Tag: Texas: The Land

Primary-ly

~ Liz A ~ 14 Comments
January 14, 2021 – Winter primary colors

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.

Scouting it out

~ Liz A ~ 10 Comments
January 13, 2021 – Stagecoach Park fire pit

After my Wistful post bemoaning the lack of native plants in our new neighborhood, I decided to make a concerted effort to explore more of our local parks. Wednesday we went to Historic Stagecoach Park …

Don accompanied me, which was a good thing as the trails were potentially hazardous to a single female walking alone (a gendered reality I’ve always resented, but have learned to accept, albeit grudgingly). Fortunately, Don is a willing and much-appreciated walking companion. Further good news was that the surface was relatively even, with a decomposed granite covering that left a satisfying crunch underfoot. And there were many familiar native plants along the way, recognizable even in their winter attire.

Near the end, we came upon an interesting sight …

Obviously a fire pit, I decided to find out more about it when we got home. It was clearly visible as I zoomed in on a Google maps …

the large limestone blocks casting afternoon shadows, with longer shadows being cast by the taller compass-point markers.

And mothers of boys may well be nodding their heads at this juncture, recognizing this as a “Council Ring” which is used by local scouts (and others, to judge by the cigarette butts and broken beer bottles).

So, two parks down. And the very good news is that our new hometown has many more to go.

Process note: the patch is another bit of Burnley &Trowbridge linen stitched with some limestone-colored silk/cotton floss dyed by Tierney Barden and shadowed with DMC black floss, which I recently purchased on a cone (along with a cone of white). The cones are a great improvement on skeins; yet another great tip gleaned from Jude.

Go where you will …

~ Liz A ~ 31 Comments

We are back from the beach, where so many family traditions were faithfully observed: shrimp pasta, fish tacos, apple uglies from the Orange Blossom Bakery, pizza from Nino’s, Heather’s fruit salsa, chocolate chip cookie dough, ice cream sundaes … the list goes on and on. And yes, I do believe food is love.

My daughters have their own tradition of dressing up on the last night and taking pictures in the glow of the setting sun. I especially like this year’s …

So now we are back and busy beyond words, with no time for stitching. Getting our house ready …

Hoping to move closer to help with the newest member of the family … but oh, how very much we will miss the land, this place we have called home for the past nine years.