Wordless Wednesday: happy together

Ro-day-oh

It's hard to find a more typically Texan thing to do than to attend the rodeo. 

We were lucky to be able to attend it in style last week, courtesy of some of Henry's work connections. Great seats (as you can see above) as well as yummy gratis eats and drinks—can't beat it! Our view of the action was phenomenal, but hard to capture in photos; the "grand entry" was the only event I thought I could effectively snap.

But before we entered the arena we strolled around the carnival and stock show, and saw some interesting things I thought I'd share.

We didn't do much at the carnival other than look, so we can't corroborate the sign's claim. But it certainly looked festive and "great."

The "Texas Wildlife" exhibit hall was more to our liking. Although wildlife was in somewhat short supply, it did have some interesting displays, like this sand sculpture at the entrance:

Another sand masterpiece was located further in, featuring our own lovable state small mammal...

...not far from our real-life state large mammal (I honestly didn't know there were two state mammals until I saw the Wikipedia article linked above)...

Not that many people, I don't think, would call a longhorn wildlife, but, well, okay!

One of our favorite exhibits was this one, where the artist has made innumerable cute and quirky sculptures out of discarded everyday objects. Here are just a few:

propane canisters become whimsical pets

the little "radiohead" actually played music!
and I loved the combination-lock people...reminded me of high school lockers

Such fun! And our Texan-ness is suitably reinforced for another year or two.

Early treat

Since I entered retirement, I rarely wake up early. Even though I am so much more productive in the mornings than the afternoons that I should do so more often.

But a few days ago we had to take a car in to be worked on early, and what a gorgeous reward we had for our early rising! 

Not only this lovely full moon, but wisps of pinkish dawn clouds as well. I rushed back into the house to get my camera and was glad I didn't wait until returning from the errand, since some of those clouds started occluding the moon soon after. And, of course, the swiftly-brightening sky takes a lot of the luster off our larger-than-we-have-any-reason-to-expect satellite.

I wish I could tell you that this experience caused me to start setting my alarm again...but no.

Wordless Wednesday: a Pearl of great price