Texas Wildflowers 2016

TEXAS WILDFLOWERS

5 - 7 April 2016

We spent a few days looking at wildflowers in Central Texas. Our first day of driving took us from Southlake to Marble Falls. We drove through Cleburne, Glen Rose, Hico, Hamilton, Lampasas and Burnet to get there. A scattering of roadside bluebonnets began after we passed Glen Rose and the patches increased in number and size between Lampasas and Marble Falls. After spending a night in Marble Falls, we spent the second day driving and looking. We took US 281 from Marble Falls until it intersected with Texas 71 and then took that to Llano. From there we drove on Texas 16 to Fredericksburg. Then we backtracked to Llano and drove on Texas 29 and the so-called Texas Highland Lakes Trail until we reached Marble Falls. We drove back to Southlake on the third day. Below are some pictures made with our point-and-click camera. They do not do justice to the natural beauty we saw. 

Holiday at the Arboretum

HOLIDAY AT THE ARBORETUM

8 December 2015

We rode the Watermere bus to the Dallas Arboretum. It was their holiday display. Since we were there during the day, we didn’t see the light display. We did see the Twelve Days of Christmas display. It consisted of a dozen gilt and glass enclosed gazebos filled with costumed characters and animals depicting each day of the carol. At twenty-five-feet-tall, the gazebos are massive and each contains some type of animation.  Since the day was bright, sunny and unseasonably warm; we enjoyed a pleasant stroll around the grounds.

After following the signs through the grounds to see the gazebos in order, we visited the DeGolyer House which was decorated for the holidays. Inside the house was The Artistry of the Nativity exhibition. This consists of some 500 creches from all over the world. The Arboretum owns the “Ray Harrington Collection,” but this year’s display also included the “George Dvorsky Collection.”  It seemed as if every nook and cranny of the home contained a nativity. The overcrowding made it difficult to appreciate the individual nativity sets. We would have preferred fewer crèches better displayed.

After viewing the nativities and eating lunch at a café near the gift shop, we returned home.