Flowers in the dark

These flowers budded a few days ago and I've been waiting for them to bloom. When I arrived home late last night, they were in full bloom so I got back in the car and shined the head lights on them so I could take these pictures. My husband thinks I should just wait until morning, but with the grasshoppers you never know what will be left the next day!

These are the only flowers I have that still bloom. When our church decided to build a new building and pave the parking lot, a lot of the flowers had to go. The man who used to take care of the flowers every week brought me these bulbs one day when he was digging up what could be planted elsewhere. He said just toss them anywhere and they'll grow. That's exactly what I did. I tossed them at the end of the porch and never buried the bulbs. The've bloomed every year since then. Thanks, Eddie!

Help!

So, I knew it was just around the corner and I'd better be thinking of something, but Heather informed me yesterday "it's only 59 days until I turn 16! What are we going to do for my birthday party?" I have no idea! That's where you come in. I need some ideas. I'm trying to find something memorable but very inexpensive. Please send ideas to the email link on my side bar or in the comments section below. I really need your help with this one. I'm fresh out of ideas and I've been trying to come up with something for months!

The Nutcrackers

I usually take out of town visitors to Gruene for a day during their stay. I had planned to do just that last week while Mom and Lis were here. But the day we planned to do that, it rained buckets. So we just roamed around here in town and had lunch at the downtown coffee shop. We decided to head to Gruene the next day but as we were headed there, it began to pour. Again. Mom likes Gruene a lot and Lis had never been there. We thought we could at least run over there and Mom could buy the wonderful Pecan Honey Butter she gets there every time she comes to Texas. Instead we went to the Pape Pecan House in Seguin to get her Pecan Honey Butter. Inside the store is the Nutcracker Museum, which is someone's rather large collection of nutcrackers. They did make intersting photographs...

Mom and Lis with the biggest nutcracker I've ever seen!

Weekend at the Beach

Our last vacation excursion was a weekend at the beach. We were planning sunny skies, hot weather, riding the waves, taking a sunset cruise to photograph the dolphins...typical beach stuff. But, the weather didn't cooperate. It was hazy all weekend, and rainy off and on. We had a great time despite the weather. We did not go on the dolphin cruise but plan to next time. We took Lis to Crazy Cajun instead! It's a tradition for us to eat there at least once each summer when we're at the beach, especially if relatives are in town!

Lis and my daughter thoroughly enjoyed the spicy corn at Crazy Cajun!

The boardwalk to the beach from the rv park where we stayed:

Saturday afternon we decided to walk down by the marina:

A trip to the beach isn't complete without stops in the many fun shops that cater to beach bums!

Lis being "eaten" by a shark!

Mom at the beach.

Lis at the beach

After a weekend of so much gray and hazy skies, I decided to play around with these pictures and add some color!

Hummingbirds

My friends Harry and Judy live way out in the country (even farther than I do!) and welcomed my mom, Lis, and me to their house to take pictures. Lots of hummingbirds, deer and squirrels roam about their yard all the time. We hoped to capture images of a few of them. We had no luck with the deer (they waited until we left to make an appearance). Mom got a few shots of a squirrel, but we saw many hummingbirds from their front porch. Here are several shots I cropped in close, that I hope aren't too fuzzy! Enjoy!

Fredericksburg revisited...part 2

More pictures of our trip to Fredericksburg's Wildseed Farm. Next time I go to Fredericksburg, maybe I'll make it into some of the shops!!!

Ok, I lied, I did find a new butterfly pictures. I still like the ones from this spring best. (Yes I finally went to blogger.com help and discovered how EASY it is to link text. I should have looked that up sooner!)

Fredericksburg...Wildseed Farm revisited...Part 1

Tuesday, after stopping in Blanco's park we drove on to Fredericksburg. I had taken my mom here before, but it was raining that time. Our first stop in Fredericksburg was the Wildseed Farm, which I had first discovered on the previous trip with my mom. What an awesome place! Very few of the fields were in bloom but there was still much to see. I did not get many good butterfly shots this time so I won't be posting new butterflies. I did however, see some of the biggest hibiscus I've ever seen!!! Check them out:

On the way to Fredericksburg...

We decided to head to Fredericksburg Tuesday. On the way, as we were passing through Blanco I decided to pull in and check out a park I'd heard about. We were so glad we stopped. It's a very nice park with a path down to the river. Very nice picnic spot!!!

This tree holds the honor of "co-champion" largest tree in Blanco County.

My daughter and me.