Early spring walk at Lady Bird Lake

Early spring walk at Lady Bird Lake

March 01, 2024 The trail around Lady Bird Lake was pink, brown, and blue last weekend. Peach trees were flowering against a bluebird sky. Bald cypresses were biding their time, waiting to be sure all freezes are over. Eager redbuds proclaimed that spring is here. Their pink-and-fuchsia flowers clustered along ...
Golden hour at Lady Bird Lake and downtown Austin

Golden hour at Lady Bird Lake and downtown Austin

December 10, 2023 On these beautiful December days in the ATX, whenever I can, I get myself out of the house, make my way through holiday traffic, and set out on the Hike and Bike Trail’s 3-mile loop. If my timing is good, there’s nothing better than seeing the buildings ...
Another fall walk and deer destruction at home

Another fall walk and deer destruction at home

November 29, 2023 Beautiful fall weather enticed me and DH out for another walk around Lady Bird Lake last weekend, but first we stopped at Red Bud Isle to check out the bald cypresses going rusty orange. It’s a good show for Austin! Kayakers and canoeists were enjoying it too ...
Thankful for today

Thankful for today

November 23, 2023 Happy Thanksgiving, my fellow Americans! I’m finding much to be thankful for today and hope you are too. I’m grateful for cooler weather, walks around Lady Bird Lake, and a vibrant hometown to enjoy. Beauty all around me Peaceful moments in nature And of course family and ...
Pumpkin season at the Dallas Arboretum

Pumpkin season at the Dallas Arboretum

October 28, 2023 While in Dallas last week I visited the Dallas Arboretum to see their annual pumpkin extravaganza. The last time I’d seen it was pre-Covid. Autumn at the Arboretum I was surprised to find that Autumn at the Arboretum has been relocated from a shady grove near the ...
Bamboo forest and pond gardens at WynEden

Bamboo forest and pond gardens at WynEden

October 27, 2023 During the Philadelphia-Area Fling in late September, we toured Wayne Guymon’s WynEden in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. WynEden is an enormous private garden at 9.5 acres, “with 4,000 different plants and cultivars, 15,000 hostas, 7,000 Rhododendrons & Azaleas, 3 ponds, 3 streams and 5 acres of edited woodland,” ...
Italian Water Garden, trees, and treehouses at Longwood Gardens

Italian Water Garden, trees, and treehouses at Longwood Gardens

October 02, 2023 One of my favorite picture books from my childhood is Marcia Brown’s Cinderella, which received a Caldecott Medal in 1955 for Brown’s enchanting illustrations. Jeweled ball gowns, romantic palace grounds, fairy godmother magic — it all came to sparkling life on the page. I haven’t paged through ...
Wild creatures and smoke-shrouded scenery at Glacier National Park

Wild creatures and smoke-shrouded scenery at Glacier National Park

August 31, 2023 We arrived at Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana in mid-May. It was our northernmost destination on our 5-week RV road trip across the West. As we drove north from Yellowstone, the sky grew bleary with haze and then gray with smoke from Canadian wildfires. Road signs ...
Majestic mountains, wildlife, and Mormon Row at Grand Teton

Majestic mountains, wildlife, and Mormon Row at Grand Teton

August 24, 2023 During our RV road trip across the West, we visited Grand Teton National Park in northwestern Wyoming, a majestic place where blue, snow-streaked mountains rake the sky above a scenic valley. The Teton Range was formed along a fault line, where, 10 million years ago, colliding tectonic ...
Grizzlies and geysers at Yellowstone, part 1

Grizzlies and geysers at Yellowstone, part 1

August 13, 2023 As we drove toward the East Entrance of Yellowstone National Park, I twisted my telephoto lens onto my Nikon and held the camera in my lap. Twenty-three years earlier, on a late afternoon drive in Yellowstone, we’d seen a grizzly sow and twin cubs dash across the ...
Pond of the Blue Moon and bird- and gator-watching at Shangri La Botanical Gardens

Pond of the Blue Moon and bird- and gator-watching at Shangri La Botanical Gardens

December 16, 2022 Yesterday I introduced you to Shangri La Botanical Gardens & Nature Center, which sits along a bayou in Orange, Texas, right at the Louisiana border, and I shared a tour of the inner gardens. Today I’ll complete the tour starting at the back of the 250-acre property, ...
Shangri La Botanical Gardens, a garden fairy tale

Shangri La Botanical Gardens, a garden fairy tale

December 15, 2022 Dancing Sisters bottle tree sculpture at Shangri La Sleeping Beauty has nothing on Shangri La Botanical Gardens & Nature Center. Located in the small town of Orange, Texas, just across the Sabine River from Louisiana, Shangri La’s very existence is in some ways as fantastical as the ...
Chimney Rock thrills with a-Lure-ing views

Chimney Rock thrills with a-Lure-ing views

December 04, 2022 I’ve always loved the thrillingly high and scenic views from the cracked tower of stone known as Chimney Rock, 25 miles southeast of Asheville, North Carolina. I came here many times as a kid and young adult when I lived in the Carolinas. Privately owned and managed ...
In the moment at Rotary Botanical Gardens

In the moment at Rotary Botanical Gardens

July 21, 2022 Entry pollinator garden, and one of the last photos from my old Nikon Something unwelcome happened to me at Rotary Botanical Gardens on the last day of the Madison Fling. My trusty old Nikon D5000 camera croaked. Well, it didn’t actually die, but the shutter began to ...
Looking inward at Innisfree Garden, part 2

Looking inward at Innisfree Garden, part 2

December 10, 2021 Today I’m continuing with part 2 of my tour of Innisfree, a public garden in New York’s Hudson Valley. Inspired by Chinese strolling gardens, the naturalistic garden rambles around a glacial lake, with small “cup gardens” to discover along the way. Click here to read part 1 ...
Fill up your cup at Innisfree Garden, part 1

Fill up your cup at Innisfree Garden, part 1

December 08, 2021 “Pam, I hope you are planning a visit to Innisfree, the world’s greatest underrated and too little known garden.” So messaged James Golden of Federal Twist after I’d asked if I might visit his own increasingly well-known garden while on my Northeast road trip in October. As ...