Springtime in Texas

I really love this time of year! Deep into July, August, and September I sometimes wonder why I live here. But along comes March, April and May--and I remember! It's the wildflowers. Driving in to work some mornings the scenery is so beautiful, sometimes it hurts! Your heart just wells up and your eyes tear over--it's that pretty! And now with a little bit of much needed rain, at the moment things are lush and green. My shop's namesake, Rocky Creek, temporarily has water in it again, and wildflowers brighten up the slopes next to the creek.

Even outside my office the surrounding acreage that's actually part of the McKinney Falls State Park is bursting with the color of spring.

It really makes me wish I could be outside doing something--anything! What I'd really like to be doing I think, is walking along the banks of Rocky Creek in the vain hope of finding a really cool rock that could be polished and turned into some beautiful piece of jewelry. I say "vain hope" because unfortunately for me, this part of Texas is limestone. Limestone, limestone, and more limestone. With the occasional piece of chert thrown thrown in, and if you're lucky you might find some calcite. But nothing as lovely as SilverRiverJewelry's rock that she found, polished, and set in sterling silver. It's lovely, isn't it? She found it in the banks of the Flint River in Ohio--where they have "real" rocks! Although SilverRiver has it labelled as flint, it's not. It's actually a piece of agate (even better!) Just look at the beautiful patterns in the stone. That where mineral-laden water seeped into cavities in the existing rock and slowing evaporated out, leaving the bands of minerals behind. I'm jealous! As much as I love walking along Rocky Creek, just once I'd love to stumble upon something like this. Since it's not going to happen, I'll have to settle for "wandering" through SilverRiver's beautiful things. Go check her out and see if you don't agree!