Wild About Texas Wildflowers

These gorgeous wildflowers were everywhere.

Last week my husband, our two dogs, Shani and Dude, and I took a whirlwind five-day, mini-vacation road trip to East Texas and back. This was our first vacation in four years and, I must say, it was much too short. I could have spent weeks there instead of just days.

My husband and dogs aren't all that crazy about wildflowers, but I happen to wild about them.







These beautiful wildflowers were all along the roadside.

In all, we traveled 1,585 miles from the Florida Panhandle to East Texas, with stops in Beaumont, Temple, Waco, back to Beaumont and home.

Whew! I'm tired just thinking about all those miles. Thank goodness I was just the passenger and didn't have to do all that driving.






There were huge displays of Texas Bluebonnets.

Several hundred miles of that trip was through East Texas back roads so I could take photos of the wildflowers, farmlands, rolling hills, old buildings, rivers, Longhorns and anything else that caught my fancy. Of course, the wildflowers were the highlight of this short Spring trip.








Such a beautiful shade of yellow.

I love flowers and I'm particularly wild about wildflowers. Other than the Texas Bluebonnets, I don't know the names of any of these beautiful wildflowers. So when you look at my photos in this post, if you can identify the flowers I'd surely appreciate it if you'd let me know what they are in the comments below.







A wildflower along the Brazos River.

My camera is a relatively new one and I haven't learned all the ins and outs of the thing. So when I got back home I found that several of my "great photos" were actually blurred.

Hmm! Obviously I should have snapped a lot more photos and then I would have more to chose from. You would think that after all these years (more years than I care to count) I would have learned that lesson. Oh well. At least I did get a few wildflower photos worth adding to this post.

There were fields of these exquisite red wildflowers.

Our East Texas road trip was much too short. I could have spent days/weeks slowly meandering along the back roads, taking photos of everything that caught my eye. Rest assured, next time it'll be a much longer trip.

I you have some time on your hands, and you happen to be wild about wildflowers, then I'd suggest a Spring road trip through the back roads of East Texas. I'm sure you'll love every minute of the drive.



Over the next few days I'll be doing more East Texas posts. So please stop by for an assortment of Texas photos. Y'all come back now!

After-Easter Lilies and more April Showers

After-Easter Lilies in my backyard this morning.

This week my backyard Easter Lilies started blooming. Obviously they didn't make it in time for Easter. My front yard Easter Lilies are still a week or two away from blooming. Hmm! Apparently there's something different about my front and backyards. My After-Easter Lilies looked so pretty in the rain this morning.

Rain? Yesiree! The latest round of April Showers began in the wee hours with an accompaniment of lightning and thunder. My dog, Dude, who is usually a bit stressed over lightning and thunder, slept through the whole wild night. I suppose Dude was worn out from yesterday afternoon's romp at the dog park.

April Showers on our patio.

This morning it's still raining, drizzling. According to the TV, another line of thunder showers is heading our way.

This morning, while the rain was at the drizzle stage, my dog Shani and I went outside to take photos. Wildflowers are blooming all over our backyard. Beautiful purples, lavender, yellow and white. The Wisteria growing on our patio trellis is blooming too. The Wisteria has delicate white blooms.

Here on the Florida Panhandle, close to the Gulf Coast, it's definitely a day of April Showers. The air smells so fresh and clean. Windows are open and I'm listening to the musical sound of rain. This is a perfect day to sip coffee and read.

Wisteria that bloomed in this morning's rain.

I'm always reading an assortment of books at any given time, depending on my mood at the moment. So here's a list of my current reads:

The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory (from the library)
The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley (on my Kindle)
The Abilene Trail a Ralph Compton Novel by Dusty Richards (paperback)
The Chisholm Trail by Wayne Gard (a history book from my bookshelves)

A perfect morning to sip coffee and read.

I'm researching Texas history for a western romance series I'll be writing, which is why I'm reading the last two books listed above. My husband and I are planning a Texas vacation soon so I can further my research. Hey, that's a good excuse for some much needed time off to sight-see.

I can't wait to walk along the Brazos River, which was a crossing point for the Chisholm Trail (also known as the Abilene Trail) and the Shawnee Trail. So please check back for upcoming Texas posts with lots of photos. I happen to love Longhorn cattle, so rest assured I'll have photos of Longhorns too.

Shani checking out this morning's April Showers.

As I'm writing this, Dude and my husband are off on a car ride in the rain. Shani, on the other hand, is curled up next to my recliner. She doesn't care for car rides.

Today I'll be enjoying the lovely April Showers and reading one book or another. Thanks again for stopping by.

A Rainy Day in Florida

My patio on this rainy day.

I woke up this morning to the wonderful sound of rain. Lots of rain. Torrential rain. Typical Florida gully-washer rain. Our zillions of little frogs are happy campers. Our trees, shrubs, grass and flowers are happy, happy, happy. My dogs, Shani and Dude, are not so happy. They love playing in water, pretty much any water, but not rain. Go figure.

Well, this is our first rainy day since Hurricane Isaac deluged the Gulf Coast a few weeks back. So we really needed this rain. Now the air smells squeaky clean. I'm lovin' it. According to the meteorologists, we're supposed to have rain all day today and tomorrow too. Yea! Yes, I'm definitely smiling.

This is a great day to sit inside and watch the rain. A great day to read. A great day to write another blog post. So here goes, this is my post about rain.

A few years back my husband and I and our three dogs (Maggie, Nikki and Shani) lived in the Texas Hill Country. We had a house on the top of a hill with a gorgeous view of more hills. Also, we had a whole family of deer who visited us daily for a breakfast, lunch and dinner of feed corn. Our dogs loved it there. They'd stretch out on the patio and watch the deer. Our dog, Nikki, would go wander among the deer and then settle down with them for an afternoon nap. The one thing we didn't have in those Texas hills was rain. In the year and a half we lived there, we only had three days of rain.

Dude getting out of the rain.

The thing I remember about that Hill Country rain is the temporary little stream that crossed our driveway. Tiny frogs would jump into the water and be whooshed downstream. What a ride! I have to admit that it looked like fun.

I was born and raised in southern California where rainy days were few and far between. A rainy day meant my best childhood friend, Debbie, and I would wade/walk home through the water racing down the gutters. We'd arrive home in wet shoes, soggy clothes and big smiles. Rainy days were the best of all.

These days, older and a bit wiser, I hope, I still love the rain. I can happily sit and watch the rain for hours on end. This is the kind of day where it's fun to sit and do nothing at all.

In honor of a rainy day, check out the cool rain books listed below. As anyone who follows my blog knows, I love to make lists of cool books to read. So hopefully you'll all find some great rainy day books that you'll want to read.

Rain Fiction (in no particular order):

Hot Rain by Kat Martin*
A Garden in the Rain (MacLeod Family) by Lynn Kurland*
Texas Rain (Whispering Mountains) by Jodi Thomas*
The Lonely Silver Rain (Travis McGee) by John D. MacDonald*
Rain and Other South Seas Stories by W. Somerset Maugham*
Desert Rain by Elizabeth Lowell
Rainshadow Road (Friday Harbor) by Lisa Kleypas
Barefoot in the Rain (Barefoot Bay) by Roxanne St. Clair
Nights of Rain and Stars by Maeve Binchy
The Scent of Rain and Lightning by Nancy Pickard
Rain by Leigh K. Cunningham
The Art of Dancing in the Rain by Garth Stein
Fire and Rain by Diane Chamberlain
Drink the Rain by Cynthia Davis
Cry of the Rain Bird by Patricia Shaw
Where the Rain is Made by Keta Diablo
Rain Song by Alice B. Wisler
After the Rain by Nicola Thorn
In the Midnight Rain by Barbara Samuels
A Gentle Rain by Deborah Smith
Bittersweet Rain by Sandra Brown
Tears Like Rain by Connie Mason
Falling for Rain by Janice Kirk
Rain by Kieran Nicolas
Keeper of the Rain by J. P. York
Listen for the Rain by Heather Atkinson
And the Rain Came Down by Terrie B. Cambridge
Dancing in the Rain by Kathryn Woodhill
Rainy Days by Lory Lilian
Winter Rain (Jonas Hook) by Terry C. Johnston
Caribbean Rain (Manny Williams, Bk4) by Rick Murcer
Thunder and Rain by Charles Martin
The Time It Never Rained by Elmer Kelton

*Rain Fiction I've read and loved.

I'm sure I've missed a lot of great rain fiction. So please feel free to add your favorites in the comments below. This is also an opportunity to list any rain fiction that you've written.

Note: All of the books above are available in eBook format.

The Grass is Always Greener ...

"The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." Why am I one of THOSE PEOPLE? Why am I always looking beyond the next hill? The next mountain? The next whatever? That is something I have asked myself over and over again since I was a small child. I have never been content to stay in one place. I always want to see whatever lies over the horizon.

I'm a descendant of a long line of adventurers, malcontents, nomads, travelers, wanderers, pioneers. In my lineage are Viking raiders, Scottish Highlanders, Irish warriors, British pilgrims, German immigrants, American pioneers. So I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that I'm always wanting to travel somewhere else, to move to a place I've never lived before.

In my last post I mentioned that my husband, Ben, and I have been married for thirty years as of last Friday. My response was, "Let's go for another thirty years." Ben said, "What???" Of course, we fully intend "to keep on keeping on" until our final days, whenever that may be. In the meantime, we both have "itchy feet" and are ready to try something new for the years ahead, assuming we do have some years ahead.

We started out so many years ago as kids living next door to each other in southern California. No, we never dated as kids, just neighbors and friends. It wasn't until many years later, as adults, that we met up, married and started our adventures together. In thirty years we've lived in Florida, Nevada, Florida, Nevada, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Florida. Are you seeing a pattern here?

For some reason we keep returning to Florida as if drawn by a magnet. It must have something to do with the glorious beaches, the tropical temperatures and all that nature which surrounds every bit of Florida. It certainly couldn't be due to the hot/humid summers, the vicious mosquitoes and no-see-ums that sometimes eat us alive, the hurricanes that send us into hiding now and then, the alligators and water moccasins that cruise our inland waterways, or the sharks that cruise our beaches.

There's just something about Florida that draws us back every time we move away. We've been back here for three and a half years this last time. Now we're getting antsy to venture off to parts unknown. We've been cruising the Internet looking for that perfect place to retire, at least for the next few years. Maybe not a forever place, but someplace to "sit a spell"

Our current sights are heading in the direction of New Mexico. We've vacationed there through the years and always thought it would be a great place to live. So much beauty, so much history. To live near the Rio Grande and the Santa Fe Trail. Taos? Santa Fe? Abiquiu? Angel Fire? What incredible places for we two dreamers.

So the last few days have been spent looking at houses via Realtor.com and other real estate sights online and talking to a realtor friend about selling our house here in Florida. The housing market in our part of the state is starting to make a comeback. So maybe our timing is right? Or maybe our timing is all wrong. We're adventurous souls, so we'll toss the dice and hope that lady luck is with us this go-round.

I don't know if we'll follow through with this idea, but it's certainly worth dreaming about.  So what do you all think? If you could drop what you're doing and venture off to somewhere else, where would you go? I'm hoping that you all will add some comments and let us know about those places you'd love to live, even if it's just in your dreams.

By the way, Ben just reminded me that "The grass is always greener over the septic tank."