Category: WORDS AND PICTURES

  • Memorial Day

    Memorial Day

    The American War Between the States claimed more lives than any conflict in U.S. history. Many of the nations first military cemeteries were establishment as a result, memorializing the fallen soldiers of the war, both Federal and Confederate.  By the late 1860s Americans had begun holding springtime memorial services to the countless fallen soldiers.

  • Spent!

    Spent!

    The grass withereth, the flower fadeth…..       LEICA M (Typ 240) Apo-Summicron-M 1:2/50 ASPH.  

  • Visit the Local Nursery When Traveling

    Visit the Local Nursery When Traveling

         I was off in San Antonio this last week to visit the grandchildren. While there I made a visit to a nearby nursery. Getting out of town to see new things is always refreshing., even if it is just a trip to central Texas. My younger brother always used to say that while…

  • Darth Vader’s Heavy Breathing

    Darth Vader’s Heavy Breathing

    The bloom of Japanese flowering apricot  (Prunus mume). is a sure herald of warm days to come!   News headlines have been repeating themselves of late, and on about every level the news is bad. It is as if Darth Vader’s musical theme is playing over and over in our sub conscience. ( You know,…

  • Romance is Sure to Follow

    Romance is Sure to Follow

    Spring is in the air and Valentine’s Day is coming up next weekend. When the rest of the world’s thoughts turn to romance,  a gardener’s thoughts turns, not to romance, but to pruning roses. For Southerners, the Valentine’s season is the perfect time to prune America’s favorite flower. Everybody loves a rose. They are the…

  • Winter’s Sweet Sometimes Smiles

    Winter’s Sweet Sometimes Smiles

      Haven’t we been having a wonderful winter? The cold has kept the botanical world in a deep slumber. Nothing stirs in our gardens except little flocks of songbirds. Our gardens are mostly monochrome grey with only the darkest of greens providing any variation. There is little for the gardener to do outdoors, so when…

  • Brad Underwood on SFA “…It is a special place”

    Brad Underwood on SFA  “…It is a special place”

    Hasn’t the Lumberjacks Basketball team had a good year? The whole of East Texas is proud of them. I admit it I’m a fan – SFA has a strong basketball tradition.  In the old days when I went to collage, basketball was a big deal here.  I know what you are thinking. “Why are you…

  • A Deliciously Earthy Celebration

    The Christmas season is a deliciously earthy celebration. Of course, from the very first it was all about babies being born – Jesus and his cousin John who would be called “The Baptist”. Babies, if they are anything, they are “earthy”.  Ask any mother. The whole thing is hardly  “heavenly”. It is messy, painful, frightful but, in the end, a marvelous little…

  • Rosemary

    Rosemary

      This time of the year people flock to the nurseries and buy plants on impulse because the very thought of them sounds good. A good example of this is herbs. Everybody likes herbs, and it sounds so neat, so domestic, so close to nature to cook with fresh herbs. But if you are standing there in front of the nursery…