Birding Heaven

March 29, 2019.Reading time 6 minutes.

Port Aransas has a birding centre that was damaged during hurricane Harvey. The new facility opened this week and it’s incredible! A flock of sandpipers fly in just as we arrive. I search across the marsh to see where they’ve landed, now camouflaged among the reeds, mud, and shallow waters. I follow the sidewalk to […]

Paradise Pond Take II

March 28, 2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

Warmer weather encourages us to get out. We take the short ferry ride across to Port Aransas on Mustang Island. Paradise Pond is our destination. Many others have had the same idea and gather around the opening to the boardwalk. I look for what has caught their attention and spot a bird rapidly flitting about […]

Tule Marsh

March 26, 2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

“Have you been to Tule Marsh yet?” our new neighbours ask the moment we tell them we like birds. “The Whistling Ducks are there.” I’ve been wanting to see the Whistling Ducks! The Tule Marsh spans both sides of Highway 35 in Rockport, although apart from some small signs, it is hard to spot, which […]

Bursting With Colour

March 12, 2019.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Along the Rio Valley in Texas the birds burst with bright colours. For Nancy Merrill’s A Photo a Week Challenge: Colorful

Paradise Pond

March 9, 2019.Reading time 4 minutes.

In Port Aransas, just off one of the main roads, is a driveway that cuts through a Mexican restaurant. Behind the restaurant are high fences and a boardwalk leading into a secluded area. This is Paradise Pond. On our first visit, we met locals who described the importance of the area environmentally, and alerted us […]

Cheap Date

March 8, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

Cold, fog, and rain has kept us indoors for far too long, so we decided a trip into town was in order. Corpus Christi, our closest larger centre, can be accessed two ways – via the freeways, or by crossing over to Mustang Island and driving down the coast. We prefer the latter, especially as […]

Nature’s Patterns

March 6, 2019.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Patterns – a basis for understanding –math, sewing, architecture… and when it comes to art –nature is a master at employing patterns… …awe-inspiring, faith-inducing – beautiful. (For Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: patterns.) All images from personal collection.

Quite the Dancer

February 27, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

The antics of the Reddish Egret, and of course its stature, distinguish this bird without further identification. As soon as we pull up to the water’s edge at Indian Point Park, I can see the bird hopping and swaying, like a giant metronome, keeping time to some unknown beat. I make my way up the […]

No Less Colourful

February 22, 2019.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Even in black and white, birds are showstoppers. For Nancy Merrill’s A Photo a Week challenge: black and white.

For the Love of Nature

February 20, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

I stand at the banks of the waterway at Kingfisher Lookout, and spot a field of blackbirds perched on golden stalks. Red-winged blackbirds abound in Texas in the winter months. At home, they symbolize the return of summer. We are at the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park – acres and acres of trails and exploration […]

Imagine

If we could lift understandingto indigenous teachingsexpand our loveto earth, sky, and seaMake personal gain tabooand Ancients a weigh point If we could witness the mountainsslow floating across the skyand touch the dolphin’s soulanxiously swimmingwhere tuna are netted Would we cower at our insignificanceor move forward, learning to acceptthat all of life is deeply woveninto […]

Dear Child

I know a little girl,whose hair in ringletsfalls, unkempt from lackof brushing; who standswhen she should be sitting;who laughs with defiance whenchallenged, her dark eyes gleamingwith mischief; who holds her chin uphigh and stamps her feet, arms foldedin protest when she does not get her way. I see that little girl,have watched her play,with a […]

Re-de-fine-d

Ask me how I’m doingand I’ll say “fine”, notbecause I’m actually fine,but because “fine” is the onlysocially acceptable response. If I said that I have been lyinghere, for three hours now,willing my body to move,that would elicit unsolicitedadvice and tarnish my “fine”. I’d berate myself for breakingmy promise not to moan,knowing that complainingprovokes a compulsive […]