Sky Light, Stars Bright

I’m glad that last time the aurora borealis came to Texas I got to see it and get good photos. It was here last night, but I was so engrossed in what I was doing that I missed it.

Photo from yesterday by Shelley Paulson Photography. Wow.

I went out tonight more than once and was quite charmed by the glow to the north, but I think it’s the village of Ben Arnold.

The stars are pretty, though.

It was a beautiful evening, though, and much warmer than earlier this week. I love that it’s dark enough out here to see the Milky Way in photos.

Phone photo.

Thank goodness we have these chances to remind ourselves what an amazing setting we’re privileged to live in.

Yes, even crow poison is amazing, blossoming all winter.

Yeah, the weather here can go from 35° to over 80°F in one day, which is also impressive. our plants and animals must adapt!

I wasn’t going to mention this, but it’s another impressive nature thing, to me. The past few days, hawks have been all over our property. Nearly every time I come outside, I disturb a Red-shouldered Hawk or a Northern Harrier. There’s no secret as to why: the rodent population is really high. I see all kinds of mice and rats everywhere I go lately. They hang around the chicken coop just waiting for the birds to go to bed so they can eat their food. Grr.

Ha! No mouse or rat photos, so here’s something I colored.

So, please, hawks, eat up. And thanks, dogs, for doing your part on rat patrol. I’m disappointed at how few the horses get, though. They should get busy going after mice instead of finding cockleburs.

One more mandala. Thanks to Lee for scanning them.

The stars tonight were prettier, though.

Looking east.

Sunday Dinners Are BACK

It started out small and just kept growing. Our pre-pandemic tradition of Sunday dinners with our family and friends who’ve moved here from the Austin area has started up with the benefit of hot tub time!

Enjoying the hot tub’s eerie green light.

We welcomed Mike and Martha with real hugs, and were happy to have Kathleen and her spouse come in from their new in-town digs. Plus, joy of joys, Anita is here now, for her first gathering as a resident of Cameron!

Woo hoo! We are using our porch! And it’s GREEN outside.

Mike brought lots of really good pizza from the local pizza place. Wow, the veggie one rocked.

I wonder who shared pizza with the dogs?

We all enjoyed the new patios and all the chairs. It was so nice to have normal conversations with each other.

Pizza time!

The women all enjoyed the hot tub for a long time after dinner. That was my dream, to share the pool and hot tub with friends and family, often!

Men sat by the pool to chat.

I sure hope we can have more gatherings with neighbors, friends, and visitors this year. Small groups like this are just perfect for us hermits.

We will NOT make visitors get licked.

A highlight of the evening for me was that I realized my new phone lets me take photos of the stars! It’s quite cool. You have to hold still, and the phone fixes it up to where it sees more stars than you do!

I need to go into the bottom pasture where there are NO lights and get Milky Way photos when it’s visible. Maybe Jupiter’s moons will show up, too. I can see them with my binoculars. Way to go, iPhone 13!