Grizzlies and geysers at Yellowstone, part 1
August 13, 2023 As we drove toward the East Entrance of Yellowstone National Park, I twisted my telephoto lens onto my Nikon and held the camera in my lap. Twenty-three years earlier, on a late afternoon drive in Yellowstone, we’d seen a grizzly sow and twin cubs dash across the ...
Bison, wild horses roam at Theodore Roosevelt National Park
August 11, 2023 After seeing Badlands in South Dakota, we drove north to see the badlands of western North Dakota and Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Named after the 26th U.S. president, the park memorializes Roosevelt’s love for the region, where he ranched during the late 1800s, and its role in ...
A good day in Badlands National Park
August 09, 2023 The Badlands. The Bruce Springsteen song pulses through my brain. We headed into Badlands National Park in southwestern South Dakota in early May during our RV road trip through the West. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the desolate beauty of the place appealed to me ...
Back to Devils Tower
August 03, 2023 We reached northeastern Wyoming and Devils Tower National Monument in early May on our RV road trip through national parks. I’d had a “close encounter” with the stone monolith back in 2018, but my husband had never seen it. As we approached, it looked picture perfect, with ...
Waterfalls, wildlife, and wonder at Zion National Park
June 21, 2023 Utah and its wealth of national parks drew us west on our 5-week RV trip this spring. Zion National Park in southwestern Utah sparkles as one of its crown jewels. For anyone wishing to beat the heat in canyon country, April is prime visiting season. We arrived ...
Pond critters at Houston Arboretum
April 30, 2023 While in Houston a couple of weeks ago, with a few hours to kill, I heeded the call of nature. That is, I visited Houston Arboretum & Nature Center, an oasis for wildlife, native plants, and people who enjoy nature strolls and birding. This 155-acre refuge with ...
Late-winter flora and fauna on my 17th blogiversary
February 14, 2023 ‘Fireworks’ gomphrena gone to seed On Valentine’s Day 2006 I hit publish for my very first blog post. Back then I saw blogging as a way to document my garden through the seasons and to join the online conversation about gardening in Austin. Boy, was it ever! ...
Back to Beck’s majestic live oaks
February 10, 2023 Two days into no power and no heat, with shattered trees making a dangerous obstacle course around our house, and all this coming just two years after Snowpocalypse, I packed a bag, picked up Mom and her dog from her cold, dark apartment, and headed to Houston ...
Thirsty cedar waxwings come in for a drink
January 31, 2023 I moved my fountain to the edge of the covered patio this winter, to free myself from the near-daily task of cleaning out crape myrtle litter during the summer. Another upside is that now I can watch birds at the fountain from my office window. A few ...
Pond of the Blue Moon and bird- and gator-watching at Shangri La Botanical Gardens
December 16, 2022 Yesterday I introduced you to Shangri La Botanical Gardens & Nature Center, which sits along a bayou in Orange, Texas, right at the Louisiana border, and I shared a tour of the inner gardens. Today I’ll complete the tour starting at the back of the 250-acre property, ...
Enjoying fall color and a mellow garden
December 07, 2022 By the time I hang red Christmas balls from the agave’s spines, the Japanese maple finally blushes red too. Fall comes late to Central Texas, but I’ll take it, even at Christmastime. Last week was peak color for the Acer palmatum. Today, shriveled tan leaves cling to ...
Golden trees and black bears in Great Smoky Mountains and Cades Cove
November 28, 2022 On Halloween, we sought the warm colors of autumn — pumpkin orange, harvest gold, bonfire red — along the Blue Ridge Parkway and in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which straddles the North Carolina-Tennessee border. And we found them too, despite the lateness of the leaf-peeping season, ...
Elk watching in Cataloochee Valley
November 25, 2022 I’d hoped to hear the bugle of bull elk during our road trip through Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but those eerie, whistling autumnal calls elude me yet. Still, I can’t complain about the elk viewing in the scenic Cataloochee Valley of North Carolina, about an hour ...
Bandelier cliff dwellings, Valles Caldera, and epic New Mexico scenery
November 13, 2022 In early September, at the end of our trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, we drove out to Bandelier National Monument. We’d last explored its ancient cliff dwellings and pueblo ruin two decades earlier, and we wanted to hike and see it again. Bandelier National Monument We ...
Spotlight around the garden
November 09, 2022 Before Halloween I took a few photos of whatever caught my eye, starting with the whale’s tongue agave in the tractor-rim planter. Hello, gorgeous! Somebody is watching me from the far end of the Berkeley sedge lawn. Hello, deer. Oh, and the Wheeler’s sotol that replaced the ...
Mellow-yellowing into fall, but the garden still has bite
October 10, 2022 October rolls around, mellowing out the Texas garden. At last, it’s a pleasure to be outside again, noticing how the moonlight-yellow variegation on the whale’s tongue agave glows in the afternoon light. The weather is gentler. But the garden still has bite, as shown in serrated leaves ...
