Summer Storm Weather

Today there are a few separate summer storms forming around us. We might get some wind since it's already kicking up outside. The power has been flickering on and off all day long. I went outside when it was calmer to see if I could catch a better photo of the flowers I spotted yesterday evening.

Terlingua Storm Clouds forming over Indian Head and BBNP behind our home.

Terlingua Summer Storm Clouds forming over Bee Mountain in front of our home

A flower in the Daisy family blooming all around us in Terlingua.

This is a close-up of the bloom I spotted yesterday but I needed to get a better, closer shot today.

Have a great day today.

Charlton

Shapely Clouds and Delicate Flora

This Terlingua Summer season is usually our 'monsoon' season here in the desert. The sunsets have been fewer since alot of evenings the horizon is obscured by clouds. But due to the clouds, sometimes the sunset is even more dramatic because of the sharp shapes of the towering, gigantic cloud shapes that form around the storms that come in. The storms can also be deceiving. We don't always get rain even if the storm appears inevitable. The thunder and the lightening is just as dramatically opposite as the lack of rain.

Terlingua Sunset with dramatic storm clouds as seen from the "Y" (junction of Highway 118 and FM 170)

Walking back from taking in the sunset this evening, I noticed the wonderful warmth of the air as it passed around me. That was one of the reasons I chose to move down to Terlingua.  I passed by some plants at the side of the dirt road that seemed brighter. Perhaps that was because the sun wasn't beating down relentlessly on the ground while appearing to bleach the color from everything it touched.  We have had some considerable rain this season so far and some plants are blooming a second time around. The yellows and blooms just popped out brighter this evening as the light level dropped.

Ain't this the cutest thing? It's a seed pod from the Creosote Bush by our house. Yellow blooms are appearing again.

I have just loved these flowers of the Acacia shrub since the first time I arrived here. They remind me of pom-poms

 The tiny bluish shrub with it's minute trumpet shaped flowers seemed to shine just a little brighter than the disappearing light in the evening. I don't think I've ever noticed the blooms before. I had always assumed it was a Cenizo or Purple Sage plant. It may be a type of sage but most definitely not the sage I had thought it was. Notice the thorns hidden among the leaves of the same color.

The shrub above is the sage looking bush with the thorns and trumpet shaped blooms.

This place never seems to stop amazing me.

Have a great day and remember...the world is what we make it.

Charlton

A Unique Terlingua 4th!

Happy 4th of July!!!!

The Starlight Theater this evening 070413

What a beautiful day it was for an Independence Day celebration here in Terlingua. Kathy invited us over to her house for a 4th of July picnic under her new awning. It was probably one of the best 4th of July Celebrations I have been to while here in Terlingua. I met people that I have met before and new friends as well.

I met a fiddle player and a violin player at the gathering!

When the hour of 9pm arrived, Raoul and I decided to head on over to the Terlingua Ghost town to watch the fireworks. As we were approaching the ghost town from a fair distance on FM 170 we could see some thick smoke. They must have started the fireworks without us. We heard that the kids fireworks were going to begin first, such as sparklers etc. We drove closer and as we topped another rise in the road we could plainly see two humongous bonfires. It became dark really fast so we parked a few hundred yards from the Starlight parking lot since there appeared to be alot of vehicles moving around also looking for parking. As soon as we opened the truck doors we could tell that something was not right with the crowd. There were too many excited people and they weren't wearing the normal, "shock and awe" expression one usually sees at 4th of July pyrotechnic shows. There were shouts of fear and shock.

....and weeeeeellll. That's about as far as the 4th of July celebration got.

It seems, from speaking with other people that we knew, the fireworks, well, got out of hand, to put it lightly. From what I can understand, A spark jumped into the wrong box. There wasn't enough time to get the box away from the rest of the fireworks so they did the next best thing...they ran. One witness said that he was standing around the box when it happened and then he said, 'that can't be good' and then ran. As he was running, the fireworks were speeding past him in a flurry.

Quite a few people were hit with hot sparks but I don't think that anyone was seriously injured...as far as I know. By this point Raoul and I just joined the crowd on the Porch of the Starlight Theater after getting a refreshing beverage, Me: A margarita of course, Raoul: some sort of beer in a bottle.

Terlingua Fire and EMS on the job the parking lot of the Starlight Theater and Trading Post

Terlingua Fire and EMS giving us some good fodder for the next few weeks.

We left a little after ten. Needless to say, between the Terlingua Fire and EMS and Deputy Paul and Deputy Patrick no fireworks display was going to be in our very immediate future.

I never expected my 4th to be this exciting. Why can't we have something like this on a monthly basis? Just askin'.

Have a great day!!!

Remember, The world is what we make it.

Charlton

Through a Window Hazily

Looking Through The Window Hazily

The Window Trail, Big Bend National Park, Texas

Below are the flowers I found while on the adventure today.

Texas Mimosa

Cactus Wren nest as is typical in the crook of a Cholla cactus in the Chisos Basin.

A Mallow species of flowering plant along the Window Trail

The Window as seen from the trail head inside the Chisos Basin. We are at 6000 ft and looking down to Terlingua and the desert floor approx. 2800 - 3000 ft.

I didn't pay it much mind going down. I was semi-catatonic so I don't recall seeing it on the way back.

Appears to be a type of grasshopper I found hanging out on the inside of a Century Agave.

A closer view of the Century Agave bloom stalk.

I was exhausted
I felt great on the trail down. I was snapping and shooting photos like crazy. On the way back up from the Window was a different story. I was so tired all I was concentrating on was the right foot going in front of the left foot. If anything felt it was photogenic, it would have to have jumped in front of me and stopped me. Ray and Anita were right. It was 2.5 miles down and 10 miles back.

The sunset this evening was somewhat like the previous posted sunset.

Enjoy.

Remember, the world is what we make it.

What's For Dinner

What's for dinner.

BBQ Chicken with roasted Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Fresh Garden Squash - My plate

Roasted Pork with Roasted Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Fresh Garden Squash - His Plate

I love food but more than anything I love flavors and tasting food. This is what Raoul prepared for dinner tonight. It looked so good that I just had to take a photo. The food was as good as it looked.

Terlingua Sunset 062913

The sunset tonight reminded me of Neapolitan Ice Cream. As you can notice now. The sun is now setting to the far right of the horizon. It will begin to move the left of the horizon. In the photo, the mountain to the left is Sawmill Mountain. By December 21 the sun will set to the far left of Sawmill Mountain at a point not pictured in the photo.

Enjoy.

The world is what we make it.

Charlton

The Set and not the Sun

Sometimes it's less about the sun and more about the set.

Stormclouds gathering at sunset over Terlingua and Bee Mountain 062413

 We, as a people, go about our daily lives. Trips to the grocery store, the hair salon, the gas station, restaurants, our places of employment. Other lives, oblivious to our own, exist and thrive without our knowledge. If we do know about them or realize they exist, it is on a superficial basis. I go to work five days a week and then go home. On one of those usual days I drove up to the back of the motel, parked, and on my walk to the back door, I glanced to my right and noticed what would appear to most, a weed. Long, green, and seemingly insubstantial thin and barely there on leggy stems. At the end of the stems were very tiny white blooms. In a desert setting, to me, any color can be a welcome sight. I made a mental note to take a photo later during a non-busy moment in my work that evening.

I am always amazed at the beauty contained within a very small and tiny space. I was not disappointed with this bloom. They are pictured below. The anthers are the width of a human hair. Fragile and thin looking, the anthers were covered in what appeared as sugar particles. What the sugar particles actually are is pollen.

Again, it brings to mind that here, in the searingly hot and unmerciful desert sun, there are these small blooms there, below our eyes that stare straight ahead and often miss these small worlds that spin and grow and thrive. I love those worlds.

Enjoy and thrive yourself.

Remember, the world is what we make it.

Charlton

Stormy Weather

Storm clouds approaching Terlingua from the north. A storm also approached from the west and finally hit us  in the late evening with a sudden punch of 40 to 50 mph wind.

Charlton