When I need encouragement...........I look at the Ocotillo that grows on the grounds and think upon this verse...............

"Don't grieve that your roses have thorns ...

Rejoice instead that your thorns have roses"

 

 

  A native plant of New Mexico and our area.

No matter how dry and harsh the times can be, the Ocotillo blooms and perseveres.  

 

How about you?

What do you find encouragement in?.................

Blossoms that spring forth under a foot of snow?.........or

the birth of a new baby.............'or the love in a pet's eyes?

I would love to hear!

The hot and high winds blow the dirt and dust

across the barren plowed cotton fields. The farmers are in much need of rain. We all are in need of

rain. The wind has been blowing so hard. It blew the back door open and half of the farmer's field blew into the floor of my laundry room.............I think I can plant onions there now..........

 

 

 even Gertrude is having a hard time hanging on to her dress and sweater.

I need to put a spring dress and apron on her..........

don't you think?

Maybe a hat to make her look a little more

happy?

It looks to be another harsh drought for us this year. The earth is sun baked and hard packed.

Yet, through it all................

life and beauty spring up.

The thorned crooked mesquite woods are now in their prettiest green of the year. The air has a sweet fragrance from their blooms.

 

The dry and wind tossed prairie is covered in wildflowers

 

filled with buzzing bees and gliding butterflies. There is a sweet honey- clover smell that carries off of  the blossoms and along in the wind.

I am hopeful that we might get some rain.............

yet, all around me,

ponds have dried up and local lakes are turning into mud holes.

It's  the Texas I have known all of my life.

How about you?

Are you enjoying the shower of a rain...............or are you still under a little snow?

Are you as dry as we are?

What is blooming in your back yard?

I would love to hear!

Hiding in the tall grass.................

I am a ferocious panther..........on the outside..........

 

lying in wait................

 

(Salem)

 

but on the inside.........I am a teddy bear!

 

 

It's Texas..........

( click on photos for a better view)

where the prickly tumbleweeds roll across the dry prairie

 

yet, the evening sky can make that same prairie look like a painting, filled with all soft and muted colors.

 

It's Texas where spiked barbed wire on old posts made from trees

 

still try to guard the forgotten farm home...........

and where a windmill waits in the fallen trees for the folks to return.

It's Texas, where the creatures are large, with large sharp horns..........

and are strange looking with sharp spikes...........

It's Texas, where every drop of water matters.............

It's Texas,

 where the wind blows a sweet fragrance of the wildflowers across the prairie

 

and acres of blue bonnets are in bloom.

It's dry, harsh, thorny and wild...........

 

It's beautiful..........

It's Texas.

 

 



The past few days have been so sunny and warm

that the patio flowers are in full bloom

(click on photo for a better view)

 

and large bees, and butterflies spend

their days drinking up the nectar

and buzzing in and out.

Large lady bugs are in and out of the Brussels sprouts in the garden.

I have experimented more with cement............making mosaic garden stones.

I used real tree limbs for the tree .

I call this piece,

the Autumn Tree

I have also started working with color in the cement. While watching a documentary on the Grand Canyon, I was in awe of the beautiful layers of color within the walls. This inspired me to make this planter..............

and I finally figured out how to make a drain hole! Now these containers are very useful in my garden decor.

I also want to make a path to the pond. I am going to make a stone pathway like the one I showed you a couple of posts back, without the flower mosaics. But in the middle, I want to stagger these fish. I think they will make a great and interesting walk out to the pond.

Don't you?

The weather turned damp and chilly today, but by Thursday, it will once again be warm.

How about you?

What's blooming in your garden?

Do you have and creatures buzzing or fluttering about the petals?

I would love to hear!