Bacon

(Apparently writing that I'm going to blog more regularly is lot like saying I am going to be more healthy about what I eat, and then getting up the next morning and frying bacon...!)

Dog Days of Summer
Serious backlog of blog matter about to be unleashed. End of July, August and start of September were so busy and fun. Hmmm, where to start?

I Have Fat Thumbs, But They Have Big Hats

My husband and his friends wore major-western wear to the Senior Swing Dance when he was in High School - in the days when "text" and "friend" didn't have a verb-form. But, back to the thumbs, it's true. The more I attempt all things social media, the more I realize how fat my thumbs are.

I Text Clumsy. 

I undulate between trying 2 b brief with shrthnd wrds + #'s, to full-on sentences complete with layers of punctuation. But, woo-hoo, I'm trying. This and other social media mediums engage me from my desktop 2 my iphone. I might LOL, but I try not 2 text-swear, even with letters-only. It's way too permanent (and email-able.) Unlike most current High School-age kids, who text like they are breathing air, I am SO uncool in my attempts- but, I'm seriously OK with that.

Facebook a.k.a. Socially Acceptable Voyerism

Yep, that pretty much sums up FB. In someways its a fantastic way to reconnect with folks we knew in High School and College, and for me, to also to keep in touch with my seventeen nieces and nephews, plus my mom, sister, in-laws, cousins, aunts, uncles and SA, San Marcos and Dallas friends. We can all look at each others' vacation and cute-kids photos, wish each other happy birthday, bemoan Mondays and celebrate Fridays. Lately, it been fun watching my husband's HS friends reminisce over old photos (such as the one above) as they gear-up for a big reunion.

Linkedin - When You Need to Look Like You Are Working

Linkedin is more useful than that subhead, but it does have some truth to it. I have several clients that use it to announce something lengthier than the character count on Twitter allows. Or they go update their Linkedin profile when they are having FB withdrawal at work, since some companies don't allow FB access on work computers. Yes, we're on to you...

Twitter -  A Forum 4 Short, Excited, Random Thoughts

Still trying to find a real use for me with Twitter. Seems like people taking turns standing at the top of a mountain yelling a random thought and hoping that someone will hear (read) it and find it compelling in someway. Here's the former meaning of the word "twitter" for me, (in context): "She went all a twitter with excitement, when she noticed the sale price of the shoes!" as said, most likely, by some elderly relative of mine out in West Texas. (p.s. did you notice how I slipped that "4" in to my subhead? I'm such such dork! (There, Twitter that.))

Blog Therapy - Hey, that's what we're doing right now.

And I thank you for listening, oh, I mean reading! I am new to blogging and obviously have a ton to learn (and edit.) I started as a way to do something with all the beautiful images that my husband shoots as we're doing family stuff. It reminds me of when I was a kid and my dad wrote travel articles in the summer (he was a Journalism professor during the rest of the year.) We even slightly paralleled one of his stories with our recent trip to to the SA Missions, though dad's version wasn't by bicycle! As for live-stream blogging, I'd rather blog post-event instead. I want to enjoy the "doings" and the interaction with my family, including breaking up sibling arguments - which I need to write more of those down. It's funny stuff, after the fact, of course. "Because I said so." I have a feeling that blogging regularly is going to be a lot like dental floss for me. Honestly, I'll do it with great vigor - when I remember to, that is. [Side note: I did recently turn OFF the Adsense set-up from Blogger, since there were some ads showing up that just didn't sit well with me or my brand (!)]

Some of The Others:

I love YouTube, until I don't. Snapfish, Picaso and Shutterfly are super useful in the "friends and family" image-swap realm. Flicker doesn't do that much for me. Delicious and StumbleUpon are interesting, but can become time-vacuums. iChat is really useful on projects where we are all over the country, but it does require that I brush my hair and at least put on lipstick. Chatroulette, on the other hand, is not even worth the time to set-it up to try it - it also falls into a"seriously creepy" category.

I've Got Blisters on My Fingers! (Which Beatle yells that?)

It's been really good to get in there and see what some of my clients are up against as they try out social media and the allure of using it for PR/Marketing. For now, I'm happy wandering through the current battery of social media stuff and I welcome whatever is next. Here are my current resolutions: I will continue to practice safe text. I will try not to be obsessive on FB and Linkedin. I will try to find something useful about Twitter (thank you, Brett for your excellent, ongoing newsletter to that effect.) I will try to blog with some consistency. I will be open to whatever's next, unless it's creepy. I do reserve the right to be a curiously, stumbling dork. I particularly like my blog entry where I forgot to turn off the grammar/spell check mode. Things like that, I consider to be in-line with the Amish quilters who leave something imperfect in every quilt, because, really, only God is perfect. And goodness knows that anything termed "Social Media" could never be perfect.

A Fourth of July to Remember

Parades, A Swimming Hole and Fireworks

Saturday July 3, in morning, we marched in the San Antonio inner-city 'burb of Terrell Hills "Mayberry-esque" parade. Our son walked with buddies from his Cub Scout Pack and our daughter rode on a red, white and blue decorated trailer with some of her friends and their families. At the end of the parade, the kids enjoyed hot dogs and pizza, face painting, a bounce house, a water slide and a whole bunch of other activities. Mark and I got to catch-up with a bunch of friends that we hadn't seen in a while.

Two Tons of Stuff to Do (and Eat)
Later that afternoon, we joined friends at a "gi-normous" party over on Lake Placid (near Seguin, Texas.) The host does this party every two years. He hangs a huge flag from the trees, does a BBQ cook-off and puts out rows and rows of tables for guests to set out their side dishes and desserts (and we're talking close to one hundred feet of side dishes and desserts.) The kids swim and play in the swimming hole that's off to the side of the house and out of the way of lake traffic. The host also does a great job of tying the day back to it's meaning by reading the Declaration of Independence and then he speaks for a moment about the men and women in the armed-services serving our country to protect our freedom. And after the early evening meal, Texas' best swing band, Two Tons of Steel performs while folks dance and lounge on the lawn. It was just awesome!

Take the Photo Opportunity When It's Handed to You
I can't believe that first photo really happened for real either, but it did. The kids had just come back from the swimming hole to get cleaned up for the pre-dinner prayer and meal.

"Hey, y'all go jump around and catch some bubbles in front of that giant flag over there."

Not Done Yet
On Sunday, July 4, we attended a fun pool party/cook-out with some friends. That evening, the group went over to another family's house to watch the San Antonio Country Club fireworks from their front lawn on Burr Road. It was a great show, complete with sparklers and patriotic music provided by the iphone (plus speakers) of one of the dad's in our group.

Visions of Fireworks Danced in Their Heads

After showering away all the day's sunscreen and bug-spray, the kids fell into their beds, exhausted. Now, that was a Fourth of July they will remember!

San Antonio Mission Trail

Get On Your Bike And Ride

Still unfurling some blog-backlog... On Saturday, June 26, we biked the trails between Mission San José and Mission Espada. Most of the trail follows the San Antonio River as it becomes a natural water-way. We saw heron, cranes and turtles. There were massive fields of fading wildflowers, tall oak, pecan and bald cypress trees as well as native mesquite and acacia (or huisache) trees - finishing up their fluffy yellow bloom. Everything smelled sweetly-scented during our shade and water breaks.

A Trail with a Mission (or four or five)

From 1718 to 1731, Spanish settlers built a series of missions along the San Antonio river. They are as follows: Mission Conception, Mission San José, Mission San Juan Capistrano, Mission Espada. The buildings and their grounds are preserved and maintained by the National Parks Service. We began our ride from the parking lot at the visitors center at Mission San Jose, rode to Mission Espada and then back to Mission San Jose. Along the hike and bike trail, you see the relationship of the river with the old aqueducts and dams (waterfalls) build by the friars and Native Americans for field irrigation. The Alamo (it's full name is Mission San Antonio de Valero) is part of this series of missions too, but it is managed by Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Inc. (DRT).

Some Education Along The Way

We were on the trails for about three hours, with several stops here and there to look at things, drink more water and give encouragement to our training-wheeled rider. We spent about thirty minutes in the visitors center at Mission Espada where we ran into our son's second grade teacher. She volunteers there and showed the kids one of the old weaving looms and let them pull cotton bolls and seeds (which are now planted in our garden.) No, we're not growing our own blankets and clothes, but it's good for the kids to explore the connections.

Where's the Snow Cone Man When You Need One?

There is almost always a snow cone man (or three) somewhere along the river trail, but that day they were no where to be found. That was about the only thing missing from a very nice Saturday morning bike ride.

To The Grandparents House We Went

(You can read that like the "Over the River and Through the Woods" song or Yoda style - whichever.) We went to Giddings, Texas to visit Mark's folks. It's fun for the kids to run around the farm and we all eat way too much while we're there. Boy, can Gramma and Grandpa cook! They send you home with home-grown canned tomatoes and green beans. And Aunt Debbie brings over homemade jelly and pickles. Her pickled carrot sticks are coveted among the family - which is a BIG family. My children are the 18th and 19th of the first cousins. And I'm not telling how many times over I'm a great-aunt.

Father's Day in Bastrop's Lost Pines

Sunday morning we got our over-fed butt's out of bed and went over to the state park in Bastrop, Texas to hike for a couple of hours. "Lost Pines" is a top five example of the work done by the CCC during the depression. The trails are beautiful. With tall pine trees and a fern-laden forest floor, it seems like you are in another world - well, from the West Texas summers I knew as a child, where I'm as tall as the native trees. Lost Pines also has a community pool, golf course, way-cool CCC-built cabins and plenty of tent camping areas. It would be fun to go back and stay there with a big group in the fall, when it's cooler.

BBQ Eight Days A Week in Lockhart?
We haven't worked our way up to eight days a week (like the sign at Black's BBQ - thank you, Beetles) and I don't think you can hike or bike enough to undo that much of Bar-B-Que, but we did manage BBQ two days in row that weekend. Lockhart, Texas is a BBQ Mecca (self-proclaimed BBQ Capital of Texas and for good reason) and not too far off course on our way from San Antonio to Giddings. We went to Smitty's Market for early lunch Saturday and then to Black's Barbeque for late lunch on Sunday after the Lost Pines hike. Both were good, and there are at least two more well-established BBQ joints to hit next time we're through there.

Noisy Katydids, Baby Toads and Colorful Grasshoppers

We brought friends with us to hike some of the trails of Government Canyon State Park, the morning of Sunday, June 13.  We hiked appx. 7.75 miles through beautiful South Texas landscape. Leave No Trace practices are important in this park as much (appx 80%) of the park is in the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone. Katydids and grasshoppers were aplenty, munching on leaves and providing a loud underlying hum of natural white noise. When the path wound along creek beds, the trail edges moved with tiny toads. The kids enjoyed finding and munching on ripe Algarita berries (wild Texas currants) along the path. Yes, we had the "don't eat any berry you see without checking with a grown up" conversation.

Step Tall and Keep Those Fingers Snapping

We haven't attended one of these, but this park offers "Hiku Hikes." I'm going to refrain from sarcasm on that one because my kids would probably totally dig something like that (well, me too, for that matter.) Might have to go back and try it. Ah, Grasshopper.

Just Shy of Tarzan-Heat

We started our hike fairly early in the morning, but should have started about an hour earlier. The heat was on the verge of sweltering-stage as we came off the trail around noon. Under tree cover there had been plenty of good cool breezes, but again, it would have been better to start earlier. (My fault - it helps if I remember to turn the alarm on after setting it. I'm now using the app for that.)

And Why is Sonic Ice So Good?

After we had re-visited the visitors center (a really nice one btw - well-done TPWD!), we loaded in the car and left the park in search of icy-cold drinks. Mark made homegrown tomato sandwiches (Yum!) and passed around the potato chips and pickle wedges, I drove and our friend Maddie map-app-ed the nearest Sonic. We'd all had plenty of drinking water on the trails and still had some for the car ride home, a fresh-made iced tea or limeade really hits the spot, post-hike.

Green Beans and Daisys

Worms, Where Are You!

Back in April, the Daisy meeting was in our garden. We talked about reduce/reuse/recycle, explored the compost bins (looking for worms, who stayed well hidden from all the giggles and eews...) and planted a row of green beans in the garden. It was timed around Earth Day, which the girls had been learning about in their kindergarten classes. The attendees earned their Green Daisy Petal (Girls Scouts) for "Use Resources Wisely."

Gotta Have Snacks

After all the digging around, we washed up and enjoyed a Fiesta Garden Party with tea sandwiches, strawberry lemonade and cookies. Our meeting/party was the week after Fiesta had ended in San Antonio, but hey, what's one more fiesta!

Green Beans And Bacon Anyone?

We need to go back and shoot an updated shot of the green bean row now. It's producing nicely. We took a big bag to share at the end of the year Daisy Pool Party yesterday. We even had a few for dinner last week. If you cook them with bacon and chicken broth, they probably no longer count as a vegetable - but man, oh man, do they taste good!

A Den of Cobras @ Enchanted Rock

And They Hike Up Rocks, Too

(from my blog backlog) May 15, we hiked Enchanted Rock State Park* with my son's Webelos Cub Scout Den (the Cobra Patrol) and assorted family members. The park is located between Fredericksburg and Llano, so it's not too far from SA. The weather was awesome that day with clear skies and a cool breeze. Flora was lush from a bounty of spring rain. And by some fluke, there were no mosquitoes that morning. Total hike was about 4.25 miles, some of it was unexpectedly straight uphill. The Den's hike counted toward the Arrow of Light Award theses Webelos are working to earn. *BTW, State Parks are good, simple fun. Here's the link for Texas: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/

Last One up is a Rotten Egg

Not only did the Den get lessons about "Leave no Trace," knot tying and Boy Scout Law during our creekbed lunch, they also got a lesson in "stay on the trail." Well, really we the parents got a lesson in "don't let the boys lead you off trail and straight up the backside of the mountain..." Safely up on top of the big mound of granite, the view was beautiful. The kids explored and even learned about USGS benchmarks from another scout troop's super nice scoutmaster.

Get Thee to The Brewery

Once we were off the rock/trail and back in our vehicles, some of us headed back to Fredericksburg for a late lunch. We skipped our usually post-hike BBQ and went to the Fredericksburg Brewing Co. It has a wide range of yummy food for all ages. Serious hunger prevailed and we left NO trace of food on that table. (Sorry, couldn't resist that one!)

A Corner of Urban Wildflowers

They Were So Awesome This Year
These images are from early May when the flowers on our curb were still blooming crazy. The corner hummed with bees and butterflies (and dogs barking at cats chasing said bees and butterflies.) Last year, this corner was dusty and dry with the drought, but look what a lot of rain and a great neighbor with a bunch of wildflower seeds can render. (Thank you, David!)

Letting Things Go to Seed

We did let all the plants go to seed before Mark mowed down the remains. Not much soaking rain on our corner lately. Things are on the verge of dry and crispy and it's only June. Here's to hope for rain, but not in quantities that wash away cows and cars.

Remembering Pops

Jeff W. Henderson -  January 12, 1942 - June 11, 2009

It's been one year and one more Father's Day without you.

I miss you like crazy.

I'm still catching myself picking up the phone to try to call you to tell you what the kids have been up to or ask you something random. I'm pretty sure AT&T doesn't have coverage to where you are now. And there is no App for that, either.

(The image was taken while Mark was photographing Pop's typewriter collection. I wanted to see if the ribbon still worked on the Underwood.)

Backlog of Blog

They make a powder for that, but a bowl of oats does the trick, too.

Confessional
It has been over a month since my last blog. I fell off the blogwagon. Scores of drafts and images wait: new pets, Daisy meetings, Den hikes, end of school fun, birthday and soccer parties, little league baseball playoffs, and participation in a design conference. Oh my.

So what's the deal? 

I was enjoying all the doings too much to stop and reflect. Going forward, the balance will be better managing the "go, do" and the "stop, think about," with going and doing remaining the impetus.

Don't whine, just keep going.

Even a snail gets there eventually, through effort, slime, avoiding hungry birds and staying out of my line of vision, since I will relocate them to the compost heap if I find them in my flower pots.

The Typewriter Collector and His Favorite Newspaper

This past weekend was action-packed with a soccer game, two baseball games, an ultimate frisbee game and a photo shoot from a helicopter (we'll come back around to those on future blogs.) One of the highlights of the weekend for me, was attending a banquet Saturday night with my mom. It celebrated the 100th Anniversary of The University Star - the student newspaper for Texas State University. It was like a big family reunion seeing past staffers, who are my extended family of aunts and uncles, siblings and cousins, and now, nieces and nephews. My father, Jeff W. Henderson was the faculty advisor for the newspaper from 1974 to 1999 and had quite a legacy with both SWT (now Texas State) and TIPA (Texas Intercollegiate Press Association.) My sister and I grew up in the student newsroom and on the road with TIPA conferences. We saw, first-hand, the digital evolution of print journalism over the past thirty years. From the late 1970's giant typesetting machines (Big Bertha) that spit out columns of text that then needed to be cut and waxed onto physical layouts, to the late-1980's clunky Radio Shack TSR80's (Trash 80's) that prefaced the highly computerized journalism as we know it today.

From the Collection
My father collected typewriters. Me, my mom, and my sister usually add "bless his heart" after that statement. His formative Journalism years involved manual typewriters. He had a true love for these machines and over the years had collected a nice range of models and styles. Yes, my mother is a very patient woman. Dad's love for such equipment even extended to the TSR80, and later, all models of Macs/Apples. I would argue that the Trash80 and early Macs were alien-looking in contrast to the architecture and elegant keys of say, a 1940'-ish Remington Standard, but I also reserve the right to be nostalgic about them when I'm seventy. Always fascinated with mediums for mass communication, Dad had just signed up with Facebook before his death and I'm pretty certain that he would have been blogging and tweeting by now had he remained with us.

Visual Memories
After Dad's death last June, my mom thought it would be good to find new homes for some of the (many) typewriters, but we, also wanted some mementos of them, too. So my husband, who happens to be a commercial photographer, agreed to do some studio shots of the collection. Not long after Dad's passing we got word that the University was changing the name of the Star staff scholarship to be named in honor of Dad. We decided then to do a collage of some of the typewriter images as an "art print" to help raise additional funds for the scholarship. Two of the prints were in the silent auction at Saturday night's banquet. Several attendees mentioned to me and my mom that they were bummed to have been out bid on the prints, so now we have decided to offer them through my husband's web site (click here) and all proceeds will continue to go toward additionally funding the "Jeff W. Henderson University Star Staff Scholarship."

What's Next?
If you are in the field of journalism, especially those of you who are Jeff W. Henderson's past students and colleagues, I feel certain that Dad is still cheering you on to have fun with it and to fully be a part of what's next for the field.

April 25, 2010: Requisite Blue Bonnet Photo

The camping trip to Colorado Bend State Park was fun. I'll trade one stormy night in a tent for no mosquitoes any day! Sunday morning, I woke up at daybreak, looked out of the tent and saw the campgounds FULL of deer grazing - 40 or more - at least.

Pack It Up
The kids were sad to see the tent come down and all the stuff (strategically) loaded back into the vehicle. We need to do photos of that - next trip.

Mission Wildflowers... and More BBQ
And off we went in search of someplace to get a family photo in the blue bonnets - which are in quiet riot this year due to all the rain.

"Huh? What? You're ready?" I'm two inches taller with humid-camping-hair AND I need more coffee. Mark set's the remote up for the camera and runs over.

"My turn with the remote!" Scowls one child.

"No, it's my turn with the remote!" Whines the other. Kids will argue over menutiae at a moments notice...

Then, we're back on the road heading home to SA with a lunch stop for Bar-B-Que, of course.

Images by Mark Humphries. (click here)

April 24, 2010: Colorado Bend State Park

Dinner and a Show
We met up with seven other San Antonio-area families on Friday at Colorado Bend State Park. The park is sort of between San Saba, Lampassas, Llano and Egypt. The kids played in the river. The grown-ups set-up camp and dinner. After sunset, a herd of kids played flashlight tag - which gets tricky when every other child was systematically "taken out" tripping over tent stakes. The grown-ups chatted, star gazed and noticed clouds creeping into the sky. Thankfully, the rain began right after everyone had retired to their tents for the evening. Torrential down pour, thunder, lightening and gusty winds entertained us for most of the night.

Here Comes the Sun
Saturday, we woke up to sunshine and a not too wet tent - amazing considering the weather the night before. Mark made us some excellent breakfast tacos (and coffee!) Most of the families then headed over to hike the Gorhman Falls Trail. I have lived here all but six months of my life and had no idea that Texas has water falls like this!

After lunch, most of the families hiked over to the swimming holes on the Spicewood Springs Trail. Hot feet, cold water - happy campers!

At twilight, the group had a big pot luck supper followed by music by a few guitar and ukulele players in our midst. It was a very clear night, so Mark removed the rain fly from the tent. Our kids fell asleep under the stars.

Colorado Bend State Park is a Gem. 
You can camp, hike, bike, float the river, swim, fly fish and more. It has primitive campgrounds, so be prepared for the composting "outhouses." Not my favorite, but survivable for a couple of days. Honestly, there are SO many great state parks in Texas to pick from - go check out www.tpwd.state.tx.us. If you have a moment, let me know your fav's and why you like them.

Happy Camping! ...and we'll keep you posted.

All images on this blog are copyright of Mark Humphries Photography. (click here)

April 23, 2010: In Search of Some Good BBQ

GOING:
Most San Antonio school children had last Friday off for Fiesta's "Battle of Flowers" Parade. We had already paticipated in our share of the ten-day back-to-back Fiesta events and parties, so we packed up the car and headed out of town.

By 1:30-ish we'd found our way to Blanco, Texas and stopped at Riley's Rocking R BBQ and Steakhouse (www.rileysbarbq.com)- just off the main square. The ribs ranked a sauce smile and the homemade Banana Pudding was wicked good.

COMING BACK:
On the way back home (Sunday), we stopped at Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que in Llano, Texas (www.coopersbbq.com). I think we were a little too tired from hiking, camping and adventures in Blue Bonnet fields to lug the camera in to the restaurant, which was too bad because the food was just right. You gotta love a place with an outside sign with "Line Forms Here" way before you ever get to the pits to select your meats. Wish there was a way to photograph smell. Smelled VERY good there.

All images on this blog are copyright of Mark Humphries Photography. (click here)

Earth Day is April 22, 2010

This inaugural HOME BRANCH blog is in honor of the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day.
(go check out: www.earthday.org)

In the Garden: The last of the winter crop (with the exception of two rows of onions) was pulled out of the ground in March. Winter lettuce, turnips, radish, carrots, broccoli and cabbage.

One of our three outside compost bins was emptied and sifted, and that material, plus some organic nitrogen (21-0-0) was then spread throughout the garden area and tilled into the soil. (Mark did a soil test and it was determined the garden was lacking in nitrogen - see info on soil testing below.) Rows are formed with the hoe. Note: My husband, Mark gets the credit for doing most of the work - with help here and there from the rest of the family.

Compost bins are refilled with the Spring-shed Live Oak leaves, grass clippings, kitchen waste (fruit, veggie, egg shells, coffee grounds) and more coffee grounds from our local Starbucks - the best thing EVER for speeding up the decay of very hearty oak leaves. Nature does it's thing and viola, about two to three months later we'll have more garden and flower bed ready compost.

Side Note on Soil Testing: If you have never done soil testing, it is NOT hard to do. For more info go check out: http://soiltesting.tamu.edu/ and then you can visit with your local county extension agent if you have any question or want suggested next steps for soil amendments when you get your results back. The folks at Shades of Green (www.shadesofgreensa.com) are also super helpful, as are the folks at Fannick's Nursery (www.fanicknursery.com).

We have transplanted a few sunflower seedlings my daughter and I grew from seeds we had saved from some seven-footers we had last fall. The dried flower heads and seeds made for some cool studio shots.

As of right now, we have rows of hope and potential going in - tomato, squash, okra, strawberries, cucumber, eggplant, and a blackberry bush. More seeds will be added as Spring progresses with warmer temperatures. For now we water, weed and wait. Rinse and repeat.

Happy Earth Day! ...and we'll keep you posted.

All images on this blog are copyright of Mark Humphries Photography.
www.markhumphriesphoto.com