Monday, August 8, 2011

Our Scorched Earth

On Saturday I asked my husband if we could drive over to Gussie Field Watterworth Park in Farmers Branch, TX before going to dinner. He said, "Sure! Let's go bake our bodies in this wonderful heat, and when we are good and cooked, we'll enjoy a nice dinner! 105 degrees is the perfect temperature to galavant around, taking photos."

I kid. He didn't say all that, but he may have well been thinking it. I was getting cabin fever and on the verge of a meltdown (non heat-related), and he knew that, so he just said, "Sure!"

What a good sport I married.

Off we went, thinking we might stay an hour. After 10 minutes I was huffing and puffing, claiming I couldn't breathe. Ten more minutes dragged agonizingly by and I was done. Done, I tell ya! I only lasted twenty minutes, yet I got some good shots, I think. Eh, I'll let you be the judge of that. :)


There were only a handful of rose bushes blooming.


Most of the roses looked like this: scorched.
Actually, most looked like this: nearly dead
What bird would want to build a nest in this wooden oven? It's probably 350 degrees in there.
The only thing thriving in Texas right now are the Crepe Myrtles. See my Crepe Myrtle bokeh? I have come to the conclusion that there will be Crepe Myrtles in hell, though I don't want to find out. :/
The smaller plantings around the roses were faring much better. The skippers were taking full advantage.
Checkered Skipper
Going to California in two weeks where the high is supposed to be 78-ish. That's almost sweater-weather compared to this hellish heat wave we're in right now. Hope my blogging friends are getting some relief from the heat! Send some cool vibes our way. And something to wet our whistle. Thanks! :)


26 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

love the grasses shot and the 'oven' birdhouse. my crape myrtles are not doing well this year, so i'm thinking mine won't make it to hell. :)

Tricia said...

Despite the heat you got some nice shots...love the ones with the skippers and the pink roses. It has finally cooled off here this week. The thing is, it makes me think of fall and I'm not very happy about that.

Sara said...

I'd say you did wonderfully well in 20 minutes! Beautiful flowers and gorgeous macro shots of the butterflies. What a cute little birdhouse!
Thank you for visiting me @ Chasing Rainbows and your lovely comment.

Michelle said...

You did get good shots! And getting out for a few minutes is better than nothing right now. (I tried a workout outside today and almost lost my lunch.)
The crepe myrtle comment cracks me up. I have actually noticed how beautiful everyone's crepe myrtles look lately. But I don't know if I'll ever think about it quite the same way. :)

joco said...

I'm wearing a coat as I type this. It is wonderfully chilly. I'm sure you don't want to know that. We had six years of NYstate heat and then fled.
Still, our UK grass is totally brown and all the leaves are dropping off the trees.
There you go..no perfect climate anywhere these days.

Karen @ Pieces of Contentment said...

You did indeed catch some good shots and a cure for cabin fever....for a while. Your first one is just lovely, you wouldn't know it was so hot by looking at the photo.

Rosemary Aubut said...

Great shots Gail! It started to cool off here and then the dreaded humidity came rolling on back! UGH!

Evelyn S. said...

You have really captured HEAT in these photos! I do like the shape of the roses on the bush that's still blooming....bush roses?? I notice that my own roses are a little scorched on the edges for the second blooming. I probably haven't protected them enough, although our high has been 93, I think. The skipper looks as if something's been nipping at the edges of his wings. California should be a "cool" place to visit for you. (Love your comment about the crepe myrtles! lol) (Oh...my own images are of my heliotrope plant.)

Reena said...

Awesome shots Gail ... brave girl to go out there in that heat ... California will be so refreshing!

Anonymous said...

beautiful!!!

Unknown said...

I have to use converter to know how much is 105 fahrenheit in celsius...it is 40, quiet sweaty. I hate that temperatures and thats why I go to south Europe only in spring and autumn because in summer it is that hot also there. I hope you can breath in California and enjoy outlife, it is not nice that summer is ruin because of the heat.
I send you here a cold hug and rains:)

Rosie Grey said...

These photos are so beautiful Gail! I'm glad you ventured out ;-) I hope the clouds I had sent yesterday arrived in Texas ;-)

Lisa Gordon said...

These are wonderful shots Gail, and I don't know how you stayed out as long as you did to get them! Saw the butterfly on Flickr (7th one here), and fell in love. This is a stunning shot!

Glad to hear you are going to get a break from the heat.

Hang in there my friend!

lisa. xo

Anonymous said...

It's amazing you even found anything alive! :-) We're off to Sandestin tomorrow...I know where I'll be most of the time (in the water)!

Beautiful photos!

Bengts fotoblogg said...

Wonderful photos, very nice.

LindyLouMac said...

Lovely photos. Is our crepe myrtle flowering better than ever this year due to the warm sunshine then?

Barbara said...

I agree with you! Beautiful shots - great use of your twenty minutes. I'll vouch it was stinking hot up there this weekend. I envy your trip to California, but I'm happy someone's getting a break!

Charlotte Wilson said...

Lovely shots. My favorite is of the Checkered Skipper. How do you know all these names!?
praise God that your son still has a job!!
I appreciate even more what our troops have to deal with; heat and sand. Ugh!

Anonymous said...

These are all such lovely shots! Sometimes 20 minutes is enough to feel that you got out of the house and had a break from the everyday routine.

Starla said...

What a great collection of photos for 20 minutes!
I really hope you are visiting my area of CA! I'd love 78degree weather ( which makes me think you will be up north!)

hootnonny said...

Your photographs are magic, even in the scorched earth! California will be a nice respite from the heat!

Laura Delegal - Leroy Photography said...

Oh wow, you did great in this heat. Sounds like my day last Thursday. Found a beavy of mushrooms at my Mom's house and spent 20 minutes outside and was drenched with sweat by the time I went inside. They say the heat index was 120 and I don't doubt it. But I didn't get as many keepers as you. As always, Gail, you did wonderful!!

Leontien said...

haha wood oven!!! i was laughing so hard! I think you did a wonderful job in all this heat!

Leontien

Michelle said...

You did very well in the time you were there. I love the birdhouse and the fence.

Anonymous said...

On TexWisGirl's blog she has a Texas Rain gauge... a bottlecap! LoL!
I wish you guys could get some rain... Records are breaking down there & ya'll have suffered loooong enough... BRING ON THE RAIN! My brother lives near Dallas & he's enjoying it, running in races every weekend - UNREAL! I heard on the news last weekend that ya'll are under a stage 5 water something where you can't run water outside at all, no watering plants, yards, no washing vehicles... nothing... only drink the water. WoW!

I love that last pic... that lil guy is gorgeous!

septembermom said...

Gail, you find those most wonderful subjects for your photography. Beautifully done.