Texas Day 7

Many years ago I lived in Texas.  The weather just before we moved was rain.  The total rainfall for one of those days was 15 inches with the heaviest falling about 2 inches in an hour.  This is easy to forget when it is hot, sunny and dry out most of the time.  It has only rained once since we have been here this week and only briefly.  This morning I went for a walk and was reminded not by it raining but by how parts of the trail was designed.  Many of the trails are along creeks.  They also do a great job of making underpasses for pedestrians and bicyclists to go under a roadway instead of having to cross.  As I walked along a particular trail today all the landscaping was concrete built to obviously aim the flow of the water to the trail and into the underpass.  The underpass in turn had drainage grates to collect the water and send it to the creek.  People have done a bunch of planning with the trails and numbers of parks and open land to help control where the water goes when it rains. 

I just liked the sounds... 

The bird and the boy. 

We went to play a game at a friend of my kids today.  It took the majority of the game before I feel like I was starting to understand the nuances but it was fun and is my happy for today.  Tomorrow is our last full day and we are hoping to see the bats.  

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Texas Day 6--With many pictures

This day started with no plans until this evening.   Just before I headed out for a walk we got an opportunity to go to Pioneer Farms.  They are closed today but we know somebody and were allowed the opportunity to walk around, we just couldn't go into any of the buildings.   The somebody did let us into a few of the buildings and I took many, many pictures.

There were blacksmithing things, carriages and ink wells.

We were told this building was relocated here and it used to be a stage couch stop.

There were also horses and Texas Longhorn to look at. 

There were different homesteads to see. 

Outdoor kitchen 

Large kettles and wash board. 

THE TREE

And the Native American section

There were bees flying into the tree.

K was able to remove the Mardi Gras beads from the tree branch.

Moving on to more houses. 

Do to extenuating circumstances, we were able to enter the Jourdan Cabin. 

And the Bell House and buildings. 

Weaving Stuff!! 

Lizard on the wall.

 The end of the day some of us went out to dinner to celebrate C's Birthday.

Austin at night. 

It turned out to be a great day.  Time at the Pioneer Farm was wonderful.  It was peaceful; just K, Gideon and I most of the time.  My imagination was going between two things.  The first, what it would be like going through with people there and all the questions that could be asked and the hustle and bustle.  The second, what it would have been like to actually live there.  The temperature was around 100 degrees with the sun burning down.  All the work that would have to be done.  Even if there was a local store, things were still made from scratch and even with an outdoor kitchen, it must have been so hot to cook over.  Planting and harvesting food, feeding chickens and other livestock, making and mending clothes, getting water, so many things to keep a person busy.  

Ending the evening laughing with friends and family over dinner is my happy for today.   My phone has been in my hands too often and I'm putting it down more to be with people as best I can.  Picking it up to take pictures now and then, or often, is good though.  With all the loss lately, I'm trying for being present more and pictures to share.

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