Around the Property

Bluebonnets





Pomegranate



Walnut Tree

Harry and The Bass

Oliander

 

This is what's hapening in my yard....

 

I hope you' all have a wonderful and profitable weekend.`

~~~Happy Mother's Day~~~~

 

Till next time,

Bonjour



My Morning View Today



Sunrise/ The Sage/Oregano Bed



Sunrise Almost Over The Mesquite Tree









 



Wild Sunflowers Shading The Herb Bed



Smile





These views put a smile on my face

as I was leaving for work this morning.

Made going in a little less......Well you know!

I didn't plant the sunflowers, I think the birds did.

They come up every spring, lots and lots of them!!!

Till next time,

Bonjour

Urban Forest Food?

Getzendaner park

Remember me mentioning the local park?

33 acres, corralled by the interstate to the west, a hospital to the north,

the ancient cemetery to the east and the Waxahachie Creek at the southern end.

Lots of playground equipment, picnic tables, grills and

6 miles of a concreted hiking, biking trail, dotted with exercise equipment.

Plenty of trees, birds and squirrels.
The trail is always crowded with walkers, joggers and bikers.

Funny that the walkers, joggers and bikers all have ear buds in.

Sounds great to most people, clean comfortable nature.

If you dare to venture off the concrete path

you're transported into another world......

The mini forest.

 Full of snakes, chiggers, poison ivy, bees, birds, butterflies and

 believe it or not.....Food

I speak of the alternate bike trail.

It's littered with downed tree limbs and no bike could possibly get through.

I've been on this trail before, but not in my present state of mind.

It was just a whim to even be there, no planning, it just happened.

We had no walking sticks, I was in a skirt, no hats, no insect repellant....

Nathan's always up for an adventure,
so....
We walked the trail, climbing over and around the limbs and downed trees.

Along the way we stopped to photo all of the interesting trees, flowers, lizards....

and the food!

The vegetation was so lush and thick,
 birds were singing, butterflies were happily kissing the flowers
and the bees were busy collecting pollen.

If it wasn't for the distant sound of the interstate
you would never have known you were in an urban setting.

We found several patches of blackberries nestled under the giant trees,

walking onions hiding in plain sight alongside the grasses

and honeysuckle happily twining itself up and around the fallen limbs.

Pecan and Walnut trees were everywhere

and we even found a Mulberry tree.



Not quite ripe blackberry...



Honeysuckle









Wild onions

There's no telling what other edible plants might be hiding

in this little piece of nature, and perhaps I should look for a field guide

and educate myself.

You never know what the future might bring,

being able to identify food in nature might come in handy.

The creek was beautiful and judging by the high banks

there's been more than one heavy rainstorm that's found it's way through there.

Maybe it even has fish at times? I don't know, it was pretty shallow but

our rainfall is down so maybe at other times it's deeper.

I've found some of these same plants on our property

and probably have missed a whole lot more than I've found.

What's in your urban forest?

By the way, we didn't get chiggers, bitten by a snake or poison ivy.

Till next time,

 Bonjour

The Ennis Bluebonnet Trails

Bluebonnets

COUNTDOWN...

My town is the Bluebonnet Capitol of Texas.

For the whole month of April everywhere you look you'll see bluebonnets.

On the side of the highway, in open fields, in my yard,
acres upon acres of bluebonnets.

Mixed in with the bluebonnets are indian paint brushes and
a host of other wildflowers

that I should know the names of but, sadly I don't.

You can go to the Ennis Visitor's Bureau and pick up a map
that lists over 40 miles of drivable trails
for viewing this bluebonnet phenomenon.  

I live on one of these trails.

There's even a sign at the top of the hill that says so!

On the weekends there's a steady stream of visitors
out viewing and taking pictures of the wildflowers.

When I first came to Texas, and this little town, I did the same,

 yep,

 had my picture taken sitting in a patch of wildflowers......

Sounds sweet, doesn't it?

Know what I got?

A bad case of chiggers!!!!

What the heck is a chigger, I had never heard of a chigger!

(Any of various small, six-legged larvae of mites of the family Trombiculidae, parasitic on insects, humans, and other vertebrates. The chigger's bite produces a wheal that is usually accompanied by severe itching. Also called chigoe, harvest bug, harvest mite, jigger2, red bug.)

Gnawing, biting, itchy little critters is what they are!

I was miserable for weeks.

 (Well maybe not for weeks, I am a bit of a drama queen).

Don't even know what happened to that picture.

Anyway,

Every time I see a family, with their cute little girl, dressed in her Sunday best,

out taking her picture in the wildflowers, I think to myself,

YOU'RE GONNA BE SORRY!!!

So, keep my story in mind if you have a hankering 

to have your picture taken in a field of wild flowers!!!

So,

 this weekend is,
 "The Bluebonnet Arts & Craft Festival"

where tens of thousands of people (said so on the visitor bureau's website)

come to pick up maps of the trails and purchase bluebonnet related stuff.

I have bluebonnet related stuff....
I carry a bluebonnet soap.

I guess you know where I'll be spending the next two days.
(Booth # 9 if you want to come visit me).

We always do well at this show

and,

 there really are a lot of visitors

 and,

 since it's in my home town,

it's a no brainer!

Soap Display

Time to label some soap and pack the totes.
(Oh no, the rhyming thing again).

See you'all Monday!
Bonjour