestone and cedar elm leaf.
Most of the trees here are live oaks or cedar elms, just like at home. The difference is there are more live oaks here and more cedar elms at home.
Very old oak.
As I was trying to find more plants I discovered where there’s a waterfall and pool when it’s rainy. There were chairs to sit and relax, so I did.
Limestone beauty.
As I looked around, I saw many flowers and plants growing straight out of the rock, many in the creek bed. They must pop up fast! Their tenacity and drive to grow, thrive and reproduce inspired me!
There are tiny stalactites here
So much growth
Climbing the rock
Delicate and strong
Cardinal flowers
Strong and beautiful.
It’s just plain encouraging to see the native plants in their homes. No one planted them, but as they say, they bloom where they’re planted.
How delicate. Its a hairy ruellia, the only one of those I saw.
Finishing my walk, I saw more and more signs that autumn is here, even way down south in the US. I’ll leave you with these vines.
We were planning to explore Wimberley this afternoon, but we quickly realized it was Market Day. It looked really fun, with hundreds of vendors. However, there were also many hundreds of attendees. As wild as we were being by going out of town, we were NOT going to hang out with huge crowds!
So we kept going and instead had a nice drive, punctuated by a stop at Buc-Ees.
I didn’t touch that dirty beaver.
After that we drove around the Canyon Lake area, where I’d never been. We ate at a nice Italian restaurant, then drive around a while more. It was so relaxing looking at all the scenery.
When we got back to where we are staying we decided to go visit a rum distillery. It would have been more fun if they were allowed to serve drinks, but I did get a bottle of craft rum.
The distillery was right near Jacob’s Well, which is a 140-foot deep artesian well on a river.
Jacob’s Well.
These are fairly common around here, with all the limestone aquifers. Of course, there are caves down there. Lots of people get lost in there. Thankfully, swimming season ended October 1. While it was slippery getting down to the well, I managed not to fall in.
Looking down the river.
There were beautiful gardens nearby and a nice playground.
Visitor center (closed)
I was happy to see a sign thanking Master Naturalists for their help. I also enjoy talking to a couple of young park volunteers. So fun.
Nice sign!
I amused the family by taking even more photos of plants. But they said it was nice to see me so happy.
Autumn wildflowers.
Visiting a natural wonder was just what I wanted. It brought much more joy than buying a bunch of stuff would.
This morning I woke up after a great sleep, and went in another direction at the Red Corral Ranch (its old name). We’d seen some interesting sort of ruined things behind our house, so I set out in the cool air to check it out. It’s sure pretty in the Texas Hill Country!
This broom flower in the foreground attracts so many bees it sounds like a symphony. In back are live oaks and cedar elm.
First I found the barbecue area. It looks like they fixed it up recently.
This area must have been beautiful once! Obviously someone went to a lot of work here at one point. Right near the barbecue was what looked like a foundation or something.
See, it’s pretty.
I went up to the other edge and looked in. It was an old swimming pool! A very old one. Now it holds trash, sumac and liatris.
Can you see the blue paint?
Crazy, huh? I really enjoy the terrain here. It’s a lot of karst. That means the topsoil barely covers the underlying limestone. It’s fun to look at all the rocks.
This is a wash, so all the limestone is exposed.
There are lots of fossils and quartz geodes in the stone. Check out what they did in the fireplace!
Fireplace detail.
So, I guess I’m having fun! Hooray! More on plants soon.
Hello from somewhere near Wimberley, Texas. Since we had canceled our Hearts, Homes and Hands Board retreat to Colorado on account of COVID, we decided to at least go SOMEWHERE for a weekend.
The Rock House
Kathleen found a little house at a retreat center with lots of land and trails to explore but close enough to also enjoy a visit to the town. As soon as we arrived I took off and explored. I’ll share that tomorrow.
The screened porch is Lee’s favorite.
We are all enjoying the cool building we’re staying in. Its heart is an old rock cabin, charming as heck. This place seems to have once been really fancy, but I like it as it is, a little worn around the edges.
Some house highlights.
Everywhere you turn is something interesting, like this hidden woodland event area, suitable for weddings or pagan rituals.
There’s lighting all over the paths and follies here.
And there’s a sunset tower! After a nice hike to find it, I sat up there and enjoyed being all alone with the scenery. I could only see one house. Nice.
Sitting on top of the world! Amazing views.
There’s a meditation area in what appears to be an old cellar. A lot of creative re-use goes on here.
Like a little grotto!
We enjoyed a fire and watched fireflies in the quaint picnic hut.
Whee! Fire fun. Also it chased mosquitos.
And! There are cows, really pretty cows. Already I feel better, just looking at different scenery. And we sure are socially distant!
Just wanna day woo. Taking the day off. So far I have played with dogs and chickens. I had a blast watching Gracie Lou playing with heifers. What’s nice is that they were all obviously playing. Here’s a sequence.
Gracie is stalking. Cows are approaching. Note Gracie’s play bow. There she goes!There they go!
That was fun. Vlassic had to get in the act, but he got yelled at.
Tiny black dog is Vlassic.
I also just hung out with the chickens. Why not? They’re all so glad to see me. It’s great to be loved by tiny dinosaurs.
Love Gertie the Guinea and Fancy Pants. Three roosters. Two real.
Okay. Further adventures await! You have a Good Friday. Lol. The phone capitalized the “good.”
Yep, I am a collector. My whole life I’ve enjoyed collecting things like books, leaves, rocks, yarn, and things with pansies on them. As a kid, I had a collection of electronics components that my dad would bring me home from work. He inspected things ranging from telephone poles to potentiometers for Western Electric/AT&T. He’d bring me rejected items and tell me what they were. I had them in shoeboxes, all labeled. Later he brought some very early printed circuit boards and explained how they worked. That led to my first “real” job after high school, which was working in a printed circuit board plant – wow, some of those were HUGE, thick, and sturdy.
My collection display. See, there’s still room for more. There was no way I could get a photo without someone in the mirror, so, I apologize to Lee.
Anyway, I had a fun serendipitous addition to one of my collections yesterday. You see, right after we moved to the Hermits’ Rest, I bought a beautiful little resin horse figurine as one of our first Christmas decorations. It lived on the mantel, and I got a few more as years went by. They are from the Trail of Painted Ponies collection, which, I soon discovered consists of a LOT of little horses. People collect them and apparently pay some pretty ridiculous prices for them.
This one is ceramic, rather than resin. Sounds of Thunder, 2007. By Bill and Traci Rabbit, 1E/1018 (I think, this has weird handwriting on it). This is the side Bill painted.
As time went on, I got a few more Christmas ones, and branched out to some that weren’t Christmas, too. I like the Native American ones. Each is painted by a well-known artist, though some by lesser-known people who win design contests. A large part of the sale of each figurine goes to charity, which made me feel better for buying them.
This is the only Christmas one I bought. Poinsettia Pony, 2007. I like that she has eyes.
Originally, they were large statues in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which is why so many of them feature Western themes. Since I have had a small (growing smaller, thanks to our house cleaner) collection of porcelain horses my whole life, this was a natural outgrowth. Plus, Lee liked them. The pansy items I collect, not so much.
This one is sort of busy, but the little images in the circles intrigued me. Skyrider, by Wendy Wells-Bailey, #1509, 2005. 1E/5,338
A year or two ago, Lee got me a nice hutch to display the horses in, since the mantel was getting full. It housed my ten or so horses and a couple of other nice things. Which leads us to yesterday!
Earth, Wind, and Fire, #1545, 2004. I loved the gold, the eagle, and the bear. And the scary warrior. The artist is Bill Rabbit. 3E/2,628.
I was finished with work, and just browsing around, when I got one of those random Facebook notifications that there was a garage sale coming up in Rockdale. I like to occasionally look to see if there are any glass items for my office, so I opened the link. There, in all their glory were a LOT of Trail of Painted Pony boxes. The guy said to ignore the prices on the boxes (that was good, since the lowest one was $75, and I’m not paying that).
This is another favorite. Look at all those hand-placed dots. What you can’t see is there are additional images that are not painted, all over the horse. This one’s just so cool. Thunderbird Suite, by Joel Nakamura, #1582, 2004. 3E/2,879
I asked Lee and Kathleen if they wanted to go for a ride, and they said they would, so off we went to Rockdale. How spontaneous, right?
There, we met an interesting guy who does auctions and is selling off inventory from a store he used to own (hence the price tags). It turned out the horses were all from the early years of the Trail of Painted Ponies, starting in 2004. The newest ones were from 2007.
This is one I’d seen photos of and always wanted. There’s a big pink jewel on her tummy. Sky of Enchantment, 2004. She’s the oldest one, and from only the third edition of the ponies. #1534, 4E/9,670
So, Kathleen helped me look through all of them. Not all are to my taste, but a couple were really, really cool, like Willing, here, who is a heavy metal horsie, with a fake hair tail and tassel. Whoa. You just have to have THAT.
That’s one cool and scary horse. It has a real chain pair of reins, and all that tail and “beard” hair. Willing, #1510, 2005, by Virgil Ortiz. 1E/5,973.
I ended up selecting nine horses, which was over my initial goal, but some of these were just SO cool, and I knew they were all retired (and some first editions with 1E labels) and would cost a lot in a store or on eBay (I went to a store in some tourist town that had most of them, but some were over $200, and I don’t want any figurine THAT badly). We settled on a price that was reasonable, after I made a ridiculously low bid, because I apparently can’t multiply by 9.
Lee agreed that it was a good deal, so I am happy and not broke.
This is the back of Sounds of Thunder. A husband and wife team, Bill and Traci Rabbit, did this horse, and the blue side represents the male spirit, while the white side is the female spirit. I love the image on the horse’s neck.
The seller also threw in this beautiful Fenton pitcher, since it has a little crack. I don’t care, because it’s just going to set on a glass shelf, once I have them. Right now it’s in the entry room at the Pope Residence, but that’s just a temporary location.
Fenton cranberry glass coin dot pitcher.
I love that each horse comes with a story, and that they are so detailed. They aren’t just painted, but they have engravings, accessories like leather reins, and other trimmings. These older ones aren’t labeled on the base like newer ones are, but that’s an easy way to tell which ones are old!
They are all numbered and labeled on the bottom, which is nice.
It’s hard to say which of the horses is my favorite, but two of them stand out. The Saguaro Stallion has a beautiful moonrise painting on it, along with very interesting lines embossed into the mold. I love the colors. And the base has rocks on it.
Saguaro Stallion by John Geryak, #1523, 2005. 1E/4947
The other one I love is a very traditional looking horse, all dressed up for a parade. Plus, he’s a paint.
Silverado, #12241, from 2007. He’s so silvery! By Karlynn Keyes, 1E/1,108
I you enjoyed this journey down the Trail of Painted Ponies. I enjoy looking at them every day, and they fit in nicely with the ranch theme of our house. Last year I wasn’t feeling too well, and didn’t get a holiday horse or any other, but I plan to make up for it and get at least one horse every year. It’s something fun to look forward to.
That’s what collections are for, right? Fun. Share what you collect, if you’d like to.
It’s been very pleasant here in the center of Texas for the past few days, with pleasantly cool mornings and nice warm days (contrasting with the usual blazing heat). I’ve enjoyed being able to wear a couple of new light jackets and wraps on my daily walks around the neighborhood.
Oak Lawn Cemetery
Yesterday I had a lot of thinking to do, so I walked over to the cemetery. It’s a good thinking spot, and usually quiet, other than maintenance workers. Since it’s a pretty old cemetery, there are lots of big trees to look at.
Nice place to sit.
Of course, I had to go visit the Popes, in whose house I sit and work every day when I’m in Cameron. I do hope they like what we have done with the place.
Maybe I’ll clean this up and leave them some flowers.
It’s nice to have a little furniture and the mirror installed in the front room. It seems so complete.
And in honor of the crisper weather (relatively), I turned on the fireplace to heat! Just a little, but it’s nice.
I was happy to find out the electrical outlet still works after all that rain dripped on it.
Be gentle with yourselves, friends, because you deserve kindness and acceptance.
The Hermits' Rest 