Ya Gotta Wonder

I was just taking a walk around the wooded parking lot at work during lunchtime. I turned the corner, and there I spotted this.

The Monitor in the Woods

I had no idea the oak trees were networked. I did search Facebook, but saw no sign of "Oak Tree by Cool River Restaurant" or any similar listing. I wonder if it was blogging about oak rights? Watching YouTubes of forests in other places?

I guess I am sorta sentimental about oaks right now. I have always really loved them, so it was especially hard to give the OK to have the biggest tree in our yard taken down, the tree that is the reason our house sits slightly crookedly on the lot, the tree we bought the lot for, only to have a huge ice storm take down about half of it the next day. The tree the kids' tree house was in. Sigh. But, it completely blacked out the back yard, so only inland sea oats would grow there. We just can't get grass in once the oaks leaf out. Now we will be able to install a shed, maybe add to the patio and stick on my dream hot tub...and perhaps get some grass to grow, even though there still is a huge hedge of crepe myrtles along the fence, giving plenty of shade and privacy.

But, I will miss the tree. It will be firewood for many years to come, and the rest of it will become mulch and help other plants. We do still have 4-5 other live oaks, two Monterrey oaks and a lovely burr oak. All that on a fairly small lot (the "estate" size--the bigger ones in the neighborhood).

Otherwise, I sort of overdid things on Saturday, with exercise followed by an hour of hard weeding. I think I killed my poor legs! But, it was a fun day all in all, featuring a visit from my friend Carolyn, who picked out yarn for a shawl, and having dinner with Beccano and his girlfriend. They have been dating 8 months and that was our first dinner together. I think we all had a good time.

Things to do beckon, so I'll share any other weird stuff I see in another post!

Spring! OK?

Yes, perhaps does not come as a huge shock, given the long, cold, wet winter we are coming out of, that spring is one of the things that is making me happy (if you are a recent visitor, I have been posting things that make me happy for the past week or so). Practically everyone on Facebook is posting "I love spring" and some lovely photos, and my email lists are abuzz with posts about going for long walks and such. Who could blame people?

I tend to treasure spring, especially since I got to Texas 13 years ago, because it's pretty much our only pleasant season. It gets pretty darned spectacular in late March and April, but my favorite time tends to be very early, when the first flowering trees come out, the anemones bloom and the redbuds bud. Today I had a nice visit with Jeff and his mom, Rose, and then went out to sit on the new patio and look at the bird feeder. As I sat there knitting on a mitten, I began to think about all the things that have brought me joy this spring. Here's a list--what does YOUR list look like?

Bradford Pear Trees on Pocono Drive, scenic Brushy Creek, Texas

Bradford Pear Trees: Now, you must understand that in general, I am not the biggest fan of the Bradford pear tree. It's not a native species, in Illinois they don't hold up well under heavy snow (their branch structure lends to splitting), and heck, they don't even make pears. I like fruit trees that have fruit. However, this year, thanks to the copious amount of rainfall this winter, trees that usually sport a pathetic few blossoms each year and then immediately set their leaves out have been a glorious clouds of ethereal whiteness.

The picture above shows a row of trees that has started to leaf out. We took pictures after the peak, but it's been totally amazing this year. I have seen Bradford pear trees in this neighborhood that I didn't even know where there. There is some variety that makes white clusters that is peaking right now. Wow, they are just lovely. I have heard another couple of folks agree that this year's blossoms way outshine any previous year's flowers that we can remember. Usually the only nice white flowers I get to see in the spring are the native plum trees, because we have no dogwoods (I miss them). So this year has been wonderful in the white tree department.

Water Droplet in Cabbage

Serendipity in Nature: I just love looking at our plants and the things I see in my walks. We saw this lovely bead of dew on our ornamental cabbage  plant on our way somewhere. It reminded me of a pearl in an oyster, waiting to be discovered.

Mr. Sparrow gazes at his true love.

Looking at Birds: This time of year is always the best for bird watching. The migration path is right over where we live. As a matter of fact, geese were migrating overhead today. Lots of honking! I love our front patio because I can watch all the bird activity from the comfort of my chair. The European Sparrows you see here are sitting in the burr oak tree, which is blooming, and my kind spouse took the photo with his telephoto lens.

A whole bunch of sparrows at the feeder! And the red bud, budding.

While the sparrows were cute and quite hungry, and the mourning doves squabbling with each other were amusing, I was glad to see some interesting transients coming by, too. There were a whole bunch of chipping sparrows. They are so teeny. They blend so well with the grass, which is still brown from the cold weather, that they made it look like the ground was moving around. Later on some cute black-capped chickadees showed up to snack on the tree blossoms and check into the feeder, as well. As we were watching those birds, I heard a noise, and yay! I saw my first hummingbird of spring, sitting in the oak tree. Lee tried to get a picture, but you know how fast they are!

Sparrow coming in for a landing.

Lee did get this one picture of one of a sparrow in flight, which I enjoyed a lot. The sounds of their little wings going back and forth from my house to the hedge in the next yard is quite spectacular for such little beings.

Other spring fun things: The kids being home for spring break (and bringing all their friends around), pulling weeds, watching the roses grow, knitting outside, waiting for the oak pollen to descend and make everything yellow, and reading about other people's spring experiences. Keep sharing, readers. And enjoy the special aspects of spring where you live.

O-bla-di-o-bla-dah

Front Yard Edging
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Yeah, life goes on. I am actually recovering a bit from some of the stress of recent months. That is such a relief. I'm getting a whole lot of knitting done, too. And looking for work like crazy.

The good news is some of that is paying off. I am up for a couple more contract positions, and have an actual interview for a REAL job I applied for, but not until next Tuesday. I don't know what to do about that--it sounds like a GREAT place, but I am so worried about income that I might have to accept a contract position before those interviews are over. And I am not going to dump a contract in favor of a job with benefits again, after that last experience. In any case, it feels good to have some action going on.

Speaking of action, Lee has finished the project pictured here in an almost-finished state. This bed in front of the house was getting overgrown, so he expanded it a foot at least on all sides and has put more of those wonderful landscape rocks around it. With the flowers added, our front yard looks wonderful (of course, no one can see it due to Tuba Boy's car blocking the view). Other than the annuals, the entire bed is native plants, so it is very little work. Now our front yard looks very coordinated and well-kept. I sure am grateful to Lee for all his very hard work on this.

The next project on the list is tree trimming. Lee got a little electric chain saw and I can't WAIT until we get ahold of a big ladder so he can trim limbs away from our chimney. You see, the wind has blown for three days straight. Up to 40 mph winds yesterday. The giant tree in the back yard has grown up and around the chimney this year. Limbs bang and bang. Plus, they are banging on windows on all sides of the house. Time for another trimming. Actually, once things settle, we will have fewer trees. I don't want the house damaged. And I need to sleep. We tried sleeping in the guest room last night, but it had its own banging limb.

I love trees, though. I hate to cut them down.

We are taking things very easy right now. With no kids around, we are eating inexpensively and with the notable exception of me spending money at a yarn shop on Wednesday, we not doing much, to conserve money.

Well, friends, I thought I had all sorts of blog fodder, but I feel so out of it that all I can do is paste in Friday's Feast, which is back from vacation, anyway. Please send supportive comments and/or emails. I will appreciate them.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer: When you drink soda/pop/coke, do you prefer to drink it from the bottle, a can, or after pouring it into a cup?

Because I drink so slowly, ice tends to water my soda down, and pouring diminishes the bubbles. So, I guess I prefer it from a bottle or can. I am not really particular about it, though.

Soup: What television show are you willing to stay up late to watch?

The Daily Show and Colbert Report. Actually, I used to stay up and watch Craig Ferguson, too, but Lee is already grumpy that I like to watch the first two, so I have given up on that. When I had to get up before 6, of course, I could not manage that latest one, anyway.

Salad: Name one person, place, or thing you think of as brilliant.

Ravelry, the knitting online community. They have done a great job with that.

Main Course: Would you be willing to work 4 10-hour days instead of 5 8-hour days in order to save gas?

Heavens yes. I'd do it just to have three days off, so I'd have time to go to stores that are only open during "business hours" every so often.

Dessert: If you were a superhero, what would you call yourself?

SuperSuna. Duh.

Holiday Fun

A Real Tree!
Originally uploaded by sunasak

I guess we have decided to enjoy the holidays, regardless of what is going on in the job market. I feel a bit better having found out one of the jobs I really wanted but hadn't heard anything on still hasn't done interviews yet. Whew.

So, we have spent a lot of time this weekend doing holiday things. Lee and Beccano and I got this lovely tree at Home Depot. They were pretty proud of themselves for getting it set up (was not an easy task). It wasn't too expensive, and smells very good. It also is quite the prolific shedder. and leans a bit to the left when looking at it straight on. But it is soft and lovely, not all prickly like the fake tree we used the last ten years. This is only the second real tree we have had since we moved to Illinois. They mulch all the trees here, so I feel OK about it. That fake tree was pretty dead at the end of last year, and we did keep it up for like 3 years, which was sorta dorky (the box broke and we could not figure out how to store it).

Today we put on ornaments and decided to get rid of some decor stuff that was in bad shape. Yay for decluttering. I didn't make the tree as thematic as I usually do, but it mostly has purple ornaments, so my quirkiness is not totally absent.

I know Lee's having fun, other than getting a horrible splinter in his finger while looking for stuff in the attic. He hasn't decorated in a long time. He even went out and got about half the redbud tree covered in lights--his first ever! We will work on finishing it tomorrow. I also decorated the mantel in the family room for the kids, and put up a few things in the media room for me and Lee. There is a rather amusing red tree with red lights that I think will be a spectacular media room tree, so we will probably get that. And that shall be it for holiday decor, other than getting out the holiday dish towels. I am not going to go as nuts over it as usual, but am doing better than I did in the couple of recent years when I felt real bad.

I missed decorating with my sister. I even miss Jeff playing the Christmas CDs while he sat upstairs not helping. I know he really liked all the decor and stuff, and this year he will be with his poor sick mother. I asked him to get her a little tree or something. I am glad I have Lee and Beccano to keep the cheer in me.

The only other big activity this weekend was church stuff. We "inaugurated" a drive to get hymnal supplements by singing a bunch of songs from it. Jan and Joe played, and Beccano joined them on bells and percussion. I sang the opening song, which was Open the Window, a Harry Belafonte song. The minister even referred to it in the sermon. I think I sounded sorta dorky, but I did a good job acting like I was having fun and loving my hymnal. I also led the audience in a hymn where they sang with the choir, and that was way fun. The song the choir did for the offering was the most dismal, even though it was a song I liked. It was fun having Beccano playing along with us.

After church it was Yule Fest time, which always reminds me of how much I miss being a more involved person in the church, and being able to be in a women's group. Women's group meant so much to me. I just can't trust people that much any more (especially in church--the hurtful things people said to me and about me still sting, no matter how hard I try to ignore it or get past it), so I am working to find other means of support. Anyway, they had some good vendors, and a highlight was Beccano picking out a wand, which ended up being an ash one with Kyanite on the end. Really a neat stone that also works sort of as an athame. There was a vendor selling interesting stone jewelry, and there were some of the loveliest pieces of fire opal I ever saw. Sigh. But, I did get each child a nice Yule gift, so that's something.

I am still feeling a bit better. I am hoping my good attitude will manifest a good job.

Pollen!

Here is a lovely picture of the "woodland" in our back yard. Note that the basis of this is a grove of escarpment live oak trees. And that they are very, very greenon the ends. That is because they are abloom, and when they are blooming they create extremely copious amounts of pollen. Today it is breezy, and you can see what looks like smoke coming from the trees whenever there is a gust.

(In the foreground you can see the absence of grass that was caused by how thick the trees used to be--that's where we planted grass seed, though much of it washed away in the flood day before yesterday. But some remained, so maybe we will have grass this year!)

This is the time of year in Austin when it is really futile to wash a car. In ten minutes it will become greenish yellow again, so why bother? Already the gazing balls and gnomes are yellow, though they are too far off to really see.

I am very, very proud of how the woodland looks right now. The understory trees are budding out, the inland sea oats are fairly high already, the wandering jew is poked out and turning purple, and the false indigo is nodding all over the places it has naturalized. What you do not see are blackberry vines, Virginia creeper or briars, because I have murderized them all, other than two decorative creepers I have graciously allowed to go up the oaks until I pull them down before they bloom. You will, perhaps, spot a grape vine, but I assure you I murderized it, too. Unfortunately, it is trying to reproduce, so I will have to take RoundUp to it once there are leaves. I have been trying to get rid of that vine for ten years now. Persistent.

Also invisible in the photo, but definitely present, are tree worms (don't know what they really are called). These are the inchworm-like insects that hatch from oak galls, then hang on a delicate thread, as they wend their way to the ground (where I hope the 8 zillion blue jays will eat them). These always appear right around the time of my friend Austin's birthday bash, making sitting under the trees at the church and jamming less than pleasant. You always have to be checking for worms. If you sit very quietly at this time of year you can actually hear them landing. Ick. Sounds like rain. Yuck.


On a happier note, I am also sharing a picture of the Younger Boy, to prove he is also cute. Here he is wearing the hat his dad got him on Ebay from the Ukraine (wow, that person had great handwriting, judging from how well the package was addressed). Not sure what the fascination with Russia is, but he also got "learn Russian" DVDs. He's practicing--maybe eventually he can talk to Stephanie W.

But look how manly he has become at almost 14. And look at that skin! What a complexion! This picture was taken last week, before the oaks had budded out and after they lost all their leaves (yes, live oaks shed, in the spring).

I hope this will post, since an Internet glitch killed my first draft of this, and something Jeff was writing, too.

Trees

Here is a post about trees. Gotta love 'em if you are a tree-hugging pagan type.



I have been enjoying spring trees a lot. The first one you see here is the 2-centuray old oak in front of Lee's dad's church. Look at the size of that trunk. They have incredible oak trees down there, like where I came from--more water than here. I had really wanted to see the tree, so I am glad I had the chance. What a specimen. I didn't touch it, though. Odd for me.



The second picture is of the red bud in front of our house. It was a bit past its prime, but I'd lost where the camera was for a bit. I can't believe how much it has grown. I hope you can see that I have trimmed a lot and the yard is neat. I will take back yard pix when we are all done.



The third image is the Texas mountain laurel next to the redbud. It finally looks like a tree (only 8 years!) and finally has a big, beautiful set of blooms, with that weird grape-soda smell. I am so happy it has at last become the tree I'd wanted. And it smells GOOD.

And that's all I wanted to say about trees. I sure do love trees, and spring in Texas.