Parks/Greenbelts

January 07, 2014 Revisiting my trip to Beijing proved so enjoyable on a cold winter day that I’m continuing the travel theme. Next up: Mexico! In March 2006, just one month after I started this blog, my husband and I traveled to San Miguel de Allende in central Mexico. I ...

January 04, 2014 While the garden sleeps I thought I’d start off the New Year with a post about the most foreign place I’ve ever visited: China. (Tanzania in Africa might have won that distinction but for the fact that I was on a guided tour and mostly in national ...

November 19, 2013 Austin has an extensive tree canopy, but fall color is not something we can brag about. Our deciduous trees generally fade to a pale yellow or brownish red right around the time people are putting up their Christmas lights. But this year would-be leaf peepers in Austin ...

November 18, 2013 We’ve been hiking at St. Edward’s Park — more of a greenbelt trail, really — for 20 years, enjoying the reliable flow of Bull Creek, the treetop views from the bluff that follows the creek, and the park’s relative solitude, especially as compared to Barton Creek Greenbelt ...

June 30, 2011 Ever since my Carolina childhood, the mountains of western North Carolina have been one of my favorite weekend destinations. During a recent vacation I had the pleasure of introducing my children to some fun hikes and nature outings in the Asheville area. Pictured above is a view ...

March 19, 2011 I’ve had a remarkable response to my giveaway of the succulent living picture kit. This Sunday, March 20, at 11 pm is the deadline for entering the drawing. To enter all you have to do is leave a comment on my post about Garden Up! (Note: you ...

December 30, 2010 Last week, when the balmy weather included a high of 80 degrees, we went for a hike at Hamilton Pool, a beautiful collapsed grotto (click for a previous visit). After skipping a few stones in the pool, we took the trail along cypress-lined Hamilton Creek, following it ...

December 21, 2010 The nearly full moon shone through the colored lights of the Zilker Christmas tree last night, making a spectacular sight on the eve of the winter solstice. My dad, who is visiting from North Carolina, had never seen it. We made sure he took a spin under ...

November 25, 2010 Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers! I thought a few restful images might be in order on such a busy cooking day. I saw these swans at Lady Bird Lake a few days ago, and they looked so peaceful. Some ducks came around too to see ...

November 23, 2010 Lady Bird Lake blazed with fall color last Friday afternoon. Strolling the 3-mile loop on the hike-and-bike trail, my daughter and I were captivated by the beauty of rusty bald cypresses and golden cedar elms and realized we’d lucked upon the peak of fall foliage. Admittedly, the ...

November 21, 2010 While strolling around Lady Bird Lake on Friday afternoon, I witnessed an interesting sport called slacklining. I’d just read about it in the local paper, but it was remarkable to observe in person. A group of slackliners had strung their line—flat, stretchy nylon webbing—between two piers of ...

October 28, 2010 As October draws to a close, I thought I’d share a few images of Bull Creek in west Austin on a recent golden morning. Limestone and water. Central Texas was, eons ago, a shallow sea. The limestone is what remains of the sea creatures that once inhabited ...

December 02, 2009 View of Lake Austin and the Pennybacker Bridge from atop Mt. Bonnell What Austinites call mountains would be called foothills in more towering regions. It’s part of the same exaggeration that has Austin in a tizzy right now over cold temperatures that just might drop all the ...

November 30, 2009 On Saturday we returned to the Hill Country to see Westcave Preserve, a 75-acre nature sanctuary located about 40 miles west of Austin. Westcave is known for its beautiful grotto hidden at the end of a sheltered canyon “created more than 100,000 years ago by the gradual ...

November 29, 2009 After a decadent Thanksgiving Day feast of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie on Thursday, we needed a little fresh air and exercise, so on Friday we headed out to Pedernales Falls State Park, about 35 miles west of Austin in the rolling green Hill Country ...

November 29, 2009 After a decadent Thanksgiving Day feast of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie on Thursday, we needed a little fresh air and exercise, so on Friday we headed out to Pedernales Falls State Park, about 35 miles west of Austin in the rolling green Hill Country ...