One-Word Wednesday

I’m back shooting disc golf now that my thumb joint feels better. Here C.J. tees off during yesterday’s Southwest Handicap Mini at Community Park.

Return!

The Mister putts.

Eric tests the wind direction.

My baby boy sails in a par putt.

Springing Along

Brown-eyed Susans (like me!) are abundant.

Now that we’ve finally bid a not-so-fond farewell to winter, the wildflowers in our neighboring master-planned community are flourishing.

Two of my most-loved wildflowers

I’m happy to report that small patches of bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush continue to thrive.

Bzzzzzzz!

Which means that the little buzzers are sticking around. Which is fine as long as they’re not sticking me!

Indian blankets mix with other blossoms.

Finally showing their lovely orange-yellow blooms are Indian blankets, another favorite wildflower of mine. It always seems like there are no two alike.

A couple poppies mingle with pink evening primrose and red phlox.

New to the scenery are orange and red poppies. They’ve dotted the landscape before, but now they’re out in copious amounts.

Poppies are plentiful.

Every week it seems like there’s something different to see, which makes me look forward to my exercise even more.

Who knows what this weekend will bring. I can’t wait to find out!

Creature Feature

Turtle soup

While I was communing with nature recently, my Nikon 105mm macro lens strayed from the wildflowers. What distracted it? Critters.

First, there were turtles.

Hi, guys!

And then a duck joined the party.

A whistling duck

This feathered friend was fine hanging out by himself on a different part of the lake.

Of course, there’s one critter that always wants to spoil my placid photo party and make me want to shoot and quickly flee.

We both love the beautiful bottlebrush bushes.

Bees! Why does it always have to be bees?

Saturday in the Park

Love the bright purple phlox.

Last Saturday was my kind of perfect day.

First, both boys came home for the weekend. That really would have been enough. Then Saturday morning, the Mister, Jake, and I enjoyed “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” even though it’s extremely violent with an ammunition budget that had to be about a million bucks. Talk about your literal overkill!

But the icing on the cake? Our friends Jessica and Eric asked if we would be available for a play date at Imperial Park. Absolutely! All we had to do was switch out Jake (who drove to Houston to be with our “third son,” Chase, and honorary son, Josh) for C.J.

A pennant dragonfly poses.

Being out in nature on a gorgeous spring day meant snapping pics of nature, of course.

The putt heads towards the basket.

And, naturally, discs were a-flying courtesy of Eric . . .

Note the Mister pushing a stroller.

. . . and C.J.

Jessica and Ted

But the highlight for me was seeing three-month-old Ted. I was in desperate need of an adorable baby fix.

Awwwww! Such a cute toothless grin.

And now I can last another, oh, week or so!

One-Word Wednesday

This was the first time I had seen such a hefty bluebonnet. It stood out among its skinny pals in our neighboring community’s patch of wildflowers.

Chubby!

And now I’ve seen two of them!

Pretty Progress

Bluebonnets galore!

It’s been almost seven weeks since I posted a photo of the first bluebonnet in my neighboring master-planned community.

A lot has happened in that time. As in a bountiful burst of blooming bluebonnets!

But that’s only part of the story.

This is the patch where the first bluebonnet blossomed.

Adding to the gorgeous bluish-purple hue that Texans love so much is an abundance of red and pink.

The pink, as in evening primrose, always joins the bluebonnets this time of year. But that fiery red?

A colorful display

For the first time since I’ve been jogging and walking in this area, Drummond phlox has inundated the scenery. In the past, there might be a half dozen or so of the crimson cuties dotting the landscape. But times have changed . . . at least for this wildflower season.

Plenty of purty posies

Welcome to the neighborhood!

As the Sun Sets

Birds add to the sunset.

Disc golfers love when their discs go into the basket.

The light is fading.

Photographers love when nature complements the sport they’re shooting. Well, at least I do.

Par?

The addition of a disc flying into a basket? Icing on the proverbial cake!

Buzzing Around the Bluebonnets

They’re baaack!

As I’ve written many times in this blog, getting up close and personal with my beloved bluebonnets has a distinct downside: Bees love ’em, too. That means that my sting-phobic self battles its nerves to stay as steady as possible while snapping away with my Nikon dSLRs.

Good thing my Nikon 105mm macro lens has a VR (Vibration Reduction) setting!

Checking it out.

Of course, I’m a fan of bees, because without them we wouldn’t have certain fruits and veggies.

And this one, too.

But I prefer to shoot solo, thank you very much. I don’t like the little buzzers infringing on my space.

See ya! Wouldn’t want to bee ya!

And, apparently, they feel the same way about me!

Spring Has Sprung!

Love seeing all this orange!

According to the official calendar, spring arrived yesterday. It was ushered in by our neighboring master-planned community with a gorgeous Indian paintbrush show.

There are three distinct kinds of paintbrush growing.

I first noticed the splash of orange earlier this week as I drove past an area where a small crop of paintbrush bloomed last year. Now it’s definitely large and in charge!

These look almost reddish.

As much as I enjoy seeing them, I wish they were sprinkled among the bluebonnets that are in another area of the community. Having orange and blue together reminds of my beloved alma mater, the University of Illinois.

Hail to the orange (Indian paintbrush), hail to the blue(bonnets)! And, especially, hail to spring!!

One-Word Wednesday

These first bluebonnets have company now. Lots of bud-dies!

More!

As one matures, another one blooms.

Soon all of them will be this gorgeous shade of blue-purple.

Love Texas’ state flower, little and big!