The Earth laughs in flowers. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

This week I took a lot of shots of flowers.

Sunday night a gaggle of HDTer’s (that is owners of heavy duty trucks) went to Rudy’s for dinner and then Dairy queen for desert. It is great being included in such a terrific group of folks.

Monday morning I went over to Del and Berta’s to get a birding education. Since I’m just becoming a birder there is a lot I don’t know and they are a wealth of information and are so gracious about teaching me.

We found out that there is a Kildeer nest in the field nearby so we went for a look. Kildeer fascinate me. They build their nest right on the ground. If anyone threatening ventures to0 close the parent pretends to be wounded in order to draw the predator towards them and away from the nest.

Later on that day we ran some errands and then Phil stopped and let me take some shots of the catcus garden that grows wild along the road on Conway.

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Tuesday afternoon we had the monthly Ladies Luncheon.

I made pineapple upside down cake.

The ladies are such gifted cooks!
One gal made a spinach salad with feta cheese and a walnut raspberry dressing and I could have just ate that by itself!

Thursday we made a spaghetti dinner for the gang. There were 14 of us for dinner so we decided to have it at the club instead of at our house.
I made the spaghetti,the meatballs, the salad and the Italian bread. The bread is an Italian beer bread that is just too good for words.

Linda was such a great help. I love how she just jumps in and starts doing things! She made a dessert and everyone else brought something to share. Jim brought deer sausages that were delicious, even though I didn’t find out that the sausages were made from deer until after I had ate them.


Friday morning we went and picked the Kenworth up from Angels. I drove the truck home. Phil is always asking me if I want to drive and I usually say no. I don’t know why since it is so much fun to drive.

We also went to Mexico Friday to pick up some prescriptions. Even though the job prospects aren’t looking promising right now, we still want to have all of our medications on hand and everything else ready to pick up and leave at a moment’s notice.

Saturday Shari and I went to Estero Llano Grande State park. Another part of the World Birding Center. We went on a bird hike with a guide.

I enjoy that as far as having someone there to point out the birds to me that I’m not familiar with or the ones that I wouldn’t spot on my own but the waiting around for several minutes just hoping to spot a certain species of bird gets old for me.

We saw Benton Basham’s home.

A top American birding lister.His record is 869 sightings so far.I did enjoy all of the flora and took some beautiful pictures.

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They have these interesting totem poles throughout the park.


We did get to see a few birds. A screech owl.

And a Pauraque. This guy is really difficult to see. He was on the ground and he looked like a knot of wood. Very well camouflaged.


This picture is not mine. It’s taken from the World Birding center Website.

I got some terrific photos of the water fowl.





Books this week: Paint it Black by P. J. Parrish
This was a strange murder mystery. I may read his books again but I won't be hunting for them.

Movies this week:
Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Not a good movie, waste of my time.

Calendar Girls. Cute film.

Doubt: Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep.
I enjoyed this movie for making me think and for it's beautiful cinematography.