Springtime Photo Shoot with Kay

The bluebonnets are in full bloom - a sure sign that winter is over and spring has arrived in Central Texas. Last Thursday my friend, Kay, and I drove to the Muleshoe Bend Recreation Area, located in Spicewood, Texas, in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. This park sits along the shore of Lake Travis and, at this time of year, is carpeted with bluebonnets. It was a perfect site and a lovely day for a photoshoot.

As we drove out of the recreation area, after a successful day of photography, we saw one last scene that we wanted to photograph. We pulled the car over, trudged through some weeds and grasses to get the best shot, and then headed back to the car. As I was buckling my seatbelt, I started to feel fierce stinging and burning on both of my ankles. I hitched up the legs of my jeans and, with horror, found a party of fire ants dancing over both of my ankles. I opened the car door and poured a bottle of water over my ankles, which washed the ants off. I put up with the stinging for the rest of the day, because no fire ants were going to spoil our plans for lunch at the Blue Bonnet Cafe in Marble Falls.

I understand that some days the wait-line stretches clear across the Blue Bonnet Cafe's large parking lot, and the wait can be an hour or more. But we were lucky. I think we only waited in line for about 20 minutes. This cafe has been serving up lunches and, most notably, delicious pies since 1929. We both enjoyed lunch, and made sure to save room for pie. I had banana cream, and it was great. I ordered a take-out piece of pecan pie to bring home to Dan.

Although we took almost all of our pictures at Muleshoe Bend Rec Area, we also oohed and ahhed at all of the wildflowers growing alongside the road as we traveled to and from the park. It was nearly impossible to find a place to safely pull the car over to take pictures. Kay did snap this one out of the passenger side window, and I think it's really cute.

This might have to be an annual trip for the two of us. I recently sold my DSLR, finding that I seldom used it any more, due to its weight and bulkiness. So these pictures were taken with my iPhone camera. However, I have my eye on a super little compact point and shoot with a great zoom lens. Maybe I'll have it in time for the 2025 bluebonnet season.

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In case some of you have never had experience with fire ants (lucky you!), here's a photo of one of my ankles the day after the attack. It's day #6 today. The stings still look ugly, but the stinging and itching have stopped.