Scenes from the weekend

Took a little roadtrip through the Texas hillcountry this weekend: blue skies, green and glowing gold grasses, farm stands full of peaches, blackberries, & tomatoes, a dip in the Frio river, and a lovely visit with family. More images here.

Okra sketch

First from the garden

Things I love right now

These Texas peaches smell amazing right now, and this afternoon I'll be attempting a peach ginger sorbet sans recipe...but really, how could that go wrong? And I'm always searching for the perfect yogurt; I think Siggi's skyr is it. Lightly sweetened with agave, super dense (like greek yogurt, it's very high in protein), and there are real vanilla bean seeds inside. Did I mention it's delicious? Now if only it were made locally (made in NY)...

Other great things:
*Kelly's Ripple blog has gone big with almost 150 pieces of art donated so far! I expect that number to climb since it's this week's IF topic. Plus, it got a mention on Fuse #8. So, exciting! And great news for bird and marine mammal rescue efforts.

*Found out about the Next>> feature on google reader (via Door Sixteen)...so handy!

More water birds on Ripple

I added some more watercolor sketches to the Ripple blog to help raise money for bird and mammal rescue efforts in the Gulf. It looks like they've sold, but there are sketch cards in all different styles still available from a great group of illustrators and artists.

Bird rescue

Feeling frustrated in the wake of the BP disaster, illustrator Kelly Light decided to take matters into her own hands and start ripple, a blog where visitors can make a small donation toward bird rescue and receive a small sketch in return. She's invited other artists to join in, and my heron sketch from the last post (left) is now part of the effort. Good cause, good art.

Herons and pelican

Water birds

Great Herons in the early morning, soaking in the sun

I visited Hans Suter Park in Corpus Christi last Sunday morning and took a lot of photos of birds there: great herons, laughing gulls, terns, stilts, cormorants, and pelicans. Snowy egrets and some others didn't make it into any shots, and my mother and I got there too late for the roseate spoonbills. I grew up taking all these guys for granted (except for the spoonbills, because everybody loves a pink bird), and it's sad to think that they're all at risk with this BP mess. Depressing, really.