It frightened me — watching the engineer at work. Adept, skilled, and determined, and very much unsettling. No, not this spider, patterned in colors of Halloween, intricately weaving a web to ensnare a meal. The engineer in my nightmare was the specialist at the genius bar, donned in an Apple Store t-shirt, decisively launching programs … Continue reading What a Fright!
Grind, dose, tap, tamp, pump, extract, knock, steam, stretch, froth, thump, swirl, pour, sip — I love a perfect espresso that makes a great latte. For most of my life, I didn’t drink a drop of coffee, but over the past five years, quality fresh ground beans, golden-brown espresso with crema that lingers, and velvety … Continue reading Savor: Things, Ideas, and People
On most visits to the ranch lasting more than a day, I gather plant material — whether bare branches or full blooms — and make an arrangement to display at the house. It might be a simple zinnia or fern frond in a vase, an oversized arrangement of fall leaves and grasses, or a quickly … Continue reading Seeking Flowers, Finding Spiders, Considering the Lilies
Crunch, crunch, crunch. Anyone with unirrigated land in South Texas knows how it feels and sounds as you walk across dry parched grass. Crunch is the sound I heard as I walked to see the sedums this week. That was unexpected. Just last week at the Lost Madrone Ranch, I walked through a bright yellow … Continue reading Saturday Sedum Watch: That Was Unexpected
When I launched this blog and invited friends to come walk with me and take comfort at The Lost Madrone Ranch, I had no idea that a few months later I would “need” to get to Comfort to see sedum plants! That sounds sort of funny. And yes, my kids are calling me the sedum … Continue reading Saturday Sedum Watch at The Lost Madrone Ranch: April 29
Spring rains are here, the ground is wet, and overcast skies dampened my expectations to find many blooming sedums this week at the Lost Madrone Ranch. So, as I planned to head to the ranch, I thought about what else I would look out for on this trip. Last week was week six of watching … Continue reading Saturday Sedum Watch at the Lost Madrone Ranch: April 15
Five hours is all the daylight I saw this week at the Lost Madrone Ranch. Five hours of wonder. Returning from a short vacation, I made a quick trip to the ranch late Thursday afternoon to work in the garden, maintain the house, and check on sedums, of course. The pace of my short visit … Continue reading Saturday Sedum Watch at the Lost Madrone Ranch: April 8
It’s week 5 of watching wild sedums at the Lost Madrone Ranch in Comfort, Texas, and I am shocked by the change at the ranch from one week ago. As I drove through the gate and proceeded along the one-mile road to the house, my eyes blinked; my jaw dropped; I gasped. Like magic, “Greenery” … Continue reading Saturday Sedum Watch at the Lost Madrone Ranch: April 1
Welcome to the Saturday Sedum Watch — a series of postings following the growth of wild sedums at the Lost Madrone Ranch in Comfort, Texas. The Texas Hill Country is full of splendor, and spring brings the most colorful show of the year. Warm weather and plentiful rains are kicking off an … Continue reading Saturday Sedum Watch at the Lost Madrone Ranch: March 18, 2017
A couple months ago, after a long, chilly, morning gorge walk, I was dragging my feet down the road in the direction of the house a mile away. Exhausted, exuberance is not an exaggeration of the emotion that flooded in when I saw Jim driving toward me. As I jumped in the Ranger, relieved for … Continue reading Finding Gold in the Grass