Brackettville in March

Nope, I haven't been around much. Not on your blogs nor mine. I forced myself out today, though, because it's MARCH! And, in Kinney County, Texas, March means that our landscape is turning gold and yellow as the Huisache and Blackbrush all break out in bloom.

The air smells sweet, almost like candy. That's the Blackbrush. I love it. It's gorgeous. I shot the Huisache and Blackbrush blossoms last year too (take a peek at those HERE) but it was different this year. The day I went out last year it was COLD and gray! Today it was 80 degrees with clear skies. I prefer the cold and gray. Our winters are too short for my liking. And this one has been far too dry!

I made the mistake of going out to Tularosa Road (one of my favorite spots) to shoot the blossoms. I knew they'd be blooming out there and assumed they'd be blooming out there as well as they are in other areas of the county. I was mistaken. Should have gone to where I KNEW they were going mad. Oh well. Maybe tomorrow if I feel like it.

It's something to see, I tell you. The Huisache trees are just solid gold along Hwy. 90 between Brackettville and the next town to the west. That's where I should have gone. On Tularosa Road the Huisache wasn't doing much at all.

Above: a first quarter moon(+) above Tularosa Road. That's Blackbrush in the foreground.

Above: Blackbrush is so very beautiful to me. It actually seems out of place in our landscape. It's something I'd expect to see in a park in Japan.

Above: The yellow and green on this Blackbrush was such a pretty contrast.

Above: This one is for Jean. She introduced me to Tularosa Road several years ago, but I never knew about this spot until our last trip out there together. I wish she'd been there today to see the colors--she's a painter and probably would have pointed out even more eye candy to me. She's got a nose for it. The water was almost turquoise right at this bend in the creek. The yellow grass, the blues of the water, the red, brown and green of the trees! Oh my! It's not the photo that I love, it's the contrasts and colors.


Above: The lichen (or whatever it is) growing on this tree was neon yellow. I swear it looked phosphorescent. And this tree was absolutely covered with lichen, plant parasites, and I don't know what all. The following three photos were all taken on this tree.


Above: This would have been my favorite shot of the day but it was just a tiny bit out of focus. If I didn't know better, I'd think it was under water. I don't know if this is a fungus or a parasite (mistletoe is an example of parasites that grow on trees) or what.

On a whim I did a panoramic shot out on Tularosa. I didn't pick the best view, I just needed the practice. So far, my panoramics have been pretty pathetic. This one wasn't too bad--but now I wish I'd taken the time to pick a slightly better view! Tularosa Panoramic. If you decide to click the link, be sure to click the photo to enlarge it.

Above: Huisache blossoms. They look like tiny little gold pom poms growing all over the crown of the tree.

Above: A Huisache tree. Just imagine this COATED with those little gold pom poms. That's what you'd see driving into Brackettville from the west.

Below: Just Because.

These were my two entries into this week's Facebook Amateur Photography Contest. The theme is common nouns that begin with the letter "a." I really wanted to enter something original but after nearly two weeks of looking, I couldn't find any good "a's." So, before I wound up my afternoon of shooting, I stuck the apple I was eating on the fence at the cemetery and spent 20 minutes trying to get the moon in the shot.

Art Studio on Fort Clark Springs

My friend Jean let me come shoot her art workshop today. The images of her working and her students are strictly for her, but I'm using the artsy snaps on my blog! I love shooting paintbrushes and had to restrain myself since I was really there to shoot the class, although I still managed to snap about 20 or 30 pix of paintbrushes.






The one above is my favorite. I shot several sets of new looking brushes and ended up deleting them all, they were entirely uninteresting. Used brushes have character!

Final Clovenfield Entry

I created this blog to be my photography portfolio showing my best photo work. And that's pretty much what I use it for except when I'm trying to tell a story or share some event or experience through photos. I did a bit of that today, throwing in some of my less than favorite shots of the day to share what I saw.

I've already posted 99% of my Clovenfield favorites along with some others that I'm not nearly so fond of but they seemed appropriate to add for various reasons. This is the last one that was among my favorites.

What I like about this photo is that the big goat's chest, face, and neck make this nice, nearly S-shaped curve above the baby whose head, back, and tail somewhat mirror that shape. I've been ever in search of the elusive (to me) S-shape in a photo and I think this is the first time I've really gotten it in a way that I cared to share it. Although I may go in soon and try to remove that blasted bit of dried grass that is practically cutting my baby goat in half, ack!

I also loved the little bit of red that you can see in the photo. Without that, it would have been quite blah and I don't think I'd have looked at it twice.

So, not a remarkable shot, but an exciting one for me. My mentor, Jean, taught me to look for certain shapes in my photography composition and I've been looking for an S for about two years now. Finally!

Oh, and in case you are Boer-Curious, here's a link to African Boer Goats.

Tularosa Road

See, here's the thing, this is about as interesting as our landscape gets. So, don't think our hills dinky or our woods sparse. For us, this is lush and wonderful. This is Tularosa Road. My friend Jean told me about this lovely stretch of road and it's become my favorite place to go for skywatching, hiking, and all things natural. So far, the area has no radio towers or other lights to disrupt skywatching. It's awesome. I went there today because I wanted some juniper berries. My timing was excellent. They were ripe and ready to be picked. Collected a bunch of cedar and juniper for smudge sticks too.

I got huffed and puffed at by several deer while I was out on the dry creek bed below. It always makes me laugh when they do that. They won't come out where you can see them to huff at you, they do it from behind a tree or something.

Rocks, rocks, and more rocks. Rather treacherous to walk on, but beats trying to get through the brush. It may look sparse on Tularosa road, but it's full of hooky, grabby, pointy, prickly things that grab and snag. Walking along this dry creek bed was dangerous and difficult but scratch-free. And while I don't have the patience to look for arrowheads, I found one by pure accident. My eye just fell on it. Then, about 30 minutes later, my eye fell upon a 7+ lb. chunk of petrified wood!!!! I couldn't believe it! I've never found petrified wood before. I didn't even think we had any out here. Woot! And, joy, I finally found some Mexican Buckeyes, I've been looking for them for months but hadn't found a single one. I want the seeds! They were seedless today, but that's okay. I'll go back in October and load up, that's when their seeds are ready to fall. I'm grateful to have found them.

It was really kind of reckless for me to be stomping around in the woods this time of year on Tularosa road. LOTS AND LOTS of hunting leases out there. I kept hoping that my proximity to the road would be some insurance against getting shot at. It's not legal to shoot towards the road... is it? Anyway, I won't risk it again. Not so much because I'm afraid of getting shot, although that's a possibility, but because I don't want to mess up somebody's hunt.

I probably won't be able to walk tomorrow, I'm already stiff and achy, but today was really fun even if there was little to shoot. Finding the Buckeyes and the petrified wood was TOTALLY worth it! And I can't wait to cook something with the juniper berries. My smudge sticks are already rolled, tied, and drying. When they're dry, in about three weeks, I'll list them on Etsy and hope they sell. Should have had that done before Christmas, oh well.



More pics of the petrified wood can be seen aquí .

Waiting for Monarchs in Brackettville

My friend Jean is waiting for them too. Like me, she couldn't stand the anticipation and posted a pic of them from last year! Monarchs in Brackettville