Fields of wildflowers

My must do list (as opposed to the "to do" list) is long. I have been, of course, procrastinating. In aid of my procrastination, I somehow convinced the DH to drive out to the country and recover a little bit of clay* we saw in a dry creek bed a week or so ago. I had snagged a handful on that earlier trip and messed with it enough to know I wanted a little more to test.

On our way to the creek we passed fields of wildflowers - Indian paintbrushes, bluebonnets, wild verbena, coreopsis and such. We turned off the main road at a corner of bluebonnets and I was back in Daddy's Chevy,** fighting in the back seat with at least two of my siblings.

All along the way we saw small patches of flowers until we turned the corner to see this. It took our breath away. [Also show here are some verbena in the foreground and some bastard cabbage, yellow along the fence line.]

Daddy worked in a five county area of south Texas. He was gone a great deal as some days he was driving from one end of the district to another. I remember many times that he and Mom would load us all into the car for a surprise. We would head out to the countryside [for some reason I think we headed out past Odem or to Old San Patricio]. Then he would say, "Look!" And we would be presented with a field of blue and white - bluebonnets as far as we could see.***

Today, DH and I continued on to the creek, gathered about a pint of sandy clay and then headed back home. But the trip home was much slower than our trip out. DH stopped when I asked and patiently waited while I braved snake and farm dog to grab most of the photos here.

That was one huge tree, now dead at the top of the creek bank.

A bluebonnet growing from the dry creek bottom.

Drought-dead trees in the the creek.

Verbena and a coreopsis, maybe.

As I tried to take a "close up" the two bugs disappeared around the back of the blossom.

The wind was blowing so that sometimes I had to hold the subject, hence the many photos of my left hand.

Paintbrush

A country road with the requisite beer carton abandoned on the margin.

I headed the other direction to investigate these yellow flowers, but just grabbed a photo before heading to the car as I heard the farm dogs coming.

Miscellaneous flowers growing with paintbrushes in the ditch.

Such a pretty thing.

Very different seen sideways.

A sweet little purple flower. I took photos of some of the tiny ones (like the bitsy white asters, mebbe, in the two photos above) and will see if I can enlarge.

Well, time to get the wildflower books out...and I just put them back on the shelf.

The cardinals, somehow knowing I needed to see them after the loss of our neighborhood bird, were everywhere. But they could not compete with the flowers.

Parts of a country cemetery were covered in paintbrushes.  We drove past before realizing we had "missed it." Again, the patient one humored me and turned the car around so I could record just a little of what we saw today. I may have to keep that boy.

Mama loved the paintbrushes the most, I think.

NOTES:

* I had to put these photos in a footnote so the bluebonnets would be first.

A handful of raw clay yields zip.

As clay settles the water can be sponged off. This was maybe a pint of raw clay - but it is sandy, sandy, sandy.

A little bit of clay will be even less once I strain out roots and rocks, but it will be enough to test.

**I remember a couple of the sedans Daddy usually drove. They were as good as a ride at the fair...all we had to do was shout, "Faster, Daddy, faster!"

***Another time he took us out towards Rockport where the field was full of pink, but those flew off into the sunset - roseate spoonbills.