Season's Greetings - 2018

Original drawing and photos by Michael, inspired by the works of illustrator Duncan Tonatiuh.
Images from a visit to Sugarite Canyon State Park, NM, September 2018.

We visited Brazos Bend State Park last week (and quickly ran into Houston one afternoon). Dennis lived in Houston for a while in his youth and attended the University of St. Thomas there. But we had never seen Brazos Bend before, and it was a lovely southern coastal swamp along the Brazos River. We prefer the deserts and mountains, but this was very nice. Of course, in the cold there were fewer bugs, so it was easier to like.

Some pictures:


Sunrise on Elm Lake

Morning sun through the mist, the trees, and the Spanish Moss

Black Bellied Whistling Ducks - These were far and away the most common birds. There were hundreds of them, maybe thousands.

An alligator warming in the sun. It was in the high 30s so they were moving very slowly.

Pied-billed Greeb

Blue Winged Teal

Anhinga drying its wings

Tri Colored Heron

American Crows - Okay, maybe these were the most common birds: hundreds, maybe thousands, and making quite a ruckus each morning and evening.

Blue-Eyed Vireo

Little Blue Heron

Couple of pictures of a Great Egret

And a couple of pictures of  Snowy Egrets

Another alligator in the sunshine

Black Bellied Whistling Duck walking up a tree

Mike in the woods

Dennis cooking lunch

Spanish Moss and ferns growing on a tree branch

 Sunlight through Palmetto Fronds

Broken Obelisk - at the Rothko Chapel, adjacent to the University of St. Thomas

St. Basil's Chapel at the University of St. Thomas

Inside St. Basil's Chapel

St. Basil's Chapel Stations of the Cross

and their crucifix

A recycling art project in the Montrose neighborhood

Forty Acres Lake

Red-shoulder Hawks on a cold and overcast morning

We spent Thanksgiving with Dennis' brother's family in Memphis, TN. After leaving Memphis we visited the Natchez Trace National Parkway (a 440 mile pastoral roadway from Natchez, MS to Nashville, TN) and then drove across Louisiana and east Texas to home.




Great Blue Heron above Wright-Patman Lake near Texarkana, TX

A European Starling in Memphis

Late season bloom in Memphis

Leaves, at dawn, in Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park. On the Mississippi River north of Memphis.

Mike at our campsite in Meeman-Shelby Forest

The forest in early morning light

Squirrel in a bird feeder in Carol and David's backyard.

Autumn leaves in Memphis

All of us at lunch, at The Beauty Shop, the day after Thanksgiving:  David, Dennis, Mike, Carol, and Becca. 

Our campsite at Tishomingo State Park, along the Natchez Trace in Mississippi.

Other campers at Tishomingo SP

Christmas canoe decorations at Tishomingo SP

Bears are real. But this one is not. Tishomingo SP.

Swinging Bridge, Tishomingo SP.

Another bear at Tishomingo SP. All dressed up for the holidays.

Us on a cold morning in Mississippi.

Country along the Natchez Trace Parkway.

The largest mushroom we have ever seen.

Confederate soldiers' graves in the woods along the Natchez Trace. All unknown. All fallen in an unknown battle in 1862.

A creek side mill house in Tishomingo SP.

Holiday decorations.

Cypress and Tupelo trees in a swamp beside the Parkway.

Great Blue Heron on the Pearl River, Mississippi.

A Great Egret in the woods, also at the Pearl River.

Unknown Object for sale - Kaffie-Frederickson General Mercantile in Natchitoches, LA, Louisiana's oldest general store.

Dennis at the front window of the Mercantile.

Skylight, with umbrellas, between the first and second story of the Mercantile.

Sunset at Sam Reservoir, Hanks Creek Campground, near Lufkin, TX

Sunrise at Sam Reservoir, Hanks Creek Campground.