All Day All Night....aka Super Bowl Sunday

It's still about the art contest. Since anyone participating can have up to three entries, while waiting for the Super Bowl game to begin, I dabbled with another colored pencil sketch. Only rule is it cannot be a photograph! As my profile states, I enjoy sketching and painting...why not do it...even if it's just for the 'fun of it'? Entries can be of any art medium, and must pertain to Wildflowers or Texas Native Plants. I have no idea what plants are "native" to Texas, that's why I chose to enter with two wildflower drawings. The first one I did was of the fire wheel. This 2nd one is of one found on the sand dunes along the beaches. It's named "Railroad Vine". From what I gather, the reason for the name, it spreads in 'tracks'. One plant, up to 100 feet long and usually about 30 feet wide; very tolerant of drought, spreads rapidly, can be found in any environment, does well in poor soils. can withstand winter temperature drops to 20 degrees F - there is NO KNOWN human hazards of this particular plant...also known as Beach Morning Glory as the blossoms [very similar to the cultivated morning glory vines] open in the morning and close by mid afternoon; blooming year 'round they really beautify the naked gray dunes with color...color of blossom ranges from light pink to a most deep maroon-like shade of fuchsia with hues of purple veins in the petals...I surmise this has to do with the amount of light/sun. My submission:

Railroad Vine

All the time I was sketching and coloring between the lines, our cat, Tahoe, kept an eye on my progress. I love the pools of mint green flecked with a golden orange against her black coat. Pretty eyes; hypnotic eyes - especially when she is staring off in the distance; in the far away land of kitty-dom; capturing birds in her dreams. With the light filtering in the window from the sun, her thick, black eyelashes reflect against her iris; making me a bit jealous of them. No mascara or eyeliner needed!! I think our maker musta skipped that beauty on us humans. At least ME!! Naturally, Winston was being a typical male cat...not interested in any activity but dozing in his kitty bed.

It was a most beautiful day Sunday. Mild temperatures, clear sky. A good quiet part of the day, early morning, I drove to the islands with camera beside me in the car. I stopped at my usual places and watched the birds over and on the pond at my first hot spot. As I walked the wide corner on the pathway, a Cooper's Hawk was perched in the tree. Tho, not a good position for any good photos, I still couldn't resist pushing the shutter button! Making my way toward the middle of the pond along the boardwalk, a couple of cormorants were making a ruckus. I am wondering if this is the beginning of the mating ritual, or if they were just bickering. I think it's too early for breeding, but what do I know? Altho, there IS TELLTALE SIGNS of the breeding plumage on the male...so just maybe?!! The breeding plumage of a cormorant, the neck feathers and 'eyebrows' become white and they are displayed to attract the female as seen HERE from a post on my birding photo blog.



My species list at this area was large, hawk -Cooper's and Harrier- cormorants, stilts, egrets, grebes, soras, white pelicans, coots, shovelers, ducks, and more. Heading down the road, after about an hour of walking and viewing from the first area, produced only five bird species...a mockingbird, phoebe, an immature night heron, several yellow rumped warblers, and a pair of redheaded ducks. I then drove to my last stop...Charlie's Preserve North. Terns, herons, sparrows, pelicans, larks, mockingbirds, sandpipers, yellowlegs, and a vulture were spotted in the mid morning hours. With my step count app, it told me it was then time to head home. Once I parked in the driveway, Bud and I washed and cleaned the car. Next, I made my traditional Broncos in the Super Bowl cupcakes of blue and orange...lunch and reading...then, sketching the above picture and the day was filled to the coin toss against Denver and Carolina where I sat 'glued' to the computer monitor while live streaming brought me to the game plays. All I can say, as a die hard fan, the Panthers made the Broncos look good. I WAS SURPRISED AT THE OUTCOME. If you remember correctly I predicted a Denver loss...big time. I'm happy to say, I was wrong. DON'T TELL BUD THAT I JUST SAID THAT....

I'm never wrong.