On the way back from Waco, N took different back roads. This time we chose to go through Crawford, where Bush 43 has his ranch. Had his ranch? I don’t know for sure. We didn’t see any sign of the ranch, of course, but I was very surprised by the town.
THIS is city hall?!
Must not have a Works Dept. in Crawford
Someone has some pride in the Bushes. And there was a mural in town. A very faded mural.
Somewhere we read about a waterfall, and realized we had driven past without noticing it. It had a funny name: Tonkawa Falls.
It was accessed through a park, which had a closed gate on one side but was open on the other. We hadn’t noticed the park because of the wildflowers across the street. Check out #9 on the sign at the park.
This is the part I loved.
We stopped for a few more wildflower photos.
The other thing that really impressed me in rural Texas counties was the very imposing and formal architecture of the county courthouses.
I hope you are enjoying a look at Texas through the eyes of your Central California artist. There will be 2 or 3 more chapters, before we return to watching paint dry.
When N and I were planning my visit to Texas, I asked if she had ever visited The Silos, AKA Magnolia, in Waco. She had not, and we decided to make the 1-1/2 hour trip to this tourist destination. Have you ever watched Fixer-Upper? Chip and Joanna Gaines have transformed the city of Waco with this place to hang out, play games, shop, eat, and just enjoy the atmosphere. I have enjoyed their books and seeing them fix up homes, along with the fun way they interact.
N wisely chose backroads to Waco, and wasn’t at all averse to stopping any time I exploded with a “OH MY GOODNESS!!”
It was a thrill to see those *big ol’ silos in person. So silly, they are just giant worn out tanks, good for nothing but as a landmark. I don’t go many places or do much, but when I do, I am thrilled. (No, I don’t drink Dos Eck-ees; I don’t drink.)
We asked if there were plans for the silos; nope, they are too greasy inside from cottonseed oil, and just too worn out. But there is storage beneath them, and the man told us we might just spot Chip and Joanna inside if we peeked in underneath. So we did.
N and I inspected each store, finding very little that seemed worth the money, since we are both of an age where we don’t want any stuff. But anything we do together is fun, so we poked around.
Well, okay I did buy one thing. When I was traveling, a zipper-pull on my tote bag broke off. Look what I found in one of the stores:
Why would a store think that there would be a market for monogramed brass zipper pulls??
What I liked best was the architecture of the old church that the Gaineses moved onto the property. It doesn’t function as a church, and I don’t know what its purpose is, other than to delight the visitor.
Besides seeing the church, I was so pleased that we were there when the magnolias were in peak form.
I *might could go back, but would pick a day when I could walk across the Bosque River that goes through town, maybe visit the Dr. Pepper museum, take a tour of one of the fixed up houses, and even eat in the Magnolia restaurant called The Table.
*I learned to speak Texan and will demonstrate occasionally here for your laughing pleasure.
P.S. When I got home, I was shocked to discover that I have those brilliant wildflowers planted in pots near my studio. Why did I not remember this when we were passing fields full of them??
My friends of 38 years, N & J, have lived in Texas for 30 years, and this is the first time I have been to visit. They came to get me from my friends north of Ft. Worth, and we drove to their home south of Ft. Worth. I spent no time in any Texas cities, only the ‘burbs, which suited me just fine.
So much green, so much to mow.
In spite of the lateness of the trip and all the mowing, there were a few bluebonnets remaining. These are definitely in the lupine family, but different than all our lupines in Central California.
This is a massive ant hill, made by harvester ants. They aren’t wicked like fire ants and have a little highway in the grass, busy all the time, just doing their ant business.
These friends also have an enormous lot with views of horses next door, a pond, and much greenery to mow.
Some things are just better to do when one is with a friend. Cutting off 14″ of hair was one of those. Dadgum, I am a gray-head! Oh well, whaddya expect at 64?
N and I hung around the house, taking walks in the mornings if it wasn’t raining, chitchatting, planning, catching up, laughing a great deal, just being together. Her husband was very patient with all the girl stuff going on around him. He was busy trying to solve the problem of a dead A/C and bird watching. The A/C quit the day I arrived, but fortunately for them, it was before the hard heat of summer set in.
We also had a few excursions, including thrift shopping, which is a bit odd when neither one of us enjoys shopping. Thrift shopping is more like treasure hunting than shopping. . . that is the best way we could figure out how to explain why it was fun. Maybe it was fun because we were together. I’ve thought from time to time that it might be good that we don’t both live in Three Rivers, because we’d probably never make other friends.
Traveling is difficult, and it about broke my heart to leave Three Rivers while it was still green and full of flowers. The logistics of a trip can cause one to wonder if it is worth the effort.
It was.
Had to be at the airport at 4:30 a.m.Bye-bye, SierraI went through Las Vegas – weird place.
I first spent time in a suburb north of Fort Worth with a dear friend who has young children and a new-to-them fixer-upper on a huge piece of property down a long driveway. They had three pallets of sod coming for a front lawn, and I was right on time to help with the project, because her husband had fallen and broken both of his arms above the elbows. (Don’t land hard on your wrists if you fall, okay?)
The greenery and scenery just blew my mind (figuratively speaking—not literally). I had no idea that Texas is so green this time of year, figuring I’d missed the best part of spring by waiting until the end of April.
Enough ogling. There was work to be done, and we were shocked by how hard it was. The plan was to rent Mantis type tillers, but neither one of us could get them started (nor could the Home Depot employee), so we rented bigger machines. They ’bout dang near vibrated our arms off, but there was no time for wimpiness.
The soil was VERY rocky.That stack on the right is 1/3 of the job.We were so excited to start laying the sod.primrose
There was time for a few walks, and we had to stop each time the sky let loose with a mess of rain. We also stopped when we heard thunder, because too many people have recently been struck by lightning for our comfort.
wine cup
The husband keep the logistics moving ahead, coordinating, keeping the Littles busy, looking up instructions, doing what he could like bringing tools, and encouraging us. I had to drive his pickup with him to get a load of fill dirt in a pouring rainstorm because he couldn’t put his arms in driving position. Yikes, such terrible timing for him, but it was a great project and a privilege to be able to help.
The city yard where we got the fill dirt was fantastically organized, affordable, and easy to access, unlike in Tulare County. The last time Trail Guy and I got mulch at our county yard, it was full of plastic. Sigh.
Let’s take a break from the sod project and admire the property a bit more.
In front of the new lawnIn the far back end of the propertyAnother view down the driveway
We were enormously grateful when the grown son arrived with a friend to finish the tilling and help lay the sod, since our arms were like limp spaghetti. We had planted many flowers, dug and lugged many rocks, and of course stayed up late catching up because we couldn’t talk when the machines were going.
The sod squares will not be evident as squares when the grass has an opportunity to do what God designed grass to do.
It was hard to say goodbye when my other set of friends, N & J, came to get me for the rest of my stay at their place south of Fort Worth. So interesting to have all of us together, both sets of friends formerly of Three Rivers, all now Texans, and just meeting for the first time.
There were so many things that would make beautiful paintings, but my audience (“collectors” in Artspeak) isn’t really interested in generic scenes. They want to buy paintings of places they know. Maybe I’ll paint some Texas green scenes when I retire (fall down laughing — why would I retire when I love what I do??)
Yeppers, still here in the Lone Star State. It’s a bit late for the bluebonnets, we’re having lots of rain, there are fabulous other wildflowers, and I am learning much.
Here are a few teaser photos.
Lone stars are everywhere.
The Silos in Waco.
Indian Paintbrush is different here.
Bluebonnets are lupine; this is up close, looking straight down.
Gave a drawing workshop-that makes this a business trip.
May Day! Happy May Day, which I think traditionally includes flowers. (Then why do captains of planes and ships yell “MAY DAY!” when they are about to crash?)
A few days before I left for Texas, I spent a day working in the yard. Whoooo-eeee, it was hard to leave home.
Tucker joined me in the herb garden. He likes to meet me there for coffee in the mornings.
Snowball bushSnowball up close
TuckerPippinJackson
On the slope behind the house
Good thing it was almost dark when I left home because otherwise I might have been tempted to cancel the trip.
I started reading Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman, a book about accepting the fact that our time is limited and we won’t ever get our to-do lists finished. Alas, it was taking too long (heh-heh), so I went to Bookpecker to read the five bullet points. They are: 1. Accept your limits; 2. Focus on Meaningful Tasks; 3. Prioritize quality over quantity; 4. Live in the Present; 5. Embrace uncertainty. (I summarized the summarized bullet points for you. You’re welcome.)
Vermeer’s Milkmaid. I painted this with the idea of quality over quantity, BEFORE reading the summary of Burkeman’s book.
2. Did you know that you can substitute 1/2 milk with 1/2 yogurt for buttermilk in a recipe? (I haven’t tried it).
3. Slippers: I was sorry to see that mine were wearing through on the soles, and especially sorry to learn that the yarn for a new pair was $40. WHAT? Then I learned that they have faithfully served my feet since 2010. (Life is like a roll of toilet paper—the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes.) Finally, I learned that I cannot stop and restart the agitation segment of the cycle on our fancy washing machine (many of our appliances croaked in 2020). I also (re)learned that I am not very good at following knitting pattern directions, but once again, I got away with it. (notice the 2 new slippers don’t exactly match each other.)
Before feltingpartially feltedfinished felting
4. Have you ever heard of a yogurt strainer? I hadn’t, and learned of this item on The Frugal Girl blog. It is a convenient way to drain the whey from yogurt so that you have “Greek” yogurt. (I just pour mine off as it accumulates in the pan I made it in and save it for making bread.) I am tempted by this item but my policy of no unifunction items in my kitchen keeps me from succumbing. The woman who told me about it also uses it when making lemon curd and almond millk, two items that are not on the menu here. (Here is a list of the various yogurt strainers on Amazon.)
5. Did you know that there is no cure for neuropathy, particularly idiopathic neuropathy, which means the kind for which no reason is known? Sigh. I learned this from a friend who has had it for 30 or 40 years. (I have an appointment in June with a neurologist anyway. So there.) My hands are over my ears chanting, “LA LA LA LA LA LA LA!” as I refuse to accept this information.
6. I found this book in the library in Three Rivers and checked it out because of the title. The characters were too weird for me to relate to, so I quit after the first two chapters. There are too many books that I want to read to bother with those that don’t hold my attention.
The Lemon Cove Woman’s Club asked if they could print my drawing into cards. I said yes, if they could find the original. They couldn’t. Then I remembered that it is hanging on the wall over my dining table!
7. This is a relearn: The women’s club in Lemon Cove has the actual historical name of “Lemon Cove Woman’s Club”. Isn’t that funny? (Exactly which woman did it belong to? Did Nora Pogue Montgomery call it this because she was reluctant to give up her family home?) You can read about it here: Tulare County Treasures.
P.S. By now I’ve probably learned many more things while in Texas. Although it will still be April while I am there, I’ll probably put them in the Learned in May post. Or, in Texan, “I’m fixin’ to put them in May’s post”.
By the time you are reading this, I hope to be on a flight to Texas. The way flights get cancelled these days, who knows? I could be sitting in a airport, fuming. I hope you are not fuming; instead, I hope you enjoy these last photographs of the most beautiful month in my yard and around its edges a bit.
Stop scratching your screen—it won’t make the scent of the lilacs come alive.
“Lilac” and “lavender” —two words for light purple with origins in very scented flowers, both in bloom at the same time in my yard.
Dutch iris all around my yard, and just a few with the yellow parts; not my favorite, but certainly nothing to ignore!
This one was falling over, so Trail Guy picked it, added fairy lanterns to the vase, and put it on the kitchen window sill.
This is a tiny weed/wildflower down the street; this is the first year I’ve noticed it.
Lemon geranium was taking over the herb garden chair. Too bad you can’t smell this.
I pruned it, and then put many clippings in pots to root and share with friends.
It makes a little pink flower. If it doesn’t look like a normal geranium to you, that is because this is a true geranium, not a pelargonium. (As if you care. . .)
Man oh man, the hillside will be all brown and/or weed-eated by the time I get home, and the Lady Banks rose will be finished, and so will the lavender. . . it is SO HARD to leave home, especially in the spring. (But I haven’t ever visited my dear friend in Texas during the 30 years she has lived there; I always wait until she comes here for a reunion, so it is past time.)
Maybe. Maybe not. However, I am heading to Texas tomorrow*, and when I return, I think the green in Three Rivers will be finished, or close to it.
My dear friend the Texan and I planned this visit to coincide with the blooming of the Texas bluebonnets (a variety of lupine). I think someone miscalculated, but I didn’t want to bump my trip earlier because there was just too much to adjust, AND I didn’t want to miss spring in Three Rivers.
So, let’s just enjoy the last hurrah of spring in Three Rivers. I might post while in Texas; I might not. More will be revealed in the fullness of time.
Instead of doing his business, this tom kept stepping on the hen’s tail while strutting around.
Bird’s Eye Gilia
Ithuriel’s Spear
Middle Fork of the Kaweah
Jackson, you will miss sleeping at my feet while I paint. No more campouts, you delinquent! You’d better be around when I come home.
Pretty Face
North Fork of the Kaweah
North Fork of the Kaweah River with Blossom Peaks in the distance.
White Crown Sparrow
I hate leaving but am so eager to see The Texan, another dear friend who is also a Texan, and yes, The Silos in Waco.
P.S. The Things I Learned post will appear on April 30. The Blog Equipment allows me to schedule posts ahead of time.
*Normally I would not post about being gone in real time on the World Wide Web, but the house won’t be empty so no squatters will take up residence while I’m away.
Another beautiful spring day, accompanied by the desire to just be outside and pull weeds.
Nope. It’s a workday, chica.
But wait! There’s an eclipse! I joined Trail Guy for a brief look at the weirdness of shadows and light, with the help of a colander and a piece of white paper.
Back to work.
Two paintings now drying, so that tighter detail can be applied in the next session.
How about another break to enjoy the wildflowers?
Back to work.
In spite of succumbing to a few temptations, it was a very productive day. So, here is our final reward of the day.
