The first day of winter felt like anything but. Houston set records both for high temperature, with the mercury topping out at 82 degrees, and a high minimum, with Tuesday's low falling to a mere 68 degrees. The previous records were 81 degrees, set in 1970, and 67 degrees, set…
I Don’t Want To Be Your Friend Nor will I even bother to open an email without a subject line. OK, in fairness, I don’t use communications in general the way the 20-somethings (or less!) Facebook is trying to cultivate do; even with actual friends, my messages are more along…
AUSTIN — A heavy influx of new residents, many of whom are Hispanics, has Texas poised to gain more congressional seats than any other state, and Tuesday’s announcement of the exact number begins what figures to be a politically divisive process on how to divvy them up. via Texas to…
High End: Dinner Party or Special Wines 2009 Bota Box Malbec, Lodi, California ($20) This wine shattered the myth that a good Malbec has to come from Mendoza, Argentina. If you're serving braised or grilled meats, or any food with a spicy kick, this is a fantastic pairing. Concentrated blackberry,…
Last night I spent watching an old movie (1980's) I had never seen before. While the movie was playing I started musing about how home entertainment has changed in just one generation. In my youth, what we consider normal today was only installed in the homes of movie stars and…
I sat up last night in the field out behind my house. The cold clear sky was unusual for a peak night of a meteor shower. It is more normal to walk out on those nights and see the sky covered with clouds... But last night was beautiful. I had…
Here’s 42 must read coffee blogs, including some of my long time favorites and some new faces. I think I love reading about coffee, almost as much as I enjoy drinking about coffee. It allows me to looking into the world’s of professional barsita, learn what other average joe and…
I can't remember a year where the mornings have been so frosty...so early in the winter. What's up with this? Is it a sample of the winter to be. If it is, then I think I'll start dreaming about a white Christmas now...Like the one we had in 2004. The…
Yesterday's frost is today's dew. Where the back field was sheeted in white, it now twinkles in the sun like a field of diamonds. The morning temperatures are 15° warmer today already. By afternoon yesterday, we went walking down to the bayou. Me, #2 grandson and the girls. There was…
Frost On The Field This morning dawned with a coating of white in the field out back. The second frosty morning of this years trek into the cooler months. If this keeps up we may be facing another anomalous season coming. Two nights of frost before Christmas is already pushing past…
Blue Ridge Mountain Wild Turkey Chick Summer 2004 Here's wishing all of you a great day of Thanks Giving.
Goodness is the only investment which never fails. – Henry David Thoreau The above quote caught my eye in my morning email. I think it pretty well says it all as a way of living your life. It is also a way to live a life rich in ways that counting…
Almost two weeks ago I traveled into winter. On our first day in our rental cabin I had to shovel snow off the steps and porch just to let Sherry into the house. We spent our mountain time venturing down into autumn and up into winter. From bare trees on…
I didn't post anything after Friday morning because most of the time since was spent driving from place to place and then home...All with the beginnings of a nasty touch of a bug. A Floyd Friday Friday morning I relearned a lesson I learn every trip to the mountains. It always takes…
When widely followed public figures feel free to say anything, without any fact-checking, we have a problem. It becomes impossible for a democracy to think intelligently about big issues — deficit reduction, health care, taxes, energy/climate — let alone act on them. Facts, opinions and fabrications just blend together. But…
Yesterday we moseyed around till noon and then went to Linville for lunch before heading up Grandfather Mountain for the afternoon. This morning we are heading out early for a day trip into Virginia and meetings with some of my "Blog Buddies". So here is all I have to offer…
Road Trip Photos
We started our day taking the long way into Boone. We drove over Rich Mountain Road. This shot is from the highest point on the road as it passes between Rich Mountain Bald and Snake Mountain. From here it was all downhill. After spending some time on King Street in…
When I stopped to take this shot on the way back up to the cabin yesterday afternoon Sherry wanted to know why I took so many shots of the same scene...I think the result gives the answer. Earlier in the day we were traveling from Blowing Rock to Linville to…
All week long as we made our arrangements to drive to Valle Crucis the forecast coming from Ray was for a chance of snow showers at higher elevations on Saturday night. I had no hopes that the snow would be around when we arrived even if it came down at all...Guess what...Snow it did.…
Once I picked up the first book, I couldn't put it down...Luckily, I bought book two at the same time and when it was read they were releasing the hardback of book three at Amazon. So it was only a two day rest before I could finish the story. I…
If you haven't already...Please, go to the polls and vote. Vote your conscious, vote your beliefs, but, above all vote for the truth...I remember what that is...Do you?
After a long hot summer, you would expect the last week of October to be bringing on the cool...Not so much this year. Record heat is possible the next few days, but a cool down is expected later this week when a weak Pacific front pushes through the Houston region.…
For a couple of weeks now, this scene has caught my eye as I traveled between Alvin and Angleton. The grass heads were a bright pink in the sun. Each time I would want to stop and try to capture an image. Each time I didn't for one reason or…
How I managed to avoid Anderson Fair all these years is beside me. It makes no sense. All of the people I enjoy listening to seemed to grow up into national stars on that stage in that little barn of a building. Yet miss it I did. Now I hold out for…
This shot was taken yesterday in the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge. It shows the subtlety of fall colors on the SE Texas coast. We are finally seeing the goldenrod blooming along with the other yellow fall blooms. The trees themselves, are mostly yellow and green. Sitting at my kitchen table today every…
As I sit checking email with the house open to the nice morning cool I stumbled across this image this morning...via Fall Colors in the Allegheny Mountains : Image of the Day. I was hopeful that the color would be as slow to move southward down the mountains as it proved in 2007.…
When I first saw the subject of this years Blog Action Day I was a little dismayed. What could I, a blogger, say that hadn't been said already by better authors than I. I signed up anyway...I haven't missed a Blog Action Day since the concept was dreamed up. So I…
I love it when I stumble upon a new artist...This one via Suzanne of at home with the farmer's wife who led me to Na-Da Farm Life with Anne Marie. Blown away I was...Take a listen. https://youtu.be/WkYCtvy8CQw Zee Avi will be releasing her debut EP, One More Time With Colors, on…
