Sunday Stills: Spring Preview

Preview?! Nope--our first flower of Spring 2011 opened up today! No need for digging in the archives.

Last year the Wind Flowers (Anemone heterophylla) opened eight days earlier. Perhaps they have been waiting out the extreme cold temperatures we've been experiencing. Usually around eight inches tall, the lack of winter rains has cetainly stunted these, which barely have stems!

The Bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) which usually begin blooming around the end of March are dwarfed as well. They should be at least three times this size by now. It doesn't seem to matter how much I water them, only a good rain will make them grow!

This week in an effort to create more positive drainage (not that we get much rain), the county road workers scraped about 2-3 inches of topsoil, wildflower sprouts, and the wildflower seed bank from in front of our house and all the surrounding areas.

Of course all of this makes me worry about my honeybees, seeing their list of future provisions reduced. One of my goals this year is to propagate 10,000 flowers for them! I've already started 700 Salvias, Mints, Coneflowers, Mulleins, and Lavenders from seed.

Aren't these Fearnleaf Lavenders cute? I hope your Spring is not long in coming, and I'm happy to say Spring officially began here in Southwest Texas today! For more previews of Spring, visit Sunday Stills.

Sunday Stills: Best Shot of 2010

Happy New Year friends! One of the best shots of the year was recently taken by my husband of me holding our first grandchild, Lily. I love how angelic she looks!

Here are some of the best shots I took in 2010. I'll leave it up to you to choose the best one!

Thanks Ed for hosting this fun challenge, I'll try to participate more this year. For more Best Shots of 2010 visit Sunday Stills. Wishing everyone a fabulous 2011!

Sunday Stills: Go Low Looking High

Had a wonderful opportunity on Wednesday to take a shot from the Llano River looking up at sandstone bluffs, but not having a waterproof camera case and already slipping around trying to cross the river on foot I just didn't want to chance it. We all know I already had to bake my camera last year to get the moisture out and I didn't want to make a regular habit of it! As it was I took the camera with me on the kayak enveloped in three ziplock baggies. You can check those panoramic photos out in my previous blog post.

Purple Coneflowers at sunrise this morning

Looking through the patio table (too bad I didn't think to clean it first!)

Looking up through the Speckled Siberian tomatoes

 View from our outdoor shower

For more views up, visit Sunday Stills!

Sunday Stills: Black and White

Skeleton Flower gone to seed in the Short Grass Prairie.

Down in the creek, now lush from the rains.

Bird's nest lined with wool.

For more black and white images, visit Sunday Stills!

Sunday Stills: Wildflowers

We've had plenty of rain this year--in contrast to last year's extreme drought--so the wildflowers have definitely been taking advantage of this!

Frio River with Mealy Blue Sage (click to biggify!)

It's nice to have water again in the river, too. We took our first swim and kayak trip last weekend. Ahhh....

Here are just a few of the many species of wildflowers blooming at our place right now. I've tried to include one of every color!

Blue Gilia

Pearl Milkweed Vine

Prickly Pear

Rosita

Illinois Bundleflower

Mexican Mallow

Prairie Verbena

Indian Blanket

Scarlet Penstemon

Here's a brief video taken in the short grass prairie through all the Englemann's Daisies. You can hear the White Wing Doves calling ('who cooks for you'), and Finley's baaahing at the end. I love it when there's mist on the mountain.

To see all the wildflowers at our place, take the Folia flowerweaver link and scroll down to 'gardens', then click on the Shortgrass Prairie, Wildflower Meadow, and Juniper and Oak Savanna garden listings to see all the wildflower photos.

For more flower/wildflower images from all over the world, visit Sunday Stills!

Sunday Stills: The Letter B

Well, I've haven't found much time for blogging lately--my time has not been my own. As one friend said, April was kind of Medical Month for us, on top of the big annual push to get the Spring gardens in. I've also continued to substitute teach almost daily for the school since Farmer Rick returned, on top of my own private guitar students and advertising clients. My life is the picture of busy.

Right now every inch of our property is covered in wildflowers. The Bluebonnets have been spectacular!

Next week I will be traveling 600 miles round trip to pick up my honey bees. My hive kit arrived today and my bee suit arrived last week. With temperatures already ranging into the 90's it will be more like my personal sauna!

I'll be painting the hive boxes this week and getting everything set up for my 10,000 new pets. Not that there wasn't enough to do around here already!

For more on the Letter B visit Sunday Stills!

Macro Monday: Paved with gold

When I returned home from my quilting adventure, the short grass prairie was awash in the yellow of Englemann's Bladderpod, Lesquerella engelmannii. After two drought-stricken years it was nice to see the wildflowers making a recovery. Intending to take a macro, I captured the sunrise first.
 

Each year one species outshines the others in sheer quantity. This seems to be the Year of the Bladderpod (so far). There are still about seventy species yet to come! Better hurry up and order my bees!

Even the mowed paths around the wildflower meadow and through the Juniper and Oak savanna seem to be paved with gold where this flower has taken up residence. That's part of the magic of this place.

For more up close shots visit Macro Monday!

Spring has sprung!

One of the benefits of living in the southwest is that while the rest of the U.S. is still entrenched in snow, ice, and mud we are among the first to bid good-bye to winter. Our part of Texas only has two seasons: Summer and January!

It's always exciting in February when suddenly, nestled in the tall, expired grasses, these beauties pop up. They would be our equivalent of seeing the northern crocuses popping through the snow. Wind Flower, or Anemone heterophylla, comes in shades of white, pink, lavender, and blue. Interestingly it has no petals; it is the petal-like sepals that show the colors!

 

And in the vegetable garden last season's Collards--left to go to seed so that I can collect them--have begun to flower. The local bees have discovered them and I have been giving what's left of the leaves as treats to the chickens.

I am so happy to see the first signs of spring! sigh

Macro Monday: Campfire, Flowers, Thoughts

Yesterday I went to the funeral of my friend's father.

He was the kind of person that lived life to its fullest.

My own milestone around the corner, I have begun contemplating...

 

...is this my authentic self?

Or, is there something still pulling at my soul?

Am I ready to awaken into my true creative life?

 

I am in a funk. For more detailed and perhaps less pensive images visit Macro Monday.

Macro Monday: Dew Drop By!

I'm still under the weather with an inner ear/sinus infection trying to finish up some client ad designs. If you've ever had inner ear trouble, you know how unbalanced your coordination can get. The drizzle and cooler weather we've received has been delightful and made for some nice photos this morning. At least shooting macro I am closer to the ground, not so far to fall!

Native Fall Aster

Ground spider web

Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillar

Mold, not snow!

Fall color in grass seedheads

For more up close views of the world, visit Macro Monday.

Macro Monday: A Ferris Wheel for Ants

This is Asclepias asperula, Antelope Horns, one of my favorite milkweeds. I love how the flowers look like green snowballs. The common name comes from the shape of its seedpods, which I featured in a previous post.

For more up close views of the world visit Macro Monday!