Wednesday, April 3, 2019

in search of 'the best year in a decade' for wildflowers


It has warmed up and spring is shaking the small mean dog of winter off its ankle. Overcast though and threatening rain without actually giving us any so I'm back on my watering schedule.

Yesterday though my sister and I drove to Bastrop in the hill country to wander the old downtown which had a gallery and an assortment of cute little shops the last time we were there several years ago, 'had' being the operative word here. No little art/craft gallery, no cute little shops unless you consider arty clothing shops cute. There was an 'art' center off the beaten path that was more like an upscale interior decorator's shop/gift shop where I did not see a single thing made by an actual person. What the old town strip did have though was restaurants, bars, and grills with four in a row on one block and at least two on each side of the others. We had lunch and then headed back to a place that advertised itself as a bakery which turned out to be just cookies and one plate of small cupcakes. My sister bought a big chocolate chip cookie and as we walked out she pronounced it stale unless they cooked it crisp all the way through on purpose. She broke off a little piece for me which I nibbled and it was really pretty terrible but then I'm not a big cookie fan and the cookie ended up in the dumpster.


The main purpose of our day trip was not necessarily the destination but a drive through the hill country to see what the news had been saying was a banner year for wildflowers. Well perhaps it is but not between us and Bastrop. While we did see patches of red indian paintbrush, blue bluebonnets, yellow coreopsis, 


and pink evening primrose 


(though mostly indian paintbrush) and plenty of yellow/orange acacia trees in bloom we did not see the fields and hillsides blanketed in color which is what we were expecting. The field behind me is better than anything we saw. 


What we needed I guess was an estate sale out in the middle of nowhere that took us on lonely country backroads to get there.

We didn't consider the day a waste or failure as it was a pretty day and it was nice to get out of the house and on the way we stopped at Old World Antieks (yes, that's how they spell it), always worth stopping for and deserves it's own post.





14 comments:

  1. Best of all, you spent time with your sister, with whom you share history and can be entirely at ease. Or so it seems. It is lovely to have such a sister.

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  2. where you live!!! my god such hyperbole ! The sex organs of the botanical world , all out and proud! Lovely!

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  3. You have your sister, I have my kids. It's good to have family to do things with.
    I wish that Florida had more of a wildflower program. They are doing more with planting by the interstates but it's nothing in the world like your flowers.
    Antieks? Oh yes. Please.

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  4. I've never seen in person those sweeps of blooms I see pictured this year. That would be awesome, to quote any teenager who might look up from their hands. I think the "quaint" town centers that struggled back into existence at the end of the last century are gone; the money that was scraped together and put on credit cards to support them is gone. It's the story of my town, Peninsula, touted as the best little art town east of the Mississippi, and it was. So many artists, so many galleries. One of my favorite gallery owners and I once traded stories of making a fictitious sale to a fictitious customer and running a new personal credit card through the company terminal, in order to make payroll. He lives in Mexico now, and edits a U.S. fashion magazine. And I...

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    1. I didn't finish, I see. Now there is one gallery, not high end, but OK. The Chamber is trying to reinvent the town as a musical venue. It may work for awhile. We have lots of musicians around, like Ms. Moon's Lis. I suppose it's like a never ending chrysalis. Sometimes it's a butterfly, sometimes a moth.

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  5. Yeppers, Texas is showin her colors this spring. Such a lovely dress she has on too. I love when the wild flowers bloom here. Such an amazing colorful world.

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  6. Man, oh, man, do I love that first line! I could look at fields of wildflowers for hours. It is frustrating when bigger is deemed better and all the creative, wonderful quirks are drained out of a town. It happens way too often. I love sharing sister time, too, and am looking forward to more of it once the weather cooperates.

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  7. Gorgeous wild flowers. And that small mean dog, yes!

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  8. That 1st flower pic is gorgeous, love all of them.

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  9. That's the way it is now, very hard to find a "single thing made by an actual person".
    I'm glad that you at least go to be with your sister for the day and I would love to read the post about the Old World Antieks place.

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  10. I have been seeing wildflower posts all over and really want to put aside all my chores, meetings and obligations to go see stuff. Maybe Sunday!!

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  11. I love your reference to the "small mean dog of winter." If those are disappointing wildflowers, I can't imagine what an impressive display would look like! You get such great varieties of flowers there.

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  12. Well those are gorgeous pictures! It sounds like a lovely day.

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.