A wonderful group showed up for the Shirley Lusk Day. Included in the group were Shirley’s three sons and one granddaughter who joined the celebration. Yes, it was pretty hot, but of course it could have been hotter. There was a slight breeze and some clouds. Everyone brought plenty of cold water.
Everyone was prepared for the outing with plenty of water!
Alan (on the left) takes after his mother, Shirley! Go Alan! As you can see the some clouds helped hold down the temperature a little bit.
Two-striped Grasshopper (Melanoplus bivittatus) rests on the Green Milkweed (Asclepias viridis) seed pod. Many of the pods are splitting open!
Now I know you can not see anything except grass here. However, several people saw the rattlesnake go in there. That is what they said and this is as close as I got. What are binoculars for but to observe from a distance. LOL. FYI, I never could see the snake.
After lunch at the Thomsen Foundation, we headed north to the Garnett Preserve. This strange coneflower (Echinacea) caught my eye. What a wild stem, eh!
The Three Stooges still stand guard back by the restrooms at the Forestburg Country Store. They always brought a grim to Shirley’s face when she introduced them to someone new. Well, I am passing it on 🙂
Finally to top off the Shirley celebration, ice cream treats at the Forestburg Country Store. Shirley really knew what was important!
Thank you to the Thomsen Foundation for hosting the group for the Shirley Day celebration! We look forward to next year!
I just love to hear this. As long as we keep sharing about Shirley we keep enjoying Shirley with others keeping her memory alive. I still hear her voice from time to time. When she had some neat plant finding she would call me and start with “how is Miss Kathy today?”.
Mary, I want to encourage you to enter the NPSOT photo contest. The milkweed photos have been stunning. The other day was the best and this one is great too. It is an ecoregion entry, one per. It is now voted on by a panel and you do not need to attend to enter. The clarity and composition of these photos have been awesome and I think able to compete.
And in the rattlesnake grass am I seeing a fern just above and right of center?
We loved that you could join us! Outdoors is certainly the place to make new friends. I now I have a new outdoor friend, you! The next outing will be July 6th on the LBJ grasslands. I added your email to the list. Hope to see you again soon!
I could barely enlarge the photo more here. I scale down the size of the photos for the blog to make it load faster. Thanks for noticing! Sometimes, as I know you do too, we are just so focus on one object that we don’t see the rest. Thanks again.
Lovely day. I was missing Shirley today.
I just love to hear this. As long as we keep sharing about Shirley we keep enjoying Shirley with others keeping her memory alive. I still hear her voice from time to time. When she had some neat plant finding she would call me and start with “how is Miss Kathy today?”.
Mary, I want to encourage you to enter the NPSOT photo contest. The milkweed photos have been stunning. The other day was the best and this one is great too. It is an ecoregion entry, one per. It is now voted on by a panel and you do not need to attend to enter. The clarity and composition of these photos have been awesome and I think able to compete.
And in the rattlesnake grass am I seeing a fern just above and right of center?
What special memories all of us have that knew her. We were lucky for sure!
I don’t see a fern in the grass, but do see some yarrow. Maybe that is what you see?
Thank you for the kind words, but instead just pass on the blog to someone.
Can you believe I have your blog open in one of my tabs?! Now I know the author!!! Yesterday was lovely and I cannot wait to learn more!
Rosie, so glad to meet you and glad that you were able to celebrate my mother with us.
We loved that you could join us! Outdoors is certainly the place to make new friends. I now I have a new outdoor friend, you! The next outing will be July 6th on the LBJ grasslands. I added your email to the list. Hope to see you again soon!
Rosie, I’m so glad you came! Looking forward to seeing you next time!
I bet that is yarrow. It didn’t seem right for fern but i can’t enlarge the photo to see it better. thanks.
I could barely enlarge the photo more here. I scale down the size of the photos for the blog to make it load faster. Thanks for noticing! Sometimes, as I know you do too, we are just so focus on one object that we don’t see the rest. Thanks again.
Shirley knew what was important! What a great day to celebrate her.