IT RAINED!!!!

Amazing how exciting a bit of water falling from the sky can make one positively giddy. Giddy enough to try to take photos from inside a car (didn't turn out, what a surprise). Giddy enough to squeal with delight as one is trying to unpack the car in the midst of a deluge.

And then to see this in my backyard after the hard, quick rain:

It may not have been enough to relieve drought conditions, but it was nice being reminded what a thunderstorm is like. And how awesome is it to see a rainbow in your backyard?

struggle and hope

If you don't know this by now, it is HOT in Texas. Triple digit temperatures and it is supposed to be 2-3 degrees less in the Hill Country. It's not. This is what my backyard looks like:
Ten years I have been here and it's never been this dry.

So today I was sneaking buckets of water to my poor burr oak (water restrictions) and the pampas grass in the far corner. The oak has sprouted new branches and leaves at the bottom.

As I was crunching my way across the dry brittle grass I came upon this:

A bright spot amidst all the brown.