Texas Memories - A Neighbor's Penthouse

Red okra

The neighbor. :-)

Texas Memories - Mexican Petunia

 

Texas Memories - Summer Skies

Summer suns are glowing

Over land and sea;

Happy light is flowing,

Bountiful and free;

Everything rejoices

In the mellow rays;

Earth’s ten thousand voices

Swell the psalm of praise.

William H. How

The Thousand Word Project - Texas Star

The Thousand Word Project - Lantana Brights

The days are glid­ing swift­ly by,
The days so bright and gold­en,
In leaf and flow­er the sum­mer writes
Her po­em sweet and old­en.

Mrs. Leland

Letters to My Friend - Thoughts On Flooding, John MacArthur, and Adultery

Taken July 6, 2025 from our front door. The rain that wouldn't stop.

Dear Friend,

July has been a strange month this year. So many things have happened that it feels like several months have passed in the last 19 days.

In the first 6-7 days of July we recorded over 16" of rain on our property, possibly 17". Most of this fell between the 4th and 7th. We had to deal with an evacuation order first thing on the 5th which was sent to us by mistake because our lower property touches a road that was flooding. Sadly, the people living down near the creek did suffer damages but, as far as I know, no lives were lost from our immediate neighborhood. The local stories we have heard dating back to the 1980s and 1950s floods made us believe that we were not in danger up where we are, but I was rattled when the order first came through. The reports from the Guadeloupe River and Kerr County had already been ramping up on the 4th and we were on high alert already. My husband did go down to check the creek waters twice - once in the middle of the night. Our street dead ends at a small river, and we weren't sure if something was going on down there. He went to check, but it was not threatening.

The rains kept coming back for days and days as the remnants of a tropical storm camped over this region. We would think we were past the worst and there would be another flood warning or flash flood warning. We were under "stay in place unless fleeing flood waters" orders more than once over a number of days. Even if we had needed to evacuate on the worst day, we would have been stuck because the bridge at the intersection out of our little road was flooded and not safe to drive through.

Continue Reading.

Texas Memories - Glowing Mammatus

 

Matthew 16:2 He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. 

Texas Memories - Climbing Trumpets

Proverbs 24:30-32 I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction. 

Trumpet Vine
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Texas Memories - Purple Ruffles

Texas Mountain Laurel
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Texas Memories - Warm Spring Colors

Golden Poppy
Coral Honeysuckle
Buttercup?

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

The Thousand Word Project - Pink Fringes

 

Red bud tree. Texas.

The Thousand Word Project - Embers of the Day

Psalm 4:8 I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep:

for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety. 

The Thousand Word Project - Winter Sparkles

The Thousand Word Project - Winter Rains

Isaiah 55:10-11 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. 

Another Year Drawing to A Close

 
1 Samuel 7:12 Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.

A year of precious blessings
And glorious victories won,
Of earnest work progressing,
Its onward course has run;
To Thee, O God, our refuge,
Whose goodness crowns our days,
Within Thy earthly temple,
We lift our souls in praise.

Fanny J. Crosby

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. 

1 Peter 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 

Texas Memories - Bright Berries

 

China Berry

Nandina
(Heavenly Bamboo)

Texas Memories - November Brights

Crepe Myrtle

The Thousand Word Project - Autumn Fireworks

Firebush

Texas Memories - When the Rain Returns

2 Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. 

Hosea 6:3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. 

Texas Memories - The Mercy of Rain

Matthew 5:44-45 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.