Collage of four Central Texas wildflowers blooming together — scarlet leatherflower, Turk’s cap, upright prairie coneflower, and violet ruellia.

STUVendous Florals

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Here’s another installment of Terri’s Flower Hour ABCs. This week we are close to the end of the alphabet. My entries are pretty common in many places, but one flower is endemic to the Edwards Plateau region in central Texas. … Read More

A weathered wooden footbridge with slanted rails rises from a reddish dirt path into a dense canopy of juniper and oak, rendered with a soft, painterly, amber-toned effect. Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve, Austin, Texas.

Bridges on Two Wheels

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #413: Bridges Those who read my posts regularly know how much I enjoy riding my bicycles. Whether on the gravel bike or the mountain bike, the breeze on my face and the scenery around me give me … Read More

Low-angle view of two rusted, torn steel columns from the World Trade Center standing against a blue sky with clouds, framed by bare and evergreen tree branches.

Steel That Remembers: The 9/11 Monument at the Texas State Cemetery

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“Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th.”— President George W. Bush, November 11, 2001 Tucked into the rolling grounds of the Texas State Cemetery in Austin stands a monument … Read More

Black-and-white collage of two São Paulo scenes: the cable-stayed Ponte Estaiada under dramatic clouds above, and the mirrored glass grid of an Avenida Paulista office tower reflecting neighboring buildings below.

Sampa in Shades of Gray

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São Paulo is home to close to 12 million people — 11.45 million in the 2022 census, and the city keeps growing. Most visitors describe it with words like huge, busy, and gray. I decided to lean into that last … Read More

Black-and-white macro photograph of a shrimp plant flower cluster against a dark background, showing overlapping bracts with crinkled, paper-like texture, fine hairs along their edges, and a single curled filament extending from the tip.

A Heart with Two Valves — Shrimp Plant in Macro

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Whenever I photograph our Shrimp Plant (Justicia brandegeeana) in macro mode, I am surprised by what the lens reveals. Take the monochrome header image. Stripped of its color, the flower is all texture: the bracts turn paper-thin and crinkled, every … Read More

Wide concrete emergency spillway of Canyon Dam under a clear blue sky, with the turquoise water of Canyon Lake and wooded Hill Country ridges beyond, framed by live oak and juniper branches.

A Canyon Born In Three Days

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Lens-Artists Challenge #412: Places Shaped by Water What are the odds of hiking through a canyon that is younger than you are? I don’t know how often that chance comes along, but in the Texas Hill Country it does. Canyon … Read More

Close-up of a single Texas Indian Mallow (Abutilon fruticosum) flower with five veined, pale orange-yellow petals and a cluster of yellow stamens at the center, a tiny insect resting on the lower petal, against soft-focus green leaves along the Katy Crossing trail in San Gabriel Park, Georgetown, Texas.

A Small Sun Beside the Trail — Texas Indian Mallow at Katy Crossing

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Sometimes, while biking along the Katy Crossing trail in San Gabriel Park, I spot beauty that steals the moment away. I apply the brakes and stop to appreciate what Nature gives me. No special equipment is needed — a simple … Read More

A female or immature Black-chinned Hummingbird perched on one leg on a blue-gray wire, its other foot raised over its wing to scratch its neck, against a soft green background of blurred oak leaves.

Acrobat on a High Wire

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Happy National Hummingbird Day! It falls on the first Saturday of September every year, and this year I have the perfect little bird to celebrate it with. For a few mornings in a row, a Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri) had … Read More

Black steam locomotive No. 488 with red passenger cars parked at a rail depot under a blue sky with scattered clouds.

Weaving Through History

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Today, I want to reminisce about our 2010 vacation in New Mexico. We’ve always enjoyed the state’s historical sites and cultural traditions — enough that four years later, in 2014, we came back to Taos to get married. But I … Read More

Three-panel collage of wildflowers — a magenta Panicled Ticktrefoil bloom with unopened buds on a hairy green stem, a cluster of lavender-purple Queen’s Wreath flowers with dark violet centers, and two yellow Rock Flax flowers on a thin curling stem.

PQRfectly Floral

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We now reach the PQR flowers in Terri’s Flower ABC challenge. Initially, I thought it would be hard to find flowers beginning with the letter Q. I found a few in my catalog. What surprised me even more is that … Read More

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