Looking West...then East

All day long there was a threat of rain, but nothing ever manifested. We waffled between clear blue skies, patchy clouds, and some thunder and dark skies to the south of us later in the evening hours.

Right before dusk Skye comes down from her lair and announces the sky looks weird outside. We go out to check it out and the sun and clouds were giving us a beautiful show.

We stood out there awhile watching the sun set. It was too beautiful a sight to waste. Here are some progression pics I took....

We were also surprised by a double rainbow to the east during the sunset show. I did not edit these pics in any way, it's just the hue the sky was giving off....

It was a nice Saturday evening treat for an otherwise boring weekend night.

A Creek Flows

This morning Toby and I ventured out to take Bo "swimming" at Bull Creek. He loves water and also loves to "fish". A couple of years ago he discovered he could dunk his head under the water and catch the small fish he saw swimming around at the bottom. I was pretty impressed because I didn't even know a dog could/would go underwater much less be able to hold his breath.

We were slightly annoyed when we got to the entrance of the creek and the road was closed due to the flood waters especially since we had looked up road closures before we left and it was listed as open.

Bo was already in the back about to have an excitement hissy because he knew from experience that he was about to have fun so we headed on down the road to Barton Creek in hopes that we could get to it.

The trail head gate was closed with a sign that said TRAIL CLOSED, but we aren't ones to let negative signs hold us back so we squeezed through the gate anyway. We weren't the only ones that ignored the closed gate so I felt a little safer in numbers. We've seen the creek enough bone dry that we didn't want to miss out on seeing it with this much water flowing through it.

We didn't really get to walk far down the trail because parts of it were underwater. That's okay, we at least got far enough where we could witness the flowing creek at Twin Falls.

We didn't stay long because it was very humid and we couldn't get in the water anyway. Here is another short video of Bo trying to navigate the rushing creek...

After The Storm

Yesterday we had a long day of bad weather. Flooding, thunder, lightening, wind and tornado warnings. Mother Nature didn't hold back . It went on for a few hours.

Skye spent most her day camping out in the the "cubby" area of our walk in closet. She has an extreme fear of bad weather. I'm not exagerating when I say extreme. Shaking like a chihuahua is the best way to describe it.

I'm not exactly sure where this fear comes from. Some fears are learned from our parents or other family members. For example, my extreme fear of cockroaches most likely comes from witnessing my mother freak out on them when I was a child hence, learning that cockroaches are scary and bad creatures...and nobody can convince me otherwise.

Since she was a small child she has feared the loud noises that a storm brings. Toby and I both grew up in the deep south where storms, bad weather and an occasional hurricane are a common occurance so we have never made a big deal out of weather. Her fears seem to be an inborn thing. If there really is a such thing as past lives or reincarnation I can only assume she perished in the hands of a deadly storm in a prior life.

I guess Mother Nature was trying to make up for her bad mood and gifted us with a beautiful sky and clouds after the storm moved out...

More rain is expected in the coming weeks. I just hope it lets us dry out a bit before the next bucket is dumped on us.

Upper Bull Creek - St. Edward's Park

My plan for the day was to take a bike ride, but after our very hot and humid morning walk with Bo, Toby and I decided that something near a water source would be more appropriate.

We've had enough rainfall lately that we knew the creeks would be rushing freely and abundantly. We opted for a trail at upper Bull Creek at St. Edward's Park. We had been to this trail several years ago but didn't get to explore it much.

The terrain was beautiful and peaceful. The trail paths were lined with colorful wildflowers and there were Texas Spotted Whiptail Lizards darting from one side of the trail to the other with each step we took....

It wasn't a far walk down the trail before we reached the creek. The water was frigid but satisfyingly refreshing...

We headed down the creek toward the sound of the falls. ABSOLUTELY beautiful. The most relaxing sound in the world....

After hanging out at the falls for awhile, we headed on down the trail and came across a few more small falls and rapids....

A family of turtles sunning on a log

"Mama and Daddy" had a nice day away from the "kids", and our day to day responsibilities but most of all I walked away feeling forever grateful to live in a place so full of awesomeness...

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Romantic Rain

May has brought us some much needed rain. Most Central Texans don't complain though. We need as much rain as Mother Nature will offer.

Unlike most folks, I enjoy a rainy day. For me, it has a romantic, powerful feel to it.

"Why does the rain make us feel so romantic and strange? Maybe it's the fact that we're unnatural spectators of it, from inside our homes, and it's the reminder that we have the power to live our whole lives like this, if we choose. It's not the smell of the fertile ground kicked up by raindrops, or the slick leaves, or the way we must amplify our voices to be heard over this larger presence. It's the power of the rooftop that makes us want to fuck under it." - Author, Amelia Gray

Aside from that, a rainy day gives me an excuse to do some indoor activities I enjoy like reading, trying out new recipes, watching a movie or crocheting. The older I get, the less I enjoy running the roads and prefer the coziness of my abode.

Here are some projects I have worked on lately....

I worked up these granny's in retro colors. My intention is turning them into throw pillows.

Just a little novelty item I worked up......

This isn't crochet, but I thought this little cluster of lady infant lady bugs was cool....

I crocheted around the straps of these cheap flip flops to give them a little character...

A little set for my friend Angela who will be delivering in a couple of months....

My pink puppy.....

We've also played a few games of Monopoly. Bo insisted on napping close by....

Rain is expected every day for the next couple of weeks. Looks like I will spending a lot of time indoors.

Somwhere Stuck In Between

Many years ago, once I came to the conclusion that the Christian version or any of the other hundreds of different religion's idea of "GOD" was not my belief I began to sit back and try and figure out Who I was, Why I'm here...and my belief of Who/What I thought "GOD" is...or if I even believed at all there was the well known fictional character sitting high in the clouds holding all the cards and pulling all the strings.

These age old questions will probably always be there lurking in the back of all of our minds - even those that claim they know the way, the truth and the light are scared enough of death that you know even they must have doubts of what lies beyond this realm..if anything.

Over the past several years I have been on what I would refer to as an internal spiritual journey...a search for me, if you will. I have spent many hours reading a wide selection of books on the subjects of atheism, metaphysics, spirituality, and the origin of religion. I also have familiarized myself with an array of different House's of God.

In the end I have figured out that I never had to search very far. I came to the conclusion that what we all are searching for on the outside and beyond is actually very close to us....so close that it obscures our vision.

UPDATE: Ohhhhh...this was an interesting one. Even though this was drafted a few years ago, my thought process on my idea of God is still the same. Not that anybody cares, I'm pretty sure, but here it is anyway.

Independence Day! (From July 2007)

Even though the day was mostly rainy it couldn't have been more perfect.....it was one of those rare times that everyone in my very small family was together at one time. The day started off pretty early because of the threat of rain. My two brothers and their family, my elderly grandmother, Toby, Lucas, Summer and I met at my dads for a family cookout. The rain started to move in and the girls decided that they had not had enough of each other so the girls ended up coming back to the house with us. On the way home, with 3 girls in the backseat, we knew why we had opted to have only one child together. :-) Thank goodness for Megan, my brother's daughter and the oldest of the gang, she was the activity coordinator. Charlie, Toby's younger brother, arrived shortly after we got home and we celebrated the holiday again with more food and grilling. Since it rained, most of the firework displays were cancelled, but that didn't seem to stop anyone from having their own personal firework displays!

UPDATE: Oddly, I can't remember much about this day and there were no pictures uploaded to help spark the memory.....

Unfinished Business

Tonight I was sort of meandering through my blog and noticed that I have a few blog posts that I started that are still in draft mode.

For whatever reason I abandoned them, but must have felt at one point and time I may come back and finish them....or maybe it was just one of those times that I felt the need to express myself and felt it was too controversial or unpopular to post. Maybe one day I will do some post spring cleaning...

So, today we met up with some friends at Lake Pflugerville. It really wasn't a sun-shiny, outdoorsy kind of day but at least we weren't pouring sticky sweat.

I guess I just had a duck fetish today....