Friday Five: April Showers Bring May Flowers

Recently having driven from Corpus Christi to Houston to Austin and back to Corpus Christi, Texas, we saw the effects of rain and drought on the byways. South Texas is in a severe drought situation, but the route between Houston and Austin was graced with some recent rainfalls so that wildflowers were abundant. Otherwise, there were few to be seen.

With the old adage "April showers bring May flowers," let's look at the weather and vegetation in our home areas to see if any May Flowers will be blooming.

1. What spring flowers and plants do you see? Or will see sometime in the future?
When I was in Seattle last month I saw daffodils which I love! Unfortunately, none grow here in south TX.

The biggest harbinger of spring for me are the greening of the leaves on the mesquite trees, which are so bright at first.

2. What kinds of weather are you experiencing in April?
This is the end of the pleasant times of year in TX--usually with high temperatures in the 80's. We have been unusually fortunate, because we are still getting a cold front to reach us each week. Our last one until October will hopefully get here next week.

3. What are the stereotypical harbingers of spring in your area? How about where you grew up?
Wildflowers in TX, though this year has seen few because of the drought.

Daffodils and crocus came up in Washington State in the spring.


4. What season do you like best in your home area?
The best time of year in south TX is from November to March or April, which is why there are so many "Winter Texans." These times of year remind me of Bellingham, WA summer days.

5. What is sprouting or blooming in your life? What do you wish for?
I am feeling empowered by a book I just finished reading: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg.

I am so impressed by this book that I have bought a copy of it for each of my four children. The author is a New York Times investigative reporter who has done a great deal of research about brain science and events that have happened in the past to illustrate why they occurred or how they were changed. It is so interesting!

The stories are interesting and give examples of different types of habits or routines. I learned how the American population was changed in the last century to become a nation of tooth-brushers! Dental hygiene was not important for most people before that. There are stories of individuals, businesses, movements, and churches.

I am hoping to become more aware of some habits I would like to change and do exactly that!

Friday Five: What I Like about Summer in Texas

Floating on Guadalupe River in New Braunfels, TX

Mary Beth brings today Friday Five for RevGalBlogPals:

What are five things that you REALLY REALLY REALLY like about the current season where you live?  

 Summer where I live is my least favorite time in Texas, but it's the longest "season" here, encompassing more than half the year.

The picture to the right of floating on the Guadalupe River is a dreamed-about activity of most south Texans. Unfortunately, our family did not ever do this with our children, because it was foreign to us coming from Washington State. We also were in the mind frame of only vacationing in Washington, where it is much cooler. I'm sorry that we didn't take our children for this activity, except several times to the Schlitterbahn waterpark in New Braunfels.

Okay, I'll try to think of five things I like about summer here:

1. Hanging clothes on the clothesline that dry very quickly.

2. School vacations, though that will not pertain to me as much with our youngest child MJ graduating from college last month. We won't be waiting around for the kid(s) to be free from school.

3. Less formal commitments for teaching and attending church classes.

4. All the fruit and berries available, especially the cherries!

5. My oldest son DC's birthday and husband CB's birthday in July, at the beginning and end of the month.

**The most anticipated part of our summer is to take a trip to Washington State to visit CB's family and our daughters AE and KA. We are going in August!!**

and, for a bonus:

Something you are looking forward to about another season?

I really look forward to the time when cold fronts will push this far south (to the Gulf of Mexico), because they bring cooler temperatures and less humidity. That usually starts happening in October, which is why September is my most hated month in Texas (I grew up where it was coolish when school started in September and that seems "right.") Then we often have "Washington summer" weather occurring in the winter months here, which is why there are so many "Winter Texans."  

Reverence for Reading

I love to read and think it is an important activity for everyone. Bonnie at Bonnie's Books posted about a book that I've never heard of before: 366 Meditations to Cultivate a Productive and Meaningful Writing Life ~ by Fred White, 2008. I really like what she posted from White's book, which I am copying below:

"The Daily Writer: 366 Meditations to Cultivate a Productive and Meaningful Writing Life ~ by Fred White, 2008, writing

"From getting in a creative frame of mind to maintaining good writing habits to breaking through writer's block, this helpful guide is every writer's key to developing the discipline, focus and dedication needed to become successful."

"My friend Donna actually bought this book, but she suggested we could do the writing prompts together and read what the other said. That sounds interesting to me, so I took a look at the book this evening. The 366 in the title refers to days of the year, with February 29 included. I found this book-related meditation on the page for January 5:

Reverence for Books and Reading


"One cannot become a good writer without being a good reader. After all, since writers create reading, they learn to appreciate the range of quality and content that makes reading so rewarding. In order to develop such appreciation, writers must read widely and deeply."





I think reading is so important that I have a TX license plate for my car that reads:
READ TO SUCCEED!

Spring in Corpus Christi, Texas

Bright, bright green leaves on the mesquite trees herald spring here.

Spring in south Texas is short and sweet; it is almost over already. The temperatures are so much like summer-days in Bellingham, WA that I feel deja vu. But now the humidity keeps rising, as do the temperatures; sadly, few cold fronts are getting through--soon they won't at all.

So before going to Spain tomorrow, I wanted to post some Texas spring pictures, which I have now deleted from my camera (along with Avery's) so I'll have a lot of room for all the images I record in Spain!

New green leaves on my live oak tree 2010 Christmas present from my kids!

Another sign of spring here is live oak pollen.
It piles up on roads, sidewalks, driveways, and
other places like the angel statue friends gave me for my 50th birthday.

My Christmas poinsettia is also going to be my "Easter poinsettia."

Soon it will be too hot for pansies to grow here.
They are spring/winter plants in south Texas.

Maisie excitedly looks for birds and squirrels,
as well as geckos in the other direction.

CB's tomato plants, which are the new ones, proteced by two fences.
Maisie kept digging them up.

Texas and guns

Doesn't this image startle you? It seems to be the image many Texans endorse with the prospective law (in the Texas Senate) that concealed weapons may be carried by students and professors on university campuses. More than half the members of the Texas House have signed on as co-authors of a measure directing universities to allow concealed handguns. And probably most of those members of the Texas House are "Christians."

Christians or not, it is ridiculous and stupid to allow students and professors to carry weapons on campus (and elsewhere). For protection? Or for a "final say" in a dispute? Adolescent fury coming forth at the drop of a hat?

It doesn't help that Texas has a governor who likes to shoot off his mouth and guns.

In this April 15, 2010 file photo, Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry fires a six shooter filled with blanks as NASCAR driver Colin Braun looks on at an event in downtown Fort Worth, Texas. Texas is preparing to give college students and professors the right to carry guns into their classrooms, adding momentum to a national campaign to open up another prominent part of society to firearms. (AP Photo/Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Rodger Mallison, File)

"University of Texas President William Powers has opposed concealed handguns on campus, saying the mix of students, guns and campus parties is too volatile.

"Guns occupy a special place in Texas culture. Politicians often tout owning a gun as essential to being Texan. Concealed handgun license holders are allowed to skip the metal detectors that scan Capitol visitors for guns, knives and other contraband.

"Guns on campus bills have been rejected in 23 states since 2007, but gun control activists acknowledge it will be difficult to stop the Texas bill from passing this year. "Things do look bleak," said Colin Goddard, assistant director of federal legislation for the Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence, who was in Austin recently to lobby against the Texas bills."

Go here for the rest of the article.

Also, Dating God blog has a more inspirational take on "Guns and Christianity."

Wildflowers Galore!

The drive to Austin yesterday and back to Corpus Christi today was breathtakingly beautiful with all the wildflowers in bloom. We were most surprised to find more growing along I-37 than on the side roads we took to Austin on Friday. It seemed like Easter driving back this afternoon, only to be shrouded in fog when we got to Corpus Christi--which is more indicative of the day before Easter.

bluebonnets

Indian Paintbrush

Wildflowers are blooming all along the roads

CB and Jan at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, TX

Texas wildflowers (and daffodils!)

All the rains we had this winter and spring have brought forth flowers in south Texas that we have not seen for the past few years of drought. It has stayed cooler longer and so they are plentiful, especially my pansies.

Pansies in front of the fence that Maisie and Cisco like to dig under.

The first daffodils I've ever seen growing in TX (in the ground)!
A neighbor about a block away has 10-12 scattered in her front yard.

When I went to Sandia yesterday to visit LP, she drove me around to look at the wildflowers.

This is the view from one side of LP's house.

Next weekend we're visiting DC and his wife AA in Austin, so maybe we'll see more bluebonnets and other wildflowers.

Tuesday Trivia

I thought I'd post "pious" writings about Lent, but that's not coming about. . . .So here's the trivia of my life:

• Tuesdays continue to be busy with two classes and then CB teaching chemistry for nursing students on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

• The morning class is the Wisdom Class, where we are reading But I Tell You by Karen Oberst, which is about the Beatitudes. Today our meditation was this, including the cartoon. This afternoon is EFM, and I am in the third year about the development of Christianity. Now we're on the Protestant Reformation.

• My son DC just called to tell me that it is snowing in Austin. It is unusually cold again. Here in Corpus Christi, it is raining and is only 47 degree F. while the normal high temperature for this time of year is 68 degrees F.

• Sandy Casey-Martus, our priest, is on a bus trip around the state of Wyoming with the five other Bishop candidates for that Episcopal Diocese. The election for the Wyoming Bishop is on March 20.

• DC and his wife AA are coming to visit us this weekend, along with their bulldog Sampson. I hope Sampson and Maisie will play as much as I am imagining. Maisie needs a more active playmate than Baillie and Cisco.

• MJ might come home, too. She wants to see how big Maisie is. I think she also wants us to see her hair, which she dyed reddish to a more auburn color. From the picture she emailed us, MJ looks nice; I am eager to see her in person!

• For the last two batches of soup I have made, I have added a bag of broccoli cole slaw at the last minute. I also diced sweet potato when I did not have enough white potato.
  

Memorial Day Weekend

For this Memorial Day weekend our TX children are here. Today DC and his wife AA arrived with their bull dog Sampson. BJ got here on Thursday night with hyper dog Troy, who is staying with us while BJ spends the weekend at a house on the beach with seven friends. Troy is running and running around our backyard, barking at the birds he sees flying overhead.

Tonight we are going to a wedding. I will wear my "uniform," which is a long turquoise dress with a jacket. This is the fourth wedding I've worn it to this year. Since I haven't lost any weight, this is still the dress to wear!
We are having a few thunder showers, with infrequent rainfall. Last week when a thunderstorm came in, we had 1/3 inch of rain. Corpus Christi is in the worst stage of drought: D4 Exceptional Drought. A map of TX showing the drought conditions is here.

With hurricane season starting on June 1st, that may be the only way we'll get enough rain to lessen the drought. But we don't want a hurricane at all.

Friday Five: A Bug's Life

Sophia at RevGalBlogPals suggested a Friday Five about bugs. Thank you for such fun! I needed such squirmy distractions.

Mantis and Ant by Lou Romano

As I was walking the beach today, I was surprised and delighted to find it swarming with ladybugs. The sweet little red beetles are one of my favorite insects and also my daughter's blogname--though as of this morning she was thinking of changing it to Butterfly. I'll keep you posted.

This got me thinking about spiritual insect trivia: Did you know that medieval mystics and theologians esteemed the bee for its dedicated work and transformation of ordinary ingredients into sweetness? That Spider Woman is an important creator Goddess to many Native American tribes? Or that Francis of Assisi was reminded of Jesus not only by lambs being led to slaughter, but also by worms (think "I am a worm and no man" from the Psalms)-- so he picked them up and took them out of stomping-vulnerable spots?!

In that spirit, this week's Friday Five is a magical mystery tour through God's garden of creepy crawlies!

1. Ladybugs or ladybirds? Pillbugs or roly-polys? Jesus bugs or water skeeters? Any other interesting regional or familial name variations?
Ladybugs; roly-polys; nothing else. WA State is famous for slugs, but I don't see them here, oddly enough since TX is a humid greenhouse for all kinds of insects.

2. Stomp on spiders, carry them outside, or peacefully co-exist?
Depends on the size. I think I have been affected by seeing a man at a plumbing store way back in 1979, with a hugely swollen arm because of a bite from a brown recluse spider. Just having moved from WA State to TX, this frightened me!

3. Favorite insect?
Probably ladybugs, which are rarely seen here.

4. Least favorite?
I'm wavering between cockroaches and mosquitoes. All sorts of varieties of each live way down here in sub-tropical south TX. The most uncomfortable is when the 200+ varieties of mosquitoes hatch out, and it feels like this, especially when I go outside to hang clothes on the clothesline.

5. Got any good bug stories to share?
When I had a new baby back in 1979 and was nursing him in the middle of the night, I always had a large glass of water on the table next to the bed. A memorable early-morning event was when I reached for the glass, found a big waterbug cockroach in it, screamed and threw the glass up with water going all over the bed--little DC was crying and husband CB was wondering what all the wet, noisy ruckus was about.Waterbugs live outside but come inside sometimes--and they fly! They are sometimes 3 inches long. Yuck.

Bonus question: share a poem, song, quotation, etc. about insects.

By Ogden Nash:

God in his wisdom made the fly
And then forgot to tell us why.

Construction Layoffs (personal)

On Feb. 17, I started to write about my son DC's job as an assistant construction supervisor of a large apartment complex in Austin, TX, but I never finished it. That was the day that they learned that their large company was closing down all construction projects in Austin and Houston. DC learned that he would lose his job this September, when the project would be finished. (If you go back here, you can see a picture of an example of what he builds.)

Today he learned that their last day of work will be JUNE 24, whether the construction is done or not. (Totally unrelated to this is that the date was my dad's birthday.) Luckily, DC's wife AA has a good job that looks secure.

Rumors and fears are circulating: A friend told me about a luxury condo project being built on Broadway in San Antonio--it has gone up 14 floors, with the goal of 33. All construction is now stopped. The building will be sealed off until the economy improves. Mike in TX set me straight on this project, but told of another one that is failing in SA in the comments here.

It has taken awhile for the effects of the economic downturn to get to Texas.

Plus, there have been four cases of swine flu in our county (Nueces). We're not far from Mexico! There are six confirmed cases in the state of Texas.

How crazy it is in Texas!

I had to have my daughter in Seattle point out that Rick Perry, the TX governor with BIG hair, babbled about seceding from the union. He is ridiculous.

"Texas Gov. Rick Perry riled up the “anti-government protesters” at an Austin “tea party” rally Wednesday, said Michael Landauer in The Dallas Morning News. But later he uncorked some truly “over-the-top radicalism,” calmly suggesting to reporters that Texas might secede from the United States. People are angry, but stirring up the “Republic of Texas nuts” to potentially “dangerous levels” won't help."

And this shows Perry's clarity and eloquence:

"There's a lot of different scenarios," Perry said. "We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that."

The rest of the article is here.