Texas Discovery Gardens -Places to visit in Dallas

There is also an aboretum near here but as it was already afternoon we chose to just visit the Discovery Gardens this day.

Daughter and s-i-l, a handsome couple!

Grandson "changing" into a butterfly

A garden-centered gazzebo. Gradn said I just needed to get a picture of this!!

Beautiful blooms still happening!

Sunlight fitlering through the gardens

We visited the snake-house next, to the delight of the Grand, but because of the glare from the glass, I was not able to get good photos.

 

On to the Butterfly House, a very tall, domed, mostly glass enclosure, which was accessed by going up this flight of stairs, and entering a double enclosed hallway (to preserve heat and humidity) and through the next set of doors to the top of the enclosure.

There is a spiral walkway that goes gently downward around the outside wallof the conservatory.

So much beautiful plantings with much of it still blooming.

Looking down to the lower level...

 Bottom level , gorgeous palms!

 

and other beautiful trees and vines.

although it was late and the butterflies had already started to settle for the night we did get some neat pictures.

one of my favorites....

The volunteer was very helpful with information, especially about the butterfly larva (nutes?) shown in the case behind her. These are shipped in, the emerge in the conservatory. The butterflies live about 2 weeks here so there is a rapid turnover, and a need for steady shipments of these crysalis.

One last photo, this butterfly landed afor the night just behind the volunteer. She said others had been looking for this particular one all day. Sorry, I forget the name.

One last shot....Flowers in bloom...

 

It was an afternoon well spent and I would reccommend visiting this place.

 

 

Dallas TX

Its been about a week ago today I pulled into my daughter's and SIL's home to visit with them a while. It has been fun so far, catching up and just spending time together. I think my grandson grew a half a foot in the last year! Anyway we have been spending some good time together walking the dogs, doing homework, going with him to his piano lesson, and playing wii and board games.
SIL Rick is working long hours right now, so I am looking forward to this weekend when I will get to spend more time with him as well.

Daughter Has a busy work schedule, but we have had some neat, short, one-on-one conversations and did get to run off to town and have lunch together in the middle of one busy work day, and also accomplished a few errands. I am not sure I care for the Dallas traffic but she describes it as "the Dallas traffic I have come to know and love"! OKAYYYY....

Here are some photos of the buildings we passed. I seem to be taken with the city's structures and reflections as the sun was lowering.

And the tunnel....

These were all taken on my camera phone at a pretty good clip..

 

Look at the stream of vehicles leaving the city as we are on our way to the piano lesson last night.

I think this is my favorite photo... of the buildings.

 

But THIS is REALLY my favorite!

"Master and student"

After the lesson the piano teacher played several "old" favorites for me. Aw, brought back memories of my growing up years with Mom playing the piano in our home!

 

Is there musical or other talent evident that was passed down through your family to generations after? We don't all have the same gifts. It would be a boring world for sure if we did! Even in the Bible it has been recorded that cretain family lines had different talents, such as working with wood, or metals, cloth, just to name a few. I have an uncle who flew in the Navy, his son (cousin Bill that I just visited) was a pilot for Fed-Ex until retirement, and his son Gary was a show flyer (not the right term I know). My grandmother was an avid quilter and 3 grandaughters in the same family are also following those talents. My Mom played piano, my dad a harmonica, and all of 4 of us children have played at least one instrument at least fairly well. My dad was also a welder by trade and my son also does a fantastic job of welding, as well as 2 of my grandsons now following that trade.

 

I don't know how I got off on all that but I find it very interesting, the talents and gifts that are passed down. I will leave you to your own remembrances  and musings now. I think its about time i go help make supper :)

Finally.... Internet

This post is from the weekend of Nov 2-4. (Please check back the last 4 posts to see catch-up posts)

I guess the surprise is on me! I had planned on posting the next day and this new wi-fi-gadget from ATT is giving me fits! Oh well, not going to take time up with all that. This is the first reliable service I've had in over a week!

The surprise...

Meet "Curley Joe"!

This cute pup (now almost 2 yo) belonged to a friend of mine in KY. As I visited her I was still quite taken with this young fellow I had known since he was a baby, and it was evident he liked me as well.

 

As she had seven (7)dogs, all very similar, she said he was still available and would I like to have him. Whee-ooh, I'd have to consider that.....

As I planned to return to the campground for the weekend I decided (with the wise counseling and urging of my eldest daughter) to try it for the weekend and see how things went.

I was very pleased at how well "Miss Izzy' and "Curley Joe" got along.

in fact it was a hoot, watching them together!

"two heads are better than one!"

Yes, he was a keeper!So that is the big surprise. He is house broken, very mild tempered, neutered, and very quickly learned about being on a leash.

Stay tuned about the adventures of theses two, as Curley Joe joins us in our travels!

 

 



White Oak Lake State Park, AR

I had fueled at x 216 on I-40, drove through Little Rock and onto I-30 to x 63, took SR 53 toward this park to spend the night. I emptied my black and gray water in this rv for the first time. It was so much easier than standing on my head to do the same with Baby Blue, my original rv. Lady Blue surely is an upgrade in so many ways! I backed into my parking space, hooked up the electric and walked the dogs. There were only 2 other campers in view.  I got out some dehydrated potatoes to soak to make scalloped potatoes for the next day. Meanwhile, since no internet or cell coverage here, I decided it must be movie and knit night :) I watched another DVD in the Civil War series .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Early the next morning, I chunked up a country ham slice, some onion and celery and mixed some broccoli instant soup mix with milk and water and stirred it altogether with the potatoes. I plugged in the 1 1/2 qt crockpot and set it to cooking.

Meanwhile the dogs and I took a long walk and took pictures.

This is down by the boatlaunch. The lake is drained now for repairs. It will be filled again in January.

Boat Docks

In front of this is all paved and even handicap parking spaces and picnic tables near the dock.

This is the view from the walkway out to the water.

The colors were bright in the early sunlight of the camping area.

Here this camper had taken advantage of one of the 4 pull-though spots available.

All the RV spots are paved,  and have gravel lots and picnic tables, electric and water hookups, and even nicer places for handicapped. There is a showerhouse at the top of the hill and behind it a dump station. These tall gorgeous pines are everywhere!

Thes little woody protrusionsat the base of these trees made me chuckle as they looked like bunnies and squirrels! (I guess you had to be there....)

Miss Izzy and Curley Joe ... "are we there yet??"

Back to the RV.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was my dinner 5 hrs later. Looks so yummy!!

 But since checkout time was 3 pm I let it set till a while later, when i pulled into a truck wash and got the RV done. As I sat in line I enjoyed this meal with some celery sticks. Made me feel better to know I could pull into my daughter's tomorrow with a clean vehicle. I drove a few miles on down the road and spent the night at a roadside rest area.

 

 



Visit in Tennessee

Leaving Kentucky, I drove to near Paris, TN to visit with my cousin Bill and wife Sam. It was the first time I had been to their place, a beautiful country home with all the charm of the south. Bill showed me his collection of several restored antique John Deer tractors. I unfortunately have no pictures, but they were refurbished to the very last exquisite detail. He is also working on a model train set-up in his basement. Seeing it brought back fond memories of when we as kids used to have these model trains set up under our trees at Christmas time. Needless to say it was a very pleasant visit and we ended with going to dinner further down on I-40 North truck stop, where I spent the night.

 

I didn't drive too far that next day, only to the second rest area in AR. I saw some fields that the cotton had been recently harvested from, but did not stop to take pictures. I had messed around all morning trying to figure out how to keep my 'puter battery charged and still try connecting with my new AT&T wi-fi box. After talking with my brother I went in the truck stop and got an ac/dc converter made for keeping small things like that charged up. It seemed to be doing the job, but now my wi-fi would not keep connected to the internet, even though it showed full signal strength as did my phone.

 

On a side-note.... As this was election day I wondered what the final outcome would be....

 

Sometimes it seems when we have so very much, we lose appreciation for the little things, and forget to be thankful to the Lord for all He supplies.... I pray that my heart will remain, and become, even more grateful.



Painting with Friend

Last Saturday at the camp friend Debbie came over to paint with me. The weather was fantastic after settling down from the whiplash wind efects felt there from Hurricane Sandy. We had mostly sunshine and temps in the low 60's.

I did remember to grab my camera for some pictures!

Pics 1 and 2 Debbie starting to work

A beautiful and peaceful setting for painting we thought!

pics 3 and 4 .... Your's truely!

The focus of the painting

Our paintings about mid-way.

It is neat to see the wyas different people, especially painters, interpret what they see, and how they express it. I can't wait to see Debbie's finished work as her style is totally different and very interesting.

We did a bit more, then drove into Cadiz for a wonderful supper at Reva's Diner. It turned out to be a very fun and relaxing day day! Thanks, Debbie for joining me!

 



More of Energy Lake



 Ok, so while I am overnight at a W*M and have good wi-fi coverage, I am going to post the rest of these pictures of Energy Lake Campgound.
View from the passenger side, still lots of pretty leaves!

View from the driver's side looking back, you can see the lake

out front of my camping space, onto the camp roadway.

The bath-house up over the hill across from my camp space.

This is the community buildinmg....

with washer and dryer facilities

dining and gathering area

displays of the different speices of trees that grow here.....

but not sure what these weavings are, maybe these and some rope samples are from the Indians who lived in the area before the forming of the lakes here. This place has a very interesting history. and besides all that it is a very nice place to camp. It will always be one of my stops when in the area.

 

Well, enough for tonight. I have a surprise for tomorrow!!!