Spring is my favorite time in Texas. When I took these pictures a year ago, the lock down had just started. So little was known about the risks of COVID-19, the waterway in my town was deserted. A spot usually hopping with out-door dining, concerts, runners, dog walkers and kayakers, was also silent.
Author: Tracey
Sunday Stills: Passing Time in the Rain
We’ve been contemplating a move to Washington State for the last year and a half. In January 2020, we took a vacation/house hunting trip to North Kitsap County to see if we could tolerate the wet winter. We expected it to rain, and it did….every day for 10 days. We challenged ourselves to find things to do and to not get in a funk (mainly me) over the weather. We figured if we could have fun and stay busy, we might survive a move there. In addition to house hunting, we went to parks, trails, beaches, museums, restaurants and even grocery stores in every town where we looked at houses. Here are a few photos of how we passed the time in the rain.
Kingston, where I have family, is where we started with a short hike at North Kitsap Heritage Park and a long visit in a local museum of nostalgia. There is so much to see at “My Girl Drive In Museum,” which is good because the rain never let up that day.
White Wedding Anniversary
If you’re not tired of hearing about the Texas Freeze, scroll on. In response to this week’s Sunday’s Stills Challenge, here are a collection of “white” photos from how we spent our first wedding anniversary.
Normally, when it snows in South Central Texas it looks like this little bitty pile on our Sego Palm. I took this photo, as a joke, to document our first snow day as a married couple. Little did I know that this was the first of many snow days to come.
Sunday Stills: Birds? What Birds?
The photo challenge Feeding Those Birds is a double challenge for me. I’ve not had much luck with bird feeders or with photographing birds. This little buck has taken to my bird feeders this winter. I’ve started leaving him a pile of corn on the ground, but I think he considers it desert:
So, I moved one of the feeders into our fenced garden – only for it to transform into a squirrel and mole feeder. Here is how we found it this morning. I don’t think any of these creatures are afraid of my fat cat:
Continue readingHappy COVID/Texas Winter Fail/Hunkered Down First Anniversary to Us
If we can survive this, we can survive anything. Here is the proof.
Speaking of proofs, here is the artist’s concept for the custom t-shirts I had made for our anniversary beach trip to Galveston. It was cancelled by the vacation rental owner due to freezing weather, lack of electricity and probably frozen pipes. The t-shirts turned out very nicely. I just wish I’d known the Texas winter was going to be such a failure….I would have added some icicles to the design. We are planning on setting up the tripod to take pictures if we ever get out of the 20’s F today.
So, what have we been doing?
Continue readingRosy Red Travel Memories
Some times we just need a little inspiration from an unexpected source. Thanks to Terri at Second Wind Leisure for the much needed writing prompt. Pandemic + Texas Winter Storm = Pioneer Life…..and serious cabin fever. Now that the power is back, I decided to write a little more about travel, using Terri’s “Rosy Red” theme to help me select a few photographs that I’ve not used in previous blog pieces. Here are a few of my favorites.
While my husband and I were still dating, he spent two years on a project in France. I was still working full time and very involved with aging parents, but I did get to take two glorious trips over there:
Blue Sea and Sky
Floating on the Ceram Sea near West Papua during a 10 day cruise in Indonesia. My first attempt at “Sunday Stills”, featuring the color blue. We all even have blue in our textiles.
Remembering The White Wave
Over lunch my husband and I were discussing our trip to the grocery store. We couldn’t believe the price of pork tenderloin had doubled since last week, or how many people weren’t wearing masks. “Remember when we used to talk about our vacation plans?” he asked. YES!
How I long for those discussions and experiences, in addition to talking about what’s for dinner and how long it will be before we get vaccinated. I’m amazed at how focused he can be on on the latter. Cheers to him, for that is the single greatest step back into the world of travel. We don’t just miss traveling, we miss planning it! Suzanne@Picture Retirement covered this phenomenon beautifully in the opening of her blog “Then and Now.” I thank my husband for reminding me to finish blogging about our last international trip – a month long trip that took a year to plan and book. Some of the planning challenges were logistics, shopping and packing for multiple climates and activities, getting vaccinated for tropical climates and achieving fitness goals. I even hired a personal trainer to make sure I was feeling my best while traveling to the other side of the world.
Continue readingBad Ass Beaches
A year ago today, we touched down in Perth, Western Australia for the beginning of our last international adventure (for a while.) As we were planning the trip, I imagined the site seeing and wine tasting we would do in the Margaret River Region, but did not make a connection between the wine region and its proximity to beaches. We were able to do and see so much each day.
Continue readingMoving Forward
Plans to move to the Pacific Northwest squashed. Travel and socialization on hold. Definitely haven’t felt like writing. Taking a tip from a fellow blogger, I started looking at photos from last year’s travels. Celebrating 60 and finally embracing my status as a retiree, I was excited about the international travel we booked. But I stopped writing half way through the year. Moving forward, it’s time to write again. I took a writing workshop this week called “Mining Memories” through Thurber House to give myself a “jump” start!
ARTISTIC PENSION 