You have to just make yourself.

I needed a get-away last week and my friend Faber McMullen offered his cabin here in the boonies in Grimes County. It was just what I needed and I wanted to share my stay with you.

I rested on the porch swing, and slept, and took hikes and explored the pecan groves that wind through this working Texas ranch. Many parts of it are still pristine, seemingly untouched by human interference. Most importantly, I left behind television, Internet, even my cell phone, any source of the "tyranny of the urgent." There are no sounds there but those of nature, no neighbors but livestock and wild things. I had forgotten how much these elements, and the serenity they offer meant to me.

I got some sun and exercise, and hundreds of photographs. And eventually, the oxygen I needed. These shots can begin to tell the story...

The old farmhouse sits atop this lush hill in southern Grimes County. The good news is that it is for rent to week-enders.

 

Sunrise in Grimes County. The house has been beautifully remodelled, but its major asset is the wrap-around porch which provides 24-hour pleasure to guests. This was our ancestor's combination recreation, entertainment and stress management facility. 

 

The McMullen Ranch is home to dozens of cattle, where nature and agriculture find harmony and produce a picturesque background for guests and inhabitants. This beautiful calf exemplifies the family- friendly atmosphere, and the pride taken in managing every corner of the operation.

 

These horses are just as social as humans, and understand that although a whole herd can get on your nerves,  everybody needs someone to scratch their back...

 

As of right now, there are lots of old farm structures on the property, fairly raw, and rich with direct glimpses of the lifestyles of rural Texans, of one hundred years ago. Some folks need museums to experience the history of our ancestors... just give me a dilapidated old shack like this...

 

The spring rains have ushered in a wonderful season of prosperity. The livestock graze happily, the birds sing continuously, and each setting sun comes too soon. If you are like me, you have to make yourself take the time to come to a place like this.. and then you have to make yourself leave.

The annual miracle returns

Spring emerges like a sleeping giant, as if the earth suddenly converts like vine ripened tomato...

A tiny fig leaf is extruded out from a dormant branch.

 

Relentless bulbs release their latent glory.

 

Fully rested, Nature comes on like a hungry lover. 

 

 And the story retells as wonderfully as before.

A Sign... ??? or just another small glory

Normally the harbinger of spring and lovely weather, this little iris blossumed in the heat of the summer - 3 or 4 months late... it's in the same category with snowing in July.

My wife sugggested that it was a sign... but of what? Then it became obvious. The air was unusually cool for an August morning, and as I went out and explored the photographic possibilities of this unique aparition, our four cats came out and formed a rectangle in front of it and paid homage to the cosmic event.

Yes, it surely is a sign. My wife saw it, the cats saw it. I photographed it... blogged it... and now wait for the day, which will tell us all, what exactly it is a sign of.

Maybe it is announcing the second annual BLUES CAPITAL REVUE! AUG 9TH AT THE BROSIG AUDITORIUM... Tubie and the Touchtones unveil their new CD...

Perhaps it is reminding all of us about the seventeenth annual Navasota Blues Fest: Aug 10-11, great line up, air conditioned event, cold beer, Yee HaaaaH!...

But I'd like to think it is a sweet note from my grandmother, afterall the iris is from one of her bulbs in her garden in Houston... she is reminding me that tomorrow is the anniverary of the day her daughter, my mother passed from this world. And a message that where they are now, the iris blooms every day. I love being a Christian because is provides me that kind of blessed hope, that kind spiritual warmth, and quite often. There is an unexplainable inner security in that kind of knowing.

Yesterday I sold another large painting.. I'm having the best year in my art career, and enjoying considerable attention and excitement over the Frank Hamer monument project. The things happening right now would have meant so much to people who are all gone now. The iris says, "we are watching and celebrating!"

Just look at this shot! The grass was nicely mowed, the sun rising through the trees, light glowing across the yard, cats content and an iris blooming, in August. Maybe its all just a reminder that God is in His heaven, and all is right... in His world.

It's these small glories that make life tolerable. Thanks for sharing them with me.