Eighty-four degrees on arrival after eleven hours on the road. Heavy storms here yesterday. Pleasant, rustic "cottage" in old town LRock.
We are on the balcony upper right
Wisteria wandering wantonly.
Pax still lifting his right rear, but we all remain hopeful.
Tomorrow there has to be a change of season. Summer here, reports of snow and ice at the cabin on Pickerel Lake. Somewhere in between the twain must twist.
Winding down in Rockport. A couple of crab cakes and lemonade at Moondogs. Dinner at Paradise Key...flounder, snapper, shrimp.
Kids are not allowed to climb the trees in Moondogs
The flats ( Intercoastal Waterway)
Pax has not had the best vacation. The minute he stepped out of the car on arrival he took off after a cat and came back limping. He's been on a short leash ever since. It looks like he is improving, but progress is slow.
Steady light rain requiring occasional stops to clear the windscreens.
At the outset
White Chinese orchid tree
Pink Chinese orchid tree
A liveaboard
Traditional dinner at Comales
What could possibly pollinate a Chinese orchid tree? I'd say bird or bat.
Living aboard a small boat has romantic appeal, but I suspect is more enjoyable in the breach than the observance.
To Port Aransas and Mustang Island for a walk on the beach and lunch (oysters and shrimp, of course). Somewhat later Sue dropped my bike and me off at Memorial Park, and I enjoyed an eleven mile ride back home. Rockport is a great place to ride, even though the city does almost nothing to encourage it.
ON the ferry
Offshore oil rig in for repairs
Port A breakwater in the distance
Oysters coming ashore in Fulton.
Bike ride
Intense sun and a hot north wind. Easter dinner with J & ME's friends Eileen and Vester.
...but after breakfast at Rosita's and dinner at Captain Benny's it's hard to know what.
...barbeque, and basketball.
And I'm just getting started.
Snny and perfectly pleasant.
Long drive. Multiple accidents witnessed. Two and a half hours getting through Houston. (Note to self: never again.) But to Rockport at last, and awaiting us for dinner freshly-caught drum sprinkled with neighborhood-grown lemon.
Pax is enjoying his old stamping grounds.
Six lanes down to two, then an accident reducing two to one. Over an hour getting around that.
Hike to the top of the mountain. Lunch at the Magazine Mountain Lodge overlooking Petit Jean valley and river far below. Dinner in Paris--bbq and catfish.
The very rustic cottage.
View from the heights.
From Whitewater to Magazine, Arkansas.
Last two hours twisting through the Ozarks. Stiff headwinds all day--at the moment roaring through some surrounding pines.
Now sitting on the deck of a very rustic cabin 2.5 miles down a gravel road. A fine view of the highest point between the Alleganies and the Rockies.
Pleasant day. Mostly sunny, chilly, but with a moderate SW breeze.
Pax got a good brushing, a bath, a long walk, another brushing, nail clipping, a bike ride, and some preventative medicinal treatments. Now he's nervous, because of all that, and from seeing suitcases hauled to the car. I think he smells Texas.
The tall dead grasses in the prairie rustle loudly even in a slight wind. All burned off last year. Again this year? Surely things are greening up down below.
Pretty chilly going downhill and up wind, but still highly enjoyable.
This morning, in honor of Sue's actual birthday, we followed our usual routine and went out for breakfast at the very unassuming, but still very good, Parkview Restaurant in Milton, where, in deference to the large number of people in a small space, we shared a table with two omelet aficionados. On the way there we listed, or rather tried to list, all the places to eat in Rockport that we hope to revisit. Even forgetting some, it looks like at least two meals a day will have to be eaten out.
Lots of robins in the neighborhood, working hard to keep the earthworm population in check. In one small patch of parkland I counted 18 of them, clearly focused on the job.
With the kids in Fox Point while the parents attended a school. Foundations fundraiser.
The weather continues cool.
Cloudy and cool. The initial spring explosion has been tamped down, and now things are progressing at a more natural pace.
After all, it's still March, and March means crocus, squill, and basketball.
A bright, cool day with a slowly diminishing wind.
Creek over its banks and moving fast.
Afternoon in Oconomowoc with the girls, followed by dinner and a little un-birthday party for Mimi.
Heavy thunderstorms last night. Rain this morning. Wind this afternoon. Lots of wind. Gusts so strong they've blown the fir right off the fir trees and the wood right out of the dogwoods.
And talk about gusts! I don't really understand them. You can hear a roar off to the right and see the trees bent in half. Then a roar off to the left and the trees bent double. And then, a few moments later. you're blown away. How does the wind get so chunky? What gives the gusts their chutzpah?
I think Lakes Michigan and Huron collected a lot of water over the past 24.
...No, just half a dozen red-wings contesting squatting rights at a little pond.
It's loud and raucous, with lots of displaying, but no sucker punches. About half a dozen of these guys are trying to stake claim to this insignificant retention pond. In my opinion it's not worth the fuss, and the losers are almost certain to find someplace better.
Light rain, followed by a heavy downpour of about half an hour's duration, followed by sun, followed by clouds. Even a rumble of thunder off in the distance.
This will green the grass.
A short, well edited video of the Nite Nationals. Lots of shots of Wombat (red, #10) with Bri at the helm; and a fun shot of Solstice (yellow, #165) with Tony at the helm hiking up while rounding the weather mark.
Vi will be keeper of the seeds.
If things go well, we should be able to harden them off and plant them out sometime in June.
The radicle is the proto root. Chestnuts have long tap roots, so the starting containers need to be tall.
Steady rain all day. Chilly. What might be expected in early spring, in fact better than what could be.
