Checking out the new Academic Quad at Rice
November 05, 2024 This Owl flew back to Rice University in Houston last weekend for Homecoming. Under rain-threatening skies, I walked around the beautiful campus to see what was new. I always admire this sleek barn owl sculpted by Geoffrey Dashwood, which sits behind the Rice Chapel. But what I ...
Screech owl still hanging around
October 16, 2024 The screech owl is still hanging out in the owl box each day, dozing in the doorway each morning or alert but relaxed each evening. It seems comfortable with me walking around below, staying put when I move trash bins or get the mail. I enjoy watching ...
A screech owl in the new box
October 11, 2024 A screech owl has been hanging out in the new owl box for a couple of weeks. Our daughter told us about it while we were gone, and I’ve been on the lookout since coming home. Yesterday I finally saw it. I was rumbling the trash and ...
Nature subdued in new work by Kate Breakey
November 17, 2023 Patchnose on Lace One of my favorite contemporary artists, for over two decades, is Australian-born photographer Kate Breakey. I fell in love with her Small Deaths series when she was still living in Austin. She’s been in Tucson for many years now, but she still shows new ...
Screech owl visitor
February 16, 2022 A few days ago I looked up and noticed a screech owl hanging out in the door of our owl box. First sighting of the season! At this time of year, males are scouting for nesting sites, and perhaps that’s what this little guy was doing, when ...
At Juniper Hill Farm, a country garden gets structure from formal design
November 23, 2021 Connections to gardeners I’ve made as a writer often lead, like beads on a string, to new introductions and far-flung garden visits. In such a roundabout way I had the pleasure last month of meeting photographer Joe Valentine and his wife, Paula, for a personal tour of ...
Signs of life
March 24, 2021 I planted 5 small bluebonnets before the Big Freeze. The deer took two as tribute, leaving me with three, and they came through the deep freeze just fine. Now they’re blooming, a hopeful sign of spring! Keeping it real, though, this is how the past couple of ...
Early spring blooms and Athena the owl at Wildflower Center
March 20, 2021 When they’re offered, I take advantage of late-admission hours to gardens. The light is better for photography in the early evening, and you have a better chance of seeing wildlife. On Thursday our local native-plant botanical garden, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, stayed open late, and ...
Green texture in my live oak-shaded garden
January 31, 2021 At the end of a dog walk a few days ago, I ran my eyes along the streetside edge of my island bed, automatically checking for fallen branches, weeds, armadillo holes — as one does. Suddenly my perspective shifted, and I saw the plantings anew, as if ...
She made her garden dreams come true
September 28, 2020 Mandevilla vine I’ve known Amy since I was 17 years old. We met as freshmen at Rice University and became good friends. She was a bridesmaid at my tiny wedding in South Carolina, and I was there for her when she and husband Gary tied the knot ...
Owl family hanging out
June 11, 2020 Any day now the owlet in our owl box will fly the nest, so I’ve been taking lots of photos while I can. Here’s one of the parents — the mother, I think — on her favorite perch in a juniper tree behind our back fence. She ...
Screech owlet makes a surprise June appearance
June 07, 2020 Screech owlet We’ve had a lot of screech owls nest in our owl box over the past 10 years. But after we lost our owl tree and had to relocate the box, it sat empty all last year, to our disappointment. And until two days ago, I ...
Summertime plant whacking
June 04, 2020 Whacking — it’s what I do in summer as plants grow bushy or tall or lean where they shouldn’t. I had to whack back the Verbena bonariensis in the Circle Garden so that I could walk, not sidle, along the path. The ‘Winter Gem’ boxwoods also got ...
Beebalm, skullcap, and more wild creatures
May 27, 2020 The early summer flowers are strutting their stuff, so come along for a virtual tour! Here’s dazzling ‘Peter’s Purple’ monarda (Monarda fistulosa ‘Peter’s Purple’) in the driveway bed. It was a breezy day. Looking toward the neighbors’ house and their fast-growing Yucca rostrata In the shady island bed ...
Fawning over this baby
May 22, 2020 A young visitor dropped by my garden yesterday. Actually I think she was here a couple of days ago, although I didn’t see her that day. I was moving around the side of the house and heard a startled rustling in the sedge and thought I might ...
Wild kingdom in the backyard
April 28, 2020 Texas spiny lizards tend to be skittish, scuttling under the car or a potted plant when you walk by. But one very laid-back lizard has taken up residence on the shady upper patio in recent weeks. It calmly eyes me and holds its ground, even when I’m ...
