Self Care (July 2025)

 We took a little trip to Colorado with some friends and family. Mountain air and good music is the best kind of self care.

Our rental was sprawling and comfortable for the 8 of us.

Golden, CO tubing.

The Denver Botanical Gardens were beautiful.

There was a trailhead about 1/10 mile from our rental.

Red Rocks is always magical. Mumford and Sons provided a soundtrack for a beautiful evening.

Be Present (June 2025)

I've been trying to spend more time in town this summer; seeing and doing things offered locally. Here's some sights around home and my home town from June.

The Downtown Farmer's Market moved across the river earlier this year. While visiting one Saturday, I took the opportunity to capture two of our landmarks in one shot. The Waco Suspension Bridge was the first span across the Brazos and once the longest suspension bridge west of the Mississippi. The ALICO building in the background is famous also for once being the tallest building West of the Mississippi.

We've seen a lot of rain this summer, keeping the lakes and ponds full.

Our summer concert series ended with Digable Planets. A little 90's nostalgia. DJ Spinderella, from Salt n Peppa opened. 

31 years with this special lady, officially, 35-ish in real time. Enjoying a new downtown dining spot for our anniversary.

June wrapped up with our annual ARRL Field Day where ham radio operators across North America unplug from commercial power and operate 24 hours in the field off of solar, batteries, and generators. We had a decent crowd this year. 

That's June in a nutshell! I don't know if I've convinced myself I followed the theme but I tried. I've certainly been more present to the present!!!

Explore the World (May 2025)

How could I not take this months theme literal with a trip planned to one of the few states I have yet to visit? We've had this family cruise to Alaska planned for quite some time. It almost didn't happen but that's a story for another time. The hardest thing I have to do this month is narrow it down to five examples of Exploring the World!

There were waterfalls and glaciers.

Abundant wildlife, of course. Sea otters.

 

Bald Eagles

 

and Orcas to name a few. This pod came up alongside the ship just as I was settling into a deck chair for a nap. I'm sure I yelled, 'Oh $#!+, Orcas!' because the people around me looked over at me then followed me to the railing.

There were bears, puffins, whales, both humpback and grey, sealions, more bears, too much to cover with five photos. We also spent a very short time in Victoria, BC. My first legal entry into Canada, but that's another story too. :)  We were in Seattle for two days as well...so much to see. You can find the entire wonderful trip here at my Flickr album. You can follow along with others at a lil hoohaa.

Sidewalks and Roads (April 2025)

Spring brings longer days and the evenings are still a little cool to allow us to get out and walk after dinner. It also brings home projects, wild flowers, and some weekend music. 

If you've followed me for any length of time, you know I'm a sucker for our Texas bluebonnets. The boys aren't posing for me anymore but I found this one popping up out of a drive way, fighting back the asphalt.

The spring projects I spoke of often need several trips, often on the same day. 

My aunt (in-law) just moved into an independent living facility that happens to be about 200 yards from my office so occasionally I'll walk over and take her dog Houdini out for a quick walk around the block. 

Some street art found in Tulsa.

Spring into Summer brings the Brazos Nights concert series along the river. The city shuts down University Parks Dr at the park and offers us free entertainment. This year opened with Bowling for Soup and another great Texas band Two Tons of Steel. It was a fun night.

That's April for me. fitting it in the theme as best I can. I've been enjoying birding with a Sigma 300-600mm zoom I bought last year. The birds have been plentiful for me this Spring. They didn't fit the theme so they aren't here. You can find them on my fllickr. And you can find more Sidewalks and Roads over at A lil Hoohaa.

Why did I quit Duolingo after 1500 days? Let’s start by what I learned. I think I picked up a good deal of vocabulary in those four years and a little bit of the concept of German language. What I didn’t learn was why the verb went here sometimes, why is die, das, or der, why do I need to add an n or an r to that word now. I didn’t learn that because that costs extra. SuperDuo now gets you ad free learning but you need MaxDuo to learn why what you got wrong was wrong. That is the main reason I quit. I almost quit a year or so ago because Duolingo kept changing the lesson plan. Last week, one of my new words was kartofel. That was one of the first words I learned 4 years ago so now I understand why I’m presented with vocabulary I’ve never seen; those are now in lessons I’ve already completed. Next came DuoMax or MaxDuo, I can’t remember. That took where a practice lesson had been and made it a permanent ad for DuoMax. I no longer had the option to work on a unit review. DuoMax added a new “video chat” in my list of lessons that, fortunately, they allowed me to continue the unit without having to do the video chat. Lately, I grew tired of the app for its non-stop notifications. I haven’t figured out what they get out of making sure you opened the app every day when you were ad free, but man, they expected you to. “Theresa is hoping you continue that friend streak.” No she’s not, because I did 4 hours ago. The bottom line is it’s a game first. Did I learn something? I think so. Was it worth the money? Probably. It kept my mind active during covid and gave me something to do to give it a work out. Am I done with German, or learning any language? No, I’ve already downloaded Babbel and I’m going to see what it’s about. Why do I think you care? I don’t, I just needed to get it off my mind! ETA: I hadn’t planned on quitting cold turkey but the free version is so limited and so full of ads that I don’t know how I got into the game in the first place.

Free for all! (February 2025)

For this months Free For All theme, I've chosen no real deep meaning to my selection. These are just five photos that I enjoyed from my collection taken this month. Without further ado...

This guy had just told a joke he particularly enjoyed.

Chinese New Year celebration. 

Crossing the Brazos at Waco.

Yampa Valley Sunset

We've been going to Steamboat Springs for more than 20 years and always pass this little cabin. I always think I should stop and capture it. I finally did this year. Then played with some creative editing.

There's my five. Next month marks 12 years, I think, of this group. I can't believe it's been that long. Check out the others over at A 'lil Hoohaa and then join us, won't you?

New Year, New Me! (January 2025)

New Year, New Me, eh? I'm not one for resolutions and have endeavored to make changes when I feel they are necessary and not waiting for a particular date to do so. But the new year often allows for a chance to reflect on the past year and plan what's in store for the new. These pictures may or may not have anything to do with that. :) 

January 2025 begins with me 62 pounds lighter and with something akin to a beard. That's definitely new me material.

I am resolved to get outside more and have been able to get at least one long hike in every week. The weather has been cooperative.

This place reminded me of that one scene from the movie GalaxyQuest.

I've entered the bird-watching phase of adulthood. I don't hate it!

I bought myself a new camera for Christmas, I'm enjoying learning all the new bells and whistles.

That's 5. They do mostly depict something or somewhere new. They were all taken by me. Happy New Year to all and best of luck for a prosperous and healthy one.

Holly Jolly (December 2024)

Christmastime came and went in a hurry this year. We were busy, so busy I forgot to finish the November challenge but I'm back! I think I'll let the pictures do the talking; there's not much to say but Happy New Year! Let's go. 

Bonus 1: My boys know their Momma likes her Santa pictures so they still get one done. Year 25.

Bonus 2: Some of my people.

It's Fall Y'all! (October 2024)

The theme for October was It's Fall, Y'all! And it is fall and fall brought all sorts of 'F' words.

We start with Fiesta, celebrating Kelly's f-word birthday. She is now well into her f-words.

Fall is also for Fairs. We were able to make a quick stop at the State Fair of Texas for our Favorite Fletcher's Corny Dogs!

Fall brings Formula 1 to Austin.

Fall is also all about Football.

And Football brings Friends together for Homecoming.

And finally for a bonus, since F words are on my mind. Eminem provided the largest F-word of the month!

There you have it. Short and sweet and full of Fs. Hope to see you back in November provided we are all still here! (I'm writing this on Nov 5)

Experiences (September 2024)

September had quite a few new experiences for me and some not so new but different. I don't have a lot more to sat than that so I'll let the photos do most of the talking.

We've had quite a bit of wildlife at the house this late summer/fall. Egrets, herons, titmouses(mice?), wrens are among the feathered friends. This long legged one was walking down the drive one morning. 

Volunteering for the bike race was old hat but they changed up the route to an entirely different side of town. Our radio club tracked and dispatched the sag wagons while some of sat out on course and helped with keeping the aid stations supplied and relaying messages back to the start/finish.

I attended my first collegiate volleyball game. It was fun and I've been to several more since.

My first collegiate soccer game too. Also fun, but I haven't had a chance to get back out.

Did I mention wildlife? I couldn't figure out what was driving Charlie so crazy. We had several mommas and babies grazing acorns out back.

That was my five. As a bonus, I bought a wifi camera bird feeder. That has been fun to watch.

 

I also managed to catch the baby daddies come for some acorns one night.

Explore! (August 2024)

The Explore prompt was easy for me this month as it started out in our continuing cruise to Iceland.  

I'll start this on the eastern coast of Iceland in a tiny little village called Djupivogur. We decided to take a little 4 mile hike when about half way it started a downpour and gusts of 40MPH. Still, we found this beautiful black sand beach.

Our next stop was supposed to be the island of Heimaey. Unfortunately the high seas would not allow us to make a landing but the captain took us on a cruise around the island and to this neat feature, Elephant Rock.

We landed in Reykjavik and disembarked the cruise. We had a few days so I have lots of of photos to choose from. We hired a guide to take the group of us around the Golden Circle. Our first stop was Þingvellir National Park. We walked between the North American and Eurasian continental plates and found a number of waterfalls. While these lovely falls were indeed lovely, they have a bit a sordid legend. The are known as the Drowning Pools. You can read more.

Our last stop on the Golden Circle was Kerið Volcanic Crater. It was quite a site to behold.

Before we said goodbye to our travel companions, we had one bucket list item we had yet to check off: Puffins! A quick Google search found a tour that would take us out to Puffin Island and we saw all the puffins we wanted!

Amy and I had one more night in Reykjavik. We hiked around town a bit before having a lovely dinner alone. We finished the night at the Lava Show. It was an interesting man-made lava exhibit. Our return home left us with a 22 hour layover in London. We booked a hotel at the airport and took the train into the city and got to see Wicked! The flight home was uneventful. Thankfully.

There are my five. I have so many more to share but you can find those over on my flickr page.