Goodbye Palo Duro

My friend Bernadette and I went hiking in Palo Duro for one last time before my move. The colors weren't as pretty as they were last time I hiked the canyon last fall (see pictures here), but it was fun to spend time with Bernadette.















We also saw a longhorn on our way out!

Wedding Fun in Denver

This past weekend I went to Denver to celebrate the wedding of my dear friend Aerie Parkinson to Santosh Nandi. It was wonderful to see Aerie and Santosh so happy. What made the event even more fun was seeing other law school and Denver friends--Erin, Shelley, Brynn, Deb, Spencer, and Billy. We gave lots of hugs, ate lots of great food, and danced the night away.

If only I didn't have to go back to work tomorrow!

Lubbock Wind

Yesterday evening my cycling buddy Ben and I were waiting for the light to change at the corner of 73rd Street and Slide when a car pulled up next to us. The driver leaned out the window and told us he was new to town. Could we recommend good biking places? We suggested Slide Rd. going South (where there is a nice shoulder), as well as MacKenzie Park (which has a nice approx. 6 mile ride around a lake). Our friend said, "How is the wind at MacKenzie Park?" I laughed and responded, "You're in Lubbock, my friend. Wind is part of the game." Ben chimed in and said, "The wind is the only thing that makes biking in Lubbock challenging."

Yes, Lubbock is flatter than a pancake, but that wind can make a bike ride miserable. I was following Ben last night and there were a couple times when a gust came up and I felt for a moment like I was gonna run right into him. (Fortunately, that didn't happen!)

Big Bend National Park

Over spring break, I went camping in Big Bend National Park, which is located right along the big bend of the Rio Grande River. It was an amazing and restful trip. Here are a few pictures:















Santa Elena Canyon. The bluff on the right is in the U.S. The bluff on the left is in Mexico. The river is the Rio Grande. I hiked up along the U.S. side of the canyon...gorgeous!


Near a formation of slick rock called the "window"
















The Chisos Mountains











A beautiful late afternoon sky

I know why the grass is greener in Lubbock

As I walked from the parking lot to Market Street this morning to buy milk and Blue Bell ice cream, I noticed that the grass was remarkably green. It wasn't deep, lush grass green, either. Rather, the grass was that fluorescent lime green that gets advertised in clothing shops as "spring green," that that the easily persuaded will push to the side the fact that the color isn't natural and couldn't look good on anyone.

In any case, I took a mental note of the greenness of the grass and proceeded to do my shopping. When I walked back to my car, I discovered a grounds worker diligently spraying green paint on the parts of the grass that hadn't yet reached that lovely spring green hue. Apparently, this green is indeed not natural, but painted.

I have a couple concerns---if it isn't going to wash off in the first rain, it can't possibly be good for the real grass, small children, or bumblebees. But my more obvious concern is, why, if Market Street is going to spray paint its flora, wouldn't Market Street make some smallish attempt to approximate the colors of nature?

I wish I had brought my camera. I would have posted a picture for you, but it really was a bit too tragic to watch.

Dinotopia

It's hard to explain my fascination with the Dinotopia series---children's books about a world where humans and dinosaurs live in harmony with each other. In any case, today I discovered that the artist/creator of Dinotopia has a blog about how he creates his art. Click here if you are interested in learning some cool stuff about color and about dinosaur illustrations!

Steak...delivered

While I was out yesterday, I came across this lovely advertisement on the side of a Hummer---again---only in West Texas!