Austin

This leg of the trip, with surprises and more work, was quite interesting. Not really a vacation, but I took some time out. This upcoming few months look to be the toughest yet, work-wise. Brutal, actually.

Though I relieved some pressure staying with an old friend from my days in San Diego, who now lived here, long since married with wife and two teenagers.

One night, JC, his son Josh, and I went to a shooting range nearby, and I got to shoot an AK-47 (much smoother than my 12 gauge) and a .357! I was rusty having not shot my or anyone else's gun in 7 years.

We ended that event with some good Tex Mex at Chuy's on the way home; Josh and that shirt...he claims he liked UT before they moved to Austin.

The next day, I visited the Wildflower Center. By the way, most every plant in each photo grows well in Albuquerque, but it takes good design, too. They have it all going on here!

Beargrass / Nolina texana:

Trailing Indigo Bush / Dalea greggii (T or C and warmer):

Cross Vine / Bignonia capreolata:

Mexican Buckeye / Ungnadia speciosa:

A GOOD naturalistic design, not random chaos, which turns people off of natives. Bluebonnet / Lupinus texensis, Lindheimer Muhley / Muhlenbergia lindheimeri, an unidentified lower-height grass area, and Spanish Dagger / Yucca treculeana in foreground:

An effective symmetrical, axial bed arrangement in this space, defined by the U-shaped ramada (called an arbor to those eastern folks across the Pecos, or pergola for the Italiphile). This makes it possible to contain a variety of concepts in each similarly-sized module:

This is the great plains cousin of the Wright's Verbena you see in my Abq pics, Prairie Verbena / Verbena bipinnitifida:

This is one of my favorite parts of this garden - the demonstration areas. All three use native plants, but in three different styles, often with some similar plants, though not always:

Possumhaw or Deciduous Yaupon / Ilex decidua:

Soft and sharp!

Preserved prairie:

This is the top of a viewing tower at the garden; Beargrass / Nolina texana and Texas Prickly Pear / Opuntia lindheimeri:

Nice railing touch!

Great dialogue between architecture, shade ramadas, walking spaces, and planting areas..you know, good design!

Globemallow / Sphaeralcea incana:

"Words of wisdom, Lloyd...words...of.....wisdom," Jack Nicholson playing Jack Torrance in The Shining.

Afterwards, I met my friend Daphne for lunch and lemonade:

I thought a dog was a man's best friend? She brought Augie with her, and we visited some nurseries, before I got back to work.

Abq to Kerrville

Little narration needed. Note the change in vegetation and look of the skies over the 675 mile drive from Burque to Kerrville. This trip was to speak at a conference; my presentation can be viewed here.

First, breakfast at the Blue House in Carlsbad. Yes, one can get GOOD coffee and GOOD food in one place, and without uppity, wannabe urban sophistos who infest inhabit some places.....

Croissant breakfast sandwich, eggs and Sandia Hot green chile:

Guadalupe Peak, 8750' elevation, highest in TX - arid Chihuahuan Desert:

East side of the Pecos Valley - arid Chihuahuan Desert quickly turns into semi-arid savanna; the last stand of creosote bush:

Sonora TX - Washingtonia robusta trees, winter-killed:

Texas Redbud / Cercis texensis:

10 miles S of Sonora - Escarpment Live Oak / Q. fusiformis:

W of Rocksprings TX:

Quercus fusiformis motts, the eastern, wetter edge of the semi-arid part of the Hill Country:

Rocksprings courthouse:

Between Rocksprings and Mountain Home TX - the sub-humid, middle parts of the Hill Country; larger and denser trees:

The Guadalupe River in Kerrville, from my "branch office", Starbucks:

At the TXRA conference project visit, to some big rainwater harvesting tanks:

Post Oak / Q. marilandica remnant in Kerrville:

Broomsedge Bluestem / Andropogon virginicus in mass, below some rocks, where water harvesting occurs naturally, perhaps from a small seep below the outcropping and rock wall segment:

Stay tuned for the rest of the trip! Am I ever busy.