Some of our local parks require reservations, partly because of Covid, but in the case of the Gay Ruby Dahlstrom Nature Preserve I believe it’s also to control the number of people for the sake of the land. Accordingly, there was also a charge of $6 for two seniors, which surely paid but a fraction of the Park Ranger’s salary and so was well worth every penny to us.
We had the entire place to ourselves when we went on Thursday afternoon. The weather was a seasonable sunny-in-the-60s with a brisk breeze. Best of all, it was like walking on the back of our one-time Hill Country property. Which is to say, it felt like home …
The bright yellow nightshade berries caught my eye first, followed by the deep blue Ashe juniper berries. That put me on a primary color search, but it took a while to find red. I finally settled on a cochineal red prickly pear cactus tuna and considered it done …
Then I tried something a bit different, using this gallery view of the three pictures on the blog as the inspiration for the patch.
The cloth came via an Instagram account from Ruth Hase Gutierrez, which she has since deleted so unfortunately I can’t tell you much except that I miss her posts and am glad I got some of her hand-dyed cloth before she left …
I channeled my inner-Hazel, putting together a patched patch to match the colors of dried cactus, weathered limestone, and fresh juniper …
then picked out three Deb Lacativa threads …
and stitched my way home …
Oh, I almost forgot. As we left the preserve, the ranger was outside carving a driftwood lizard. With his permission, I took a quick picture …
and am hoping we might see the finished product on our next visit.
I'm Going to Texas (version 2.0) 
Oh Liz~ What a wonderful post this is! Your park looks like a great way to explore and be OUT! I do hope you see the finished lizard…because I want to see it too 🙂 I bet the juniper smelled real good. The amount of dried grasses AKA ‘brown’ in the first land pic…looks like it could be here too. Can’t wait to see your next adventure and patch of the day! Be well.
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in my life I have found that one sometimes has to be in an unhappy place in order to muster the energy to find something better
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When I saw the rug patterning behind the subtle hand dyed fabrics I went, “ooh! Incorporate that too.” But that’s just me. I like how much inspiration you draw from nature and from others.
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you’ve triggered a great thought … how I love this rug and really should make a patch commemorating its ongoing use as a photo backdrop
this is such a large part of why I love blogging … the back and forth of comments
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these are such a beautiful reflection of the land and love the ranger’s lizard in process
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we saw so much evidence of critters as we walked (lots of scat and deer trails, but the birds were the only ones that showed themselves) … so seeing the lizard aborning was a great way to end our visit
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LA – beautiful reflection of the textures and colours of your walk. B
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B – trying to focus on plants blowing in 15-20 mph gusts made me appreciate your finely focused plant photos all the more!
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Just loving the earthy colours in this one Liz and the lovely wander through the reserve with you – the half carved lizard felt like a gift!
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I wish now I had asked more questions about the carving, and that we had spent some time just sitting and watching it become … next time hopefully
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Such a pretty patch and delightful post. Your soft primary gathering is lovely. I do love putting many things into small spaces- cloth, thread & thoughts. Thank you for sharing your places.
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how much meaning can be held in humble cloth and thread
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Love the simplicity of design and colors in this patch. And so miss seeing pix of your hill country.
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where we are now is where I thought we would be ten years ago … the Hill Country interlude was a gift from the universe
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