A Cure for Brown?

I had to cut my time in Mexico short….all for the nerve of a tooth. The nerve that was causing me pain, as well as the lack of nerve that kept me from having it fixed in Mexico. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, and all I gained was $800 dentist bill. It’s all behind me now, and I can once again smile and inhale at the same time.

I came back to some beautiful spring-like days in Texas, the one place you hope the ground hog really does see his shadow, since some winter days can often be the best time of year.  Green buds on the trees can only mean triple digits aren’t far behind.  I have long said Texas has only two seasons;  green and brown.

I have a hard time with winter…the dark as much as the cold, ergo my desire to migrate to Mexico each winter. Regardless of the sunshine and 70 degree temps, I don’t like the brown!

Oh, I try to see the positive aspects – the Gaudi-like twisted, tangled trunks of the old live oaks, the stark architectural angles of the barren cottonwoods exposing the summer homes left behind by the migratory birds. I try to appreciate the sound of my own breath in the woods, drowned out by the crisp crunch of the fallen leaves beneath my boot heel. But if I am honest with myself…fact is, brown gets me down.

Black-capped Vireo Habitat

At least I am fortunate enough to be near the Cedar Ridge Preserve in the old growth cedar woods where an occasional tuft of evergreen accents the otherwise monochrome palette.

The winding trails through the gnarled cedars offer just enough interest…the whiterock escarpment just enough challenge…and the absence of fair weather crowds, just enough solitude to motivate me to get up out of the chair and go try to find the beauty in the brown…

Even the snakes are brown!

“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more.”

~George Gordon, Lord Byron

 

12 thoughts on “A Cure for Brown?

  1. Suzanne… do you ever drive east? A couple of hours east of Dallas, the pine trees begin. Tyler is a pretty little ol town. The rose garden is still pretty in the winter …

    Jefferson, Texas is also a cute little town ~ different. They are only a couple of hours away and have you been to First Monday in Canton?

    I agree with the two seasons. All the time I lived in Dallas … I said then and I say now… it ain’t pretty nature wise… but it is a beautiful man made city.

    But I do believe Tyler is the closest green place… hang in there!

    Austin is going to be your first trip in your new home? oh, wow. It ain’t green there either f’sure.

    • Thanks, Carolyn, I have not been to those places in about 30 years, so I agree they are overdue for some exploring. The weather was kinda nasty this weekend, so I didn’t venture too far. On Saturday, we got those rolling thunder boomers that you posted about last night, so it was kind of an unpredictable weather weekend (but then aren’t they all in Texas? haha!)

      I thought Austin would be a good place to venture out where I know my wireless signal would be strong enough so I could work during the week..without the safety net of having the RV parked in my driveway. 😉 I went to school there, but have not been back in about 20 years, so I am looking forward to revisiting some of my old “haunts”….if they are still there, that is!

  2. A lot of growth in Austin if you haven’t been in a while. 20 years? wow… well, Barton Springs is still beautiful … downtown and the whole huge Whole Foods on 6th by the Congress Street Bridge … love that place. Can spend all day there.

    It is expensive. I wanted to move there but toooooo hot in Homer and the rent was out of my budget! well, for the kind of place I wanted to live which would be downtown.

    great great city… You going to stay at McKinley Falls? Lake Travis is still pretty but really built up around there…

    It ain’t the sleepy little town it was in the 60s, 70s and most of the 80s… the rise and fall of the computer world ~ especially in Round Rock … left an interesting growth pattern.

    Traffic is HORRENDOUS! They’ve just built a new highway where you go 85mph… and it’s necessary you go 85 mph or they’ll kill ya… !

    • Yeah, I am a little worried about the traffic. I think I will need to leave here at 3:00am on a Saturday to hopefully avoid what I can. I haven’t been in the downtown area in probably more like 30 years. But I do know that I-35 is Hell’s Highway!!

      I have tried to get into that place where Chris and Cherie stayed (Technomadia) called “Pecan Grove.” It is very near Barton Springs. But every time I call, they are always sold out, and they do not take reservations. So I will keep trying. I want to be as close to town as possible, not only to visit my old favorites, but also because of the signal, since I will have to work. I know I will have a fairly good chance of a good connection the closer to town I am….so I will just keep trying. If I get a spot, you and Homer should come for a visit!

  3. YES know it well! Good luck on getting in there … It is booked years in advance but just keep on and maybe you’ll hit at the right time …

    I could live at Pecan Grove ! Maybe after school is out … Hope you can because it’s a great area

    • I am trying to remember it, but I can’t….is there a barbeque place near there with the old swinging screen door? I used to ride my bike down to this place and eat on Sundays, and I could swear it was also called Pecan Grove BBQ, but for the life of me, I can’t remember. Probably an office complex now, anyway. ;-(

  4. No I’m trying to picture it … Google it … You got Maps? It’ll show the area on satellite … all the stuff around there … I’m on my iPhone but I’m curious enough to maps it! 😉

    I can ‘see’ the Park but can’t remember what’s there … just know it’s very cool !

    • Well, and I thought I had found the BBQ place…I remember now, it was “Shady Grove.” An old ramshackled place on Barton Springs. But their website says “Since 1992,” and this would have been back in the late 70’s. Maybe they tore it down and started over…

  5. Time to do the “bakery stroll” up in Fredricksburg (sp?)… maybe some German Strudel. A wintertime blues breaker if there ever was one.
    I think the “night life” in downtown Austin has “evolved” since you were there last… Quite a party place now. Good music still around tho. (my son lived there for a while)
    Box Canyon Mark

    • Mark, am I that predictable? You had me at “bak…” LOL!

      I spent five years in Austin going to school, and never once went to Fredricksburg OR Luckenback. And I can’t spell either of them. I am a disgrace to the state, (and sometimes, proud of it! LOL!) I moved away for 20 years to New York and Georgia. Now that I am back, I am looking forward to exploring some of those places from an “outsiders” perspective in hopes of appreciating them more now than I did in my early 20’s. And the promise of hot strudel has me halfway there!

      Thanks for the comment!

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