Bluebonnets! Indian Paintbrush! 2014


Here in our part of Texas, when spring rolls around, you'll see cars pulled over on the sides of interstates and highways.   Whole families will be wearing meticulously coordinated outfits and babies will be red-faced by their attempts to tell parents how displeased they are with the present situation.   Cameras are at the ready and parents will either climb into a vehicle with a satisfied smile or with an exasperated sigh, depending upon the results on their cameras.   It's all part of bluebonnet season and as an outsider, a Texas newbie even after sixteen years (16 years?!?), I still get excited by the sudden explosion of brilliant blues and vibrant red and oranges that blanket pastures and roadsides.  

Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush are in bloom!   Grab a camera!   Find a good patch of blooms!   Everyone smile and look happy, darn it!




We were a little late, so the blooms were starting to fade.   My favorite spot is next to the middle school where I first taught when we moved here.   There's a hill and if you pose people correctly, it looks as if they are in a field of flowers instead of a small slope with tennis courts and a parking lot behind and a busy highway in front.  







Sometimes I think Indian Paintbrush is even more lovely than the Bluebonnets.   I used to read Tomie dePaola's The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush to my Louisiana students.   It's still one of my favorite books.





Thank you, Ladybird Johnson!


2014



Our first bluebonnet pictures in the same location, back in 2004


My friend, Regina, drove from Louisiana just to take pictures in the bluebonnets.

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