A generous spring

We are having such a nice spring! Not only have our temperatures been delightfully below average (especially in the evenings), but the heavy rains we had last month have nourished riotous flowerings all over the place.

There is a downside to this bounty; there was also a horrendous over-production of oak pollen that has laid lots of folks low and made my eyes continuously itchy for a couple of months now. (I don't have any pictures of the mounds of the stuff that covered our driveway and piled up in gutters and along curbsides all over the neighborhood, but, trust me, they were staggering!)

However, the profuse lovely blooms have more than made up for the profuse evil ones. Jasmine, like you see above and on the left, has been particularly bountiful.

It's even blooming as it climbs up the cedar elms in our front yard, a phenomenon we've never seen before!

Some of its plantings have overflowed their normally self-contained structures and flown in cascades out into the air, like this example in a yard down our street...

And it's everywhere. The photos above were taken on walks in my neighborhood, but on a recent walk along the river near the Pearl development I snapped this lovely wall covering:

I've seen all kinds of other floral profusions on various walks. Like these oleander blooms, near our City Hall...

In a strip of grass next to a nearby busy intersection, you can see the cheerful surprise of this burst of primroses...

a close-up look at these beauties

A relatively low morning sun highlighted the riotous color in this yard. This particular house, on a regular walking route, always has great landscaping, but this day the view outdid itself...

And you don't have to have actual blooms to be impressive. I've seen several examples of agaves thrusting stalks to the sky, but I thought these were particularly handsome. Doesn't it look like they're trying to join their neighbors, the palms?

I hope we have a few more weeks of this unseasonably cool weather, before it gets so hot that it's hard to take my daily walks. There are probably more great flowers to see before they, too, get wilted by the heat.

A march that shouldn't be necessary

I didn't have the time (or the cleverness) to make a sign for our 2nd annual March for Science so I wore this t-shirt and it made a big hit. Several people asked to snap photos of it and everyone gave me a thumbs up.

But, of course, its sentiment, along with the others expressed in the signs I'll show you below, shouldn't really be up for debate, but...sigh...we are cursed/blessed with living in very interesting times. 

Our march yesterday was through a lovely neighborhood, on a blustery but really quite delightful, day.

However, the location, which was mostly along residential streets in the Jefferson Heights neighborhood, didn't attract too many onlookers. In terms of garnering support for science and facts (another cause that shouldn't have to be a cause) it was really pretty much a preaching-to-the-choir exercise.

But there were clever signs and committed marchers. Here's a sample:

climate science deniers are curiously silent about the science
that saves their lives and keeps them healthy, it seems to me...
...do they really think the two operate differently?

another "well, duh!" sentiment that for some reason
needs to be articulated

I can't believe it, either, and neither can our
progressive mayor (in the blue shirt)

Here are a couple of signs I found particularly apt (as well as well-designed). In the background, the "magic" sign would seem to apply to the woman in the foreground on her phone...are these little devices magic, or what?! Wouldn't they seem that way not only to someone a hundred years ago, but someone (like our younger selves) 20 years ago?

There were some demonstrations of STEM in action, too. Like this hydrogen-powered car whose SAC designers are about to take to California for a national competition...

Of course, the nerd quotient among marchers was definitely higher than in the average population, with signs like this one, whose punchline requires some higher math...

...but the prize for geekiest sign has to be this one:

don't get it? Wikipedia can help

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I also want to share a couple of looks at the unusual and striking homes and yards in the neighborhood that we passed on the march...

gorgeous mid-century modern

imaginative extreme xeriscaping

And, as an extra bonus, while waiting for the bus home I got to watch some free baseball, as march hosts Jefferson high school played host to Highlands...

To close, I have to admit that the march was only part of a very busy, nerdy weekend for me. Friday night, my team of hotshot orthographic nerds (team name: Spellbinders) and I took first place in San Antonio Youth Literacy's first adult spelling bee fundraiser.

Spellbinders—and science!—rocks!!!

Wordless Wednesday: longjohns required in April?

Snow-shoe-in'

Our short trip to Colorado last month encompassed lots of activities. Skiing, of course, and lots of game-playing, plus the obligatory chores and minor repairs around our house. 

The snow was not ideal for skiing; not nearly the breathtakingly good powder as Monarch is usually known for. But there was still enough for a few days of good downhilling, and plenty of the white stuff for some scenic snow-shoeing, which I enjoyed with some of our non-skiing guests. The super-fancy rental shoes that took me on the excursion are what I'm wearing the photo above.

This all happened before the star attractions rolled into town, after which we spent most of our time watching this little munchkin (on the right here) have her first taste of Rocky Mountain skiing. Although being from Maine, it wasn't her first time on the slopes! Yes, once she was in town there was no time for adults-only activities.

But I did get in a couple of nice snow-hikes before her arrival. The Fooses Creek trail is just off US 50, with wooded scenery and relatively flat terrain—perfect for not particularly adventurous or overly energetic hikers.

Fooses Creek under some—but not a lot of—snow

footprints of human and other critters,
along with photogenic winter shrubery

One sight we found a little odd, just barely noticeable in the lovely winter woods, were the pyramids of logs? brush? piled up against some of the tree trunks. I've drawn red lines pointing to these structures in the picture below:

Caches of firewood? Or, it could be collections for scientific study. On another hike (one during which no pictures were taken, sorry) we saw signs forbidding the transportation of downed wood from some slopes due to spruce beetle infestations. Unfortunately this climate-change-induced plague has finally entered our valley in a major way; especially up close to the Divide, near the ski area, there are a lot of dead and dying trees.

Nimitz redux

We visited the National Museum of the Pacific War (which was originally just the Nimitz Museum) in Fredericksburg back in 2011. (You can read about that visit in my London blog; the reason for putting it there is explained in the post.) And we've always wanted to go back and see more of it.

Because there's an awful lot of history and fascinating artifacts packed into its relatively small exhibit space (in this really small town).

door to the USS Arizona,
whose memorial in Honolulu
we visited in 2006

So in addition to all our wine sampling, we spent a very sizable chunk of our F'burg weekend winding our way from Pearl Harbor to V-J day in this exceptional museum. Fortunately, they make it very easy for you to do this. When you pay your entrance fee, you're entitled to 48 hours admittance with it; a perfect excuse to spend the whole weekend here...we figure they must be in cahoots with the B&Bs and restaurants! This policy is the next-best thing to being free (like most of the big London museums—I have ranted about how ALL museums should be free before, so I won't make you read that again.)

Anyway, we needed all of our three days of visiting to see the whole place, although towards the end of Saturday's marathon session, I was having to skip some exhibits and even a couple of whole rooms. There are just so many wonderful items!

Like the door from the Arizona, above. As well as some fascinating and sobering exhibits that tell some of the other side of the war's story. Like this Senninbari that was worn by a Japanese kamikaze pilot...

A nearby exhibit can't help but make you want to scream at the horrible waste of this desperation battle tactic. This is a piece of the superstructure of the USS Hugh W. Hadley, which destroyed 23 kamikaze planes in less than 2 hours in May, 1945. 

Yes, I know it was kill or be killed, but how heartbreaking is it that so many on both sides had to die?

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The main museum has some beautiful large pieces, like this float plane:

But some of their most impressive items are in their annex, the Pacific Combat Zone, just a short walk away. Like this restored PT boat...

...and these deceptively handsome 16mm shells...

The annex grounds also offers this impressive map, which gives you some idea of the vast distances that were involved in this theatre of the war...

And speaking of theatres, the most impressive and unique feature of the annex is their "living history" battlefield, where they perform reinactments during the summer and on special holidays...

I think it would be worth scheduling a visit around one of these shows!

Wordless Wednesday: marshmallow pillows

Resumption of blogging: an anniversary trip

Yes, I know it's been a long blogging hiatus. But I do have some good excuses, in addition to just being plumb worn out from telling you about our European trip (did I really write 61 blog posts?!?).

For one thing, we were in the high Rockies for a time, where the internet is pretty sparse. Then we had a glorious 3-week-long visit from the Exceptional Granddaughter and her parents. I couldn't miss out on playtime to do any blogging then!

So I do have a backlog of pictures and accompanying tales to tell.

I'm going to start with a weekend trip made possible by our lovely children. They gave us gift certificates for our 40th anniversary (last year) to a B&B in Fredericksburg and that town's wine shuttle. Naturally, for us, the certs were about to expire when we finally found time to use them in January.

lovely winter sky at Becker Vineyards,
one of the many stops on the shuttle route

Our accommodations were at Hoffman Haus, and we hadn't felt so pampered since getting off Tor in Budapest. The room was really nice, and the breakfasts were scrumptious, and even delivered right to our door in ingenious little baskets.

Henry enjoying breakfast on our patio

A good bit of our time in Fredericksburg was spent in the war museum there, and I'll tell you about that next time.

But Saturday afternoon we toured, and tasted at, wineries. This part of Texas is becoming quite a wine destination, with dozens of vineyards and bottlers in the area. Many are not far from F'burg, and these enterprising folks have taken advantage of this density to offer shuttle rides for wine tourists like ourselves.

First we fortified ourselves with a satisfying lunch at Jennie's Burgers. Who could resist an order of their "Tornado Fries"?

Then over a block or two (F'burg is so nice and compact; all of its important landmarks are within walking distance of each other) to catch our wine bus.

I neglected to take a good picture of one of the shuttle vehicles, but here's the one we caught at Becker. It's not good of the bus, but isn't that a gorgeous old tree?

We decided to do tastings at just two of the wineries, since, as much as we like fine wine, we don't have as much capacity for it as we wish.

First up was Torre di Pietra (which means, as my rapidly disappearing facility with Italian tells me, "Stone Tower"). We splurged on a tasting + tour there, since they have their own vines, and we got a personalized stroll around the place with the owner. Here's a look at some of his vines, resting in winter dormancy:

We got a look inside, too, at some of the machinery that makes our wine-drinking possible, like this bottling apparatus, seen from bottle's-eye-level...

After our Torre-tasting, we hopped on the bus and took it to Becker, which is at the end of the line. We opted to skip a tasting and tour there, since we had done that a few years ago with our kids. (Pictures and description of this outing are at the end of this post.)

But we did just buy a glass of Becker cabernet and sat around a while, enjoying the clearing weather (see photo at the top of this post). 

Then it was back on the bus for the ride back into town, after a stop at a different sort of winery, the 4.0 Cellars. They don't have their own vines, but rather bottle and sell wines from several different Texas vineyards. Here's their tasting room:

By the time we'd gotten a good start on their tasting list, we were in pretty good spirits (so to speak), generously helped by our knowledgeable, but rather quirky, sommelier. Yes, he's wearing a kilt, and told us he does all the time. At least that's what I remember him saying!

The best aspect of the wine shuttle tickets are that you don't have to drive back to town after doing all this wine sampling! So we safely made it back to F'burg and were able to look forward to another day of museum-ing on Sunday before heading home.

Henry channeling his inner Nimitz on the museum grounds

We had visited the National Museum of the Pacific War on our previous trip to Fredericksburg, and had always wanted to come back. Next time I'll show you some more of the great exhibits offered by this fine museum.