Baby mocks are back!

They're back! The mockingbirds are back this year and nesting in the crepe myrtle in the front yard. I love it when I hear them making noise for food. Let me back up a bit. First, I really enjoy the nest building activity. It's so amazing to me that little bits and pieces of wood are weaved together somehow into a nest that is sturdy enough to hold three babes and the mom. The nest is up high so I couldn't see how the eggs were doing. I was happy when I finally heard the babies making sounds.



Yesterday I got all excited and a little worried. Why? Because I saw one of the babies in the rosemary bush underneath their nest. So I was all happy because I knew it was a chance to see a baby. BUT I did not want Smokey finding it down there. Yikes. I saw evidence of another grown mockingbird done in out back so I worried for the little birdy in the bush. I don't know if it survived or not but I didn't see a little body around the yard so that's a good sign. And below is a picture of the momma bird watching me as I hovered near her little one. She didn't swoop down on me or anything. Nice.

Bees & Spiders

Here is a shot of us out at the country beeyard. My sister-in-law and nephew are checking out one of the two big spiders "guarding" our bees. It's a little difficult to see but you can spot the spider if you look at the yellow part of Renee's veil. it almost looks like the spider is on her veil since you all cannot see the spider web.

Spider, Man!

Last weekend we took some family members out to see the bees in the country (near the New Berlin exit). We had a blast and the kids such a great job - they were so brave and really were not nervous after a little bit. Everyone got to sample a bit of honey and our nephew announced, "That's so sweet!" Very nice and cute.

Mark spotted two amazing spiders, each on one end of the beeyard. They are HUGE!!! I'm not brave about all animals but spiders don't bother me too much so I was okay getting close to them to get some shots. They look very similar and were pretty mesmerizing. Didn't see any bee bodies in the webs so that's a good thing. :)

Rainbow Prettiness

Two weeks ago, we got about an inch of wonderful rain. Then, last week we got another inch and a half! Gosh, it was so refreshing to hear and see the storms. Lightening, thunder, rain, wind. Nice. I wish we could see more of it. The news folks just said we have had 22 days of 100+ days this year now, with more in the forecast. Hot is one thing. It's Texas. It's hot. But the drought is really terrible. The fields continue to look pretty bad and I often wonder how the poor farming folks are going to make it.

One evening after dinner, Mark called me out to the back deck to see something and this is what I saw. It was nice that he hollered bring the camera also. :) He knows a good shot when he sees one. Do you see the lighter rainbow above the main one? Double rainbow...very nice and not often seen. I did darken this shot so that I could see the rainbows better. Below is the original shot I snapped.

Happy 4th of July!

Another blazing hot day in South Texas -- I heard it was 103F today. Good grief! I hope everyone's had a nice weekend so far. I have really enjoyed the long weekend, very relaxing. There's a lot going on around town since Freedom Fiesta is in full swing. We noticed the carnival in down on the square this year; it was neat to see the rides down there in the middle of everything. The parade was this morning but we skipped it for the Transformers instead. We've been to and worked plenty of parades so the escape was fun. Very good movie if you like action.

Oh, I hear the fireworks now. :) Going to check out a few of them...we can see a bit of it from our street. Enjoy Sunday!

R-A-I-N

If you are not located here in South Texas, you might not understand why I am posting about rain. It's been very, very hot here lately. Tonight, the weather man said that we broke our 1990 record of triple digit heat! And it's expected to continue for another 2 days or so. I believe we're at 11 or 12 days straight. Everything is brown and dry. The dust is pretty heavy and we are wilting away here! BUT....

We had a huge thunderstorm this evening during dinner time! It was wonderful to see the water coming down from the sky. I think it rained for about twenty minutes or maybe thirty even. And there was huge cracks of thunder and a bit of lightning along with a snappy wind to blow the trees and rain sideways a bit. Very exciting to watch. So we watched after dinner. And I tried to snap some pictures without getting my camera wet. This is our sidewalk out front. I liked the way the water makes it looks gelatinous.

Blooming in the Heat

I don't know how anything can bloom in this insane heat, but I am happy to see this cotton field, which can be found next to the Home Depot along IH-10 near Austin Street exit. We drove by last week to check on the field because it is within the 3-mile radius the bees fly so we were looking to see if any bees were there. Sure enough, we are happy to report there were bees. Now, we can only hope they are our bees from the backyard. :)



This is the best looking cotton field around the area, as you can tell by the healthy looking leaves and blooms. There are many other cotton fields in this area but they are looking pretty pitiful due to the drought we are in still. It is so hot and dry out here, it's amazing. We've had many three digit heat days and there's been so little rain to provide relief. It's all so dry, so brown, so crunchy. The heat is so oppressive, you simply don't want to go outside even.

Hospital Revisited

Remember a couple of weeks ago when Mark took me to the Guadalupe Regional Medical Center for my bee sting? Well I returned the favor. :) This past week has been pretty exciting and exhausting and I don't really want to focus on what happened though I will say that Mark is at home now and recuperating just fine. Thank you for everyone's well wishes and prayers; we really appreciate it!

Here he is, getting a heart ultrasound while at the hospital. That was really cool to see his heart in action (it's fine, by the way)! Everytime you see red flashes, the technician told us it was blood being pumped into his heart. Cool. And yes, I asked Mark if he'd mind if I took pictures. :) And believe it or not, this was the only time I took pictures during the week's main event. I was a bit distracted, lol.

This is what I really want to say about the hospital here in Seguin: it is GREAT! Well, it's really the people working there. You know, you hear about ER and hospitals and usually it's not so positive. But given that we were stressed and scared, it was the best place and the greatest help we could have asked for in our opinion. The staff was amazing and simply wonderful. Everyone from the ER to the nursing staff that cared for Mark AND me while we were there. I really felt like they created a safe place for us while we dealt with all the tests and uncertainty.

So here's a great big THANK YOU to the Guadalupe Regional Medical Center. You all are wonderful and we really appreicate you and all you did for us!

Happy Father's Day

I hope everyone is enjoying this special day and that you are also surviving the heat. :) We were very happy to have Melissa join us for church this morning and then we took Mark to lunch. It's been a wonderful day and now I'm off to call my dad.

Wesley Harper United Methodist Church

Last night Mark presented another talk on his book during the Juneteenth celebration at Wesley Harper United Methodist on Court Street. We had a very nice crowd join us and I never tire of listening to and watching Mark talk about his research. What is really nice is that everyone has really been wonderfully accepting and very interested in the book. Sometimes people ask if we have encountered any negative reactions since this IS about slavery. The answer is, we have not. It doesn't seem to matter the skin color of the reader, they just want to know about their/our history. And Seguin's history. It has been a truly wonderful to experience this whole adventure with Mark.



We also had musical performers for the evening: The Lampkin Family Gospel Group. Talk about beautiful. We first heard them during a musical program at Second Baptist Church a few years ago and we loved them! I was sooooo excited when I saw that they were on the program along with Mark as well as a young artist from Seguin, Howard Crunk (Howard displayed several beautiful pieces of his paintings and wood sculptures). If you have not heard of the Lampkins and you enjoy gospel music, then you should definitely check them out. They have two CDs out (available at Hastings) and they also brought home an award from the 2009 San Antonio Gospel Music Awards! The Seguin paper did a story back in May on the family, which you can read here. If you'd like to hear some of their music, search for their MySpace page and check out "God is Good." I love that one. :)

Sky Light Watch

...and a trip to the Guadalupe Regional Medical Center. So I thought this would fit with the theme since it IS a shot of a sky. :)

Last weekend Mark took me to the emergency room because my bee sting had gotten worse by Sunday morning. You know, this lovely sky shot really brightened the ER and it made me feel better because it is so cheerful and healthy looking. I thought it was a very nice touch to add to the ceiling. That's right; it's on the ceiling! It also made the space feel bigger. As a matter of fact, our little hospital is going through some rather extensive construction and so far, everything is looking super! I can't wait to see what the hospital will look like. There is a lot of glass in the design so I'm sure it will be very modern.



Here I am sitting and waiting for the PA to fix me. I am only smiling because of two things:

1. That HUGE contraption behind me. Really, I felt like it was this creature that was going to zap me or something. It loomed there...ever present. They didn't use it on me; I guess that is good. I just had to have a picture of it.
2. After I got my steroid shot, there was not much to smile about, that's for sure. I have gotten those shots before and I do not recall it being painful! It was not the needle going in or coming out. It was about one minute AFTER I got the injection that I felt the stabbing pain where I received my medication. Wow. Don't get me wrong. I appreciated the relief. But still!

So, about the bee sting. This is my second sting and I'm not sure why I reacted so differently since the first sting was no big deal. My hand swelled and itched like crazy. It was at least twice the size of my left hand and it looked WEIRD. All poofy. Also, I had to have antibiotics because it looked like it might have been getting infected. The Benadryl did NOT help the itching nor did it knock me out so I could sleep. I learned a good lesson: gear up from now on to check on the bees! :)

Local Author Book Signing

:) It's Mark! Last Thursday Mark had his first official book signing and I made it in time to catch the last few minutes of his talk and then I worked the purchasing table. The books are moving pretty swiftly and the publisher even spoke with Mark about buying some back...interesting! I am so happy for Mark because he enjoys talking with folks about the book. Saturday we went to drop copies off at Hastings, a local book/music/movie store, and while he was waiting to do paperwork, I strolled around looking at the books. Next thing you know, a "fan" was chatting him up and he signed her book for her. Sweet. I loved it.

Garden Update

I haven't talked about our garden so I wanted to give an update. It was late but we're beginning to really enjoy some harvested veggies lately. Above, Mark put hay around the garden and that has helped them plants retain some moisture these days. We are ranging from 98F to 101F degrees. Ugh. HOT! Below is a shot I really like of the green beans. I love the dainty white flowers but it's always hard for me to get a great shot of them. I'm glad I got this one, which includes a new green bean coming along as well.



Here's one of our yellow squash plants, doing pretty well! I love to saute these when we have pork chops, baked chicken or fish. They have a wonderful flavor I don't taste when we get them from the grocery store.



Here are some other veggies we have this week. Tastes wonderful! The zuchinni was served with some baked basa catfish and rice. Going to put the bell pepper in a stew we're going to do in a few days. The tomatoes went on top of some nachos we made for dinner. We have more green beans to pick so we can have that with more baked chicken. :)

Moo Jesus Ranch Dairy

Since this is my first post in a WEEK, you get a big one! This past weekend, we had a wonderful visit from Mark's mom, dad, uncle and aunt. We headed out to the Moo Jesus dairy farm, which is only about twelve miles from our house. Who knew such a neat place was that close!?! I loved the experience!



The drive out there was very beautiful and peaceful. Once you're there, Gina greets you with a big, beautiful smile and a very warm welcome. She told us all about how natural foods help our bodies and we even sampled many of the cheeses they make there -- my favorite is the jalapeno cheese (we bought some!). After that, her husband Edward tours us around the property on our modern day wagon. It was nice to have the shade overhead as it was quite warm on Saturday.



Once we got back to the main area, we took a breather in the restaurant and waited for lunch. We even got to sample some fresh milk (super wonderful) and a drink that I can't recall the name of but it had beet and cayenne in it. Way too sweet for me but I'm glad I tried it.



On our way back home, we drove by El Capote Ranch since Mark's family and I have never seen it. The Capote has a rich history -- better told by Mark so I won't butcher it here. You can Google but you can also check the Texas Handbook. This is a wonderful day trip for the family. I highly recommend it!

Sorry about not posting at all for an entire week! I'm not sure I'm going to be any better anytime soon so my apologies for this weird period where there are infrequent posts. Work is really draining my time and my mind to be honest with you so when I am traveling every week, I get all caught up in what's going on right now. I hope things will settle down a bit and when they do, I should be able to once again enjoy photography and posting for you. Meanwhile, be patient with me!

Note: all these shots were taken with my Blackberry! Not bad, right? I couldn't believe my camera battery was DEAD. Not even one shot. Oh well.

Baby Bluejay

Last week Mark and I heard a great big bird commotion outside, I mean it was LOUD! So we went to check the action. I saw a Bluejay and it was squaking (or whatever the official Bluejay sound is called) like there was no tomorrow. And wouldn't you know it, there was Smokey, sitting nearby along the fence, looking suspicious (to me anyway). I went over to see if Smokey had anything to do with the fuss and the answer was y-e-s. Oh my goodness, he was sitting right next to this poor little baby and it looked scared to death! He wasn't on it; he wasn't biting it; he was simply there. About eight inches away from the bird, maybe less. So I snatched up Smokey and put him in the house so that the birds could settle down and hopefully fly off.

It didn't look like baby was hurt, probably just stunned, and it had trouble flying but it tried. In the picture below, you can see the zoomed out shot of where it took sanctuary after escaping Smokey's clutches. The parent bird is up on top of the fence, coaxing it. I think Bluejays are vey beautiful and unique looking birds, but they sure do make a lot of noise. Especially if they are feeling threatened. :)



My mom used to garden while we lived in NC and there was a Bluejay that would swoop down on her even though its nest was not near our yard at all. My mom would try to talk to it and tell it she wasn't bothering them but she wasn't going anywhere either. I don't know why, that memory has stayed with me a long time.

Sky Watch Friday

So I barely got in a second post this week but I've been wanting to share this one for Sky Watch (be sure to check out other cool sky shots!). Lately we have had a few storms rolling through and that is always a welcome weather event! I got several really neat shots of this sky activity when i was coming back from the Target in New Braunfels, which is about 15 minutes west/north-west of Seguin, along IH-35. I was so mezmorized by the clouds and color that I just parked and watched. I love storms. The color and clouds changed pretty rapidly so I just snapped away. I tried the panaramic setting but didn't get it right. I really want to practice that setting more. And I need to remember my tripod clip. :)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Kicking Off the New Week

I have a presentation I'm working on for tomorrow so no time to upload pictures I took this weekend. Instead, let me at least share another one I liked when I snapped the Esperanza. My friend liked the colors of the shot and so do I. The sky turned a blue that made me think of a card, not true blue but still lovely to look at.

I hope everyone had a nice holiday today. We really enjoyed having an extra day together. I hope you have a wonderful week ahead!

Bee in the Esperanza

This year our Esperanza bush finally came back on its own without my having to prune it back, which is what I've been hoping it would do for a while now. We have actually been lucky enough to receive a little bit of rain here and there this year though we're still in drought. It is, however, still nice and green around here and there is some food for the bees. Still, we could use more. After work one day last week, Mark told me the bees were getting into the Esperanza so I tried to catch a few shots. They were such busy bees, it was hard to snap them but I do like the way this one turned out.

Tomorrow is a holiday so we have it off from work in order to observe Memorial Day in honor of our servicemen and servicewomen. I am grateful for them since I wouldn't be here in this great country had it not been for the people who helped us in Vietnam and then our sponsor helping us out of Vietnam. Not a day goes by that I don't realize how different my life could have been and I know that I am truly blessed.

Caterpillar Comes to Seguin

We're all very happy that Caterpillar is bringing operations to Seguin! The land is being prepared and it looks pretty impressive each time I pass by going to and coming from work. Before I left for North Carolina, there were two homes still up and plenty of trees so that you couldn't see IH-10 from Kingsbury/Hwy 90. I am gone a week and a half and it's all changed! It's exciting to see the new changes around town. Across from here, the Breismeister Middle School is also undergoing some growth construction.

We're Home & So Are Mark's Books

We're back!!! And it is so wonderful to be home after ten whole days away. We are both feeling refreshed and ready to tackle things we need to do. But first...

Mark's books arrived finally!!! I was so hoping to see them before I left for NC but it wasn't meant to be. But they are here now and I am so, so happy for Mark to get his first book on the topic published already! It's so cool to stack the books up and flip through them, knowing that he pulled together all the information...and to think about all the stories to be told about those people listed. It's truly amazing. It's also a very interesting look into what life was like for Seguinites back during the 1840s through 1865. The publisher (Janaway Publishing) did a fantastic job on the format and look of the book. We really appreciated that they spent more money in order to make sure the old documents and photographs came out great. And now Mark's going to start a lecture and signing tour -- he's got a couple of "gigs" lined up so I'll keep you posted on where he'll be. [By the way, thank you to those of you who have ordered copies and others who have called or spoken with us about buying a copy from us. We really appreciate your interest and support. :)]

You can also check out Mark's blog because I believe he's going to post about the book this week also. :) Congratulations, honey. I am SO proud of you!!