Art Car Parade 2012

Posting just a few pictures of ones that I don't remember seeing before.

Just a fun go-carty one.

An angry owl. Possible Rice U connection?

"Go Navy" With Animated Jet Pitch Motion!

Huge amount of work in this one.

My favorite from this year! Wonderful walking mechanics.

Anahuac NWR

We took a quick trip out to Anahuac this morning. Have not spent much time there in recent years.

There were lots of Black-necked Stilts about today.

We saw three - and photographed two - of the supposedly elusive Least Bitterns.

This female Orchard Oriole was lining her nest with soft fluff from a cattail.
This nice yellow flower was growing at the edge of some of the marshes.

No visit is complete without....

Small things from the Big Thicket

Spent a beautiful Easter weekend camping and hiking in the Big Thicket. It's a place of subtle beauties so it's perfect for a macro-photographer like me!

This lizard was kind of drab until the light hit him just right...



There were many, many of these Palamedes Swallowtails flying around:


Here are a couple of them courting:


This is a Varigated Fritillary on Blanketflower in a nice flowery area near Warren, Texas.


A nice example of Blue-eyed Grass from Village Creek State Park:


The Big Thicket has several carnivorous plant species. Fortunately they are all small! This is a tiny carnivorous Sundew, no bigger than a dime. You can see a bug it trapped at the bottom right.


And this is the last thing a bug sees as it goes down the throat of a carnivorous Pitcher Plant-


Crimson Clover is a more bug-friendly plant; here is a Buckeye nectaring at it:


Other Buckeyes were taking advantage of Coreopsis flowers:


This Question Mark decided to get some minerals from dirty old socks:


Male and female Damselflies getting ready:


Here's a tiny frog, he could fit on a nickel:


A green-eyed dragonfly that landed in the sand by the creek:


Coral Bean growing wild in the forest:


Something in the onion family:


A row of Winecups:


A colorfully lined caterpillar:


This yellow flower is hosting a tiny green grasshopper on its upper right:

Galveston Sunday, Part 2

These are some of the tree carvings that we actually went down there to see.
A tree full of birds.
Dolphins.
Mermaids were a common theme, but usually the faces were pretty crudely done. This one was OK.
Squirrel!

What's in the tree? Thats-a moray!
Pretty well done herons.

My favorite of them all.
An Asian lady.

A nicely done dog.
The Wood Tin Woodsman.

Toto and the Woodsman's oilcan.
All in all an enjoyable walk through an interesting neighborhood.

Galveston Sunday, Part 1

Today Sue and I headed down to Galveston to look at the trees that were killed by the Hurricane Ike storm surge, and subsequently carved into sculptures. While they were pretty cool, I was actually more interested in the restored Victorian homes. The homes themselves are really neat but I loved the architectural details.

Most of this one was unpainted except for the eaves:
Shamrocks and orange crosses together?
This brick house had amazing masonry, tile, and ironwork details:
A whimsical chimney topper on this nicely restored house:
Sort of a Pennsylvania Dutch vibe to this one:
This one uses Mardi Gras colors:
Easter pastels, all year round:
I would not want to be the one painting these houses:
Nice acorns on the balustrade:
Next time, the actual tree sculptures.