Wordless Wednesday: Waiting for Henry (not Godot)

 

Sky scenery

 

Every day during our latest Rio Chama excursion, the clouds were almost as spectacular as the rocks in the canyon.

I'll show you plenty of the rocks next time, but for now, just enjoy these lovely desert clouds...

How is it that when you're away from the city, the sky always looks so much bigger?

As the days grew to a close, the clouds still impressed. Yes, it looks like it might rain in this shot, but we only got precipitated on once...

Of course, being the desert, there were times when there weren't any clouds at all. Or perhaps just these cute wispy bits...

Even though I said before we left home that I wouldn't take too many rock and tree photos, since I've shared so many of them from previous trips...well, I really couldn't resist. Here's a tree shot to segue into more earthbound scenery that I'll show you next time.

Wordless Wednesday: why just have freeway supports?

 

All things botanical, Part 3

 

Sorry for the blogging hiatus! I've actually been busy doing some pretty interesting things, though, and now that I can catch up with blogging I hope to have some posts that are worth the wait.

But first I want to finish up my "botanical" series with shots from the current exhibits, and my more recent trips, to the wonderful San Antonio Botanical Garden. The first part of the series highlighted the clever origami sculptures that were spread throughout the garden earlier this year. But the current themed exhibits are even cooler.

As you can see above, they've done a reproduction of Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul, which features plants that she cultivated at the original, along with informational and inspirational displays where you can learn about the amazing careers of herself and her husband Diego Rivera.

This is the particularly striking reproduction of their Aztec pyramid, a great setting for some of these plants...

What's even more fun about the exhibit is the collection of animal sculptures scattered throughout the gardens. The animals depicted are ones that Frida especially admired; some of them are species that she kept as pets at the Casa Azul.

My young visitors in particular enjoyed searching for the animals as we toured the gardens on one of our multiple visits. (On another visit they were able to participate in a craft activity that resulted in the adorable Frida-inspired headdresses you can see at the right.)

Here are some of the animals...

In addition to the animals, there are these arresting statues of the lady herself...

All kinds of reasons to visit, and re-visit this wonderful place!

Re-visits are really a must (which is why membership in the Garden is practically required), since of course plants do different things over time. Here's an example: these artichoke-like things (are they artichokes?) were just buds earlier in May...

Aren't they spectacular?! And, of course, there are almost always sections of the Garden that were missed on an earlier visit. Like the conservatories, which we passed up a couple of times and then finally got to see.

the carnivorous plants were a hit with the kiddos

...and get a load of this staghorn fern! Gigantic!

I promise to get to my further-afield adventures next. But I also plan to make more visits to the Garden during the summer and see what changes are underway.

'Nuff said!

 

Wordless Wednesday: big shoes to fill

 

Wordless Wednesday: can't we all just decide to be happy?