§ 2017 - 12 Months in Pictures...

We have company for the holidays arriving here around noon on the 20th, so I will not be online much, if at all, during the visiting. I will take this time to share one photo taken each month during the year 2017.   Most of the year was a good one...there were trials to overcome and yet, good, happy days.  2017 will go down in my own personal history...I survived a hurricane coming into our city at a category 5 when it made landfall, luckily, for us in Corpus we got the 'back side' of the storm...it coulda been a lot worse!!! I survived a 2nd snowstorm since we've lived here in south Texas, and so much more.  Right now tho, instead of going into any more detail, I will share from my photo cache from each month [I save the photos by month so I know what time of year to return to places of interest]:   A year in review....

JANUARY:  Yucca along the Nature Trail at Padre Island National Seashore Park



FEBRUARY:  Bougainvillea along Sand Dollar Drive near Packery Channel Park



MARCH:  Paradise Pond at Port Aransas Texas



APRIL  Opposum at Blucher Park in Corpus Christi



MAY  Tri Colored Heron at Leonabelle Turnbull Nature Center



JUNE:  Texas Sage Blooming at park




JULY:  Black Angus Cattle Grazing Near Navigation Highway



AUGUST:  Many Black Bellied Whistling Ducks and One Egret Flour Bluff Texas



SEPTEMBER  A Massive Downed Tree from Hurricane Harvey's Wrath [city park]



OCTOBER  Pink Turk's Cap [Hybrid...they're naturally RED!!!] Oso Bay Wetlands



NOVEMBER:  Cactus Blossom outdoors Botanical Gardens



DECEMBER:  The Gulf...before the snowfall.  Mustang Island

I wish you all a very merry holiday season; that your Christmas is joyous and your New Year Celebration is happy!!  God Bless....

I'll return soon...{I don't really know when}  I started blogging on Christmas Day 2007...this upcoming year will be my 11th year to keep blogging...I look forward to 2018

§ Year in Review

With 2016 just around the corner, and company at our house, I am on holiday hiatus 'til all is back to 'normal'.


This blog has been in existence since Christmas Day 2006!!! ....beginning my 10th year...a lot has happened in the past decade. I've met a lot of bloggers throughout, and enjoy the company I keep online with all the interesting, friendly and kind ones in our little blogger niche. From hikers, to photographers of expertise, exceptional writers, fun, crafty, and downright noteworthy people out in blogosphere. I've picked up so many ideas, and literally laughed out loud many-a-times. I've met some bloggers who also enjoy what I do ... mainly birding and learned so much from each and every one of you!! And in the next year, I'll carry on and continue to meet others and maintain the friendships from over the years.

Now, a photo review of the past year....

A whole lotta photos to share. Small in size for shorter loading time.

From January to this month, December 2015, in photos:

JANUARY

Pollywog Ponds

FEBRUARY

Gator Lake [Botanical Gardens] - Goose Island Fishing Pier - Botanical Gardens Gazebo

MARCH

Paradise Pond - Oso Bay Wetlands on a Foggy Morning in March

APRIL

Shrimp Boat Arriving with Catch - Mulberry Tree at Park

MAY


Surf at Padre Island - USN Trainer Pilot at Navy Training Base

JUNE

Dunes on Mustang Island

JULY

Longhorn Steer & Cattle Egrets - Fisherman at Bay - Sand Dune on Padre Island

AUGUST

Sunset Lakes at Portland Texas - Mourning Dove on Barbed Wire Fence

SEPTEMBER

Sunrise and Palm - Red Squirrel at Park


Park Trail


Marina at Port A - Cottontail on King's Ranch

OCTOBER

Black Necked Stilt - Bronze sculpture at Botanical Gardens


Muddied Alligator at Port A  - White Ibis at Port A

NOVEMBER

Scattering Roseate Spoonbills & Ducks at Leonabelle Turnbull's Refuge

DECEMBER

Wild Grass & Lantana - Killdeer at Charlie's Pasture North - Windmill on Country Road



MAY YOUR new year BE FILLED WITH LAUGHTER AND LOVE - BE WHAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF THROUGHOUT!!!
Happy New Year to all.

§ ...Good Night and Good Luck

I'm playing copy cat right now. I have been reading blogs this past week with their posts being a year in review. And being that it is such a great idea, I thought I'd do the same. Within this post there'll be what I would consider the highlights of Hootin' Anni's 2013 and what was happening around me:

Looking back to January--

--I shared a winter sunset from Marble Falls, Texas [in the Hill Country] and spotted an unusually marked goose beak!

February is not only my birthday month but it's 'heart month'--

--and I finished a quick crochet project of pink and red heart coasters. Also, in February the South Texas Peddler Show is an annual event. I loved the blue sky and the Texas State Flag flying beside Old Glory.

In March, the hummingbird Spring Migration hits South Texas--

--one male ruby throated hummingbird posed for me in our back yard! And the Texas State Flower, the Bluebonnet, blooms profusely in the fields and parks surrounding the city!!

April came along with another craft project that involved both Bud and Me--

--collecting different sizes of tin cans, we created a Tin Man of Oz. Roses in our yard are dazzling this month!

Then May--

--I finished and framed an acrylic painting I had been working on for weeks; drawing from a photo I had taken. From pencil sketch to an Indigo Bunting. Also, looking to the sky one morning...the Phoenix had risen!! [look closely in the cloud]

Along comes June--

--The treasures of nature walks!! Finding a nesting hummingbird at a Nature Reserve in town [we followed its progress from here thru to the hatchlings and leaving the nest in such a short time]...and juvenile gators!!

In July, Super Size it!!!--

--World wide, July came through with witnessing a super moon!! And Bud and I were viewing this phenomenon from moon rise over the Bay to where we returned home and I snapped this photo of the moon behind the peak of the house to show its width and depth in size! Also, they're so ugly only a mother could love 'em. Wood Storks return to the Coastal area.

The hot, sultry month of August brought--

--the chip lady!! I found this treasure inside a bag of potato chips. [I still have it] While the summer months are a bit hot and humid, the beach is just minutes away...and the jetty and views of our lighthouse, the Lydia Ann!!

September--

--While most of America begins to experience Autumn, we here in the Coastal Bend of Texas still linger in Summer; I found myself yearning for the dry, high mountains of my youth, The Rocky Mountains. Along the shore, some go fishin'!!

Then came October--

--A favorite month for me!! Halloween comes in October!! October means adding to my collection of witches. And new this year, I accomplished completing a quilt for the first time a month prior, but it was for use in the month of All Hallow's Eve...and it was last time for me to try quilting!!

In November and December--

--I was awed and captivated to see the vast number of ducks migrating to South Texas for the winter. And marveled at their beauty.

IN CASE YOU MISSED 'EM

some highlights of 2013--

--SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE OF TEXAS [Texas Talk -link]

--A LITTLE TEXAS HUMOR -Link

Some of my sketches--

--of Willie Nelson completed in June, a cuckoo bird in September, a Redstart, a woodpecker:

Sidebar Linking to MEMES

...and that concludes the year that was. 2013 will be history! As the late Edward R. Morrow would close his show, I repeat his words:

GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK.