Mexican Flame Vine

Mexican Flame Vine
Originally uploaded by the gladdings

We planted this vine 3 years ago, and have always been excited to see the occasional bloom on it. Suddenly it is full of blooms, and we have a beautiful view through the sun porch of a sea of white jasmine with a riot of orange behind it.

magic wands and cowboys

Maggie's preschool class is currently studying cowboys/girls in preparation for rodeo month here in Houston. We have two cowboy books from the library that they/we have been reading non-stop...interspersed with another book called "The wizard, the Witch and the Magic Chicken."

I overheard this dialogue between Maggie and Seth as I was hanging out the laundry in our backyard this morning:

Maggie: Let's play cowboys. I will be a cowgirl and this is my magic wand.

Seth: uh-huh.
a few moments later....
Seth: I am the bad guy and I take sticks from other people's gardens. And this is my sack of cash.

Maggie: We need Papa to be the 'cookie' (which she tells me is the cowboy name for the trail cook) and drive our wagon train.

Caution - small children!

Caution - small children!
Originally uploaded by the gladdings

We spent a large chunk of our sabbath at Brazos Bend State Park yesterday - about an hour SW of Houston. It was a cold, bright day, and we hiked (strolled) around a couple of the lakes there. We saw several alligators sunning themselves, all on the opposite bank of the lake - although they do often wander onto the trails. We also enjoyed some great birding - identifying 6 new species from our 'twitcher's guide'. For those interested in such things, they were: Anhinga, Blue-Winged teal, Red-Shouldered Hawk, Yellow-Rumped Warbler, Pied-Billed Grebe and a Scarlet Tanager (we think!). Check out the photos on Flickr. A wonderful day, which also included some down time by a small lake to enjoy a good book.

House finches

House finches
Originally uploaded by the gladdings

We've enjoyed lots of birds feeding on the sunflower seeds we collected last autumn. This month we've been feeding finches (house and gold), house sparrows, blue jays, a red breasted woodpecker and doves, pigeons and squirrels beneath the feeder.

As well as the birds we're enjoying the beautiful scent of jasmine and satsuma blossoms wafting in through the screens during a beautiful season here in Houston.

The Garden

Garden
Originally uploaded by the gladdings

And here's one of the beds the bounty came out of.

Backyard bounty

Backyard bounty
Originally uploaded by the gladdings

Rebecca fixed a feast for us tonight - a roast vegetable salad. Here's what came out of our mere 60 square feet of winter garden and onto our plates: 3 kinds of lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, broccoli, carrots, radishes, green beans, nasturtium and (roast) beets. To this we added roast sweet potatoes (not ours!). Then there was the delicious pesto we spread on the rosemary bread, made from backyard kale, beet greens and swiss chard, mixed with some parmesan cheese and toasted pecans. A meal that springs from one of the benefits of the Houston climate - year round gardening.

Schnecken

Schnecken
Originally uploaded by the gladdings

After a lengthy absence (our house was broken into and we only replaced the computer accessories earlier this month - thankfully they left the computer) we hope to post a little more often now! May the sweetness of the season fill you and yours - here are our traditional Christmas morning schnecken to get the blog rolling again.