Today was all about the water: a trip to the aquarium, a walk on the beach, coming home and taking a bubble bath with a book. I love these murals on the sea wall in Galveston. It was overcast and breezy today, a bit warm and humid. We hadn't had a free Saturday in months and enjoyed the sense of, well, freedom to take off and have a mini-adventure for the day. Have you had any mini-adventures lately?
It's been a weird winter in south Texas - many days warmer than average (mid-70s and humid today - blech) but we've also had many freeze warnings. I haven't been out with the camera much in the past few months, but I couldn't resist this frozen puddle in the backyard with the ornamental pear leaf encased within. It made me happy to see ice in the backyard, happy to find icicles hanging off of my truck one morning - I love chilly weather. I know that increasingly warm temps are just around the corner, along with decisions to make about what to do in the garden (keeping it simple this year, as I repeatedly learn that I don't have the energy in a Houston summer to tend a garden effectively), decisions to make about traveling in order to escape the heat for awhile. What decisions are ahead of you right now?
I've missed the last two Tea Tuesdays (in-laws in town), but I'm excited to share this Turkish dessert with you. It is delicious enjoyed with a strong little cup of Turkish tea. Don't ask me to give you its proper name! It's a wonderful concoction from a restaurant that we frequent often, a pudding of types with slivered almonds on the inside and generous crushed pistachios on the outside. Dessert can be such a sweet spot in the midst of life. My fb friends may have already heard, but last week I was in the juror pool for a murder trial - so glad I was not selected. That would have been quite a challenge. I also had a sticky accelerator pedal in my truck the same day, and luckily stopped to have it checked out. It jammed on the mechanic who test-drove it! Thankfully no one was hurt, and it was a fairly easy fix. As mentioned, my in-laws were also here. My FIL went to town on our yard, pulling out bushes that died in the freeze, planting new ones, and stringing wire trellises for my jasmine. I was so thankful for his help out there. I need to pull a few more weeds, have it mulched, and then will probably ignore the garden until autumn, as the mosquitoes and warm weather are returning. I look forward to catching up with all of you!
Yesterday afternoon I was out trying to make another dent in the endless yardwork. Our plumbago bushes died in the freezes this winter, so I pulled out the clippers and started cutting them away. It took me a minute to realize what I was looking at when I saw this green anole shedding his skin - he blended in so perfectly! I was pretty excited to see him, because they usually move so fast during the day that I don't see them at all. We typically see them in the evening, when they climb onto the exterior walls and turn pale pink/white. I've seen one turn from brown to bright green and back right in front of my eyes when it crawled through a gap in the window screen and didn't know how to get out. Apparently, molting renders them more still, because I had plenty of time to run and get my camera and take photos. He was about 4 - 5 inches total length. I love the little discoveries that yard work can bring!
I'm once again sipping jasmine vanilla as I think about this week's Tea Tuesday theme - what spring looks like in my corner of the world. Our lovely red bud tree is just past its peak of pink blossoms (seen above); the pink haze is lovely to see as we pull into our neighborhood. The Bradford pears still have a few white blossoms on them, but most of their leaves are out and a strong wind last weekend blew many petals down - it was snowing white flower petals! My daffodils are long bloomed and gone. Our cold winter and rare freeze have meant that my garden is getting off to a slow start this year - in 2009 this time I already had lots of blossoms and growth out there. But I have many salvias in my garden and they are sturdy plants, so I know they will bounce back. Even the azaleas in our neighborhood haven't bloomed yet, which is rare. I am eager for their appearance - a lovely bit of magic in the Houston area. We try to make a trip to the Japanese Garden in Houston proper this time of year to see the blooms there as well, and the massive azaleas sprawling around the Rice campus. Spring in Houston does mean tons of oak pollen and other allergens, so although the mornings are very lovely, I try to stay inside. But I couldn't resist last Saturday morning, because I had several new plants to put into the beds: ferns under the pear tree's shade, a few ornamental grasses, and more. Spring in Houston is quite nice. 
You don't have to be a kid to appreciate the newly expanded and renovated Houston Children's Museum. We spent several hours there recently with our young visitors. It was a blast, and I would have been totally agog if I were a child. The water play area was especially entrancing for all of us - several stations to manipulate water, including a giant contraption with mechanized buckets, a spillway, and lock-and-dam system. 'Kidopolis' was also fantastic - an entire area of the museum designed as a little town with stores, a bank, a grocery, police station, ambulance, restaurant, and vet clinic with toys and play money where kids could live out their play fantasies. It even had a photo booth to pose for silly shots. The kids hated to leave, and I could definitely understand why. Being there brought me back to the magical world of make-believe and pretend - I still have my collection of plastic horses and gear saved out in the garage from that own period of my life. Do you have a favorite childhood memory or activity?
I don't think I ever posted any photos of our time in Maine, or if I did, I can't find them in my archives. Today is Tea Tuesday again. Jordan Pond is a lovely little lake in Acadia National Park with the Bubbles peaks behind it, featured in Martha Stewart Living last summer. The restaurant there is famous for its popovers and tea, which we enjoyed on a chilly afternoon during our week there in October. Earlier that week, we'd hiked around Jordan Pond, much of it on a little boardwalk constructed over the mossy shoreline. The fall colors were near their peak and it was a beautiful time. Jordan Pond Tea is a blend of black and green that produces a refreshing flavor. I find I really enjoy blends of tea, such as Tazo's Joy, which is a blend of black, green, and oolong. Next time I visit Staple & Spice in Rapid City, I will need to buy some looseleaf black and green and blend them together! 
Christmas was special for us this year because we had family visiting to spend the holiday with us. We have not spent Christmas with family since 2003, when we last returned to South Dakota for the holiday. Given the blizzard they're still in today, I'm glad we didn't attempt it this year! When family and friends visit, we get out and do things we don't usually do. This time it included a trip to Galveston and a walk on the beach, attending a great performance of The Christmas Carol at a downtown Houston theater, visting Lakewood Church per the request of visting family (what a contrast to my last post! photos of the Osteens were the only iconic images around), perusing and sampling the huge cheese selection at a new H.E.B. in West University Place, a long walk in a new park, a carol service at a local Methodist church, and my very first 3D Imax experience - wow! Cooking a large meal and opening gifts were all the more fun for having family with us. I am grateful for the company of loved ones at the end of the year.
I have been playing with solar print paper this week, trying to capture my ornamental grass before I chop it back to move it to a different part of the yard. I love the way the paper captures the grass so accurately and magically, the process set in motion by the bright sun. Even after the grass is bagged and gone, its delicate seeds will stay with me, captured in blue tones. It's easy to jump from noticing actual physical impressions to thinking about things that have left an impression on my heart, soul, and mind, leaving wispy traces to remain long after the events themselves have occurred. I was reminded of this yesterday at the pottery studio as I was playing catch up on glazing after my absence to study and travel this fall. The staff there uses Pandora to provide our soundtrack. All of a sudden an old Paul Simon song came on, one that I hadn't listened to in many years, and it immediately took me back to high school, when I listened to it often. I suspect music leaves such traces on many of us - along with countless other things in our years.
Pink magnolias bloom in February or March down here, sometimes January. They bloom once a year. I thought I was seeing things last week when I looked out the window and saw a few blossoms on my poor trees. They have seemed rather confused since Hurricane Ike stripped their leaves off several months early a year ago. But then one of my favorite books from childhood came to mind, Leo the Late Bloomer, and I had to smile. My magnolia may be blooming late (or early), but at least it's blooming. And that is pretty spiffy.
