Category: Going Places

On the way back from Waco, N took different back roads. This time we chose to go through Crawford, where Bush 43 has his ranch. Had his ranch? I don’t know for sure. We didn’t see any sign of the ranch, of course, but I was very surprised by the town.

Somewhere we read about a waterfall, and realized we had driven past without noticing it. It had a funny name: Tonkawa Falls.

It was accessed through a park, which had a closed gate on one side but was open on the other. We hadn’t noticed the park because of the wildflowers across the street. Check out #9 on the sign at the park.

This is the part I loved.

We stopped for a few more wildflower photos.

The other thing that really impressed me in rural Texas counties was the very imposing and formal architecture of the county courthouses.

I hope you are enjoying a look at Texas through the eyes of your Central California artist. There will be 2 or 3 more chapters, before we return to watching paint dry.

When N and I were planning my visit to Texas, I asked if she had ever visited The Silos, AKA Magnolia, in Waco. She had not, and we decided to make the 1-1/2 hour trip to this tourist destination. Have you ever watched Fixer-Upper? Chip and Joanna Gaines have transformed the city of Waco with this place to hang out, play games, shop, eat, and just enjoy the atmosphere. I have enjoyed their books and seeing them fix up homes, along with the fun way they interact.

N wisely chose backroads to Waco, and wasn’t at all averse to stopping any time I exploded with a “OH MY GOODNESS!!”

It was a thrill to see those *big ol’ silos in person. So silly, they are just giant worn out tanks, good for nothing but as a landmark. I don’t go many places or do much, but when I do, I am thrilled. (No, I don’t drink Dos Eck-ees; I don’t drink.)

We asked if there were plans for the silos; nope, they are too greasy inside from cottonseed oil, and just too worn out. But there is storage beneath them, and the man told us we might just spot Chip and Joanna inside if we peeked in underneath. So we did.

N and I inspected each store, finding very little that seemed worth the money, since we are both of an age where we don’t want any stuff. But anything we do together is fun, so we poked around.

Well, okay I did buy one thing. When I was traveling, a zipper-pull on my tote bag broke off. Look what I found in one of the stores:

Why would a store think that there would be a market for monogramed brass zipper pulls??

What I liked best was the architecture of the old church that the Gaineses moved onto the property. It doesn’t function as a church, and I don’t know what its purpose is, other than to delight the visitor.

Besides seeing the church, I was so pleased that we were there when the magnolias were in peak form.

I *might could go back, but would pick a day when I could walk across the Bosque River that goes through town, maybe visit the Dr. Pepper museum, take a tour of one of the fixed up houses, and even eat in the Magnolia restaurant called The Table.

*I learned to speak Texan and will demonstrate occasionally here for your laughing pleasure.

P.S. When I got home, I was shocked to discover that I have those brilliant wildflowers planted in pots near my studio. Why did I not remember this when we were passing fields full of them??

My friends of 38 years, N & J, have lived in Texas for 30 years, and this is the first time I have been to visit. They came to get me from my friends north of Ft. Worth, and we drove to their home south of Ft. Worth. I spent no time in any Texas cities, only the ‘burbs, which suited me just fine.

In spite of the lateness of the trip and all the mowing, there were a few bluebonnets remaining. These are definitely in the lupine family, but different than all our lupines in Central California.

This is a massive ant hill, made by harvester ants. They aren’t wicked like fire ants and have a little highway in the grass, busy all the time, just doing their ant business.

These friends also have an enormous lot with views of horses next door, a pond, and much greenery to mow.

Some things are just better to do when one is with a friend. Cutting off 14″ of hair was one of those. Dadgum, I am a gray-head! Oh well, whaddya expect at 64?

N and I hung around the house, taking walks in the mornings if it wasn’t raining, chitchatting, planning, catching up, laughing a great deal, just being together. Her husband was very patient with all the girl stuff going on around him. He was busy trying to solve the problem of a dead A/C and bird watching. The A/C quit the day I arrived, but fortunately for them, it was before the hard heat of summer set in.

We also had a few excursions, including thrift shopping, which is a bit odd when neither one of us enjoys shopping. Thrift shopping is more like treasure hunting than shopping. . . that is the best way we could figure out how to explain why it was fun. Maybe it was fun because we were together. I’ve thought from time to time that it might be good that we don’t both live in Three Rivers, because we’d probably never make other friends.

Tomorrow I’ll show you one of our excursions.

Traveling is difficult, and it about broke my heart to leave Three Rivers while it was still green and full of flowers. The logistics of a trip can cause one to wonder if it is worth the effort.

It was.

I first spent time in a suburb north of Fort Worth with a dear friend who has young children and a new-to-them fixer-upper on a huge piece of property down a long driveway. They had three pallets of sod coming for a front lawn, and I was right on time to help with the project, because her husband had fallen and broken both of his arms above the elbows. (Don’t land hard on your wrists if you fall, okay?)

The greenery and scenery just blew my mind (figuratively speaking—not literally). I had no idea that Texas is so green this time of year, figuring I’d missed the best part of spring by waiting until the end of April.

Enough ogling. There was work to be done, and we were shocked by how hard it was. The plan was to rent Mantis type tillers, but neither one of us could get them started (nor could the Home Depot employee), so we rented bigger machines. They ’bout dang near vibrated our arms off, but there was no time for wimpiness.

There was time for a few walks, and we had to stop each time the sky let loose with a mess of rain. We also stopped when we heard thunder, because too many people have recently been struck by lightning for our comfort.

The husband keep the logistics moving ahead, coordinating, keeping the Littles busy, looking up instructions, doing what he could like bringing tools, and encouraging us. I had to drive his pickup with him to get a load of fill dirt in a pouring rainstorm because he couldn’t put his arms in driving position. Yikes, such terrible timing for him, but it was a great project and a privilege to be able to help.

Let’s take a break from the sod project and admire the property a bit more.

We were enormously grateful when the grown son arrived with a friend to finish the tilling and help lay the sod, since our arms were like limp spaghetti. We had planted many flowers, dug and lugged many rocks, and of course stayed up late catching up because we couldn’t talk when the machines were going.

It was hard to say goodbye when my other set of friends, N & J, came to get me for the rest of my stay at their place south of Fort Worth. So interesting to have all of us together, both sets of friends formerly of Three Rivers, all now Texans, and just meeting for the first time.

There were so many things that would make beautiful paintings, but my audience (“collectors” in Artspeak) isn’t really interested in generic scenes. They want to buy paintings of places they know. Maybe I’ll paint some Texas green scenes when I retire (fall down laughing — why would I retire when I love what I do??)

To be continued. . .

Yeppers, still here in the Lone Star State. It’s a bit late for the bluebonnets, we’re having lots of rain, there are fabulous other wildflowers, and I am learning much.

Here are a few teaser photos.