Mesquite Hugger: February 2024

Monday, February 26, 2024

Bits of Phenology: Spring 2024 (Don't Blink!)

Weeds, Birds, Wind, and a Happy Hound

Outside my office door this morning

This weekend I was pedaling down an alley and spotted my first robin of 2024. I remembered years ago sitting in a summer Spanish class and learning that robins are called primaveras in Spanish. Primavera is also the Spanish word for spring. I've been watching the signs of spring becoming more evident for a few weeks, but the robin cemented the deal in my mind. Spring is here, people!

Patches of green here and there

I've seen several bird changes lately. Lots of cormorants have arrived. They've become much more numerous in our local parks as the Canadian geese have flown away. There were white-crowned sparrows and some unfamiliar larks in the mesquites at Mae Simmons Park on Saturday. Great blue herons are much more numerous this week. The egrets haven't started showing up, but I'm watching for them. Northern shovelers are still hanging out in most of the playa lakes. I'm seeing (and hearing) more mockingbirds, and the starlings are starting to display their breeding plumage. This time of year makes me want bigger lenses and more patience for photography.

The little brown dots on the elms will soon be leaves.

I am spending more time outside, more time riding, and more time picking up trash. Yesterday the jeans got to skip the dryer. The little black Ford never left the house. I am so very thankful for time outside.

Click the pic to see a little Lubbock, Texas breeze.

This morning I did not need a coat or anything to keep my ears warm as I rode to work. It was almost sixty when I left the house this morning. It'll be a little tougher on the ride home - a forecast of 87 and 25 mile per hour winds. (And I'll be smiling the whole way!)

All those little yellow flowers at Mae Simmons

This pic has nothing to do with spring, but Phoebe loves free publicity.

May you be enthralled with the beauty around you, may you be delighted with all the seasonal changes, and may you nap like a hound!

I pray you are joyful and well, and I sincerely thank you for checking in.

Friday, February 16, 2024

Book-ending a Day with Two Guys Named "John"

Sunrise (from work) 2.15.24

I started re-reading a Steinbeck book last night - Travels with Charley. Steinbeck's observations on people (and their motivations) always fascinate me, and those bits are definitely present in this particular book. This will be my fourth or fifth time to read it.

In the first few pages I had a revelation - I am reading it from a different set of eyes. Steinbeck lived the book in 1960 and wrote it in 1962. He died in December 1968.

Our timelines on earth overlapped only five months; however, I've been a fan of his writing for three and a half decades. As I've read his work, I've always envisioned him as a much older man than myself, but I can't do that this time. In the opening pages of the book, he mentions that he's undertaking the journey across America at the age of fifty-eight - just three years older than I am now.

In the book, he talks about a wanderlust he's had his whole life.

I drink coffee most days with another man named John, a man who always has that urge to get up and go. He reads Steinbeck too, and (like Steinbeck) has named his pickup truck Rocinante. John (not Steinbeck) has been having a rough time lately, rough enough that his wanderlust has faltered a bit. But we heard some encouraging news this morning.

Thank you, Lord, for these two men and their impacts on my life and the way they've helped me see the people and places of this world. Godspeed, John.