Z is for Zinnia

Dad always planted zinnias near the vegetable garden to attract the bees and butterflies.


I remember being allowed to pick zinnia bouquets whenever I wanted, which is probably why I love this flower today.


The full, double blossoms are my favorite.


The bright colors make me smile.


I'm dreaming of a zinnia garden for next year, like the one from my childhood, with butterflies and bees and cut zinnia bouquets for the table all summer long.

Y is for Yardstick

Do three yardsticks count as a collection? If so, then I have one.


According to The Book of Alternative Records, Ing. Arnulf Bietsch from Bolsterlang, Germany holds the current world record for a yardstick collection. He has collected more than 30,000 different yardsticks which he stores in a special room with air conditioning.

I keep a yardstick near my knitting spot. I like to use it or a 12-inch ruler to measure knitted fabric. I find it easier and more accurate than a retractable tape measure for measuring small items; measuring floppy fabric with a floppy tape measure can be cumbersome for me. And I always have a yardstick handy for blocking.

For anything over 36 inches a tape measure is best, of course. But, I've even found a way around that for measuring scarves: A good length for a scarf is 60 inches which happens to be the exact length of my dining room table. When the scarf reaches end-to-end, I know it's long enough.

Never lose sight of the fact that the most important yardstick of your success will be how you treat other people--your family, friends, and coworkers, and even strangers you meet along the way. ~Barbara Bush

X is for Xtraordinary

I know this is not the correct spelling of extraordinary, but with fewer than two pages of x words in my dictionary and absolutely none that appealed to me, I'm invoking creative license on this one.

I find it xtraordinary that an orchid John gave me way back in March has survived and actually bloomed again.


In the past I've managed to keep orchids alive, but never have I had a repeat bloom. This is a first and it may never happen again--an event worthy of being called xtraordinary with an x!

Besides, these photos are much better than anything I could ever come up with for x-ray, XL, xylophone or X-mas.

W is for Weekender

We are now officially Matagorda weekenders!

A new section opened up at Pelican Point RV Park and we decided to rent a space and keep our travel trailer down there full time. We moved it in on Monday.

This is the view of the Colorado River from our spot.

A few weeks ago we saw a bald eagle perched in one of the trees on the opposite bank. It was far away, but we confirmed it with a pair of binoculars. We are told there is an eagle's nest up the river.

After setting up the trailer, there was just enough daylight left to test out the waters. John caught the first fish--a nice sized sand trout.

Not to be outdone, I caught two at once.

We fished until sunset, catching several more sandies while being serenaded by the sounds of nature: cows mooing across the river, an owl hooting from his hidden spot in a tree, coyotes howling in the distance.

We said a prayer that night, thanking God for giving us this peaceful place to spend our weekends.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. ~James 1:17

V is for Variegated

Variegated yarn is fun to knit with. I guess that's why I fall for it so often, even though I find it challenging to match the yarn to a pattern. Here's a sneak peek of my latest variegated project.

Variegated Yarn by **Plain & Fancy Sheep & Wool

This yarn is especially beautiful and wonderful to knit with! The ever-shifting colors kept my needles flying and before I knew it, this project was finished. Yes, finished before I even had a chance to mention I was working on it. You can probably guess what it is from the picture, but I'm going to save the details until after the photo shoot this weekend.

**Plain and Fancy will be one of the vendors this weekend at Kid 'N Ewe fiber festival in Boerne, Texas.

U is for University

I'm a graduate of Texas A&I University, now known as Texas A&M of Kingsville.


John and I met on this campus. We both began our freshman year in 1978. He was an engineering major; I was a business major. He lived off campus; I lived on campus. So even though our university was small, I guess it's not surprising that we didn't meet until the spring semester of our junior year.

We were both enrolled in a course called The Philosophy of Logic taught by Dr. Davidson. This class was not required by any major on campus. It was an elective course and we were probably lucky it made the cut that year. It was a small class, maybe a dozen students, and very informal. On the first day of class Dr. Davidson had us arrange our chairs in a circle and say a little something about ourselves by way of introduction.

John caught my eye that day, even though I already had a boyfriend. I remember him saying he was originally from Vermont, worked as a night dispatcher and was in a fraternity.

John 1981

Later that semester my boyfriend and I broke up. It turned out to be a good thing, because I was then free to get to know John better. At the end of the semester he asked me out for the first time. And the rest, as they say, is history. It was not all smooth sailing, but it did end in happily ever after. We were married in 1984 and in May will celebrate 25 years of marriage.

This post would not be complete without a picture of me from my university days. I only wish I could have found a more flattering one. I'm front row, middle, in the white jacket.

Tracy 1982

T is for Texas

I like that Texans are proud of their state and flag. Did you know Texas has a state pledge?


"Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible."

The Texas Pledge is routinely recited in schools after the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States. The phrase "one state under God" was added in 2007.

Texas pride is what makes Texas special and different from any place I've ever lived. A Texas flag painted on the side of a building is a common sight.


Anything can be turned into a Texas flag and often is.


T is Texas--the place I'm proud to call home.

S is for Seashells

I enjoy searching for shells on the beach.


After Ike hit Texas, we went to Matagorda Beach in search of treasures. Though hurricanes are never welcomed, they do bring lots of shells to the coast. In the short time we searched we found a number of nice Lightning Whelks, the state shell of Texas. It's different from other whelks in that the opening is distinctively "left-handed"--it invites your left hand in when you hold it tail down. It is considered a good find on Texas beaches.

Lightning Whelk

Another good find is the Sundial. It's one of my favorites and I've adopted it as my signature shell. I've collected hundreds of them which I display in a wooden bowl on our dining room table. Normally I find light-colored Sundials, but this day I was lucky to find two black ones.

Sundial

The Lettered Olive shells below are considered common finds, but they are the first I've found at Matagorda Beach, so I was really excited.

Lettered Olive

But not nearly as excited as I was when I found the shell below.

Mitchell's Wentletrap

This rare treasure is a Mitchell's Wentletrap! It's not a perfect specimen and it's a little smaller than normal, but I'm convinced that I've identified it correctly. This highly sought after shell was first discovered by Texas naturalist J.D. Mitchell. It's such an uncommon find that I never really believed I would ever find one, though I hoped so.


Additional Source: Shells of the Texas Gulf Coast

R is for Run from Ike

Hurricane Ike is headed for Texas and we've decided to run from him.

Exactly where Ike will hit is still uncertain at this time, but predictions keep moving him closer and closer to the Houston area. Instead of waiting around for a more accurate prediction, we're packing up the travel trailer and heading out in the morning. We feel it's better to err on the side of caution than to wait. And we'd really like to get going early enough to avoid a nightmare evacuation like the one we went through three years ago with hurricane Rita.

I don't think we'll have Internet access while we're on the run. It will probably be next week before I check in, so don't worry if things are quiet on the blog for a time. We will be fine, because we know where to find refuge.

Psalm 46:1-3
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

Q is for Quest

Our quest was to find some of the geocaches hidden at Matagorda Beach.


The first one we discovered gave us all a good laugh.


Matt and Carly are experienced geocachers. They have a good eye for finding the treasure.




John is still learning....


Here's one for you to try. Can you find the micro-cache hidden on the tank in the picture below? It's small and well camouflaged.


Here's a closer look. It's clearly visible in this picture, if you know what you're looking for.


Did you find it?


Each cache has a logbook to sign, even one this tiny.


Our quest was a success: five out of five caches were found and a good time was had by all.

P is for Pelican

It's not always easy to photograph a pelican up close. However, this one was very cooperative.

And so were these.


Sometimes I can sneak up on them in the kayak without spooking them, but I'm limited by the zoom on my pocket camera (I'm not brave enough to take the good camera out on the water).


Most of the time they fly away before I can get very close. And even with a decent telephoto lens, they are too far away to capture much detail.


There was one pelican in the flock that stayed behind so I tried to get closer.


But eventually he sensed my presence.


That's close enough.

See ya!

O is for Oleander

I was afraid of oleander shrubs when I was young.


The house I grew up in had an oleander in the backyard. I think the blossoms were red, but I'm not sure. The one thing I vividly remember though was that this shrub was off limits and we were not allowed to play near it. Oleander is poisonous if ingested and my parents didn't want to take any chances. I was convinced from their warnings that just touching the leaves was dangerous.

It's not surprising then to learn that I've never been a big fan of this shrub...until recently. I've noticed it's used a lot in landscaping in Matagorda and Palacios. It seems to grow effortlessly on the Texas Gulf coast and looks great in a beach setting. In my dreams I see myself living in a house near the beach one day with an oleander in the backyard. Hey, it could happen.

N is for Nature

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. ~Romans 1:20

A collection of nature photos:

Sweet Nectar

Sand, Surf, Sky

Texas Sunset

Sea Oats

Face Off

Empty Moth Cocoon

Gull Gathering

Barnacles on Driftwood

Majestic Oak

Thank you, God for your wonderful creation.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. ~ Genesis 1:31